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Comment by nerdwaller | Hacker News Reader

This project and concept is really awesome.

However for me - I’ve never found one that has everything I want, and I haven’t taken the time to try to make it yet. However I really want the Logitech marble mouse with a scroll wheel. If I could have that combination I’d be pretty elated.

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There's a Kensington trackball where you spin a ring for scrollwheel: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81T0oXLJoBL...

Kensington expert mouse has that. I use it, it's the best I found but its still far from great. The way the ring spins feels as you were moving plastic over plastic without any bearings - which is actually what's happening.

Btw I think your picture is a Slimblade model in which you have to rotate the ball.

Logitech Ergo MX is fine, it's built much better but Kensigton design is superior. It's not possible to be that accurate with a thumb and you also move slower because of a smaller ball. With KEM you can be fast and accurate. And scroll design is great, just badly implemented.

Exactly, Expert Mouse = ring, Slimblade = the ball itself.

In Slimblade you can scroll from your neutral hand position, that's what sells it to me.

I've owned a Slimblade for 10 years, have tried all sorts of trackballs, and I can't imagine anything better for daily use.

I got the KEM for work, but requiring hand adjustment to scroll feels like a definite step back, so I sent it back and ordered a second Slimblade instead.

I like Elecom HUGE and I've bound the rightmost button (so the fifth) so that when holding it the trackball works as vertical and horizontal scroll wheel. Works great for scrolling large areas, though there's still the regular scroll wheel with side-ways switches for perhaps more precise maneuvers.

Do you only use index finger to operate it? Or can it be operated with 2-3 fingers given its shape? I mean the ball.

You can use 2-3 fingers. I'm not parent poster but for me the elecom deft pro was better than the huge; huge was just too big. It can also be operated with 2-3 fingers.

Maybe 3 fingers more often than 2.

I had that one for a bit, it felt really low quality and not very comfortable (at least for my hand shape).

I use a logitech trackman marble, and configure one of the buttons to be a scroll modifier; when it's held down, ball movement acts as a scroll wheel. Might not be exactly what you need (can't use normal mouse movement and scroll at same time), but works for me

That's the same one I use, it really is the most comfortable one I have found after trying a good number of them.

I remember not being able to use the scroll modifier as a back button as well (something else I struggle to live without) but looking more into it - it looks like that's either an incorrect memory or no longer true!

I've been tempted to try one of the Kensington offerings (one of my Logitechs has a dying button and I'll need to replace it soon) - have you tried the expert mouse or the slim blade? How do they compare to the Logitech?

I do the same. Here are the docs I used to configure it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Logitech_Marble_Mouse#S...

I've been using this mouse for over 10 years! I do the something similar for scrolling except I use the app MarbleScroll which makes scrolling a lot easier on Windows at least. I wish this mouse had a dedicated scroll wheel.

I felt same after using one for 20 years, finally found Elecom Deft Pro which feels quite good: https://www.amazon.com/Trackball-M-DPT1MRXBK-Bluetooth-High-...

This one looks really promising, thank you for sharing it!

FYI there's a wireless version as well

Have you tried the trackballs formerly known as "Clearly Superior" now "Xtrac" apparently[1]. I like the physical scroll wheel and dedicated middle mouse button, the internals are mechanical not optical (I have had problems with kensingtons in this regard), and there are some fairly alluring foot peddle expansion ports on the back that I've not played with yet.

if you do go down this route, I would suggest avoiding a model with an LED in it. while it looks cool for sure the LED is positioned so that shines right in your eyes if you put the device front and center (like in between a split keyboard).

[1]: https://xkeys.com/xkeys/trackballs.html

Have you tried the Logitech MX Ergo? It’s got a scroll wheel and lots of buttons. It can also pair with two devices which is really handy for switching between work and home machines.

The Logitech Marble is not thumb-controlled, which is probably what OP is looking for.

I use the Logitech, and it is amazing. The only downside is that I haven't figured out how to separate "ball scrolling" from the scroll wheel under Linux. Ball scrolling and wheel scrolling are interpreted as the same key input, meaning if you set wheel sideways to anything else than "scroll sideways" if you want to use a "button+ball" scroll as well.

If you are mostly at a desk, I can't recommend the rollermouse enough. Love this thing.

Second that. When I started exploring, I felt most ergonomic stuff had some drawbacks. A thumb mouse / trackball mouse is really imprecise even after long time use, compared to a standard mouse. A vertical mouse is still just a mouse, which takes time (and elbow pain) to move the hand to and from the keyboard.

A rollermouse, though. Don't have to move my wrists at all. It's fairly precise after just a day of getting used to it. It got a scroll-wheel, 5 buttons for right-click or whatever. I'm a huge fan.

Rollermouse is great in all aspects but clicking - its very pronounced. After a while I started to have unpleasant feeling in my joints up to elbows on every click. Maybe it's because I have an old model. Regardless it's the only thing I can use to work right now I recommend people with RSI to try it.

Agreed that clicking via the bar takes getting used to. Actually, agreed that clicking at all takes getting used to.

The ridiculous stability of where the device is, is amazing. I could wish it had a method to self center.

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