The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet-
"Another Amazing Trackball from Kensington" on by ez4all
Pros: The design of the mouse is amazing, works as advertised. The mouse software needs some work but I look forward to an updated software which I was told is due out this year. Very comfortable to use.
Cons: Software needs to be revised
Summary: Kensington does it again and deliver an amazing trackball for us enthusiasts!
-
"how to Run mouseworks under Vista" on by webman003
Pros: hardeware rocks customer support sucks
Cons: A Hack to Fix mouseworks under vista
Summary: I have been a track ball customer for over 10 years. I have Track balls at least a dozen PCs kensington has made most of them Expensive TRASH. their refusal to support devices with a 5 years grantee SUCKS. their refusal to support loyal clients on the Vista Platform is criminal and subject to legal tort as a failure to support your own Grantee. FIX IT!!!!! I found a fix on line A Hack, I shouldn?t have to hack a $100 track ball with a 5 YEAR GARONTEE. FIX IT!!! I will now post my Discussed with every on line service that will let me lash out at Kensingtons Selfish refusal to support their $100 products in an effort to make me buy more. Kensington used to be my favorite hardware manufacturer now Kensington, YOU SUCK!!!
Signed Pissed off @ money Grubbing Kensington
http://www.winxpcentral.comhas the answer that Kensington refuses to offer for your ?Kensington? track ball under vista
direct link http://www.winxpcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=802691dd06f8bb82843327b7269cf67a&t=20530&page=2 -
"Not for all-day/ intensive/ professional work" on by shopperkhc
Pros: The TrackballWorks software now lets you customize 3 of 4 buttons (the lower left is fixed as single click); cool looking shape and form factor; optical tracking; fun ball spinning for scrolling; nice large heavy ball.
Cons: The ball slides on plastic pips! This makes it tight and sluggish and DOES NOT come close to the frictionless "gliding on air" feel of the old TurboMouse; the pointer speed and acceleration feel awkward and tiring at any setting; ball has no inertia.
Summary: Newbies may think it's smooth, but the redesign was a huge trade off.
Long gone are frictionless rollers that allowed the old TurboMouse to glide effortlessly... and a parabolic curve adjustment for speed and acceleration. The older trackball was so airy smooth and natural that it quickly became an extension of the mind. I had to upgrade because of compatibility issues with Mac OS Lion.
Now the Slimblade has an awkward tactile feel. Rolling the ball requires greater direct pressure. Placing the pointer precisely and quickly require some concentration. It jumps off inconsistently. Rapid and repetitive movements across multiple displays become taxing. Movements are not uniform when working fast. But then most people would not use this device for professional productive work.
The advantage might be lateral spinning for scrolling that's integrated with the ball. However, this does not offset the tight and sluggish feel. Why would scrolling be a priority for large-ball trackball users?
My suggestion to Kensington would be swapping the friction pips for smoother FRICTIONLESS rollers. Bring back the parabolic curve adjustment for speed and acceleration. Keep the optical tracking. Do something else minor for scrolling. The taxing torture of pushing this large heavy tight sluggish ball with inconsistent acceleration for hours every day is almost unacceptable. Except there's hardly anything else like it on the planet!
They've got to at least improve the software for a more intuitive acceleration curve. Can you say Trackball Works version 2? Kensington developers are you reading?! -
"Good idea killed by poor execution." on by dansk59
Pros: The ball is hefty and the scrolling works surprisingly well.
Cons: The build quality is atrocious, the buttons are flimsy and easy to press by accident.
Summary: I bought this expecting more. Much more. It cost five times as much as my old Logitech Marble Mouse, so I was expecting a five-fold improvement in quality and useability. In the end, I think I might actually prefer the Marble Mouse. The buttons are flimsy sheets of plastic that are badly laid out, I often hit one of them by accident while scrolling. It feels like it came from a dollar store. Lots of shiny plastic and poor fitting parts; mine doesn't even sit flat on my desk, it rocks back and forth because the bottom isn't level. Everything about it exudes cheapness and a strict focus on form over function. It looks pretty, but it's hell to use.
I am sorely disappointed, I expected a lot more from a $150 product. -
"The software has arrived" on by 1dcagney
Pros: Good and comfortable design, scrolling accomplished with trackball alone, positive and precise, nice tactile feel. I don?t get the rubber tag, though
Cons: Minor, and unimportant to most users
Summary: Let?s face it, at over $100 a pop, the SlimBlade trackball not for every user. Perfectly good laser wireless mice can be had for under $20. However, considering the amount of time you spend with a computer, a well made, and elegant input device with a natural feel and the right interface features can make your experience better, and worth it. Some reviews indicate trackballs are only for those with hand and/or wrist problems, or perhaps a Graphic Artist or CAD jockey, but anyone that has been unhappy or uncomfortable moving a mouse around their desktop is a candidate. As a long time user of trackballs (both Kensington and Logitech), the SlimBlade design is the best yet, with excellent control, great tactile feel, and the scrolling integrated into the trackball itself, rather than an outside ring, like the Expert Mouse (or consigned to buttons or a separate scroll wheel on other trackball and mouse models). It is also significantly thinner (than the Expert Mouse, which offers a wrist pad to offset its greater height), and so far, this has been comfortable for the hand and wrist. It is also easy to keep clean and functional. A+ to the designers of this elegant, solid unit. Personal experience indicates the issue of lack of Bluetooth (cordless) is moot. On a regular mouse wireless makes sense, because a cord can get in the way of mouse movement. The whole idea of a trackball is to let your fingers and the trackball do the work ? the base stays still, along with your wrist. No battery to replace is a bonus.
The software interface (1.03) was horrible. Kensington stated that they did an ?extensive marketing study of what users wanted?, but ended up with a kludge of program with dubious utility (Media and View Modes!), that did not allow the 4 keys to be remapped, or control other basic cursor functions that even Microsoft generic drivers have. Yes, Microsoft generic drivers work with the SlimBlade. However, the two upper buttons don?t function. Who wants a $100 input device without a back button? What do lefties do? I used the SlimBlade Trackball software for a few days, but found it to be worse than useless. The marketing wizards behind this software ?gem? should take early retirement, or at least find out what users do in the real world. Did they bother to figure out forward and back buttons work in iTunes? That volume can be set many other ways, more convenient than by trackball? It is program specific, too. It is a solution in search of a ?problem? that only a few have. I used the Microsoft generic driver for a few weeks; but with no back or forward buttons available, I boxed the unit up to return (but never did), and went back to the Expert Mouse (yea, the cordless discontinued version).
In the past, Kensington had one of the best customer service units in the business. They were customer-centric, always helpful, and were able to communicate to my satisfaction and delight, even after they outsourced to India. On the matter of the SlimBlade software, it was not the case; just a lot of boilerplate declarative statements that made me feel stupid I didn?t see their fabulous vision. Worse, they gave no indication they were addressing the obvious software issue in any correspondence or call, even though there were hints on the web they were. I wonder how many SlimBlades were returned, and competitive units bought, because of this stumble.
I am pleased to report the software issue is solved with Trackball Works. The software, recently available as a download on the Kensington website, finally gets the interface as it should be. No, you will not be able to chord (at least in the present version, v1-01), but all the basics are covered: 4 buttons can be remapped; cursor speed and acceleration set; direction and speed of scrolling; along with the standard cursor behaviors. Trackball Works software is the Kensington answer to all four of their current trackball products. I believe the Slimblade is electronically different than the other three trackballs, which could explain why chording is not available. This is minor to most users. Kensington should be following up with their SlimBlade user base on this software, and let them know the software has finally realized the Slimblade for what it is; the iPod of its class.
Kensington SlimBlade Trackball trackball user reviews
