I did a Hardware I Use post a few months ago. One of the bits in it was about the trackball I use. At that time, I was using the Logitech M570. Worked well but was plagued with poor design and shoddy parts. I think the one I had was my fourth or fifth one maybe.
Then one day it just stopped working. Left click worked (always the first thing to go) but the cursor wouldn’t move. I switched out balls with Lorna, and it worked. And the ball I took out of mine and put into hers, worked. I know, right?
It continued to fail and was a general PITA. And I was tired of keeping Logitech in business. After a lot (a LOT) of research, I decided to get a Kensington Expert Mouse (trackball). I’ve never liked the looks of them because they’re huge and do not seem very ergonomic at all. But I was reading it is better than it looks so I got one.
I really liked it. Took a while to figure it out though. Totally different hand and finger placement than the Logitech style. The scroll is a wheel around the ball and that was cool.
Sadly, I proved I am an idiot. I had a drink in a can. I was watching a video. For some reason, totally not sure why I did this, but I put my hand over the top of the can…and turned it over. Why did I do this???!!! Most of the spew went onto the trackball and the rest on the keyboard. I did a quick hot rinse of both of them, after turning them off of course, and let them sit to dry overnight. No water came out of either of them the next morning.
Keyboard (very expensive keyboard) is working fine. It is solidly built and most keyboards are designed to survive such disasters as long as you take care of the sticky immediately.
The trackball worked for about ten minutes. Everything was fine. And then all the buttons stopped working. Cursor still moved, but the buttons were non-functional. I was (and am) so freakin’ mad at myself.
But perhaps I knew something was going to happen because two days before, I had ordered a new trackball. Logitech had come out with the M575 which is getting rave reviews. I wouldn’t have considered it but my wee little pinky finger (it is small and it is crooked) ached at the end of each day (it controlled the right click) and I was getting annoyed.
So since Monday of this week, I’ve been using a remote mouse. What is that you ask? It is using a touch screen device, such as your phone, to act as a mouse for your PC/Mac. I already had one installed but when I had to use it on a regular basis, I hated it within an hour or less. I consulted with Mr Google and demoed a few others. I was using an aptly named app called Remote Mouse. The one I settled on is called the Unified Remote. There’s the free version with ads and some aspects turned off. And there’s the paid version. After using it for a while, I got the paid version. The only pain of it was if your phone’s screen is super sensitive, it is too easy to move it. Like, if I hover my index finger over it, it thinks I am doing a long tap (click and drag). But I really liked it and feel good knowing I have a backup. I may use it more with the laptop so I don’t have to add a big trackball to the bag.
Logitech M570 (Logitech may be taking it out of production since it is no longer on their website.)
Unified Remote – website | Google Play Store | Apple Store