Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman (USB/PS/2)

Our most advanced trackball yet: a comfortable, cordless, finger-operated trackball that works where you need it. Save space and eliminate desktop clutter. Take advantage of extra buttons that help you navigate around Windows and the web more easily. And with Logitech's patented optical technology, you get virtually maintenance-free precision and smooth tracking.

Main Features

Disadvantages:
1. The styling of the mouse could have been better designed. It takes a little getting used to using the trackball with fingers other than your thumb.
2. Logitech erred in the device drivers. I repeat, please do not install the drivers shipped with the package. Go to Logitech.com/support and download the 9.75.0 verson and install it, not the 9.60.0 version as it will damage your compatibility with other mice already installed.
3. The price of this mouse will set you back and have you looking elsewhere. But, the advantages of this mouse far outweigh the little-bit-above-customer-expectation price ...
4. This mouse requires a learning curve, as its design and the use of a trackball may not be familiarized with everyone's use. For those of you who have never used a trackball or is used to using a trackball with your thumb, this mouse does take a day or two to get totally used to.
5. Use the initial orientation/setup process seriously. Because of the nature of the styling of this mouse, the way you position the mouse on your desk while orienting/setting up the mouse will have an impact on usage.

Advantages:
1. RF frequency is used to the best capabilities in this mouse. I've used mice from other manufacturers and this one tops all of them. Using digital radio technology, this mouse allows you to place the RF receiver pretty much anywhere you'd like up to 20 feet away from the computer.
2. The many buttons on the mouse help you to minimize use of keyboard. It has Back/Forward, scroll, Drag Lock, Fast Scroll, and conventional buttons.
3. The compact receiver helps to minize clutter on your desktop and helps when you want to carry it and the mouse around (if you're blessed like me to have a laptop).
4. Customer support is one of the best in the industry, with lifetime phone support and a 5-year warranty.
5. Installation was a breeze. a) Download Logitech Drivers version 9.75.0 or above b) Install drivers c) Connect hardware d) Press Connect button on the hardware for 20seconds - 1minute e) You're Done! Enjoy!
6. This mouse comes shipped with a serial port adapter, giving you total flexibility to connect via USB or serial - I strongly recommend using the USB ports due to the advanced nature of the hardware and the reliability of USB ports.
7. The name of Logitech speaks for itself.

All in all, I recommend this product wholeheartedly to you.
If you do purchase one, buy from Amazon.com as they did an excellent job of fulfilling my order the same day.
Bang for your Buck: 10
User Friendly: 9
Service and Customer Support: 10
Installation: 10
Design: 8
Battery Life: 10
Performance: 10


Smooth motion, wireless, but button placement not as ergonomic as alternatives   October 11, 2005
nsrpgmiv (SUNNYVALE, CA USA)
151 out of 159 found this review helpful

Let me give you some background before you read my review.
I'm in my 30's. I use computer 8+ hours a day and start developing RSI symptoms.

I have tried / owned the following trackballs

Logitech TrackMan Marble FX Trackball
Logitech Optical Marble Mouse
Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical
Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman
Original 3 buttons Kensington Expert Mouse
Kensington Expert Mouse Pro

The Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman does not score well in my needs - eliminating / reducing my RSI related pains.

Pros: wireless, good build quality, good battery life, lots of programmable buttons, smooth scrolling trackball.

Cons: Cannot be used left handed, buttons are not located in convenient position (cruise buttons, scroll wheel are too small, awkward position of the forward/back buttons).

By far the biggest complaint is the most used left button.
This key is clicked N times a day so it should be easy to locate and click.

Instead, this button is concededly smaller than the one in Optical Marble Mouse and Trackman Wheel Optical.

Also, this button is positioned 45 degree on the left side of the mouse, and it requires some extra effort to click it, since you have to hold the trackman in position using your ring and little finger to counter the force you acted on using your thumb.

Consider this experiment, using only your thumb(without holding the trackman in position) and try to left click on it. You'll be tempted to secure the trackman using your other fingers. If you have to repeatedly do this, your muscle will be sore.

This is not the case for the kensington expert mouse or the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse, where the button is faced up and you can click directly on it without securing the device in position.

If you are young and not suffered from RSI, this might not be an issue for you. But for the others that who are seeking an ergonomic pointing device, this one is a no go.


Very comfortable after a few days   November 28, 2002
Joel Newkirk (NC USA)
110 out of 117 found this review helpful

This device is very comfortable to use after a few days adapting. Movement is very precise, BUT probably not suitable for 3D gaming. (except sniping :^) Adjustment is possible, but result is either too sensitive for useful gaming, or far too much movement needed. (IE, roll ball 3 times to turn 90 degrees) Luckily for gamers, under Windows it is very happy being plugged in USB at the same time as a PS2 or USB mouse, both work simultaneously.

Vertical/horizontal orientation is VERY far off out-of-box, (about 30 degrees, but feels like more at first) but can be adjusted under WINDOWS ONLY. (If you are a Linux user, you should probably pass, Linux mouse drivers don't currently offer orientation adjustments or extra [>3] button assignments) [Maybe some consumer pressure can convince Logitech to spare a few programmer-hours to add this support to the Open-Source driver? :^) Worth a few emails a week...]

Take placement warnings seriously:
The receiver is VERY sensitive to nearby metal. As an example, I placed the receiver on top of my steel computer housing, only 8 inches from the trackball, (right underneath it!!) and it was unreliable. I placed the receiver on my wooden desk, but on top of a few CDs, and it was unreliable at 12 inches. I turned the receiver UPSIDE-DOWN in either of those locations and I get 3-4 foot range! Obviously the antenna is located in the bottom of the receiver, which is IMHO a design flaw, but easy to overcome. When placed on wooden desk with no metal within 4 inches, I get up to 8 foot range before movement starts to stutter from transmission errors. Quite acceptable. Ability to mount on a vertical desk side would have been a very handy addition, however.

The rollers inside are VERY susceptible to dirt accumulation, and I find myself cleaning them AT LEAST once a day, but this is a very simple process. (push the ball up from the bottom, rub the three micro-ball-bearings with a fingertip, blow loosened crud out, drop the ball back in - about 7 seconds total)

All in all, apart from desktop wobble and a sticking button (...) and limited Linux configurability, I'm quite pleased with this trackball.

I would recommend it to anyone with limited desk space for a mouse, wanting/needing precise cursor control, and/or just wanting to try a trackball. There IS a 'learning curve' since you use fingertips to control motion, thumb for 'left-mouse' and two other buttons, but RMB is located to the right of the ball (not clear in pictures) and you can remap functions of all eight (that's right, 8) buttons in whatever way suits you.

j


Finally, A Great Trackball for Macs   February 11, 2004
bauhaus78 (Beason, IL United States)
27 out of 27 found this review helpful

After reading the other Amazon reviews, I thought I would respond to some of the issues other reviewers raise from a Mac user's perspective. I run a new PowerBook 15" with OS X 10.3.2.

Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't notice any directional/orientation problems--the cursor follows the ball movement very well, even before installing the included Logitech software. Perhaps the necessary drivers are now universally available, or perhaps the Mac version is just better. Also, the "finger layout" has not proven to be an issue for me--I can use any or all of my fingers to control the ball without any cursor-direction problems.

The wireless function has proven flawless on my Mac. The reciever is a couple feet away and actually off the desk (no line of sight) and works fine. It was essentially plug-and-play on the Mac--I didn't even have to push the 'Connect' buttons to establish a signal, it just worked.

The software is necessary, however, to re-assign new functions to the several buttons on this model. As a former PC user, I can't go without a right-click button (one of the reasons I bought an external device for my notebook at all). The Mac software is very easy to use, and one can re-program all of the buttons and the wheel if one so desires. You can set a button to automatically double- or triple-click, or select keyboard shortcuts (e.g., Command and W to close the current window). Very easy, and quite useful--I use buttons to close windows, quit programs, delete files, and still have a handy web-browsing 'Back' button.

The only possible drawback to the Mac software is that one cannot "train" the ball's orientation (from what I can gather from other reviews, this option is not available on PC either). This really only matters if you know you hold trackballs at a different angle than most people do.

Please note that the software I'm reviewing is for Mac OS X only; the program for those running OS 8.6-9.2 is a different piece of software, which is also included in the package.

Those are all the Mac-specific comments I can think of at this point; if you're a Mac-user you're probably used to things "just working," and this device is no exception.

I'll also comment on some of the more universal issues raised by other reviews:

Ergonomically, there is a period of adjustment--anyone moving from a conventional mouse to any trackball or from one trackball to another should expect that. It's never a bad idea to try one out in-store to see how they feel, especially since trackball models vary from one to another much more than mice do.
This is not, as some have termed it, a 'disadvantage'--all new things take some time to get used to. If you've never used a trackball, it's weird for a while; it's also ergonomically superior/healthier in the long term.
Also, I use trackballs for computer drafting/design, and find superior control to mice--finger-control is just more precise than either thumb-controlled trackballs or wrist/arm-controlled mice.

The optical ball-tracking technology requires almost no cleaning, and there are zero moving parts to clean. Just pop the ball out and blow any collected lint out of the socket if necessary--which very rarely is.

For any pointing device that's wireless, optical, and has this many buttons, this price is pretty decent--lower, I think, than my previous trackball that was wired and lacked the wheel.

As for Logitech's reputation/reliability, I have had good experiences. My first trackball had to be replaced during the warranty period, but its replacement has lasted the four years since--I only replaced it now because it wasn't Mac-compatible. Now Mac-users can rejoice with a high-performance trackball that works seamlessly in OS X.


Simply the best input device I've ever used   November 6, 2003
M. Turner (Sunshine State - FL, USA)
24 out of 24 found this review helpful

I've been a long time fan of trackballs - most especially and specifically those made by Logitech. About five years ago I started having pain in my wrists from the constant side-to-side motion of using a mouse. I picked up a Logitech Marble Mouse and loved it for years. It instantly helped by wrist issues and I didn't get so strained and hardly ever got soreness.

The only thing I didn't like was that there weren't enough buttons. I envied things like a scroll wheel found on regular mice. The thumb trackball was horrid in my thought (all that stress where your thumb meets the wrist; Ouch!) but had the extra buttons I longed for.

Then this one came along. Wow. I saw it in the store and I'll admit, I was a bit intimidated at first. Did I need a cordless? Could I get used to moving it with my hand in a slightly different position? And I know I wanted buttons, but woah, there's a LOT of buttons on it!

I played with it and daydreamed about it. I finally ended up getting it for my birthday in May 2003. It honestly did take me a few days to adjust to the change (even from one Logitech trackball to another), but now I can't imagine ever going back. The sheer convenience of being able to not only left-click/right-click, but scroll AND easily go Forward and Backward through webpages with a click of a button amazes me everytime. Trackballs already cut down the amount of round-about pointing you need to do by making it much smoother and easier because of less motion required, but this cuts it down way more then that.

Some thoughts from other reviews:
*Lefties -- I'm sorry, but it really is designed for a right-hander. Like most mice/trackballs on the market today, they aim for the majority. It's usable on short term for lefties (my boyfriend's a southpaw and he can maneuver it, but couldn't really use it every day, day-in/day-out). HOWEVER, a nice option is the Logitech Marble Mouse since it is neither left nor right hand specific.

* Cordless issues -- I've had ZERO interference with it and I have a USB Wacom tablet as well as digital camera hookups and other usb items in my usb hub. NEVER a problem. The manual recommends that if you have problems, move the receiver away from the monitor. Mine sits two or so feet away and works perfectly.

* Battery life -- WONDERFUL. Mine went for about five months or so on the original batteries it came with. And I am a hard-core user, driving my trackball way over ten hours a day. The program even warns you on-screen that your batteries are getting low. How cool is that? You don't have to wait until things die leaving you without a mouse, wondering what went wrong - it tells you!

* Weight of ball -- I have to say that one of the best aspects of the Logitech trackballs is that the ball spins VERY smoothly and easily. It's also not heavy. This sounds weird until you try one of the HORRID Kensington ones which has such a heavy ball that you literally get fatigued fingers from trying to push the darned thing around the screen. It's such a battle with inferior ones whereas, with the Logitech ones, it's easy. I can zoom around the screen as fast as I wish with the slightest touch of my fingertips (*note: the speed and such can also be edited if you like a slower cursor, but it still will have the lightweight Logitech is known for)

* Range of Use -- I agree with another user here - this thing has a range that's far more then you'd need. I sometimes use it on my lap and can stand up and control it from several feet away.

* Cleaning -- IMPORATANT. Every now and then, pop the ball out (by pushing from underneath) and clean the gunk which gets on the points the ball rests on. It will help keep your ball rolling smoothly.

In sum: ergonomic, comfortable, works great and a real Logitech winner. Well worth the cost.