I have finally found a satisfactory replacement for the Microsoft Trackball Explorer and it is the Elecom Deft Pro

So I have been a trackball user all of my life, I have always liked clacky keyboards and trackballs. Mice never made sense to me, and I must specify that I am a finger trackball user, I can’t use thumb trackballs at all.

My trackball of choice for many many years was the Microsoft Trackball Explorer. It has awesome ergonomics and was just a great trackball, but microsoft stopped making them years ago, and the 3 I previously owned just stopped working.

For I while I moved the Kensington Expert Mouse Wired Trackball. I have owned a few and still use one that I carry to work with me. It is a great product, and I actually had of the red plastic beads the ball sits on break and contacted Kensington and they sent me a whole new trackball to replace it. Really great company, but it just doesn’t have the ergonomics of the Trackball Explorer.

A couple of years back I was looking at replacements and found the Japanese company Elecom made finger (and thumb) trackballs and I picked on up, the wired Elecom Deft (I never understood needing a wireless trackball). It had ergonomics much like the trackball explorers and was a decent pointing device, and I replaced my at home Kensigton with it. It is a very good trackball, but not as good as the Trackball Explorer. And it had some faults with Mac, it needs a paid 3rd party driver to really take advantage of it’s features.

Now this never bothered me since Microsoft had stopped it’s trackball explorer drivers long ago and I had moved the the Japanese company Plentycom’s awesome SteerMouse years back.

SteerMouse lets you use all your buttons and program as you want, and has acceleration based cursor control. it is amazing. I own 2 licenses so I can bring it to work with me with my Deft.

The Deft was good, but felt a bit cheap, but then I found the Elecom Deft Pro! And I got the top of the line model, which has wired (it is USB micro, wireless with an adapter that lives inside of it unless needed and bluetooth) which is how I use it. It has 8 buttons and a wheel that scrolls and goes up and down. And it has changeable DPI settings (though since I don’t use it for gaming I have never changed them).

The Deft Pro is amazing, and it is the only trackball I will use form now on! It is awesome! I could not recommend this trackball any more! It is a must!

My Microsoft Trackball Explorer is dying!

trackballexplorer[1]

I am a trackball user, and have been for a long long time. Back with my Mac Classic I used a trackball (kensington) and have used them every since. Eventually I ended up with the Microsoft Trackball Explorer, the greatest trackball ever created. Of course Microsoft stopped making them years back and no one has made a similiar or even OK replacement. Luckily back in the day I had bought 3 of them, and one of them died, but since then a second is not working so well and my main one keeps shorting out. The lights flicker and then the trackball dies. Now I have gotten it to work again for the time being, but there just isn’t anything in my future as a replacement.

Yes I also have a Kensington Expert Mouse that I bring to work with me, and I like it and can use it, but it isn’t as ergonomic and just not as well designed as the Trackball explorer.
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And I do really like Kensginton as when one of the plastic rollers broke off on one of mine they gave me a new one for free.

Now Logitech used to make the Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman (I never understood the need for a wireless trackball, it is not like you move it around much!). It looks like the closest thing I have seen to the Microsoft, except they have moved the second button to the right of the trackball and the back and forward buttons to the thumb position and not quite as well shaped for your hand, but even if it is, they don’t make it anymore, so…
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Now I have found a web site that talks about fixing a trackball explorer on your own, which I might have to do soon, and their is a seller on ebay selling repairs including upgrading the bearings to ceramic, refinishing the ball, and for on top of the $60 they will fix the electronics and plastic parts. So I might have to at least send in one of my 2 failing trackballs to fix them, as I have never found a good replacement for the awesome Microsoft Trackball!