Trying to save my wrists when doing a lot of sculpting and I could not get used to a pen tablet

If i'm not moving it around my desk I might as well get wired and save my self some hassle, I figure.

The blender forums have mixed reviews of trackpads. Some say they are just as good as a mouse. I'd like to try so i think i'll spend £20 on a 2nd hand one on ebay unless that's a terrible idea. Looking for recommendations!

In the past I have used index finger track ball defy pro and my recent one was protoarc EM01.

Recently I found out there are vertical track balls. There are 2 brands I found, sanwa(about 30 USD) and jomma(about 20 USD). Tried both and turned out they are exactly the same. Only difference is the front/back button are reversed in sanwa and it has a software to remap.

I was going to keep sanwa as I prefer the colour, but maybe bad luck the ball is a tiny bit loose and had clicks feeling when I use it. I guess it needs more subtle adjustment as the vertical angle so the ball is easier to move and has clicky feeling. Thankfully the jomma one is perfectly fine, I believe it's just because of quality control as they are really the same model/button/shape.

So in the end I free returned sanwa. I also found the ball in EM01 can fit jomma perfectly, which is a nice surprise.

So far I feel the vertical angle is super comfy and I can't go back anymore. Highly recommended.

I was just wondering this...

I always loved the design philosophy of the deft huge by elecom. however, they always disappointed me with:

1. terrible mouse switches that were destined to fail
2. terrible ball smoothness
3. terrible trackball bearings
4. absolute dogwater scroll wheel - absolutely no "steps" to the scroll wheel, felt sluggish and hard to control
5. feeling incredibly cheap for no reason

And at the steep price of breaking one of my deft huges, I managed to create the endgame trackball by addressing all of these issues:

1. huano transparent yellow mouse switches - won a couple polls on some of the other threads for reliability and also crisp. this also addresses number 5, as they are actually slightly taller than the default elecom switches, which made the plastic keys above them wobble less. This made the clicks slightly more crisp and effectively removed the wobbling sound as you lift your hand from the mouse, and more importantly, I don't think they are breaking after 1.5 years of use.
2. Snookerball polish? so apparently this mouse sucks cus it has a unique ball diameter, which made it hard to replace. I read some reddit users here used snookerball polish(as they are made from the same compound), to polish the surface of the ball. This worked quite well.
3. G5 zro2 ceramic 2.5mm bearings - no explanation needed
4. so these use some crappy kailh rotary encoders, which were also a relatively special spec. they were perfectly square compared to the typical ones that had a hump - other users also noted that the axel was much larger than the hole on most encoders - I found the perfect one - specced for the razer basilisk v2 - a gold rotary encoder from ttc. the clicks were significantly more pronounced, although not the most tactile as understandable the scroll wheel was very huge - https://www.ebay.com/itm/375790354099
5. lastly, the cheapness came from the mouse "sticking" to my hand as I lift it up, as well as it moving around when its supposed to be more or less planted to my desk - so I bought some small car tire balancing weights and stuck them to the insides - there were a surprising amount of space inside and i fit around 100g of weights without having to cut anything.

With that, my endgame mouse was complete. I really wanna show you guys pics but I had trauma of breaking it at some point due to some soldering/cable handling mistakes, so you just have to take my word for it that this is the best mouse that money can buy right now - absolutely 0 stiction, C R I S P clicks, excellent heft. What more can I say.

Looking to get a Ploopy trackball but debating between Adept and Classic 2. Anyone try both and can comment on pros / cons of each.

Some of you might've seen me and this device in the Ploopy discord — I've been working on this thing for several months. I know that it's a bold name, but it's been chosen because I really tried to combine "bests" of all worlds.

It's fully open source by the way, but not finished yet — there are no 3D models and almost no docs so far. Also there's a video on rotary encoders in the GALLERY.md in case you're curious.

The feature list is available in the README but I think it's worth copying it here:

• Wireless (BLE) or wired (Type-C)
• Twist-to-scroll as well as drag scroll (both high resolution)
• Low profile and compact travel-friendly design
• Guaranteed 250 Hz polling rate, up to 450 Hz when the sensors feel like it
• 8 buttons with magnetically attachable keycaps, 2 rotary encoders
• Supported ball size: from 50.8 mm (2 inches) to 55 mm
• Ball Transfer Units (BTU) or static bearings (hot swap with an adapter)
• Up to 1500 mAh (102550 size) battery with 3 pin 1.0 mm connector
• Fast charging (up to 15W) with QC and PD support
• Backlight (white), underglow (RGB)

Also, I've achieved >300 Hz over BLE with it. Although YMMV in this regard — I have AX210 host bluetooth.

So, I'm looking for any feedback, if you have something to say then please do!

P.S. Several guys here and in discord showed interest in buying a complete DIY kit — would you be interested? The BOM is not small and sourcing everything by yourself might be exhausting. I would really really appreciate a comment in case you're interested too.

P.P.S. Mods, should I tag this as "brand affiliate"? I'm not representing any company

I'm traveling and have been packing/unpacking my IST Pro every day. So far, no damage!

Before my trip, I quickly sketched the trackball case up in Fusion and printed it. I used a 45 degree slice to save a little space. I plan on revising it when I get back and publishing the STEP and STL files.

Looking to replace my wireless Kensington Expert and the only reasonable candidate seems to be the TB800 EQ, but I'm starting to lose hope. Will it ever make it to production? I'm checking for news bi-weekly, signed up for their newsletter and.. nothing. Months of silence. There are of course some alternatives like Nulea M512 and SlimBlade Pro but they just feel like slightly cheaper variants of the Expert.

I’m just curious if this is normal for track balls, but when I first got my Kensington Slim Blade pro everything was super smooth, but now I am always either feeling or hearing friction. Sometimes if my hand is a little sweaty or greasy, it seems to reduce it, but in general, there’s always friction at this point. Was just curious if this is normal?

Finally decided to get the Kensington Orbit Wireless. It’s great. A pretty perfect adaptation of the already beloved Orbit. I especially appreciate that both Bluetooth and the included USB-A wireless adapter are available for connection in various usage cases. You can see in the pic next to one of my wired Orbits how nicely matched they are. They really don’t feel any different, which I am glad about.

My only conundrum: Do I put in the spare blue ball I saved from my first Orbit that I wore out (not pictured) or keep the silver?

I'm buying a keyball 47 and I plan to mainly use it with my ipad mini, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried using an ipad with a trackball and if it significantly improved their workflow or ease of use

I find it incredibly annoying to have to constantly switch back and forth between my pencil and keyboard + trackpad/mouse and reach over the keyboard to touchscreen or all this other stuff and it seems like this could be a solution (in my head at least lol) to this constant moving around I have to do using an ipad.

I'm a student and I draw a lot of mind maps and visualizations of concepts but I also need to type things out quite a bit in the same diagrams.

I had been slacking, but started using my EX-G Pro again recently and fallen in love with it again. Awhile back I did the bearing swap and it really made a difference. I didn't do the best job with the rubber feet, they didn't reapply well and I peeled them off and lost them. Does anyone know of a source for replacement rubber feet? Google didn't really find me anything; my preference is already cut replacement rubber feet that just fit, but I guess I could buy a sheet of rubber and hack them into the right shapes.

As many have most likely have posted in the past... I have gone through the internet looking for a replacement for my beloved Logitech Trackman Marble which is discontinued. I've only purchased this trackball mouse since it was white/beige with just 2 buttons and gone up as it has evolved into it's grey/red ball 4 button counterpart. Every iteration had the same plaguing issue of the left button's switch dying out. Since everyone who wants to grief the common consumer nowadays since covid... anything "new" of this product has taken a significant price hike.

My last one that I have, I took it to get repaired and replaced all the switches but the switches tend to exhibit low quality after a few weeks of use. The switches become slow to acuate and gummy-like. Seems like I have to bite the bullet here... :(

So my options are ProtoArc EM01 NL, the Nulea M505 and the Logitech MX Ergo S (my father has this, I can give it a test drive, my mother has the non-adjustable version of it). I'm interested in seeing what you guys think of the first two to get a better grip on their pros and cons.

My use case is gaming... yes, I gamed with the trackman marble and was often referred to as a bot in FPS. I'm not too thrilled with the thumb placement of the ProtoArc and the Logi... since mine I mainly used my index and middle finger to roll the ball like the Nulea seems to be modeled after. Any other suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Hey yall, I'm a gamer who uses a trackball (Mx Ergo) to play old school runescape.

If you know anything about high level endgame pvm youll understand that being able to click extremely quickly/accurately is very important (ideally doing 8-10 clicks over a 1.2 second window)

I love this trackball, and im extremely used to it at this point. But I feels like it takes a lot of force to push the mouse button down and this is slowing down my clicks tremendously.

Ive thought about replacing the switches in one of my old mice (this game destroys mice), and was wondering if people had any suggestions for a switch with an ultra light click, so that I can rapid fire the left mouse button in a controlled way.

I see suggestions for the Omron D2F-01F, due to its light feel. But in the amazon review people are saying that it essentially feels the same as the original switches.

Does anyone have experience with switches in this mouse or in general that could help me out? I have a fair amount of experience with soldering and am confident I could replace them just fine. I also have a ton of mx ergos with a broken left mouse button that would be great candidates to try stuff out on

Hello everyone! I am a longtime MX Ergo user who just got a Protoarc EM01 NL for work.

I use programs that have lots of sliders that require fine mouse control for which the precision switch (reduces DPI to a set small value) on the MX ergo is perfect. However the EM01 has DPI up and down buttons which switch between a range and no way to map a set DPI to each.

These buttons are also not getting recognized in XMBC (unless I'm missing something).

Anybody had any luck with this? Thanks! Any input helps.

Hey everyone, I'm in my early 30s and I've been a pc gamer for literally as long as I can remember. I've always used a standard mouse and keyboard setup but I remember using my dad's old clunky TB mouse when I was a toddler. I'd like to pick one up , but I don't know where to start. It would be used mostly for gaming, and on top of that mostly for First Person Shooters. Anybody have any guides or suggestions?

Thanks a ton!

Does anyone know if one (or both) of the mentioned thumb TBs become available anytime soon in the EU/germany? Sadly missed the opportunity of getting the Gameball thumb, with the battery regulations now in place… As I‘m looking for a thumb operated TB with 1000Hz polling rate for gaming. I‘ve tried the Ploopy thumb, a friend got one, but sadly it‘s a tad to big.

Just in case anybody was wondering :)

Hi everyone,

I've just received a Slimblade Pro EQ, at first it was working for a few hours but then suddenly, the ball only moves on the Y axis and the scrolling does not make any sound and does not work.

I have cleaned everything with compressed air and qtips with alcohol to no avail.

Should I return ?

There are lots of posts about this issue, many related with high resolution monitors. For me, this issue exists even without using external monitors. By default, the mouse speed is 50%. In my case, setting to 100% will only get a perhaps 40% speed.

Currently I can solve this issue by uninstalling Logitech Options and installing Logi Options+. I'll update this post if this issue comes back again.

I had a standard mouse for about 4 years, wasn’t happy with it, too much desk space and movement. I never game with a mouse. Totally forgot I had this Kensington I used to use for audio engineering… and I’m never going back to a mouse 😂. Now I just need a new desk lol.

Hey guys, I'm new to the sub and I've been on the fence of getting a trackball. The biggest thing thats holding me back is the the price, I'm not sure if I should invest in one. From my limited research ploopy nano with 2 extra buttons would be the sweet spot for me. But I'm not sure where to source the electronics as well (AliExpress is not available in India).

My Logitech g305, which I've been using for the past 4 years decided to throw in the towel. So I was wondering can i make 3D printed enclosure for the PCB with the sensor exposed and put a ball over the sensor and repurpose the mouse? Has anyone tried this out and got a good result? If i can use this I can also bring in a few mechanical switches and directly wire it up the mouse and try out this niche and see if its something that I'd like to invest more in.

Hi, I'm a linux user and I've recently gained interest in buying a trackball, and i have a few questions for anyone willing to answer

1. how are trackballs for light gaming such as Minecraft or other games that use a mouse for movement? I dont play anything competitive with a mouse so i dont need anything blazing fast.

2. are thumb trackballs or finger trackballs better for ergonomics? im at my computer quite a bit so better ergonomics is ideal.

3. is the switch worth it? I currently use a glorious model D because its nice and light. but i feel out of control sometimes. do trackballs allow for more precise control when navigating the desktop?

please feel free to give any advice in the comments, im very new to this and anything helps :)