CST trackballs gone?

[Tactile]

The L-Track seems to be unavailable anywhere. The CST website redirects to P. I. Engineering. There used to be quite a few fans of these trackballs around here. Does anyone know the story?

[jamster]

The main guy behind the CST decided to retire and go fishing. Sold the IP to PI, which seems to have stopped production.

Edit: I haven't been paying attention, but last activity I noticed regarding CST was a Massdrop buy for the optical trackballs last year. Had I known with the benefit of hindsight that they'd suspend or stop manufacture, I would have bought one. I had an opto-mechanical model for about five years, and it was great, much more satisfying to use than a mouse. Eventually it developed some issue with one of the sensors though, so I dumped it.

[mobileb]

I have a CST right now and was looking to get another. I contacted PI last week. They are selling them and can buy through their website. I did ask if they will sell through Amazon. They have plans to but aren't sure when. I'll probably buy the other one through their website.

[jamster]

I have a CST right now and was looking to get another. I contacted PI last week. They are selling them and can buy through their website. I did ask if they will sell through Amazon. They have plans to but aren't sure when. I'll probably buy the other one through their website.

Argh. Are they selling the opticals or just the mechanical ones?

Their website indicated that they were out of stock and had been like that for months, I should have contacted them instead of buying an Elecom Huge last week. The Elecom lacks the reassuring heft of the CST, but at least it was literally half the price.

[mobileb]

I have a CST right now and was looking to get another. I contacted PI last week. They are selling them and can buy through their website. I did ask if they will sell through Amazon. They have plans to but aren't sure when. I'll probably buy the other one through their website.

Argh. Are they selling the opticals or just the mechanical ones?

Their website indicated that they were out of stock and had been like that for months, I should have contacted them instead of buying an Elecom Huge last week. The Elecom lacks the reassuring heft of the CST, but at least it was literally half the price.

I bought one of these from them this week: https://xkeys.com/l-tracblack.html. Although ... I still have yet to get a confirmation email which is a little concerning. I have the CST LTrac and they confirmed it's the exact same the CST. They did indicate they had been out of stock but will have stock this week. Looks like they are sold out already.

As an FYI, the shipping is a bit pricey.

[mobileb]

I got my L-Trac at the end of the last week. It's pretty much identical to my existing one although it does have two 3.5mm ports which my older one doesn't have. The ball doesn't feel quite as smooth right now, but from what I remember, it was the same with my older one. Just needed some usage until it felt better.

Other than that, it the buttons feel/sound the same. I haven't opened it up. The cord also seems longer.

It does seem that every now and then the black version goes from Out of Stock to available.

[fanpeople]

I got my L-Trac at the end of the last week. It's pretty much identical to my existing one although it does have two 3.5mm ports which my older one doesn't have. The ball doesn't feel quite as smooth right now, but from what I remember, it was the same with my older one. Just needed some usage until it felt better.

Other than that, it the buttons feel/sound the same. I haven't opened it up. The cord also seems longer.

It does seem that every now and then the black version goes from Out of Stock to available.

From memory, those ports were available on the CST if you selected that option. I also believe the PCB, depending on age contained the tracing and pcb holes for it anyway so you could retrofit the ports, I may be wrong though. I think this applies to the LED also.

I will have to open mine to look.

[mobileb]

I vaguely recall it being an option and I probably didn't choose it because it was slightly more expensive. Although I cannot remember what their purpose was. There is no option really for choosing it without those ports now. I suppose you can hook this up to the ports. https://xkeys.com/feathertouchswitch.html

[fanpeople]

I vaguely recall it being an option and I probably didn't choose it because it was slightly more expensive. Although I cannot remember what their purpose was. There is no option really for choosing it without those ports now. I suppose you can hook this up to the ports. https://xkeys.com/feathertouchswitch.html

I believe those buttons were the intended purpose. I think there may have been a foot button also but this is off very vague memory.

[chale_moore]

You said well, I also approached the P.I. engineering company, they asked me to wait. 

[mobileb]

You might want to periodically check. I noticed that different days seem to have stock avail. Right now it looks like the the L-Trac blue is avail ... but then again, I didn't fully try and make the order.

https://xkeys.com/xkeys/trackballs.html

[chale_moore]

Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball (K75326WW) is available on amazon.

[mobileb]

Have you used that Kensington before? I tried one of the Logitech thumb and, for me, found it difficult to control. Though I would suppose if I stuck with it, I probably could have gotten used to it. Not sure if you've used the CST before. It does work really well. There are some irks I have. Middle button is a little out of place. And I have found that their DPI adjustment it easy to accidentally trigger if you have to use the middle mouse button a lot.

[jamster]

Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball (K75326WW) is available on amazon.

Totally different trackball design, it's like a polar opposite to a CST.

It's also got remarkably bad reviews on Amazon for reliability and accuracy.

[jamster]

double post

[hellothere]

PI has been selling them on Amazon for a while, now.  They're "x-keys trackballs."  Same price as when CST sold them.  Red and blue glowy.  Beige and black not glowy.