Transition to trackball - how long?

[el_murdoque]

I purchased a Kensington Slimblade to try out a trackball after using mice since I got one for my IBM 80286
After a day, I'm still better with a mouse, which is no surprise.
My guess is that it's best using the trackball exclusively for a while to really get used to it and then compare mouse vs. trackball.
How long do you recon it will take to get used to it?

[suicidal_orange]

That would depend on you, I got an Elecom Huge and it felt natural within a month but even after a bearing upgrade I'm still not as pixel perfect as when using a mouse and it's been ... nearly 11 months

[King Icewind]

It depends on the type of trackball for accuracy. If you want more accuracy try a thumb ball like the MX Ergo or its little brothers. The thumb balls are really easy to transition to from regular mice too.

The MX Ergo is the most comfortable trackball I’ve used next to the Microsoft Explorer Trackball. Ive used the Elecom Huge at work for a couples years now doing CAD/Solidworks and it’s worked well. I use an Kensington Expert at home and it’s okay: it gets uncomfortable for doing CAD work for long periods of time.

[blur410]

As someone who owns and uses both, it depends on what you do and what kind of experience you desire. I've used mainly the M570 as a web surfing trackball when I'm far away from my computer and last week switched over to an L-Trak as my main mouse with my deathadder on backup for moments in games I feel I have to react quickly and accurately, would have to say that the mouse settings you use play a large part in how much you will like any specific trackball. Looking forward to trying a ploopy as well in time. I gotta say I love stepless wheels for scrolling web pages, and I am looking forward to using the ploopy for gaming as I have found using the fingers for aiming is highly intuitive.

[jamster]

Totally depends.

When I moved to a CST, it took days. When I tried an Elecom Huge, it was never. I sometimes use a Kensington Orbit, and it took a couple days to get used to, but it will never be as comfortable as the CST (it's just too light).

[el_murdoque]

Okay. It took me about 10 days.

What I like a lot is that I don't need to move my hand. Also the vertical scrolling is pretty nice.
The big, proud ball design is great. You can use a lot of different methods to roll the ball around.
As expected, a mouse is more precise when it comes to clicking really small stuff (Photoshop).

The three things that really threw me off are:
1. The clicks. You need a lot of force to click. I understand that this is because a part of your hand rests on a part of the button, so if you make it light, you'll click a lot by accident. I like a light click, however.
2. The number of buttons. I am accustomed to 5 buttons. Left click, middle click (Linux user), right click and back+forward. The Slimblade has only four buttons, and I'm stunned how much I use the forward button.
3. Horizontal scrolling. I use a Logitech MX Master in my office. That lil thumb wheel is really handy with spreadsheets. Navigating to the horizontal scroll bar and pulling it around with the trackball is not as much fun.

[tebla]

I use a Kensington Orbit as my main pointer. For me, I'd say it was a few days of it being distractingly different and difficult, about another week of it still feeling weird/more difficult to use than a mouse but able to be productive mostly normally. After a month it had totally clicked for me and felt completely natural. That was a couple of years ago and haven't used a standard mouse on my rig since and don't think I'd ever switch back to one.

[MelonBred]

was using the MX Master series for the longest time, but moved to the Elecom EX-G pro a few months ago. It only took me about a day to get used it, but a few days to get the dexterity in my thumb to move the cursor exactly where I wanted it to go. Really loving the trackball life though.