Wondering if there are any good alternatives to the Slimblade that I have overlooked. Received mine today and while I have no problem controlling it with my left hand, which is the reason I bought it, I'm not sure that it's actually any better on my wrist than a mouse. It's quite sore after two hours, but that may just be because I don't normally use my left hand for mousing. I suspect it's due to the ball being raised about 1″ from the buttons/palm area though. I'm actually finding that trying to do anything precise like selecting text is far more strenuous than using a mouse, seemingly due to the weight of the ball, and while I like the novelty of how the scrolling works, it already feels like it's not a good motion for my hand to be making repeatedly.
But all that aside, the sensor is far too slow. Moving my finger from the far left side to the far right side is equivalent to a 400 DPI mouse (measured in
Enotus Mouse Test) and doesn't cover the full width of my screen. I would need about 800 DPI to be comfortable with it.
The ball doesn't feel that smooth at low speeds, and also squeaks. (sounds like dragging a metal chair across a floor)
The biggest problem though, is that the device continually emits a high-pitched whine when it's plugged in. I suspect this won't be an issue for older members here.
I was also disappointed to find that while you can program most of the buttons on the trackball, you can only set it to perform actions when simultaneously pressing the top two or bottom two buttons. It is
far more comfortable for me to press the two left, or two right buttons together—I have to lift my hand from the trackball to press the two top or bottom buttons together.
I would much rather Drag be on the two right buttons, and Button 4 (back) be on the two left buttons. Being able to use the top/bottom combination for something like window switching would be very helpful as well, as having the trackball on the left means I need to move my hand to reach alt-tab.
The
CST L-Trac is supposed to have a faster sensor, but I have heard that the tracking isn't as smooth, and while the ball is more recessed, the ergonomics of that look much worse - particularly the position of the middle button and scrollwheel. It only has three buttons as well, when I really need at least four, plus the ability to program it to perform actions when pressing buttons simultaneously.
The
DT225 looks like a well built trackball, but I have heard that it's similarly low DPI, and is not nearly as smooth-running as the slimblade.
I'm now wondering if a small tablet is maybe the solution instead. I used to have an 8x6 Wacom, but never tried using it on the desktop outside of Photoshop, and I think it would have been too large for that. A large tablet is good for precision, but not traveling across the screen. I'm fairly ambidextrous, so I'm sure I could get used to a left-handed pen input quickly enough.
Does anyone know if you can rotate Wacom inputs 90° ? I seem to recall being able to limit the size of the tracking surface, but I'm unsure if you can rotate it. (so I have a 3.9x2.5 area rather than 6.2x3.5)
The other alternative would be Apple's Magic Trackpad, but I have my doubts about whether it would be any better for sensitivity, and how well it's supported in Windows—I've always found Bluetooth devices to be problematic. When I disable acceleration on my MacBook's trackpad, it takes 2–3 swipes just to cover a 1280px screen. I know the magic trackpad is bigger, but is it large enough to cover 1920px in one swipe when acceleration is disabled? Not interested in Logitech's clones as they have a plastic surface, and Logitech drivers always seem to interfere with things when they aren't the only input devices connected to the system.