Reviewed by: andycted on 11-Jan-08 Rating:

Strengths:Huge ball, optical

Weaknesses:Drivers, customer support, price, wheel is noisy and cheap, dust on rollers

Summary:At least at a first sight it seems this is a very nice piece of equipment: the trackball is huge and lets your fingers move the cursor quite easily, it\'s optical, and has four buttons plus a wheel. This is why I bought it, but boy was I wrong.
Drivers are just dodgy, they mostly work but they have huge conflicts with a lot of software and particularly with dotNET. After asking to the customer support 5 times about it I actually got a reply: we know it and we don\'t have any plans to fix it (and it\'s nowhere to be seen in the faq or troubleshooting).
Another huge problem is in fact customer support: you get automated, non-related response most of the times, if you\'re like to get a reply. Sometimes emails bounce and a couple of replies had a link which didn\'t work.
Continuing with problems: the wheel feels cheap, is very noisy and recently doesn\'t work well anymore. For a product that costs well more than 100€ this is ridiculous.
Price is in fact about twice of what should be (it\'s basically a big optical mouse upside down, no frills) and it\'s not even cordless.
Some minor annoyances are the fact that the tiny cylinders get very dirty very fast and have to be cleaned almost every day.
But I think the thing that enrages me most is the customer support: for that price you get basically ignored and it feels really bad.

Reviewed by: jerryspoor on 29-Sep-07 Rating:

Strengths:The ball works

Weaknesses:The programable keys do not work.

Summary:The Kensington Expert mouse is no longer supported in Vista and Kensington confirms no additional support. The track ball functions and the left and right buttons work but the remaining buttons are not functional. None of the button keys are programable and there are no software updates planned at this time.

Reviewed by: waweech on 25-Aug-07 Rating:

Strengths:Nice Hardware

Weaknesses:Cannot change settings under Windows Vista

Summary:This trackball is a huge disappointment with Windows Vista. Every time I log on, I have to change the mouse settings; the settings are not saved when I log off. The buttons are not programmable under Vista. I had an older version of the Expert Mouse that I used with a Windows 95 product and I loved it. Unfortunately, this version offers few of the advantages of the original product. Kensington Support has not been helpful. If you use Vista, look elsewhere.

Reviewed by: mbreton on 06-Jul-06 Rating:

Strengths:Optical, from Kensington, good customization, better than Logitech, large ball.

Weaknesses:Minor dust buildup creates major dysfunction.A step backward to the inferior Logitech types.

Summary:Compared to the older Expert Mouse Pro with real ball bearings this one is feels flimsy.
The ball is not as heavy as the Pro.
My number one gripe is that the little beads the ball rest on get sticky from a buildup of microdust and palm oils. This requires constant cleaning.
The Pro model uses 608z bearings and is immune to microdust buildup.
If you are not going to pay out for the Expert Mouse Pro you may as well buy from Logitech.

Reviewed by: garrettks on 25-Jun-06 Rating:

Strengths:Quality Product, 5-year warranty, doesn\'t require constant cleaning as some other trackball\'s I\'ve used.

Weaknesses:None.

Summary:It\'s expensive, but well worth it. 5-year warranty. Doesn\'t stick and require daily cleaning like a few of the other trackball\'s I\'ve used. The scroll ring is a great feature. Pain and numbness in my wrist and fingers is reduced after using this product (replacement for a standard optical mouse).

Reviewed by: Capncavedan on 17-May-06 Rating:

Strengths:Extremely smooth motion, flexible and configurable setup software for the Mac

Weaknesses:Scroll ring works well but feels cheap

Summary:I\'ve been using Kensington trackballs for 10 years, and have liked them all. My previous ones were all mechanical; this one is optical, and is the smoothest I\'ve used. I was a little worried when I took it out of the box as the ball movement felt stiff but within a couple of hours of use it loosened up and now is silky smooth. The Kensington software is great as always for the Mac. I have not had any problems with the included wrist rest, actually kind of like it. The scroll ring around the trackball is a great addition; I like it and use it but it does feel sort of cheap. It is a bit loose feeling and the movement feels kind of rough. That\'s the one thing I think needs improvement, but not enough to knock this down from a 5 rating.

Reviewed by: overlordbruin on 22-Sep-05 Rating:

Strengths:nicely built, large trackball, very precise and accurate. Optical

Weaknesses:price, scroll around the ball gets in the way occasionally, wristpad doesnt stay in place

Summary:Overall, i think this is the best trackball out there. No rollers, so you don\'t ever have to clean anything. For those of you who like mouses, you might not think this is worth the money.

Reviewed by: rgallow on 08-Aug-05 Rating:

Strengths:Great feel. Excellent tracking with optical pickups. Much easier on the wrist than a mouse.

Weaknesses:Cost, but you get what you pay for.

Summary:Once you get used to the horizontal scroll wheel instead of the verticle it\'s a breeze to use. Definately earns cool points in the office. You really have to have one of these.

Reviewed by: lucki on 13-Mar-05 Rating:

Strengths:Great mouse. I had a Turbo Mouse 5.0 for years and this is a step up with optical. Great look and style and same size ball or close enough to it.

Weaknesses:none

Summary:I researched the Turbo Expert Mouse and kept coming back to this model because I really did not have a need for wireless and I still wanted the optical.
I was worried about a rough scroll ring I kept reading about but they either fixed it or I did not get a bad one. It works smooth and quiet and I look forward to many years of use.

Reviewed by: violetcrumble on 12-Jan-05 Rating:

Strengths:functionality, programmability

Weaknesses:appearance, cheapie scroll wheel, ergonomics if used w/o pad

Summary:I\'ve used Kensington trackballs for years and would have continued with my 10-y.o. Turbo Mouse if there were drivers for OS X. They\'re a great company, and I\'ve had consistently good products over the years. Decided to try my first optical anything with this trackball. Its functions and customization features are terrific--you can set it to behave as you wish in terms of its buttons (six programmable functions) AND its behavior (slow, fast, sensitivity.). It works consistently well as a mouse: smooth, accurate, etc., As other reviewers have noted, the scroll rings feels scratchy and flimsy, not smooth, and I consider that a big issue in that it\'s a valuable feature I haven\'t been able to embrace fully. The color is unattractive--metallic black and silver plastic; I would have appreciated a more mature white or tan to match most computers. Lastly, the top surface of the unit, on which you rest your hand, is far more sloped than my older Kensington trackballs, which are closer to horizontal. The wrist pad that attaches does help if you\'re using it on a desktop, but if your keyboard is in a drawer, as mine is, you can\'t use the pad at all, and the angle that forces in your wrist is very, very bad if you have CTS or related ergo issues. I finally had to remove and refit all the hardware attaching drawer to desk to angle it slightly, grind away the front lip of the drawer to let the the wrist pad hang out over it, and cut the wrist pad to make it shorter—major pain in the neck, and while better, it\'s stil not great. In all, this is a good trackball. Just be aware of its issues and be prepared to accommodate or do fixes around them.

Reviewed by: Raindog36 on 28-Oct-04 Rating:

Strengths:I\'m handicapped and you cant find a mouse at the normal stores like this(bestbuy, circuit city, etc.) The wrist pad makes a great position for my hand and the programmable buttons are great!

Weaknesses:As with all the Kensington Expert Mouse line that I have used now, or in the past, I have found no weaknesses.

Summary:Kensington makes a great mouse and I wish they were more readily available. The 5 year warrantee Kensington offers is proof of there dedication to build a better mouse.

Reviewed by: silvmich on 20-Jul-04 Rating:

Strengths:Very smooth tracking, comfortable grip, good software features.

Weaknesses:Scroll ring makes a faint scratching noise.

Summary:I\'ve never been very fond of trackballs, but this one has changed my opinion of them. I have had to deal with a Carpal Tunnel issue at work and the transition to a trackball has been made easy with the quality engineering of this product. One of the nicest features of the product is the software that is user friendly and allows you to program buttons however you like. The scroll ring is a great addition (a bit scratchy tough) to the ensemble.

Reviewed by: brillig on 26-Feb-04 Rating:

Strengths:Smooth and accurate

Weaknesses:sensitive

Summary:This is the most accurate and sensitive trackball I have ever used. It has uniquely programmable buttons and a useful scrolling feature. I am a writer and need to be able to use the trackball as if it were my hand. This is the best.

Reviewed by: artg on 22-Dec-03 Rating:

Strengths:The Kensington software is awsome. Complete programabillity with every program you use! Smooth action. The wristpad is nice. Two pins fit into base with a snap No problems with it staying in place.

Weaknesses:The scroll wheel action feels cheap, Makes a slight plastic scratching sound as you use it. Would have liked it to be a bit wider so your fingers wouldn\'t accidentally touch the trackball.

Summary:The overall feel and operation is great. I would happily reccomend it to anyone. The things that would make this a five star rating would be to make the trackball a bit smaller and the scroll ring smoother feeling and wider.

Reviewed by: ejh7977 on 21-Nov-03 Rating:

Strengths:It has a very natural \"hold\". There is also a scrolling dial mechanism that is very easy to use when you want to scroll down large documents or web pages. The trackball moves very fluidly.

Weaknesses:The trackball comes with an attachable wrist pad but it just doesn\'t want to stay attached to it.

Summary:If you are looking for a high-end trackball mouse then this may be the product for you. It has great accuracy, large buttons, and a very convenient scroll dial. The only bad thing about it is that the attachable wrist pad doesn\'t stay attached securely.