Joystick* rather than a mouse: what´s there ? (* edit: it´s a vertical mouse)

[CapnLockheed]

I was forced to switch to a trackball due to tendonitis & carpal tunnel from too much mousing around. I tried several. The Logitech M570 was the clear winner. I can't imagine using anything else.
Mice feel really clunky now.

All I use is the Logitech M570... It's a THUMBBALL mouse & much more on target than a mouse I can even paint-draw with it when I am too lazy to plug the wacom tablet in... I have about 6 of these buggers & cannot go back to a lame mouse... With the M570 your mouse 'base' stays still, only the thumb ball moves so you can rest it on odd surfaces like your leg...

Agree 100% I currently have four myself. You must be the guy that keeps outbidding me on eBay......LOL!!

[foosnark]

Well, now the left button on my cheap vertical mouse is starting to be less reliable. And I immediately thought of this thread.

After debating with myself whether to go for the Logitech M570 or MX Ergo, or Kensington, I went for a Ploopy Adept. Silly name, and it's 3D printed which makes it look kind of cheesy in some photos... but the reviews of it seem pretty great, like it's almost universally loved by people who try it. I'll be sure to report in once it arrives and I see what I think.

[pekbro]

I went for a Ploopy Adept. Silly name, and it's 3D printed which makes it look kind of cheesy in some photos... but the reviews of it seem pretty great, like it's almost universally loved by people who try it. I'll be sure to report in once it arrives and I see what I think.

Neat! I like the idea of those, tho I don't have a 3d printer to repair it if it broke.

[Funky40]

i got my kensington trackball in yesterday. The thing is way bigger than anticipated, haha.

Looks good for now vs. what i wanted it to have it for.
I went just thru some quick tests. Looks like a win for me.
Great ! Thanks !



P.S.
had to set the acceleration setting to its bare minimal value. Then it´s noticeable better vs. having some acceleration set. But that´s then nolonger useable for anything other. Which is fine for me. I have the TP for my daily tasks.

[foosnark]

Well, now the left button on my cheap vertical mouse is starting to be less reliable. And I immediately thought of this thread.

After debating with myself whether to go for the Logitech M570 or MX Ergo, or Kensington, I went for a Ploopy Adept. Silly name, and it's 3D printed which makes it look kind of cheesy in some photos... but the reviews of it seem pretty great, like it's almost universally loved by people who try it. I'll be sure to report in once it arrives and I see what I think.

First impression, after a little bit of time with it at work, some web browsing, and some gaming is it's good... the motion is smooth and the buttons are good quality. Complaints that some people had about it being "loud" because of the roller bearings are greatly exaggerated. It feels pretty accurate for the most part, and as fast as I would like too. In terms of the physical shape, I don't know yet if I prefer it over a more contoured sort of trackball.

I notice when I play Guild Wars 2, I will hold down the right button for long periods of time for camera control. I found myself getting tired with the way I was stretching my hand out. I used the VIA web app to reassign RMB to both of the right-side buttons and that seems to help.

I like the way it scrolls -- one of the buttons is assigned to "drag scroll" which uses the trackball to scroll instead of moving the cursor. That can be a little less fluid when gaming, but is great for coding & web browsing.

I plan to work on a track tonight so I'll see how I like it in a DAW...

[foosnark]

...
Overall I'd say I am not in love with the Ploopy Adept but it's good. Needs some more getting used to perhaps, and maybe I'll try X-Mouse or something else to tweak precision vs. speed (right I'm just using Windows set to pretty fast movement so i can cross the screen quickly, but "enhance pointer precision"). Where it is right now, dragging a DAW knob can be a little fiddly.

[foosnark]

I wound up getting a Nulea M505, which more or less imitates the Microsoft Trackball Explorer.

I find it generally more comfortable to use than the Adept. But something about the palm contour and the material of the plastic makes my hand want to slide right off it. I think it's probably better for smaller hands than mine. Still, I'll give it a bit to see if I get used to it better than the Adept. I find I have to think a lot less about what I'm doing with it, anyway.

[zerocrossing]

i got my kensington trackball in yesterday. The thing is way bigger than anticipated, haha.

Looks good for now vs. what i wanted it to have it for.
I went just thru some quick tests. Looks like a win for me.
Great ! Thanks !



P.S.
had to set the acceleration setting to its bare minimal value. Then it´s noticeable better vs. having some acceleration set. But that´s then nolonger useable for anything other. Which is fine for me. I have the TP for my daily tasks.

I told you. It's the bomb, as the kids say. (they still say that... right? )

[foosnark]

If you're on Mac, I've heard good things about Steermouse for adjusting acceleration etc.

On PC the only one I've found that lets you really customize acceleration has been Custom Curve. It's kind of a big klunky installation, and the free version requires you to run the GUI app instead of just having a driver in the background. It worked well for me with the Adept but with the Nulea I just went back to default Windows acceleration.

(I have been finding the Nulea much better than the Adept for my purposes. I end up resting the right side of my palm on the desk instead of trying to fit it all on the device itself. Everything is comfortable that way, and I don't have to think about what I'm doing like with the Adept.)