Home > Consumer Reviews > Microsoft D67-00001 Trackball Optical Mouse

While I don't always think M$ is a computing Godsend when it comes to software, this trackball is the best input peripheral I've used yet.

I have what I think is a larger than normal hand, so I find most mice and trackballs are too small for me to use comfortably. This causes my hand to tire out rather quick. This trackball however is of a decent enough size for me to rest my hand on without much fatigue.

The USB PS/2 adapter is a nice touch. I love the narrow back/forward (By default) buttons on the outer edges of the primary and secondary buttons. Web and folder browsing is definately faster with those. The scroll wheel button as a double-click also is a nice option.

For those hardcore mousers out there, it will take a bit of time to get used to a thumb ball, but I think it pays off as I now feel that I have better control. It also requires less desk space because the unit doesn't have to move around a la mouse. Mouse pads need not apply as well. Some grit occasionally gets in the small bearing that the ball moves on, but they are easliy cleaned with a brush of the finger, and they never get as nasty as regular mice.

The software is nice and easy to set up with a graphic interface that shows the buttons you are setting. I know some people that can appreciate that.

I bought one a while back for home, and then asked work to '[give]it up' and help out my ergonomics. Now my other home PC is needing one.

My one gripe with this trackball is that it could have been improved upon by layering it with a thin coat of rubber to make it even more comfortable. This is a small gripe to be sure, as I can be at the computer much longer with this than a conventional mouse before my hand bothers me.

I bought the new trackball Intellimouse in one of those strange fits of upgraditis that come over techies such as I at unexpected moments. Several years ago I bought a Logitech thumb trackball to help me with a wrist problem. It served its purpose admirably. By the time my wrist was back to normal, I was a complete convert to this configuration.

Now this old trackball was wearing out. The buttons, which rely on plastic 'springs,' were losing their bounce. They are also cut too close to the desktop, which meant that I was regularly taking the unit apart to remove something that had slipped in. It was a non-optical ball as well and the rollers, which are always getting mucked up, where getting harder to clean. It was time.

On the surface, the Intellimouse looks very nice. The unit cradles my right hand perfectly and has a slightly rough surface that keeps my hand from slipping. All four buttons have excellent feel, and the center wheel but has a slight rubber coating for grip and a very nice graduated movement. The ball itself turns freely with no effort under light pressure, but is capable of good precision when pressure is increased to slow it down. Overall impression is that this is a superbly engineered pointing device.

The IntelliPoint software is the usual high Microsoft standard. All the buttons are definable, pointers are customizable, and ball and wheel response is adjustable. Adjustments are also available for double-click speed, and to adjust orientation to your thumb. There is also a nifty option that lets you use a feature called ClickLock to make click and drag easier.

For many, this is the ideal thumb trackball mouse. Unfortunately, for me, there is a slight design flaw that creates a source of irritation. The primary left and right mouse buttons are a tiny bit too narrow for my fingers! This means that I am perpetually hitting the outer buttons if my fingers are not perfectly placed. Under game pressure, or while engaged in heavy websurfing, this can make you crazy, fast! Since the software does not permit inner and outer buttons to be defined identically, the only corrective option is to turn the outer buttons off. Occasionally I manage to press only the outer button and find myself repeatedly hitting the button while nothing is happening -- until I realize what's going on. Gradually, I'm learning to be more precise about where I put my fingers, but I could just as well have done without the outer buttons in the first place.

If you are a bit more adept than me, have the right kind of fingers or are already used to four button mice you will probably love this device. I find myself liking it more as I adapt to it. But there is no reason why Microsoft couldn't have simply made the primary buttons large enough to prevent the problem in the first place. Instead, an engineering oversight keeps this mouse from getting the full honors it otherwise deserves.

I have both this Microsoft Trackball Optical (at my office) and the alternative Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical (at home) and while the ergonomics are pretty much the same, the ball movement is much smoother on the Logitech. The Microsoft ball is manufactured using a translucid plastic that is not hard enough and causes it to "stick" to the rollers inside its casing.

Let me try to explain because I feel this is very important. Even though the trackball is optical (meaning there is a laser beam inside the casing that "reads" the ball movement), there are rollers in the form of tiny metal balls (the size of the head of a pin) over which the ball rolls. This "sticking" of the ball causes the movement of the cursor to be imprecise. When you try to roll the ball with your thumb just a pixel, it gets a bit hard (doesn't move) and then it releases it's stick and rolls too much.

On the Logitech however this does not happen. The construction is the same (plastic ball that rolls on tiny balls in the casing and a laser beam that reads the movement) but the ball is a little smaller and made of a much harder plastic. This harder plastic does not stick to the rollers inside the casing, so the ball is always free and the movement is smooth.

I definitely recommend you get the Logitech over the Microsoft model. Logitech has both a wired and wireless trackball models, both work the same way. Check them out.

MS has produced a strong trackball superior to many others I have tried. The ergo's are great and your hand relaxes naturally around the design. In fact others in my office have used it with nothing but positive feedback. The 4 button design and wheel fit my hand perfectly. I do have a medium size hand but others with larger fingers haven't had a problem. I have noticed in the 5 months of daily use that the ball does on rare ocassion tend to stick moving vertically. Maybe twice for 30 seconds in a 5 day workweek. I just move the mouse horizontally to loosen it a little and continue to work. The source of the problem is always gunk attached to the 3 metal numbs on the inside of the depression. A quick cleaning by my finger instantly corrects the situation. I clean perhaps once a month at most. The plastic post inside is not the problem. This trackball is packed with features. They really increase the value of the product and produce less handstrain. The ClickLock feature is the best followed by the Autowheel. I recommend this trackball to everyone, but think it is especially necessary for those of you who spend a great deal of time using a mouse/trackball. Your hand will just feel better and the end of the day.

As an electrical engineer, I spend countless hours working on the computer. I started to develop pain in my right wrist that I figured was likely due to grasping the mouse. A friend suggested switching to a track-ball. I bought this item, and now have no pain in my wrists! I highly recommend this item because it essentially eliminates the squeezing motion linked to ordinary mice. I actually prefer using the trackball over a regular mouse, it has a much more fluid movement. If you are looking to this item because your wrist is hurting, I think you will be happy.

It takes a few hours to get used to the change, but once you conquer that you'll wish you switched earlier. It has two extra buttons which are a great idea for surfing the web, they let you jump forward and back through web sites with no effort, further eliminating wrist movement. If you like you can set them for other tasks, but I like the default. The scroll wheel is really nice. It moves very smoothly and quietly.

I gave it four out of five stars because I could not get the mouse to work through the USB port of my workstation, but I think that problem is linked to Windows 2000's lackluster USB support. Linux had no problem getting it to work through the USB, neither did Windows 98. Microsoft's Intellimouse software (that comes with the trackball, or can be downloaded from the web) is nicely refined.