Hello everyone!

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the trackball mouse? I've never used one myself.

It's one of the best three-word jokes. The trackball mouse! *audience breaks out in roaring laughter"

I use one because it takes up less space, but it's constantly getting gunky and it's not very good for gaming.

Disadvantages: trackballs suck
Advantages: If you have a wrist injury you might need one anyway

Compared to a mouse:

Advantages:
+ Doesn't need much of desk space, so it may be good for e.g. using from sofa and such.

Disadvantages:
- Costs more than a mouse.
- Takes some getting used to.
- Less precise for games.

Note that there are mainly two kinds of trackballs, those where the ball is on the top and you control it with your index and middle fingers (I think) and then the buttons somehow else, and then there is e.g. Logitech M570 where you control the trackball with your thumb, and other fingers control the mouse buttons and the wheel like with a normal mouse.

I have a M570, I don't have much experience with the other kinds of trackballs where the ball is on the top. I like how it feels in hand somewhat like a mouse (the only difference is that you don't move it around with your arm, but roll the trackball with your thumb; other fingers work the same way as with a mouse), so it is probably easier to learn.

I feel it is pretty good for desktop use (even copy&paste operations), but for high-speed FPS games, it certainly feels more awkward than a proper mouse. Then again many play FPS games even with a gamepad, so I guess it is doable. I just recall when playing Far Cry 2 (single-player) with the M570 trackball, it felt fine when things were relatively quiet, but when action got serious and I got startled or something, I kept missing my targets etc. I'm sure it was partly also about lack of practice, but not only about it.

To elaborate a bit more, the thumb trackball feels pretty fine for horizontal movement even in FPS games (where you roll the ball sideways with your thumb), but for vertical movement where you need to kinda flex your thumb a bit to roll the ball up and down, that is somewhat awkward IMHO. If it is a high speed game, sometimes I feel my other fingers have moved away from the mouse buttons and the wheel as I've been rolling the thumb ball so vigorously, moving my whole hand.

If you were thinking of buying a trackball, for what reason?

They are large, expensive and imprecise relics of the mid nineties and I'm surprised anyone remembers them with anything but derission.

Oooh, that kind of trackball mouse. Never seen that before, actually. I thought you were referring to those old mice that had a ball underneath them to track the mouse's movement, instead of that silly red light mine has now. I was already wondering hard whether they were actually still making those ...

So why does Kensington still sell them or Logitech?

A sucker born every minute.

Disadvantage: when used on a customer machine, some random dickbag can steal the ball over the weekend.

Advantage: I can return the favor by replacing the trackball with a cheap-ass mouse and a pink polka-dot mousepad.

We'll see if the customer is amused.

My boss used one at the Mac repair shop. The glass counters messed with laser mice though.

Come to think of it, I had a boss at the tax factory (now retired partner) that used one as well.

This is why I should work for myself...

I wasn't. That thing looks impractical. I wanted to know if there was a use for it that I might've overlooked. Aside from space limitations and hand injuries it looks like trackballs are inferior to standard mice.

They're actually pretty expensive too from what I've seen.

Once you get used to them (there's a learning curve) they're pretty ok. I know a few graphics designers who swear by them. For gaming, they're just as good as normal mice for turn-based games, and significantly worse than normal mice for real-time games. I think the biggest part of the bad rap they get is from people who try one for a few minutes and then give up. If you'll develop the muscle memory, there's not much about a trackball that should bother you.

If you get a wireless one, it's pretty nice to be able to play games or browse the internet while laying down, without having to deal with the irritation of using the laptop's trackpad, or the bother of using a mouse on a surface that's far from ideal.

That's the wrong lesson. The lesson is that if you want to be boss, you should use a trackball.