Kensington SlimBlade Trackball
The first thing that will strike you about the SlimBlade is the enormous size of its ball - with a 55mm diameter it’s about the same size as a snooker ball and not far off the same weight. Being so big and heavy it 'rests on' rather the 'clips into' the base which, in itself, is on the large size – 150x135mm at its widest. The left and right click buttons are actually the two large areas behind the ball. With the Windows or Mac software installed, the forward left button activates Media mode while the forward right button puts it into Document View mode. A handy on-screen icon flashes up to let you know which mode the Slimblade is in. As the keen-eyed of you will have noticed, the SlimBlade lacks a scroll wheel. To scroll up and down pages you have to twist the trackball to the left or right, an operation made rather satisfying by a pleasant 'click' action. Not cheap at almost £100 but you do get a lot of mouse for your money.
Reg Rating 80%
Price £100 Click for the best online price
More Info Kensington
3M Ergonomic Mouse
Though 3M's mouse may look like a joystick it isn't. You hold it like a good old fashioned gaming control but, to make it work, you have to push it around as you would a conventional mouse. This feels a little strange at first because you have to you use your arm rather than wrist, but that's the whole point. 3M has a specific aim in with this model; to prevent RSI and carpal tunnel syndrome in very heavy duty users. Left and right click buttons are replaced by controls on the top of the stick and next to the finger rest, which both fall naturally to hand after a short while. Available in both small/medium and large sizes, the 3M may not be a beauty but it’s a solid recommendation for anyone whose mouse usage goes beyond the usual domestic levels.
Reg Rating 85%
Price £60 Click for the best online price
More Info 3M
COMMENTS
Five buttons on a Mac
I've got a five-button Microsoft mouse connected to my Mac and all five buttons work without hassle. I've assigned the extra three buttons to activate Exposé - it's the future!
Also, "Window's users"?
Euroffice sell 3M mouse for 30 quid!
I got one of the 3M joystick-like mice today. I hurt my wrist ages ago and it still gets sore on the odd occassion, so a RSI-reducing mouse like this is a Godsend.
First impressions? I thought "WTF!" on first using it, I couldn't select anything, errant clicks, there's no mousewheel button, and it tended to move itself now and again (my hasty wiring) but after an hour or 2 let me tell you I think it's going to be the best mouse I ever had. FOR WORK.
Don't buy it for games or pixel art, there's no way in hell this is accurate enough for pixel-perfect shooting or Paint.NET/GIMP etc (then again, maybe in a month I'll be a ninja with the mouse and I'll regret saying it, but tbh I can't see how you can get perfect lateral movement with this guy due to the way you hold it)
But if you spend 8 hours a day in an office typing and working with the mouse most of the time, like me (lots of Visual Studio windows to swap through) then I would recommend this bad boy.
PS: it also looks extremely cool. My wife likes it! (the mouse I mean.)
What happened to Logitech G9??
My favourite, it turned out that gamer mice solved my RSI problems... :)
Logi G5
The G5 is fantastic, especially when combined with a good pad. The biggest advantage for me over the MX mice is the non-teflon feet which are still gliding perfectly after two years of use. There are 3 possible dpi switch levels controlled by a button above the scroll wheel, but they're programmable with SetPoint, as is the sensitivity on each axis. The scroll wheel has nice subtle notching, not stupidly heavy clicks on it, but nice gentle scrolling that lets you know when you hit the next notch. This makes it difficult for me to use the middle button but I've always found that difficult since they started putting scroll wheels on them. Other than that, the rock function of the scroll wheel (you can move it left and right to move pages left and right) is a welcome addition, and if you're into gaming and can be arsed spending a little time on it, the weighting system can actually make a difference. Mine's a little tuned, but to be honest, I just set it up to be the same weight as my MX500 was and went from there. Buttons still click perfectly after a couple years use, and it's also incredibly comfy.
Mogo point of order
The MOGO is an excellent mouse, but mine has started acting up. The left mouse button has semi died and is almost unusable. The cause? Gaming. I have taken the mouse around-the-world with me, through jungles, across deserts and the only thing that damaged it was playing Mount & Blade in the evenings!
Regards,
Basho
www.outsideconext.com
