Those who spend a lot of time on a computer will be familiar with the strain that happens when you work on a computer for too long.
Hands, in particular, get a fair amount of abuse from constantly holding a mouse, which gets worse when you have to use a mouse for a living. If you use 3D modelling software, do video editing or coding, you will be familiar with the constant repetitive button presses that are required for these tasks. The standard mouse works well but if you start getting irritation and twinges in your fingers, changing the positioning of your hand can help a lot.
Vertical mice and handheld trackballs are two solid alternatives to the conventional mouse that you slide across a desk. You can get thumb trackball mice and non-handheld trackballs like the Kensington Expert Mouse Wireless Trackball that you operate with your fingers.
The Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball is a rather neat choice because it has a true ambidextrous design. The Expert trackball looks nothing like a mouse but functions like a mouse (if not better).
The Expert trackball features a comfortable detachable foam wrist pad with leather-like finish, which compliments the sleek matt black finish and giant 55mm diameter detachable red trackball.
The Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball weighs 610 grams and measures 15cm long, 13cm wide and 7cm tall. The wrist pad is approximately 12cm long, giving a total length of 27cm when attached to the trackball .
If you have never used a trackball before, you will find the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball surprisingly tactile and responsive during navigation and editing software.
The Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball uses Kensington's classic DiamondEye optical sensor, and a large scroll ring around the trackball, which is a major plus as it doubles as a jog wheel dial for editing in digital audio workstations (DAWs) like Pro Tools and Apple Logic Pro.
Using the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball scroll wheel is very easy. Scroll the ring for vertical navigation and hold the shift button while scrolling for horizontal navigation.
As far as the wireless features, the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball can connect to a computer via Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy or 2.4GHz Radio Frequency (RF) via the included USB receiver dongle that you insert in a USB port of a laptop or desktop PC.
There is a switch button on the back of the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball to make toggling between Bluetooth and Radio Frequency convenient. When choosing Bluetooth, you hold down all four buttons on the trackball simultaneously for 3-4 seconds to connect it as a bluetooth device.
Next to the Bluetooth/RF switch button, you also find an on/off power switch, which is a thoughtful addition to prevent unnecessary battery drain since the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball works with AA batteries.
Speaking of batteries, the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball has a power-saving feature (auto wake/sleep), which helps preserve battery life by automatically putting the trackball in sleep mode when not in use.
Both Bluetooth and Radio Frequency wireless are actually the same technology since Bluetooth transmits via low-power between 2.402 GHz and 2.480 GHz radio frequencies.
Many wireless devices, including the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball use their own wireless USB dongle, which uses a radio frequency specific to that device.
Having its own specific radio frequency makes using the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball in RF wireless mode more convenient because sometimes when there are too many Bluetooth receivers and devices in close proximity it can cause interference issues.
The Kensington Expert wireless trackball 2.4Ghz RF USB receiver doesn't require additional drivers so it's just a matter of plugging it into a USB port and the Expert mouse wireless trackball starts operating immediately.
The Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball is compatible across platform so, you can use it with Windows computers, as well as Mac computers and Linux computers running Chrome OS 44 or above. If you plan to use it with an old Windows computer do be aware that the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball is only compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
If using Mac, you will be glad to know that the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball works with both Apple's Mac OS X and MacOS, which runs on most Macs later that 2009. There is no actual difference between Mac OS and Mac OS X other than the change of name, which happened when Apple released macOS Sierra (version 10.12) in 2016. Before macOS Sierra (version 10.12), there was Mac OS X El Capitan (version 10.11).
The Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball works with macOS 10.8, macOS 10.9, macOS 10.10, mac OS X 10.11, macOS Sierra 10.12, macOS 10.13, and should also work with newer versions of Mac OS, including macOS Mojave (version 10.14) and the upcoming macOS Catalina (version 10.15), which will be released sometime in autumn of 2019.
Another neat feature you get with the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball include storage area for safe-keeping the 2.4GHz RF USB receiver.
On the Kensington website, you can download a software application called, TrackballWorks, which allows you to customize the buttons and setup individual click gestures by simultaneously pressing the top two buttons and lower two buttons. The individual click gestures is a nifty bit of customization that comes very useful, particularly for those working on digital audio workstation like Cubase, Ableton, Reaper and Studio One.
The click gestures allow you to toggle between the mix/edit windows and operate the "tab to transient" shortcut function very easily so, you can travel forwards and backwards to the nearest transient and separate a clip without having to hold the CTRL button (or OptionKey if using a Mac).
Kensington's TrackballWorks app also lets you tweak the pointer speed, as well as lock the axis if you wan to move it in one specific direction (X, Z, Y). Very handy if you are a designer or developer, wanting to easily move gameobjects in the Unity Editor.
From TrackballWorks, you can also adjust the speed of the scroll wheel, as well as enable inertia scrolling, which is a cool feature you also get with the MacBook Pro multi-touch trackpad, iPhones and Magic Mouse, which allows you to "flick" while scrolling as the Kensington Expert mouse wireless trackball senses the momentum of your gesture and smoothly scrolls through long pages.