Review of Kensington Slimblade™ Trackball Mouse

Everyone has a favorite mobile mouse; that is, except me.  I have tens of them and can’t seem to get comfortable with any of them.  One thing all have in common, though, is that they are bluetooth.  I hate having to plug something into my USB port to just run a peripheral and already have to do that with my scanner and presentation remote.  I don’t want that with my mouse.

Kensington seems to be moving more and more into the business traveler’s briefcase and with their innovative mice, they look to be establishing a foothold on the market.  I have both their Slimblade™ Bluetooth Presentation Mouse and the Trackball Mouse.  This review will focus only on the trackball mouse.

First, a little history of my distaste for trackballs.  Whenever I had to help someone at their desk and they had one of those large, rounded trackball mice, I winced.  I hated having to try to maneuver around the desktop with this clumsy and uncomfortable mass that seemingly required strong middle fingers.  I never felt comfortable using them and never really gave one a chance to convince me that there was utility in the idea.

With that prejudice, I did find the concept of this mobile trackball mouse intriguing.  The reason is not so much the trackball itself; it is more the functionality possibilities.  Kensington didn’t just place a trackball in it – it gave the user the choice of using the trackball as a pointer (regular mouse function) or as a (rounded) wheel to scroll down and across documents.  To change the function of the trackball, you need only double-click a button surrounding the ball.

Before I get to how well Kensington delivers on this, I’ll speak to the basic functions of the mouse.

1.  Footprint – the mouse is acceptably small (not the smallest and it won’t fit in your outdated PC Card slot as some will but it doesn’t take much space in your bag) and is light as you would expect from any portable peripheral.  It uses two AA batteries and has a power-saving mechanism that puts it into sleep mode when your computer is turned off.   You can also turn it off by pressing the button surrounding the trackball for 3 seconds.

2.  Usability – I read some reviews where users complained about dirt getting into the trackball roller and causing it to lose its trackball function.  I haven’t experienced that yet but understand any frustration that this would cause since it doesn’t appear that you can take the trackball mechanism apart to clean it.  In my experience with the mouse, the trackball worked flawlessly as did the laser that sits under it for normal mouse function.  As a regular mouse, it works well.

Underneath the mouse is a cover that opens and closes around the laser – I assume this is for transit but not sure why it is necessary if the mouse goes into sleep mode.  There is also a large (relative to other mice) blue button that is used to pair the mouse to your computer.

The reason why I wanted to review this mouse was to see if the trackball function would allow mobile users to use a mouse in cramped spaces where you didn’t have room to use a traditional mouse.  How did the Kensington deliver on this feature?

Pretty well in my opinion.  I have found myself using it in chairs and couches, resting the mouse on the arm (or on my lap) and using the trackball as a pointer.  Then, when I want to scroll the document, I double-click on the button, wait for the short delay, then scroll.  When I am ready to use as a mouse again, I double click again.

Granted, this took some getting used to.  At first I found myself trying to will the mouse into behaving the way I was thinking.  However, after some mental training on my part, I became pretty adept at utilizing the mouse as intended.  It literally allowed me to use the trackball both to scroll documents and as a pointer without moving my hand.

The only drawback goes back to my distaste for trackballs.  To me they have always been inelegant and take too much effort to use with any precision.  In this regard, I have to admit that with practice, the trackball can be pretty precise and without much effort.  It is really just an issue of training yourself to work with your finger rather than your wrist.

I can happily say that the Kensington Slimblade™ Trackball Mouse was a good purchase that will be the only mouse in my laptop case for a long time as long as it functions properly.