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Comment by tyingq | Hacker News Reader

There's a Kensington trackball where you spin a ring for scrollwheel: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81T0oXLJoBL...

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Kensington expert mouse has that. I use it, it's the best I found but its still far from great. The way the ring spins feels as you were moving plastic over plastic without any bearings - which is actually what's happening.

Btw I think your picture is a Slimblade model in which you have to rotate the ball.

Logitech Ergo MX is fine, it's built much better but Kensigton design is superior. It's not possible to be that accurate with a thumb and you also move slower because of a smaller ball. With KEM you can be fast and accurate. And scroll design is great, just badly implemented.

Exactly, Expert Mouse = ring, Slimblade = the ball itself.

In Slimblade you can scroll from your neutral hand position, that's what sells it to me.

I've owned a Slimblade for 10 years, have tried all sorts of trackballs, and I can't imagine anything better for daily use.

I got the KEM for work, but requiring hand adjustment to scroll feels like a definite step back, so I sent it back and ordered a second Slimblade instead.

I like Elecom HUGE and I've bound the rightmost button (so the fifth) so that when holding it the trackball works as vertical and horizontal scroll wheel. Works great for scrolling large areas, though there's still the regular scroll wheel with side-ways switches for perhaps more precise maneuvers.

Do you only use index finger to operate it? Or can it be operated with 2-3 fingers given its shape? I mean the ball.

You can use 2-3 fingers. I'm not parent poster but for me the elecom deft pro was better than the huge; huge was just too big. It can also be operated with 2-3 fingers.

Maybe 3 fingers more often than 2.

I had that one for a bit, it felt really low quality and not very comfortable (at least for my hand shape).

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