asdf said:
yes i was talking about
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826125017
unit. It also now has scroll ring which is much better since now i don't
have to simulate
the scroll by pressing buttons while spinning the ball.
Now you got me thinking that maybe that turbo mouse is the better unit.
Notice however
that the scroll wheel is above the ball so you will have to move your hand
to scroll through
the pages with the Expert unit you can scroll while your hand is
motionless.
Also the pad seem
to be nothing but a piece of plastic.
I was using the old one shown at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826125018. The
distance between the end of the case on the bottom or hand side to the ball
and buttons was short enough that I used a Belkin mouse pad that has a gel
pad to provide a wrist rest. I can't tell from the pics for the TurboMouse
if that bottom area is longer which would result in the heel of you hand
having to rest atop the hard plastic. If that was the case, I wouldn't get
it.
Using a scroll wheel in the pointing device has never been of much
importance to me. Because of the lopsided shape of keyboards because both
the arrow and number pads on on the rightside, I have the pointing device on
the left side so my left forearm extends straight forward instead of off at
an angle for my right forearm. It probably took a week to get used to it
and now I much prefer that setup, even for mice. With my left hand doing
the pointing, my right hand is free to use the Enter key (which is still
often needed but then I don't need to lift my hand off the pointing device)
and the arrow and number pads (which are handier for in-game controls than
the non-symmetrical alpha keys: my fingers on the numpad for movement and my
thumb over the arrow pad but for other than movement functions in the game).
As such, my right hand is also free to use the arrows or up/down keys for
scrolling around in a document. I have more control over scrolling with
those keys than spinning a wheel on a pointing device, especially if the
pointing device is moving at the same time. But that's my preference and
you want a scroll wheel or equivalent in your pointing device. When you
scroll, are you actually moving the mouse pointer around on the screen?
Most times, probably not. I'm not sure a scroll ring won't end up moving
your fingers out of position, too, or it might not be as comfortable as it
may seem.
The TurboMouse is 7 inches long. The ball's center looks to be slightly off
center, so I'm guessing it is at about 3.5" up from the bottom. I don't put
my fingers over the ball to then have to curl them backward. That is
uncomfortable and a less dextrous position for my fingers. So my fingers
are straight out with the tips above the center of the ball. That means I
really only use the back 2 buttons (most of the other stuff is fluff to me).
That would mean with my finger and palm length that my heel would be off the
plastic base an atop a gel wrist pad (that I would have to get separately,
like
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=22468
where the trackball sits atop the pad with the wrist pad butting up against
the bottom of the trackball). The old one that I had (link shown in first
line in this post) was 5.5" long so it definitely shorter (by 1.5 inches).
If you look at the old one, the top ended about .5" above the top buttons,
so much of the added 1.5" length for the TurboMouse is probably to provide
the room for the scroll wheel and row of programmable buttons along the top.
Yet, it does seem the distance from the bottom buttons to the bottom edge of
the case for the old unit is shorter than for the TurboMouse but not by
much. Using the larger photos at Newegg, the added distance seems to be for
the curved shape of the bottom of the case (which I don't like since I want
a gell pad to sit right up there). WHOA! The photos at Newegg show there
is an attachable pad for the TurboMouse but no info if it is a gel-filled
pad. Too bad Newegg is out of stock on the old ones (CompUSA doesn't
mention availability other than not in-store) but then you wanted a scroll
wheel.
In this discussion, I've been talking about the TurboMouse *Pro* but there
is a non-Pro model which is very much sized the same as the old ExpertMouse
that I used shown in the link above. See
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50036006&pfp=srch1.
However, it is priced higher than the TurboMouse and less features but
without the size needed to add those extra features. Alas, still no scroll
ring or scroll wheel. I'd rather get this unit and have the comfort of a
gel wrist pad. For me, comfort wins over glitz any and every day. You
could also get a keyboard with a scroll wheel on the side, like the Logitech
Navigator (see left side of keyboard with scroll wheel and up/down buttons
at
http://snipurl.com/m0za; I liked their older model that did NOT have the
F-lock button). While not as close as a scroll ring on the Expert Mouse, it
probably wouldn't be anymore out of position than the scroll wheel on the
TurboMouse. Unlike me where my right hand is free to use the page up/down
and arrow keys for scrolling, maybe you'll want the trackball on the right
of the keyboard which means your left hand would be free to use the scroll
wheel on the keyboard.
Again, with CompUSA, they have their satisfaction policy so you could test
each one for a bit (just consider the return shipping cost as the cost of
the "rental period"). A bit of rental cost now can save you from regret
later. If I can rent it, I'm afforded a more realistic trial than a
one-shot out-of-context test drive. If you can, see if a local store has a
display model to check it out.
