I’ll probably never understand why Kensington could not simply enlarge the wheel from the Orbit and mate it to the Expert for an incomparable trackball experience. The best I can say about this scroll wheel is, it’s better than nothing. Worse, it seems to skip, stick, and pause for breath during use – leaving me with a profound lack of confidence that it will actually work when required. The bad news, you see, is that the wheel on this trackball grinds, with a sound and feel that many users describe as sand in the bearings. Having used this device, I was disappointed and puzzled by the wheel on the twice-more-costly Expert Mouse. That’s one reason I love the Kensington Orbit – a smaller, less-expensive cousin of the Expert Mouse that features a slick scroll ring around its ball. As I mentioned in my review of another wheel-less device, the 3M ergonomic mouse, I think scroll wheels are pretty important. Most trackballs don’t, instead using the ball itself for scrolling when a special combination of buttons is pressed. There’s good news and bad news about the Expert’s scroll wheel. There are no inherent stresses of use on this component that I can see. Provided you don’t pop the wrist pad off on a daily basis, though, you should be fine. It also feels like that grade of quality. With its four short posts sticking up, this plate reminds me very much of the display stands used with small action figures. The wrist rest – which looks like it should nest tightly over the front of the trackball but doesn’t – is attached by a thin plastic plate. The downside, if there is one, is less than consequential. It’s spongy soft compared to many wrist rests, and covered with a smooth leatherette-type surface similar to that of the Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard. By default your wrist is likely to end up on the desk, which is bad – and bent back due to the slope of the trackball, which is worse.Įnter the padded wrist rest provided with the Expert – big enough to accommodate any choice of operating position, and thick enough to reduce back-bending on the wrist. The Kensington Expert Mouse doesn’t have a hand-conforming shape, and thus gives no clue as to where your hand should park while using it. The wrist rest attachment plate, shown here already pegged onto the trackball body, holds the wrist rest with two plastic posts. Personally, I’m keeping my Wacom tablet handy for the fine details. Trackballs in general are not very accurate, but the Expert is precise enough that many people have reported being able to do pixel-perfect work with the thing. Most importantly for the Photoshopper set, the size of the Expert Mouse increases its potential for precision. If you have several large monitors, the ability of a trackball to spin infinitely – where a mouse would hit the edge of the pad and have to be reset – is nearly indispensable. If you have a large monitor, you’ll appreciate the ability of the Expert Mouse to cover ground with just a slight push of its large ball. These motions are not only expansive and easy to do, they’re also easy to change up while you work – helping to undermine the “repetitive” in Repetitive Strain Injury. In contrast, the large ball of the Expert can easily be driven with three fingers, your whole hand, or even your whole arm. I don’t know about you, but just thinking about it makes my finger hurt. To illustrate this, imagine trying to do CAD with a tiny, thumb-operated trackball or finger joystick such as the ones featured on early laptops. Generally speaking, input devices are considered more ergonomic when they can be driven with big motions of large muscle groups, and less ergonomic when they must be manipulated with minute movements of weaker muscles. The Kensington Expert Mouse trackball used in this review.