I like trackballs. Finger trackballs to be more specific because the thumb trackballs cause pain in my thumb. I also like the concept of the vertical mouse. This is my attempt at making a vertical trackball a reality.

I have a Kensington Expert but I don't like its ergonomics. First is the upward tilt it has, which is bad for my wrist. The wrist pad helps some but it doesn't improve the fact that you'll need your hands to be in a pronated position instead of a vertical\neutral position. Lastly, the placement of the buttons make me do finger gymnastics.

So I removed the top cover, sawed off the sides, removed the scroll ring and rehomed the left and right buttons to one side. This allows my hand to be in a more neutral\vertical position, gives a larger ball surface to control and my thumb can easily reach the two primary buttons easily. I also don't have to reach for buttons above the ball. This concept makes a lot more sense to me.

For scrolling I use drag scroll on the top left button with my ring\middle finger since I can reach it more easily now that my hand is vertical. For middle click I originally tried to put it in between the two primary buttons but it was too cramped. For now it's at the top right button but I am using the right click menu for any middle click option.

My wish is for a commercial trackball of similar design that puts buttons at the thumb instead of all around the ball. To make it more ambidextrous those buttons could be swung to the left or right side. The ball could also have a bit of a tilt to the left or right.

I'm a big fan of the shape and design of the Elecom EX-G, but the lack of a bluetooth version has been frustrating when I'm working not from home. My MacBook Pro doesn't have old style USB ports so I really would like a BT enabled one, so I don't need a long cable and adapter, or dongle and adapter.

I was curious about the Bitra as a portable BT enabled alternative, so ordered one as soon as it became available outside Japan last week.

Initial impressions

- It's very small. Like, perfect size for my 6 year old's hand. Photo has it beside the EX-G, which isn't a huge trackball itself.
- The case is nice... but pretty much defeats the purpose of a tiny trackball - portability. It's bigger than my full size EX-G. I'll likely just toss the Bitra in my bag.
- Ergonomics are... hmm. I'm not sure this going to fill the need I thought it was. It's sufficiently tiny that i'm not sure I prefer it to just using my trackpad. I much prefer the full size EX-G to the trackpad, but this is eensy teensy.
- The small ball seems more sensitive to dirt and stickiness, but I'll give it a bit of time to see how it goes.

Overall... i'm not sold, but I'll try it for a few days before deciding whether to keep or return.

Does anybody have experience / can tell me about their experiences in using trackballs for cad programs, specifically solidworks.

I recently had to switch from catia 3dX to solidworks and the different ways of house pan, zoom and rotate are handled are driving me crazy so I thought it might be worth to switch to different devices like spacemouse or a trackball. I never liked the spacemouse as it is super inprecise with the velocity control rather than position control and recently came across a video from David Liu who designed a mod to the kensington slimblade for exactly this.

Another concern I had is that CAD requires both manipulation of the model and moving the cursor across the screen for button actions and clicking features. I thought it would be super cool to use a mice on my right hand for cursor control and a trackball in my left for model manipulation but not for cursor movements. Does anybody have a clue if this is possible?

All tips, info or experiences are welcome. I am currently also hoping for the expert mouse pro tb900 eq to be released as it has dual sensors which, from what i understood) might allow for better cad manipulation.

Hey everyone! I missed my chance to snag a Nape Pro on Amazon US a month+ ago. I've been following various threads about it, and I'm still curious about its usability. The ball bearing swap seems like a must do.

I have a short stop over in Japan and was thinking of grabbing one while I'm there. I have a feeling I'll use it for a little bit and it'll just end up collecting dust.

So please tell me, are you guys still using it? Have you gotten used to the scroll wheel being sticky? Are you still accidentally hitting the buttons? Was it cool as a novelty and have given up on it?

I replaced my original bearings on my kensington expert in October 2025. It was initially amazing, but now, it's becoming a pain to use my trackball because how stiff it can be. I've tried lubing the bearings, cleaning them dry, and at this point, I might just order new bearings, but just not ceramic again.

Hi guys,

I recently got the Ugreen M785DR trackball. As far as I know, this model shares the exact same OEM hardware/shell as the Nulea M514.

I'm currently running into an issue on macOS with the Forward and Back buttons:

• Without official drivers: Out of the box, macOS does not recognize the Forward and Back buttons at all.

• With Ugreen's Mac driver installed: The buttons start functioning for standard forward/back navigation in browsers, but third-party remapping software—specifically SteerMouse—still fails to detect or map them properly.

When inspecting the input via SteerMouse's Device Log, it clearly catches a signal, but it appears to send keyboard scan codes (Left Arrow 0x50 and Right Arrow 0x4F) rather than standard mouse button HID signals (Mouse 4 / Mouse 5).

Here are the device logs captured when pressing each button:

Back Button Log:

0001-0002-02 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

0001-0002-01 01 00 ** ** ** 00 00

0001-0002-02 02 01 00 50 00 00 00 00 00

0001-0002-02 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

0001-0002-02 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Forward Button Log:

0001-0002-02 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

0001-0002-01 01 00 ** ** ** 00 00

0001-0002-02 02 01 00 4F 00 00 00 00 00

0001-0002-02 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

0001-0002-02 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

I have already submitted a support inquiry to the SteerMouse developer with these logs to see if custom mapping or official support can be added.

In the meantime, I wanted to ask the community:

1. Does anyone using the Nulea M514 experience this exact same behavior on macOS?
2. Has anyone found a workaround using Karabiner-Elements, Mac Mouse Fix, or USB Overdrive to remap these specific buttons?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

I love my Deft Pro and have been using it for years but, it's almost to a point of needing a replacement.

My only real issue is the optical/infrared sensor used for the scroll wheel as it becomes unreliable or sensitive at times and other times it stops working due to debris that requires disassembly to clean out.

So I'm curious if anyone knows yet if they still use the same thing or if they've switched to something else like magnetic or analogue sensors in their current lineup.

I got the IST Pro about 5 months ago and while I like the layout of the mouse its crap bearing design has made it the most frustrating, inconsistent piece of shit I've ever had to use so I really need a replacement for it.

I'm basically looking for a thumb ball mouse that has as little stiction as possible- those are pretty much my only two requirements. Finger balls are not an option.

Also I don't give a fuck about how wet you get over your shitty Elecom trash, fanboys. If it wasn't a piece of shit then I wouldn't need to replace it. Downvoting doesn't somehow magically make my IST Pro stop sucking ass and make me wrong.