Review on Black PERIMICE-720 Wireless Ergonomic Trackball Mouse With Adjustable Angle By Perixx - Boost Your Productivity by Ryan Bowers

I used to love my Logitech M570 trackball and have used Logitech's keyboards and mice for years and years. But, when the left and right buttons on my M570 started acting weird and I found out that you have to buy new micro switches for them and solder them in yourself to fix it, I started shopping for a new trackball.It's not easy to find a good trackball mouse at a low price, but I think I finally have. I'm surprised that trackballs aren't more popular and commonly used given that they take up little space, are easy on your arm and wrist and can be so much more precise than a regular mouse. I'd not heard of Perixx before, so I read every review on ever site that I could find before buying this mouse.I use trackball mice because I do a lot of text, image and audio editing for work. I also enjoy turn-based and real-time strategy games which benefit from very precise cursor control.Out of the box, I wasn't so sure about this Perixx trackball because it seemed like the cursor zinged all over the place and the buttons didn't do what I thought they'd do. But, then I downloaded the software driver and configure program from the Perixx website Perixx USA (Perixx.com). The site listed in the manual doesn't work anymore, but a quick search found the one that does. It was easy to find the right driver and install it. Though once I opened the software, it took a bit to figure out which button some of the options were pointing to. Maybe color coding the options with the buttons on the graphic would help.Now, that I've configured the trackball to my liking, I love it! It controls the cursor very precisely, especially after I adjusted the DPI (dots of movement per inch - or how far the mouse cursor travels on the screen relative to how much you have to move the ball) from the default 1600 down to 800. Might seem counter intuitive, but I found after reading articles about DPI and experimenting with settings, that actually lower is better when it comes to making a trackball more accurate. I'm glad that the DPI is easy to change. You can even switch from the high setting that you chose to the low setting that you chose without opening the software, by flipping a switch on the bottom of the mouse.The buttons are all easy to reach while focusing on the computer screen which is critical while playing RTS and shooter games. The little button behind the scroll wheel and between the left and right buttons is a little weird but I set it to a generic 'click' setting so that hitting it by accident won't do anything unusual until I get used to it being there.I love that you can program the buttons so much. It's cool to set one of the little buttons above the trackball to a rapid fire left or right click. Really handy for games that make you hammer away on the mouse buttons. Now, I can just hold this button down to auto fire like you can on some third party console controllers.Some people complain about the scroll wheel not feeling smooth, but I actually like it being like it is because it feels like I can control the amount that I scroll more precisely, especially after slowing the scroll speed down in the software. Out of the box, it was too sloppy for me but that was easily remedied. That's why I give the 'Easy to use' only four stars - because you have to configure the trackball before it really works like it should.The ball itself is purple which isn't my favorite color, but I'm not paying extra in a different transaction to buy a different colored ball. Would have been nice if Perixx had given me the option to choose a different color at the outset. I'll get used to purple eventually. :)I like the satin finish of the whole thing. Not too slick but not too textured either. It has a good shape that lets your hand relax while still being able to reach all the buttons. The two things that I never really liked about my Logitech Trackman Marble Mouse, as much as I like it, were that your hand got cramped after an hour of use and it didn't have a scroll wheel. This Perixx trackball solves both things.I also love that you can still find a wired version of this mouse. I had a wireless mouse with the M570 and hated having to change out batteries just to keep the accuracy as high as possible. Waste of money and materials having to put batteries in things like keyboards and mice for a desktop PC, so I prefer wired for those things.