Advice needed on mouse / track ball for PC.

[82-T/A]

BLUF/TL;DR: What is the best mouse / track-ball to use for playing games?

 

Hey guys... long story short, occasionally, I like to keep my wife company while she's watching college football, hahaha. While she's doing that, I like to play AD&D games on this small laptop I have. I'm usually sitting on the couch with the laptop on my lap, and using a mouse just isn't convenient. Is there a trackball or something I can hold in my hand, and... is the "resolution" of the trackballs as good as a mouse? I want to be able to play Eye of the Beholder and Ultima Underworld... what would you use? Never used a trackball for a PC before... thanks!

[82-T/A]

This good? Don't really know what I'm looking for.

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAGHB7U48490

[Tanooki]

That is I think the exact model I found second hand a couple years back or so. It's fantastic. I've been able to keep up not just with click bait RTS/D&D style stuff, but I got comfortable enough to wreck it with more active things like FPS and 1st/3rd person titles too. I've put a lot of rolls and clicks on it without fail or issue.

 

The only thing you do run up against is hand oil/grime collects in the ball space as there are these 3 tiny points with a little metal ball in there to help it track and they can get gummed up. Maybe just remember once a month to q-tip and alcohol that shiny and you're good. For this year I'm using a steelseries gaming mouse I found at a flea as I wanted to just try it out and left it there, but recently I pulled the trackball out of where I stored it and I just need to feed it a battery and put it back. I may do it just now since your exact link reminded me of it so I'm going to pull it out again now.

 

EDIT: Just looked, it is, same one exactly. I played entirely through a full game of Diablo 3+Reaper of Souls with it and part of another with no issues or discomfort. Buy it.

 

You can get them for $25-30 new on ebay, that link you had is way too high.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Tanooki

[82-T/A]

That is I think the exact model I found second hand a couple years back or so. It's fantastic. I've been able to keep up not just with click bait RTS/D&D style stuff, but I got comfortable enough to wreck it with more active things like FPS and 1st/3rd person titles too. I've put a lot of rolls and clicks on it without fail or issue.

 

The only thing you do run up against is hand oil/grime collects in the ball space as there are these 3 tiny points with a little metal ball in there to help it track and they can get gummed up. Maybe just remember once a month to q-tip and alcohol that shiny and you're good. For this year I'm using a steelseries gaming mouse I found at a flea as I wanted to just try it out and left it there, but recently I pulled the trackball out of where I stored it and I just need to feed it a battery and put it back. I may do it just now since your exact link reminded me of it so I'm going to pull it out again now.

 

EDIT: Just looked, it is, same one exactly. I played entirely through a full game of Diablo 3+Reaper of Souls with it and part of another with no issues or discomfort. Buy it.

 

You can get them for $25-30 new on ebay, that link you had is way too high.

 

Thanks Tanooki! After your reply, I found one on Newegg for $22, refurbed (they had 100 of them), free shipping. So that'll work awesome. Thanks!!!

[CatPix]

Trackballs are underestimated in gaming... Or just in general use.

I can't go back to mouses since I adopted a trackball.

I suppose it come from the fact that early trackballs had more DPI than mouses, and that most users were graphists that tuned them on the slowest speed - so you still hear that trackballs are slow. Of course, it take a bit of time to get used on usign the thumb to move the cursor, but, that's about 30 mins/one hour to get the feel of it, and in one to two days you should be able to "fly" with is like you'd do with a standard mouse.

[Tanooki]

No problem. I've been off and on trackballs probably for 15+ years now. I tend to find them in random places, the first was a sale somewhere on an old MS one with the red ball and it lasted a few years until some button failed on it. After that it has all been second hand in the last near decade so when I do luck into one I just buy it and store it as they don't come up but rarely. The one I have now has lasted the longest and been of the best quality which is why I kind of gushed over it. I actually did put that mouse up and pulled the thing back out and I'm using it again. It's just more comfortable once you get over just learning the flow of using the thumb to move the pointer around it's second nature and really easier than lift/drag with the mouse. It's a true life saver on a lap/couch limited space situation too.

 

Fair argument there catpix put up for the DPI/tracking, it's true. I used to meddle with Photoshop years ago (suck at it again now from forgetting) and I'd get better click, pull, motion type precision creeping the ball around than the mouse which would feel (as it was lower DPI and all) to be popping around and before lasers even more obvious with a dirty/rougher mouse ball.

[82-T/A]

No problem. I've been off and on trackballs probably for 15+ years now. I tend to find them in random places, the first was a sale somewhere on an old MS one with the red ball and it lasted a few years until some button failed on it. After that it has all been second hand in the last near decade so when I do luck into one I just buy it and store it as they don't come up but rarely. The one I have now has lasted the longest and been of the best quality which is why I kind of gushed over it. I actually did put that mouse up and pulled the thing back out and I'm using it again. It's just more comfortable once you get over just learning the flow of using the thumb to move the pointer around it's second nature and really easier than lift/drag with the mouse. It's a true life saver on a lap/couch limited space situation too.

 

Fair argument there catpix put up for the DPI/tracking, it's true. I used to meddle with Photoshop years ago (suck at it again now from forgetting) and I'd get better click, pull, motion type precision creeping the ball around than the mouse which would feel (as it was lower DPI and all) to be popping around and before lasers even more obvious with a dirty/rougher mouse ball.

 

Just got it! It was a refurb for $22, and it's immaculate, new as far as I can tell. It works awesome... thanks for the rec again!

[Eltigro]

Millipede and Centipede... other than that, never really used a track ball much. But man they're perfect for those games...

[deepthaw]

I paid something like... $32 for a Razer Abyssus six years ago and it's held up well and worked fantastically in games.

[Tanooki]

 

Just got it! It was a refurb for $22, and it's immaculate, new as far as I can tell. It works awesome... thanks for the rec again!

Glad to hear it, still using mine again. I'm comfortable again after a few hours of thumbing it and it's second nature once more. Glad you like it, and the profile is nice on it so it works great on the couch or whatever other odd surface too.