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A friend of mine swore by this trackball but I could never get comfortable with it.

While I don't much care for mice, I've used logitech mice on campus and their ergonomic mice are certainly better than average.

Whatever you decide upon, get a mouse or a trackball that is comfortable. Ergonomic works for me but some people don't like it. Remember, though, that you will be using your pointing device a lot. It just isn't worth your while to save a couple of bucks if your wrists are going to complain.

A friend of mine swore by this trackball but I could never get comfortable with it.

While I don't much care for mice, I've used logitech mice on campus and their ergonomic mice are certainly better than average.

Whatever you decide upon, get a mouse or a trackball that is comfortable. Ergonomic works for me but some people don't like it. Remember, though, that you will be using your pointing device a lot. It just isn't worth your while to save a couple of bucks if your wrists are going to complain.

I used to like trackpads (I have Glidepoint Waves at home and work), but this seems just as comfortable and gives much easier precision.

I've been using the Logitech Cordless Desktop Pro for about half a year now. It's a keyboard & mouse combo, both of which are wireless (by radio, so there's no need to aim at that pesky IR receiver).

The keyboard's basically similar to the Microsoft Natural, but has a number of extra keys which can be used for various things (currently only in Windows, though I suppose one could manage some xmodmap trickery in X11 too). Its feel is quite light and not too noisy, bit similar to those better Mac keyboards. There's a detachable palm rest for those who use 'em.

The mouse is quite similar to the normal Logitech 4-button wheel mouse, and may not be suitable for those of us equipped with smaller hands. It's one of those mice that need to be held with the entire hand, not just fingers so many people probably hate it.

I was somewhat doubtful when I began using the keyboard/mouse combo, especially because they had changed the arrangement of the Ins/Del/etc key block (the arrow keys are however laid out as usual) but I got used to it pretty quickly. You don't know how much you hate the cords between the computer and the keyboard or mouse until you've used cordless ones for a while. Sincerely recommended, more so since it's not too expensive for a cordless setup.

The URL for its homepage is http://www.logitech.com/ cf/products/productoverview.cfm/15

For home, I have a Logitech split keyboard with built-in touchpad. Like emacs, you either love the touchpad or hate it, but it's working wonders for me. Oh, and I ordered everything from www.logitech.com.

I was walking through a local Computer City some time ago, checking out the mice and various controllers. I hit the joystick section, and was trying a few of them out. When I got to the end of the row, I saw this one. It was a Thrustmaster. Understand, this was the first time I had heard/seen the brand name. Even aside from the name, this was the most phallic toy I had ever seen. It was ribbed, and had this swivelling tip. And the sleek styling...

I laughed so hard, I had to go get my friend from another section and point it out. He lost it. To this day, no one can say the word "Thrustmaster" around me without a giggle.

Maybe I'm immature, but it's more fun this way.

Aside from all that, it wouldn't be the first time phallic symbols have been used in advertising. Just look at a cigarette ad sometime. It's not your imagination. Very common technique. It's subtle, and can slide in under most people's radar. I wouldn't even be surprised if product designers take it into account.

Witness this:
http://www.logitech.com/ cf/products/productoverview.cfm/20

It's not just me, either. I have a second opinion. Yeah, you *know* what it looks like. Do the letters ESS mean anything to you? (Johnny Dangerously, not sound card company). Now, the way they seem to have designed this joystick is that the base is a rounded T-shape, with the controls on the long end and the stick at the cross of the T. How they chose to take the picture for this ad is a different story entirely.

Now here are some gadgets that were/are awesome for their time! (and in no particular order)

1) Cyberscope
2) Trebuchet
3) Picavet Suspension
4) Cameras
5) Cordless stuff
6) Standard based home automation
7) Scale combat
8) Webcams
9) Thermos
10) Slashdot

It's not cordless, but Logitech has released the "Wingman Gaming Mouse", which is basically the same mouse as what you're talking about (as well as the original MouseMan, and the Logitech Sensa) with a USB or PS/2 connector...the same wonderful 3-button, triangular shape. I find these to be the most comfortable mice for extended mousing that I know of.
I haven't actually found any advantage of it being a "gaming" mouse, but it works great for netscape and switching xterms.

Forget Logitech, go for Kensington. Over the years I've tried a few of the Logitech trackballs and they've all bit. The little thumb-balls offer limited control, certainly far less than I get with a regular mouse. Maybe it's just my thumb, but I found myself twitching the ball through the need to hover it unnaturally over the little ball. Last year I picked up a MarbleFX and, while the bigger ball is smooth to operate, the shape of the unit is still too awkward; it's not terribly ergonomic and it still demands too much of the thumb both in operating the ball and pressing the awkwardly-placed buttons.

Kensington's trackballs are another matter altogether. Where the Logiballs require a lot of focus on the thumb, the Expert Mouse is all fingertip operation. Very smooth to operate, very comfortable to use, the only task required of the thumb is clicking a button. The ball is a nice size, the buttons well-placed. I've recommended them to co-workers who were having shoulder problems from mousing and later had them come back and thank me. Even the little Orbit, while a little small for everyday use at a workstation, makes an ideal notebook pointer. Beats the pants off the lame touchpads, tiny marble-balls and mid-keyboard titmice built in to the units.

If Logitech would get over their fascination with thumb-orientation and small balls and produce something fingertip operated based on the MarbleFX ball and mechanism they'd probably have a winner but until that happens I'm not dropping another CA$130 on one of their devices. I've done it too many times and regretted it each time.

Billsf: Try a trackball, especially one like my LogiTech Trackman Marble, which is thumb operated. It takes a little getting used to, but you leave your arm in a single position and move only your thumb - so your back doesn't get sore from moving your entire arm around. I can "mouse" for hours without getting sore, and my "workspace" is a folding party table and a somewhat adjustable cheap office chair. With a normal mouse, I'm feeling the telltale signs of strain within 45 minutes. It really works!

HTH,

Billsf: Try a trackball, especially one like my LogiTech Trackman Marble, which is thumb operated. It takes a little getting used to, but you leave your arm in a single position and move only your thumb - so your back doesn't get sore from moving your entire arm around. I can "mouse" for hours without getting sore, and my "workspace" is a folding party table and a somewhat adjustable cheap office chair. With a normal mouse, I'm feeling the telltale signs of strain within 45 minutes. It really works!

HTH,

While I don't have RSI specifically, I do have a damaged wrist. I found that a trackball such as a logitech trackman marble was much more usable than a mouse, for me, since you don't have to move your whole hand

Ummm... Logitech ACTUALLY makes gamer mice... I thought it was pretty funny when I saw them on the Logitech web page a while back.

Logitech Gaming Mouse @ http://www.logitech.com/us/products/gm10_100.html

BTW, look at the "features" it has... no different from any other 3-button mouse.

Ok I have this awesome trackball from logitech, 80 bucks. It's been around for a while, I doubt there will be any applications that use the 4th button to emulate the scroll wheel like it should. Atleast any time soon. In rxvt there are some options about 4 and 5 button trackballs and I've tried it and it doesn't work. This is why I don't think something like this would come into universal use any time soon. Perhaps if they were hyped more and were affordable, durable, etc, then maybe this would become a reality. But hell, it's just a friggin gui trick, I'm not losing any sleep over it

On another note, I think the toolbar invasion is approaching ridiculous levels. There is a point where rolling infrequently-used commands up into a menu is a lot nicer (and more readable) than having to choose what command you want from a display of 80 to 100 tiny 4-bit icons. I'm all for customizability, but when the expectation is for the user to take up 1/3 of the screen with buttons, usability conventions are thrown out the door. The IntelliSensor Mouse with IntelliDirectEye will only promote this type of poor interface and will subsequently scare off the novice users that just want to type a letter.

In sum, this new hardware seems promising for experts, but looks to be the beginning of a disturbing trend to make future computer systems even harder to use than they are today.

OK, since it is an out-there day, I'll go off topic for a moment....

I want to purchase a DVD player for home, which I can also use with my computer (optimization of money spent)... but the dilemma... if I get a computer based DVD, then I don't have a remote... and the TV based DVD won't connect to my computer... so my solution?: DVD for computer with a cordless mouse! Logitech makes the cordless mouse with a 5-10 foot range (aaa batteries inside the mouse run the remote -- see the topic connection?).

The mouse works perfectly in Linux being that the RF transmitters/recievers are independent of the OS. It only cost around $50(US) and I love it. You can view it at: Cordless Wheel Mouse

...now I just need to save up the money for that DVD player... (by that time DVD-RW will be what I want)

--The goal: A fully automated and customized home... (thank you DDC controls)