This CST Laser Track Ball Review CST2545W-RC is a heavily built large offering, which is made in the USA, it will set you back about £120 if you are buying this in the UK. It is probably worth it if you are having posture related issues, such as shoulder pain as it removes all requirements for you to push a mouse with tense shoulders all day.
The video above shows the trackball in use with me narrating on the task I am performing. There are some advantages, and some disadvantages.
Update 2022: After 3 years this piece of kit has been very good. I use it everyday, and even for stuff I would have switched back to a mouse for, I still use this. Having got quite used to it now. I did have a slight problem with it in that I used it one day with very sandy hands, and the sand got inside. I had to take it apart and clean out the interior. This was an easy task and needed doing any way.
Pros - Comfort and "Throw and Catch"
The comfort is good. There is no need to tense you shoulder or upper arm. I found this aspect to provide more comfort from the outset.
When moving the pointer from one side of the desktop to the other you can throw and catch the ball. This is demonstrated in the above video.
Cons - Learning Period & Drag and Drop
It takes a while to learn how to manipulate your hand so as to achieve a drag and drop. You will be using all-sorts of muscles in you forearm that you may not be used to using, and this can take time to get used to.
I tried out "click lock" for a while to see if this would help but it didn't. The DPI setting I have also left of default.
Some Photos
Conclusions
This is well worth the switch to improve comfort and posture, I would hesitate to make the switch if not required for practical reasons, not because it is not good to use a trackball but because you will burn up some time learning to use it.
