Hello everyone,
After dealing with RSI from over use of a keyboard and mouse, I decided to switch my setup to a more ergonomic one, involving a split keyboard and a trackball. I did quite a bit of researching and decided to go with the Huge Plus as my first trackball. I'll try to detail as much as I can about it after using it heavily for over two weeks now.
Pros:
The buttons are good. They are silent and have a very nice feel to them. They are light which can cause accidental clicks sometimes but it's not a huge issue. I'd prefer for them to be light to take the strain off my fingers anyway. Not much else to say about this.
The scroll wheel also feels nice, the steps on them are very light however which could turn off people who like very tactile clicks. The tilt scroll clicks are also very good.
The ball feels very smooth to use once it gets rolling
1000Hz polling when wired also feels good. I've tried using it wireless as well, to be honest the low polling rate is fine in wireless, I don't see it as a huge hindrance and after a while you get used to it.
The included bearing removal tool is nice and makes it easy to clean. Ball is also super easy to remove.
Cons:
Here's where things start to get a little more detailed.
- I think the biggest issue with this trackball is just the consistency with the bearings. The roller bearings can sometimes feel great but also very bad in regards to stiction. The stiction was at it's worse when it was brand new, however after use it does get better as your oils and gunk lubricate the bearings (I'd like to clarify even at it's best, there's still a minimal amount of stiction). However, it's not very consistent. I've found that after a while, the gunk builds up on the bearings in a thin layer which impacts the smoothness of the ball noticeably. It can also even make the stiction worse at times. This leads to a cycle where after a while of use it feels good, but then it starts to feel sticky and you have to clean the bearings, which results to restarting at step 1 with mediocre stiction. I hope this is something that could be solved after longer use and "break in" but at this stage I would imagine I'm past the break in period.
Additionally, the stiction of the ball seems to be worse in the horizontal directions. I imagine this is due to the placement of the roller bearings. In the up and down directions, the stiction is actually very very minimal (almost none). This is reinforced by the fact that on my copy, the ball seems to be able to free roll for longer in the vertical compare to the horizontal.
The battery life on my unit was garbage. Fresh out the box it was charged to 100%, however it only lasted a week before needing a recharge with Bluetooth even on low power mode. This is nowhere close to the few months life advertised, however maybe you're only supposed to get that life when you use the included 2.4 wireless dongle, I'm not sure, please correct me if I'm wrong here. I've since switched to using it wired permanently.
The shape of the mouse is just mid in my opinion. It's not fantastic but it's not terrible either. At the start, my right arm did have some moderate pain and the dreaded tingling for a few days, but that subsided after a week of use. However, even after that, I still feel like the Huge Plus leaves a lot to be desired in the ergonomic department. It sits very tall on the desk (to the point where your wrist and some part of your arm after won't touch the desk if you have a tall one) and there's absolutely zero tilt to it. It would be much better if it's shape allowed your arm to be rotated in a more natural position. Despite that, I'm still able to use it decently for a few hours at a time with no issues.
Another aspect of the ergonomics I have a slight issue with is the use of the ball. With my hand size (18x9) I have to operate the ball with the first joints of my fingers rather than the tips. This can feel very uncomfortable, especially if you have to drag the cursor down (it's hard to describe but doing this motion of pulling my fingers back just doesn't feel ideal with the shape it forces your hand to be in). The scroll wheel also forces you to "pull" your thumb back as well when you want to scroll down, which can put a lot of strain onto it if you have to scroll a lot.
That's about it from what I can think of for the pros and cons of the device. As my very first trackball I think it's okay, it didn't blow me away but it's certainly not very bad either. I've since ordered the Endgame trackball with statics (couldn't do BTUs due to the humidity I'm in) but I'll probably edit this post or make another one comparing my experience with them.
Thanks for reading.