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Logitech TrackMan Marble Trackball Review

productnumber 910-000806

Logitech TrackMan Marble

“The best pointing device I’ve used.”
4 5 stars
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SUMMARY: The Logitech Marble mouse is the trackball that started it all for me. And probably not only for me, but for many people this the trackball that is the easiest way to enter the wonderful world of the trackball. It’s very cheap, but also very good! The main downside is the lack of a scroll wheel. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a trackball, and don’t want to read all the trackball reviews on this website, just buy this one and send me a postcard of your honeymoon days with this sweet Marble trackball, you won’t regret it.

OUR VERDICT: Very Good Read full review below

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Logitech Trackman Marble Trackball Review

The Logitech TrackMan Marble is really the trackball mouse that makes people fall in love with trackballs. The shape of this bestselling Logitech trackball is very simple but comfortable and well designed. The ball is held in place (but can be popped out for cleaning) and sticks out so that you can really move it easily from many sides with your fingers. Because of its ambidextrous design it is suited for left-handed as well as right-handed people.
The Marble is made of nice materials, it feels very solid and not cheap at all, even though this is one of the most affordable trackball mice around.

Buttons

The Logitech Marble features two large buttons which you can program or use as left-click and right-click. When the Marble model was upgraded a few years, Logitech added two new small buttons above the large buttons. Each button can be customized to perform the task you like, using the Logitech Control Center software. The small buttons for example could be set as Back/Forward, or to open Applications, Documents or Websites, and many other options.
The two small buttons take a little getting used to as they are placed a bit too much to the back for my liking but after a short while my fingers were used to it.

Scrolling

Since this Trackball doesn’t have a scrollwheel or scrollring, I use the two small buttons to act as up and down scrollers. This works pretty well, although I prefer the directness and speed of a large scrollring that can be found on the Kensington Expert, Orbit with Scrollring or SlimBlade). When I installed the Marble mouse, the two buttons were actually already set to this scrolling option.

Another, better way of scrolling, is to change one of the small buttons to set a scroll function (using the Logitech Software or other button customisation software): then the ball itself become a scrolling wheel when you press that button. Not ideal, but if you get used to it, this can work quite well.

Other people have suggested to get a keyboard with a scrollwheel built in, so you can scroll with the keyboard. Again, not ideal, but it can work quite well.

Ball

The ball is medium in size: not as small as the Logitech M570 or Kensington Orbit Optical, but also not as large as the Kensington Expert or SlimBlade. The dark red ball is covered with tiny black dots which makes it ‘readable’ for the optical system that tracks the movement of the ball. The ball is kept in place nicely by the trackball case, which is very handy if you are moving or transporting the trackball. With a light pull you can take the ball out to clean the area below the ball (you might need to clean this trackball a few times a year, which takes just a few seconds, wiping accumulated dust and hairs away).

Conclusion

Very Good 3.5 / 5 Very Good

We can be short: this is a great trackball. The many extremely positive reviews online confirm this as well. My only personal concern is the lack of a scrollwheel or scrollring, which is something I really miss, but if you have a scrollwheel on your keyboard this might not be a problem for you, plus you can program the two small buttons to act as scrollers which actually works pretty well (although I prefer a wheel or ring). It works very accurately, feels comfortable even after working with it for many hours. Gamers that use a trackball often mention this Logitech Marble as their weapon of choice, which is another testament to its quality.

If you are a professional designer or heavy user, the Logitech Marble can work for you. Once you are used to this one, you might want to upgrade to a Kensington Expert or Slimblade at some point as I did, but many people I know have never changed and keep using the Marble for intense daily computer work. If you are a heavy user, you might have to buy a new one each 4 or 5 years in our experience, when the buttons are really worn out and the ball loses it’s smoothness due to accumulated dust, but for the price (less than $30), I really think the Logitech Marble is a very, very good value for money.

where to buy Logitech M570

Review notes

Pros

Logitech Trackman Marble

  • Simple but ergonomic and comfortable design
  • Medium size ball offers great accuracy
  • Programmable, large buttons
  • Used by many gamers
  • Back/Forward buttons
  • Ambidextrous – good for both left handed and right handed users
  • Very easy to clean
  • Great value for money
Cons
  • No scrollwheel or scrollring

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13 comments

Why can’t someone make a new trackball with the latest sensors and so on but designed like the trackman marble FX, never seen an easier to use and more comfortable design.

Hello,
I am using this trakball for about 2 years.
It ‘s fine, but the ball is not staying always in its place and i often had it rolling out of its place.
Yesterday, I just lost it.
Too bad, otherwise it ‘s a good device.

I’ve used this trackball for 5 years now. No choice was left due to RSI injuries building up. It resolved everything going on at the time, career extended. I love it and once I stop playing games competitively I’ll get rid of my Zowie ZA13 that I keep just for that purpose. The only thing I could imagine them trying with it is adding SlimBlade style ball scrolling. I don’t think I’d like a physical scrollwheel. Just too much going on / redundancy when you can use the ball itself if it’s implemented well.

I use it left handed, with the left side small button set to middle-mouse and the right small button to back. I rarely miss the scroll wheel since most apps support middle-click scrolling. Get yourself a Trackman Marble and a keyboard with Trackpoint and you might never have RSI ever again.

Why are you crippling yourself with the use of a mouse for FPSes? Trackball is much better for this kind of games. Maybe not a Trackman Marble, but something with better parameters. Yet still it’s a good device for entry to the world of ergonomic and insanely precise gaming. Hysteria of other players and accusations of aimboting are priceless.

I have been using this trackball for awhile now with Logitech SetPoint, which allows me to assign scrolling to the trackball buttons. In my opinion this compensates well for any lack of a scroll wheel/ring and has become second nature to use. And my RSI issues have largely disappeared. Highly recommended to anyone wanting to try a trackball and right now I see no reason to change for a ‘better’ model.

I have been using this trackball at work for a few years. Great comfort. I also tried it for FPS game, but maybe not enough to get used to it.
Only maintenance: clean the small pads where the ball is rolling, replace the micro-switch if a button starts malfunction (I did it once).

Why don’t they make this in a wireless model? I’m dying for that…. I can’t get used to their thumb version that is wireless.

Can you recommend a great wireless one like this controlled with the fingers?

There are rumors that this model get discontinued. Anyone knows anything on that subject?

The ball for Kensington orbit trackball and Logitech trackman marble are the same size, they can be used in both. I have both of them and I swapped their balls and it’s working XD

The trackman marble mouse IS discontinue. It’s no longer offered in logitech site. You might still find it, like I did, in some stores. But the quality of what is left out there is bad, for what I’ve experience (bought 3, lasted me a year each).

Sorry to see this one gone. It had, to my point of view, the best hand position of the ones that I’ve tried. Kensington slimblade gave me hand/wrist problems/pains and the Kensington expert
that I’ve just bough is slighty better but still not confortable.

I do use the Marble Mouse for more then 15 years on linux and it is still working great

I began using this on my family’s first computer around 1998. We kept the normal and the trackball both plugged in at all times since it was 50/50 who preferred which. I grew to use this exclusively and re-purchased for college and then again for my current computer. In those 20+ years I have had a couple broken bones on my dominant side. This model being perfectly symmetrical, I did not feel like there was much learning curve to switching sides. The only issue I’ve had is loss of sensitivity in the microswitches after 5-6 years. As to the injuries mentioned, I would rather not use a thumb-type trackball due to a bone spur on my thumb. Now that the original Marble Mouse is discontinued, I might have to switch to Kensington.

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