Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball Mouse

Products Description:

The Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball Mouse is a wireless mouse that lets you control your laptop, desktop computer, or home theater PC from up to 30 feet (10 meters) away. Its USB receiver plugs into the USB port on your computer and remains unobtrusive to offer continuous connectivity. It employs a laser tracking method for precise tracking on a variety of difficult surfaces.

Reviews Round:

I have 5 of these mice. I'm crazy? Yes, but not because I have 5 of these mice.

I am a professional software developer; I'm on the computer all the time. Using a normal mouse hurts. Using these thumb trackballs doesn't work, and they work really, really well. They are comfortable, with an AA battery they last about 3 to 6 months. I don't even think about drums.

The transceiver is extremely small and unobtrusive if left connected. I've played thousands of hours of Steam and Origin games (Battlefield, Borderlands, Terraria, etc.) and I've used these mice just for that. I'm not that bad at FPS (I have a kill-to-kill ratio of 1.5:1), and these mice give me no problem. I'm not a crazy gamer so I guess I don't mind having a mouse resolution of 16 million dpi. Sounds like an exaggeration to me, but hey, maybe I'm a newbie.

The forward and back buttons are a nice bonus. The ability to disable the mouse with a physical slide switch should not be overstated. I like to be in control of the battery that way. If I pack the mouse or leave it for an extended period of time (if I'm going away for days-weeks), I turn it off to save battery. Deep sleep mode will probably last for months anyway, but I turn it off anyway.

Since it's a big ball, you'll need to remove the dirt from the small, low-friction balls (in the "eye socket"; yes, I know it's dirty, but it'll be fine). I just use a plastic tool or rotary flange to get the dirt out there once or twice a month and it still glides on smoothly.

Since the jockey balls are plastic, they will not scratch the mouse ball. I had that problem with many older mice (Microsoft Trackball Optical) that used normal metal balls (the metal balls eventually burst and started marking the mouse ball, rendering it useless).

I've had two major issues with these mice and they only occur on my first purchase (I probably did them 3-5 years ago).

1. Left mouse button unexpectedly double-clicked when pressed. Sometimes the button stays pressed even though the catch is released, other times it just clicks many times. Considering I've played hundreds of hours of FPS games with that mouse, it's no wonder. I replaced the faulty microswitch with one from an old optical mouse and that kept it alive for a while. Since the mouse has probably been used for millions of clicks and thousands of hours, this really isn't a problem.

2. With the first version of this mouse (the old one mentioned in #1), I experienced random permanent disconnection of the mouse from the transceiver. This is very annoying and difficult to fix. Sometimes the mouse can just rest (go to sleep) for an hour or two and wake it up to successfully pair with the transceiver again. Other times I had to try special key combinations (hold the middle button for 30 seconds with the left button pressed, etc.) to try and reboot the firmware. This is not documented and does not work uniformly. Finally, at other times I just used Logitech's unifying receiver software to disconnect and repair the transceiver. This usually works. I didn't experience this problem with any of the newer versions of the mouse so I think it was an early firmware bug that has been fixed.

3. The rubber feet on the bottom have a stickier adhesive than you might expect. This leads to them eventually slipping as dirt and dust enter the grooves around the feet. There's not much you can do about it. If you're holding your feet when they fall off, you can remove the fabric sticker (it's basically double-sided fabric tape) and just stick it on. Just know that the screws are underneath so if you want to get to the circuit board to replace the microswitches it will be difficult to stick it on. Yes, I know I'm weird trying to fix my mice, but I want them to last as long as possible.

Conclusion:

The compact footprint of the Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball Mouse makes it easy to take with you anywhere, and it's easy to throw into your laptop bag. The ball even stays in place when you turn it upside down. Should you need to clean your trackball, removing the ball is a snap.

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