Logitech ERGO M575 Wireless Trackball Mouse – Easy thumb
Logitech ERGO M575 Wireless Trackball Mouse – Easy thumb control, precision and smooth tracking, ergonomic comfort design, for Windows, PC and Mac with Bluetooth and USB capabilities – Grey
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LESS REACH, MORE COMFORT
Introducing K380 with an extra-small footprint for less arm reaching and better body posture. Pairs perfectly with ERGO M575 that keeps your hand and arm relaxed.
FULL ERGO SETUP FOR COMPLETE COMFORT
Introducing ERGO K860, a split ergonomic keyboard designed for better posture, less muscle strain, and more wrist support.
MX ERGO ADVANCED WIRELESS TRACKBALL
A unique adjustable hinge allows you to choose the best angle between 0° and 20° for a more natural hand position and greater comfort.
Comparison Table
ERGO M575
MX Ergo
M570 (previous version)
MX Vertical
Tracking Advanced Optical Advanced Optical Laser Advanced Optical Wireless connection USB Receiver + Bluetooth USB Receiver + Bluetooth USB Receiver USB Receiver + Bluetooth Battery life Up to 24 Months with Unifying Rechargeable, up to 4 Months Up to 18 Months Rechargeable, up to 4 Months Scroll wheel Precision scroll wheel Tilted precision scroll wheel Precision scroll wheel Precision scroll wheel Ergonomic angle – 0-20 degrees angle – 57 degrees angle Precision mode button ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ Customizable buttons 3 6 3 4 Multi-OS seamlessly – Up to 2 devices – Up to 3 devices Compatibility Windows + Mac OS Windows + Mac OS Windows + Mac OS Windows + Mac OS
| Weight: | 145 g |
| Dimensions: | 10 x 4.8 x 13.4 cm; 145 Grams |
| Brand: | Logitech |
| Model: | 910-005872 |
| Colour: | Grey |
| Batteries Included: | Yes |
| Manufacture: | Logitech |
| Dimensions: | 10 x 4.8 x 13.4 cm; 145 Grams |
I have not used a tracker ball mouse before. I would recommend it to anyone. Saves space on the desk and is so easy to use. Tracks across 2 screens very quickly.
Love how comfortable it is and how easy it is to use. So much better than a traditional mouse.
Did have to send the first one back after a couple of days though, as it stopped communicating with my laptop. The replacement appears to be OK though
Very comfortable to use over a day: Can be used with two computers. Recommend using own keyboard with a spare USB socket to take the Logitech dongle.
You can charge it if your phone charger has one of the big square USB sockets in the back. Otherwise, use the supplied USB cable to recharge. Goes for weeks without a top-up!
Why oh why didn’t I try one of these years ago.
Purchased for use on sofa then purchased a second for the office.
Configuring buttons easy.
Additional keyboard settings will need turning off after install, such as caps lock notifications. I wish companies wouldn’t do this. Its a mouse, leave my keyboard alone!
This is the third one of these I’ve had in the last 20 years. I have neck, shoulder, and hand issues. This mouse is the least aggravating of my old injuries. I can use it for hours. I highly recommend it. Worth every penny.
You can’t go wrong with Logitech for trackball mice. Works well and even has a program that runs in the backgroubd that you can program routines. For example.ig you always open the same apps at start up , or always open several tabs of websites, you can set the additional mouse buttons to perform those actions or tasks with just one click.
I’ve been using this style of most for about 15 years now. Over time, they’ve gained back and forward buttons and now bluetooth. The laptop I use this with now doesn’t need the unifying dongle that comes with the mouse.
Would totally recommend!
After getting RSI in my wrist some recommend I use a track ball mouse, I was a bit sceptical at first and it took about a week to get used to bit now I would never go back to a conventional mouse.
I had my last trackball mouse for nearly 5 years and it’s still going strong and ordered this one so I have one at the office and one at home.
Great quality, easy to use, never loses connection with dongle and great value for money.
Highly recommended
I bought this for my son as I have been using the same for many years, great replacement for a mouse, shame the one that Amazon delivered was in a crushed box and the device didn’t work properly so ended up having to get it from Curry’s and returned the damaged one to Amazo
Used the Logitech universal connection and absolutely no problem with my windows 10 pc. Has a nice solid feel and doesn’t move on the desktop when using the mouse. The ball is easily manipulated with your thumb and the other buttons are within easy reach. I have used the mouse mainly for software development and photo imaging. I wouldn’t think it would be suited to gaming and a specialist mouse etc. would be better. All in all a good buy and very pleased.
I’ve been using a Logitech M570 with my laptop for years. I’ve been eyeing up this MX Ergo for months but kept putting off getting it.
Order it yesterday and it arrived today, I’ve been using it for a few hours now.
I like it. What an improvement over the M570.
This MX Ergo is bigger and more comfortable to use, that extra 20 degrees it offers just adds to the comfort.
The software, and level of customisation, is really good with up to 5 commands on a single button.
The only negative comment I might give is the position of the “Precision” button.
Purely my personal preference thinks it’s positioned to high and to far back? I’d have it further forward and lower?
Once I’ve spent a bit more time with it I might be able to come up with a configuration that works for me?
bought it for my boyfriend as his similar one the button had gone after three years of constant use. We both game and he loves this style of mouse, the battery usually last about three months (Duracell and never put on standby) he loves it, it fits his hand well and is very comfy to use= his words
I bought this as the surface of my desk is getting worn, and regular mice weren’t working too well. As the trackball doesn’t use the desk surface, this doesn’t suffer from that problem.
It has the added advantage that I don’t knock it around by accident as I did with my previous mouse.
I was using Logitech M570 since very long, the only problem i always had with that mouse is standard hand size and external receiver.
This solved both of the problems with Bluetooth connectivity and adjustable palm placement.
Really loving this mouse.
I found that with my laptop the bluetooth connection was poor. it might be my laptop, but other devices can link with the laptop’s bluetooth.
The USB receiver works very well. I had hpoed to free one of my USB slots but on my setup I need to use the USB connetion. The trackball is easy to use and I prefer it to the normal mouse.
Fits ok in the hand but not as nicely sculpted as other trackballs. Rolling the ball at the same speed often yields completely different movement speeds on the screen. Find myself using the mouse as an alternative regularly for anything other than the internet because the fine movements and selecting in-between characters is infuriating when it jumps too far.
Ever since my trusty Trackman Marble died after many years of hard use I’ve been searching for a replacement that I like. This model comes close but if you are familiar with the Marble you’ll know why this one is only 4/5 Stars. If you’re in the market for an ergonomic mouse then try this one i.m.o. if you’re a fan of the Logitech Marble FX – this one is close enough in terms of ergonomics that you’ll only occasionally pine for the FX.
Good but go onto the mouse settings to speed up it’s movement, it seems slow to start with if you don’t, be nice to have a bit more pressure for the buttons too, to many times just testing my fingers on the buttons results in a click so you end up trying to keep your fingers hovering above the buttons, not nice after a while.
This mouse is so accurate. I love the wheel you can scroll up or down a word document or Web page.
The other buttons feel so comfortable to left or right click. Just feels natural.
If you need a new mouse or your hand aches give this mouse a try and you will wish you brought it sooner. And you will wonder why you manged with a non trackerball mouse.
So easy to clean the mouse as well.
I highly recommend this mouse to anyone.
– actually ergonomic feel (surprise surprise)
– once you get used to it, just like using a regular mouse, just without the extra wrist movement
– pairing is quite easy and simple
– managed to get it to work with windows and in Linux (though be aware you cannot use the Logitech software in Linux, this is windows or Mac only I believe)
– being able to adjust the plane can be quite handy at times too
– dark color keeps it looking cleaner for longer lol
– ball is easy to pop out and clean if need be
Cons
– no Bluetooth dongle like it’s cheaper ergo brother (like why?? So annoying, defo space for it) so you can only pair up 2 devices , which for me personally is annoying as I use quite a few, was hoping for a bt dongle as I bought the cheaper version for my partner and the dongle has come in handy a lot.
– For you to take advantage of the features of the mouse (shows you in the app) you need logitechs silly proprietary app. This means I can’t use these features of the mouse on the work laptop as we can’t download apps etc., so very annoying as I had bought it to be able to use with my work laptop as well as my personal laptop.
– oh and the dongle that does come with the mouse can ONLY be used in conjunction with the app -_- so basically pointless if you want to be able to use it on a locked down work laptop
Regardless of the cons if you are using it solely for personal use it’ll be a great mouse if it fits your ergonomic needs
The tactile surface of the unit has a grippy quality to it that for me is a marked improvement over the smooth surface of the M570. A huge chunk of the weight comes from the removable metal foot of the trackball which provides excellent stability. I had thought that the tilt was customisable for some reason but there are only two positions, tilt or no tilt. The metal foot is held in position magnetically so should never loosen. The non slip base is a bit of a dust and debris magnet (don’t eat crumbly biscuits at your desks people!) and when wiping away some of the detritus the MX bit of the tiny rubberised MX ERGO logo on the bottom came away with it.
The ball roll function is smooth and the removal of the ball itself is easy and allows access to clean the internal roller points, something you will need to do regularly with all trackballs. The buttons have a very audible click which I noticed at first but no longer do so if you have a preference for silent mouse buttons be aware of this. Spacing and ergonomics mean for me it’s very comfortable to use, the precision button I was worried would be repeatedly hit accidentally but this hasn’t occurred. I haven’t yet tested the other buttons having different functions across different apps such as chrome and teams on my work laptop and I am not sure if this is out of the box functionality or needs the software to be able to do.
Connection was simple via bluetooth to both my work and personal laptops without the need for plug in receivers and the ability to switch between both these devices using the button on the top is great.
I’ve used the mouse for 10 days now and haven’t needed to charge it yet. I didn’t need to install any software to use it which is good for the work laptop where installs are restricted but on my personal laptop the software installed easily and quickly although annoyingly updated twice the morning of installation which shouldn’t annoy me but it did.
Overall if you have a preference for trackball devices this should probably one of the ones you consider. I was put off for a long time by the high price but this seems to have been available for 59.99 for a few weeks now so I took the opportunity to use some vouchers I had. It still feels like an expensive price for a mouse but when I consider I’m using it all day 5 days a week and it does feel like a premium product then it becomes a little more justifiable and I’m pleased I went for it.
Also, for anyone else that hasn’t used one before, I would like to add that using a trackball is not difficult or hard to get used to, in fact if you’re comfortable with a trackpad using a trackball should feel like second nature after only a few minutes of use, certainly did for me.
In my quest for the best and cheapest trackball mouse I purchased this logitech M575 and a Perimice 517. Both are of simillar build quality and weight, fairly hollow and cheap feeling plastic all around the main body, not what I was expecting from a brand like logitech. the logitech has a smooth matte texture while the perimice goes for a gripier matte textured coting that’s a little closer to rubber. both are simmilar but the perimice gets grubier easier and the logitech is a little smoother, it’s really just a matter of preference though. another thing that is a matter of preference would be the shape of the mouse. with my index finger over the left click the perimice was fairly comfortable for me and the extra widh of the design gives somewhere for my pinky finger to rest. with my index on the left click of the logitech comfort was simply awful with my index and middle fingers off angle from the buttons and my pinky with nowhere to rest. If however, I change my grip to have my middle finger on the left clik the comfort of the logitech was darn near perfect, all the buttons are within easy reachand all my fingers rest well on the body of the mouse. on the perimice comfort was eaqualy as okay as before, but not exceptional. I found myself prefering the logitech but adjusting to left click with my middle finger will be tough. The weird grip on the logitech does put the remapable function keys right under my index finger though wich is a huge positive. Unlike the logitech MX Ergo’s single large rubber pad these mise use individual feet, on the logitech these feet have a matte finish and keep it firmly planted on a wide range of surfaces. the perimice feet are a glossy finish and I found it was more picky about surface, sliding around a little on my desk mat, the logitech had no such issues. Now, the trackball, the most important part of a trackball mouse. The perimice is rough, the ball feels smooth over lrge rolls but try to move it a small amout to highlit text or select a selection box and you feel the rough movement of the bearings and it becomes difficult to be precise as the mose jumps around, it feels almost like a scroll wheel, not good at all for controlling the cursor. The logitech mouse is fantastic though, almost too smooth., it can be difficult to be precise but in a completely different way, it’s like a trackpad that’s too sensitive with how smooth it is, much, much better than the perimice. The logitech has some cool features the the perimice doesn’t though in the remapable buttons and custom sensitivity settings. the app in which you control these is really annoying and invasive on first setup, it begs for a whole host of data and seems to force you to create a logitech account with no option to not use one, if you close the browser window it opens when you click to create an account and back into the app it seems to work fine without the account. the app itself is really good too, super well designed, easy to use and good looking. something really annoying that might not happen with everyone is that my mouse didn’t come paired to the usb reciever meaning I had to download the logitech unifying software and pair them up, this should be done in the factory as this could make the mice unusable for some or at least casue some annoying headaches, trackball mice are often used for applications where space is at a premium, these applications often make use of computers you can’t install any old exe onto, enterprise solutions with admin passwords and backend systems not running a regular os like windows. these are the types of situations I would expect this mouse to be used with the usb reciever so for it to not be paired up out of the box is pretty attrocious in my opinion. anyway the actual product itself is pretty good and i would definitley reccomend it, just be weary of the software and know that it’s not built great, some have complained of long term issues as well so, again, do be aware of these issues. Certainly better than the perimice though and probably also the other two designs of trackball mouse I found on amazon that were cheaper than this.
p.s. There was no proper user manual in my box so the button on the bottom switches from bluetooth to usb reciever, the blue light means bluetooth and the white means usb reciever. if the light is flashing that means it is not connected and a steady light means it is connected. it also takes 1 AA battery and mine came with a GP branded one in the box.
This is my second of these, after the first was replaced (by Amazon, great customer service) under warranty.
Let’s start with the good:
Comfortable; very comfortable. The ergonomics are excellent: it can tilt to sit at 2 different angles, the feel under your hand is good, all the buttons are easily accessible.
Battery life is good (but see the bad).
No lag, at least none I can discern, and I use this for everything, including online and offline gaming. Now…
The bad:
Software. For years, Logitech used SetPoint; good software, lots of options, sits in your system tray, keeps you informed. For some reason, they’ve switched to Logitech Options for some of their newer products, including this one. It’s badly misnamed; there are far fewer options than SetPoint, it’s pathetic when it comes to keeping you informed, and worst of all it doesn’t even minimise to the system tray! Either you leave the window open on your desktop, or you close the app & get no information at all on things like battery life. I generally find the battery is flat only when the trackball actually stops working. I can’t stress enough how poorly thought out this software is!
Price. This may be a deal-breaker for some; it’s not cheap, but then it doesn’t feel cheap. It’s solid, looks good, feels good, & works well; you get what you pay for.
Build quality. This is the elephant in the room for me. This review is for my second MX Ergo after the first was replaced under warranty. Logitech offer a 2-year warranty on these. After I’d been using it regularly, probably averaging about 3-4 hours a day, for around 20 months, the right button started misfiring; unless pressing hard in a fairly small area of the button, it “stuttered”, opening and closing the circuit rapidly. Logitech customer support referred me to Amazon for warranty replacement, Amazon sorted it out quickly and easily, replacing it.
It’s not perfect; reliability (at least on my first one) was iffy, and the software is just awful. That said, when it failed under warranty, I didn’t want a refund, I got a replacement; when it’s working as intended it’s a beautiful, comfortable, peripheral.
I’ve been looking at getting a more ergonomic mouse for use with my work laptop for a while now since I’ve found over the last couple of years my hand and wrist has started to become a little strained after all these years of using a mouse. At home I’ve used magic trackpad’s with my MacBook’s since release and find those really intuitive and comfortable to use so have never needed a mouse.
Due to the prolonged period of working from home I thought I’d splash out and treat myself. I’ve hesitated for years as I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to using a trackball and was worried that I would just be transferring the pain to my thumb in time. Well I’m so glad that I made the jump to the trackball because at the moment it is a lot more comfortable to use than a regular mouse. Although controlling the trackball felt odd at first it took me a week or to to become very proficient with using it to the point where I’m just as comfortable using a trackball as I am a mouse now. I still find the trackpad more intuitive and flexible with all of the gestures that you can set up but dare I say it the Logitech trackball is probably more comfortable for prolonged use.
All of the buttons are fully customisable on the device and there is also a button which allows quick switching between 2 devices, so I can have this set up on my work and home laptops at the same time, similar to my Logitech keyboard.
Although these high end Logitech devices are very expensive I believe that they justify the price if you use them all day long. The build quality is first class and the battery life is very very good. It has a built in rechargeable battery.
The device also connects via Bluetooth but if your laptop doesn’t happen to have bluetooth then it is supplied with a small wireless usb dongle.
I’d highly recommend this if you use a laptop/PC all day long.
I’d bought a couple of Aptico trackballs, one for the office and one for the laptop in another room that I use with Blackstar software for managing my Blackstar ID:30 amp. But the one for the office was because I have an anti-static mat on my desk because I am an electronic engineer and my office is also my lab. A conventional mouse is quite ‘grippy’ on this surface so is difficult for accuracy with electronic/technical drawings. So I thought, ‘make the mouse stationary, work the cursor with the thumb and increase the resolution as and when necessary. Hence the Aptico but, every other day, I have to have the ball out for cleaning and lubricating including its cavity. I found Mr. Sheen to be quite good in this respect but why does the ball stick so quickly?
I have a logitech k750 wireless keyboard. And I now have a logitech MX 50 trackball, not cheap at eighty quid, but read on. I am working from home using a client laptop securely linked to my remote desktop PC at the client’s office. The MX 50 offers the facility to share the USB dongle with my own wireless keyboard. Thus the MX 50’s own dongle can be attached to my client’s PC. There is a switch just in front of the scroll wheel that enables me to switch between doing stuff on my own PC or doing stuff on the client PC (enormous monitor attached to the client laptop so the laptop screen is virtually redundant). Wow! But it gets better. If I’m drawing, in Visio, say, for the customer or Altium at home, when greater cursor accuracy is required there is a thumb-operated switch just behind the scroll ball that increases resolution or, in other words, slows the cursor down thus allowing greater accuracy. So, you’ve zoomed what you are trying to do by whatever means in your application and then made the position of the desired object more precise with this button on the ‘mouse’. There’s more; you’re an engineer, say, and you’re in a website where you’ve selected a datasheet or something which isn’t what you were hoping for and you have to wander the cursor back up to top left reverse arrow to go back to the previous page? Not so with the MX 50. It has two buttons left of the scroll wheel, easily accessible, and the nearest of these is a ‘go back’ button which is the one we want! Forward of this is a ‘go forward’ button which I must confess I’ve hardly used but nice to have anyway. The scroll wheel has left-right click too for those apps that support horizontal scrolling. But here is the best bit: scroll wheel stickiness. I’ve been using this for a month and I haven’t had to have the ball out yet for a clean and lubrication. Really! But the Aptico ball was out pretty much every other day for a clean and a lube (including its cavity). I’m right-handed and the right arm of my office chair hangs over the surface of my desk so my fingers fall upon the mouse or trackball in the manner of a pianist. But not quite. The MX 50 has a (magnetically locked) 20 degree tilt facility which I do use; I just put the trackball at the ideal drop hand position on my desktop and pretty much all I have to move is my thumb. Like scrolling through your phone contacts, the cursor will move fast if you move the wheel fast. Charge via the micro-USB port. Allegedly, a 4-minute charge will give you a day and a full-charge lasts a month. Looks like I should put mine on an overnight!
OVERALL VERDICT:
Typical Logitech quality. Absolutely fit for purpose, clearly designed by a human and not a computer. The tactility of the left/right switches is just right, the click of of the scroll wheel is just right, the weight of the ‘ball’ is spot on and it hasn’t stuck yet, the tiltability (magnetically ‘locked) is spot on. This has been designed by people who might have to use it. It has been bought by me who does use it for >12 hours per day and it is simply superb – my wrist stays more-or-less stationary, my thumb does the walking and my fingers the switching. Bliss.
Thats was a promising start, I charged it up using the micro usb socket (would have been even better with UsbC, but that was not a big thing then). I set it up using bluetooth, between my two mac’s and it paired quickly and switching between them was as simple as pressing the top bottom.
I have been using it now for just over a year and I can’t fault the device.
In use it is large enough for my hands and I don’t have to shuffle it all over the place, thanks to the ball. I have setup some of the other buttons to do certain tasks on the Mac.
The tilt function I utilise all the time, as it makes it more comfortable to hold, the ball is a joy to use.
As you will see from my pictures I have changed the ball, just wanted to personalise the device a bit, had no problems with the original ball, just wanted a change.
The battery lasts for a very long time, not had to charge it many times since getting it possibly about 3 times.
A pity also it does not come with the additional wedge to tilt the angle a bit more, would have liked to have tried that, see what difference it may have made to using it daily.
The one thing I would really like is if I could connect it easily to a 3rd device, as I have a 2 Logitech keyboard that I have blue toothed to 3 devices (K760 solar & K780 this one has windows keys as well).
I like the clean looks of my apple mouse and trackpad, but I like using this mouse better.
Would recommend for non gamers who work a lot from home, especially during COVID-19, never appreciated more than now.
Definitely pleased I bought this, yes expensive, but when you take the health of your hand into account, worth the extra money, and the ball did not take long to get use too either.
****update****
Been using now for a few years and I have found great.
I use with both pc & Mac, it is comfortable and my main desktop mouse.
I carry around a mx master 2 when travelling, but the ergo is what I use 75% of the time.
I used to have really bad wrist problem caused by the use of a mouse.
I got really worried at some point because the pain was so bad that even REALLY LIGHT weights (as in a pen!) would cause me really bad pain.
(this is going to be long, apologies in advance)
I then did some research and I ended up buying this BEAUTY.
According to Amazon order, this was MORE THAN 5 YEARS AGO. And I’m still the happiest person in the world thanks to the M570. Honestly buy it NOW.
When I first got it I was “worried” that it would have been awkward to get used to it or use it. It took me probably less than half an hour to get used to it. Now I can’t use anything else (that’s the negative of this :D).
It is a pleasure to use, it helps you because move your thumb is more natural than bend your wrist.
But the beauty of this is not just the health benefit. You’ll have more space on your desk because you’ll not need to move this around, you can now have some space next to it for your notepad. You don’t need a mouse pad or anything like that, you can even use it on your leg or whatever. It has two buttons that I personally use to GO BACK and to trigger the EXPOSE Mac feature, so very handy.
Recently a coworker of mine had also similar wrist problems and I suggested him to buy this exact thing. He did and he says he loves it too.
DURABILITY.
I concluded that this thing is indestructible. It may possibly be on par with a Nokia 3310 :P.
On few occasions I’ve accidentally spilled water on it. It’s not advisable of course but it survived the splashes.
But the worst I did to it was when once I spilled a cup of coffee on it by accident. At first it would be fine as it already survived water as I said.
Unfortunately coffee and sugar are not good for electronics. It stopped to work…I almost panicked and almost cried (that’s how much I love it). After few hours I tried again to see if it was working and…it was! This was at least 3 years ago and this thing is still going, as said, it may well survive an nuclear war.
BATTERY LIFE
The battery will last you forever, as in HUNDREDS of days – I’m not joking. I can’t actually remember when I had to recharge the batteries. Does it needs AA batteries? I honestly can remember, it was a long time ago – let me double check.
OK, now I remember, it uses a single AA battery. I personally use a rechargeable battery, but as I said, I can’t even remember when I had to recharge it 😀
“NEGATIVES”
As anything in life nothing is perfect. But this is pretty close to perfection.
There are two minor negatives to the M570. They’re more “annoyances” than anything really!
MAIN ANNOYANCE: It needs that little weird USB dongle thing. It would be great if it was just Bluetooth and work out of the box with anything.
MINOR TINY ANNOYANCE: Now and then you’ll need to take out the ball (easy peasy) and blow on the little wheels it runs on to clean them from dust, etcit just takes few seconds really. Now and then you’ll have to clean your ball. Yep.
Seriously, thank Logitech for designing and building such a beautiful accessory which saved my wrist.
For more than 2 years, I’ve bought ergonomic keyboards, a keyboard tray, adjustable desk and so on. All of these decisions are to maximize my comfort while working on my desk. At one point, I thought I turn to my attention to my mouse, as I was beginning to develop pain around my wrist.
I tried ergonomic vertical mice and they were great for awhile but found them to be just as bad as I would overstretch my wrist when navigated the cursor to the left. Then tried the Kensington trackball devices; I like the precision of having large trackballs but I couldn’t adapt to the click buttons due to their locations. Then I tried Logtech M570 and it was promising but I eventually settled on the more premium MX Ergo.
I bought this product in Dec 2017, so after 10 MONTHS of use here is my review.
Really Comfortable : The M570 and MX Ergo feels more like traditional mice as my hand would settle the same way as before. The MX Ergo is far more comfortable because of its tilt angle. At 20 degrees, my wrist is far more relaxed compared to the M570’s flat, horizontal feel.
Premium Feel : The MX Ergo is heavy so it feels like a premium product. Due to its weight, it hardly moves on my desk. But much of that weight is on the magnetic base plate, so when I remove it the product is as light as a low priced mice so it loses much of its premium feel. I like its matte finish but as expected the left click button has become shiny after repetitive use.
Connectivity : As per usual with Logitech, it is supplied with a multi-device unifying dongle and can connect to 2 dongles (note: it only comes with one). This is very useful as I use one dongle at work and another at home. I wish there are more connections as I sometimes connect it to my laptop’s bluetooth – to do so, I have had to re-pair it. I also wish it had a storage holster for the dongle – cheaper products have one.
Cursor Navigation is Great : It took a bit of time to adapt to the MX Ergo – but not too long. For one thing, I have had to develop a aim when I move the cursor with my thumb rather than my wrist. I also had to coordinate my thumb’s ball control with my index finger’s click press lifting my thumb away from the ball before I click so that the cursor doesn’t move (thumb-lift-finger-click). But I found moving the cursor with the trackball far more comfortable than flexing my wrists. And because the trackball device stays where it is, I don’t over extend my wrist. Furthermore, moving the cursor from one end of the screen to the another is one or two flicks of the thumb, rather than two wrist strokes with a mouse (or worst, over extending the wrist) – this is such a comfort when working with large screens.
Cleaning my balls 🙂 Unlike modern mouse where it uses optical or laser sensors, the downside with having a ball is that from time to time it needs maintenance. The trackball picks up skin oil from my thumb and at times I have had to wash & polish the ball and clean the insides of the device. It certainly harks back to the days when I’ve had to clean my mouse ball on a regular basis; the good news is not as bad as that! I’ve had the MX Ergo for 10 months, and I’ve clean the ball 3 times. That not due to any functional failure; I cleaned it because i noticed that I lost some of the ball’s smooth running.
Charged for long time: I use my MX Ergo daily and I haven’t had to charge it on a regular basis. I’ve only ran out of juice once after not charging it for a 3 months after having a new job.
I miss my mouse (sometimes) : Because I use mice for decades, my cursor aim is better with them then a trackball. This became obvious when I started drawing a flow chart; my thumb was fatiguing when drawing and aligning shapes. Thumb-lift-finger-click coordination is not necessary with mice.
1. Initial feeling from this mouse is that the ball sticks a little when you move it from static in any direction. This bothered me at first but only for a little while and now im used to it, or else its lessened slightly after even the first days use. The trackball is totally smooth and doesnt have small bumps the way my old one from years ago had.
2. The actual trackball will go off after a period which means it will lag when you move the ball again the first time. This isnt really a problem, though it maybe does make the sticking problem seem worse until you figure out that it must be a power saving feature. I cant see a setting to turn off power saving and I wouldnt turn it off even if there was one.
3. My wrist pain is much less severe after using this mouse for a few hours. The 20* tilt may not sound like much but it is an incredible idea. This mouse is VERY comfortable.
4. The battery life is really really good. Logitech have now got even better batteries in their newest gaming mouse, but this one is still very very good.
5. Charging cable is a bit short for me.
6. Mouse buttons are a bit louder than a normal mouse.
7. The back and forward buttons arent in a great position and arent easy enough to press (for me). The other button that slows the mouse way down is quite small and not in a great position.
8. The speed settings for the cursor jump up too high with each increment and makes it very difficult to get used to the next highest setting. The Logitech drivers and windows mouse sensitivity options do the same thing in this regard.
9. Very high feeling build quality. A lot of thought has clearly went into the design. The magnet is a genius idea and works really well.
Overall I would recommend this to anyone suffering from wrist pain as it does really help. Im tempted now to not use a computer for a month or two and come back to using just this mouse to see if my pain goes away completely.
Also, if you use a mouse a lot at work or whatever you might want to get one of these to give your wrist a break if youre worried about such things. I wish I had of done that years ago.
[Two year update: still going strong, some of the gel pads on the bottom have peeled off but still working great]
[Seven year update: still working, mostly. Need to replace it really as the right click doesn’t always fire properly, but other than that it is still working well, and I can live with it. Would still recommend.]
Bought this because I was getting pain in my arm and index finger from overusing the trackpad on my macbook pro. This is a great mouse. Very comfortable to use. I especially like the fact that I can fold my arm and use it parallel to the screen, or on the side of my leg, etc.
I was worried that it would take me ages to get used to using it, but it took no time at all. I found it very intuitive.
I’ve been using it for 5 months for 9 hours a day 5 days a week now (no battery change needed so far).
You can pop the blue trackball out of the case for cleaning, which I’ve only needed to do once, it’s not a dirt trap at all.
Ok, those are the good points, here are the not so good (but bear in mind I’m ridiculously picky):
You can’t use it left handed. Well you can in a pinch, but barely.
It feels light and flimsy at first, the trackball necessarily rattles a bit. But I think it is actually a quality product, it just might disappoint you at first glance.
My accuracy and speed still isn’t perfect. It doesn’t bother me though. I find myself overshooting and having to do a finer position adjustment very often, but we’re talking about an extra 0.25 seconds compared to the trackpad or a standard mouse here. I don’t even notice I’m doing it half the time. You can still achieve pixel-perfect precision with the trackball; single pixel mouse movement is easy. In fact easier than with a mouse I think, especially because it’s very difficult to accidentally knock the trackball, unlike a mouse. You can even move the trackball out of your way without affecting pointer position.
You also find your thumb travelling further, like it can take a couple of swipes to get from one side of the screen to the other. Again though this isn’t annoying (surprisingly).
The scroll wheel is the worst part. It’s not very responsive; it just seems like it’s slipping, like you’re scrolling like mad but the screen isn’t moving as much as you expect it should be. It might be something to do with the inertial scrolling on the mac, as it seems like small scroll movements barely register, while faster ones scroll more. Something’s not quite right there anyway. Still usable though, I use it all the time, it’s just a little bit less than seamless. You can click the scroll wheel and use the trackball to scroll, which works fine. Scroll wheel click also acts as middle click for opening links in tabs etc, which works perfectly.
The trackball is slightly laggy if your computer is under heavy load; when processing a video in iMovie or quicktime, for instance, the pointer gets jumpy and I have to switch back to the trackpad.
I don’t use the two other buttons on it, but they don’t get in the way at all.
All in all though, I’m very very happy with it and wouldn’t go back to a trackpad or normal mouse now. I recommended it if you’re concerned about pain.
Oh, and my 7 month old loves it. So the ‘off’ switch is coming in handy…
My first PC was a clunking great thing, purchased from PC World sometime circa. 1999, and sold complete with a 2BUPM (two-button, universal plastic mouse). At some stage during my ownership, I purchased a Logitech trackball, and it was a revelation. However, as stated I switched to lap-tops around 2005, and I couldn’t be bothered carrying the trackball from room to room and it was all but forgotten about – until a recent house-move, when it was thrown in the bin (for reasons not really understood).
Now I find myself working from home (mainly using spread-sheet and accounting software), my lap-top moves around much less than previously, and I have an organised and functional office. My 17″ lap-top has become the ‘desk-top’ replacement as originally purchased and, being a two-fingered typist, I noticed that the ends of a couple of fingers were getting sore from tapping on the touch-pad. Time to get out the mouse; oh-no, I’ve thrown it away!
As usual, my search started with Amazon.co.uk, and I found this little bundle of joy: Logitech Wireless Trackball M570. Unfortunately I’ve had to buy it through a third-party supplier (who, credit where credit is due were very efficient, and the price was less than RRP). I say ‘unfortunately’ because Amazon would undoubtedly have sold it for even less. I waited almost two weeks hoping Amazon would take the hint that it was sitting in my shopping basket; but no.
It is better than the original trackball in that
i) it’s wireless
ii) the transceiver protrudes about 6mm from the USB port
iii) it has a scroll wheel, a thumb-operated trackball which allows the screen cursor to buzz around like a mosquito on heat , the usual left/right buttons, and an additional two buttons (also thumb-operated) that, as standard, control back and forward web-page movement
iv) all buttons are, apparently, programmable. I have not yet tested this feature
v) the mouse has an internal storage slot for the transceiver (when not in use)
vi) it’s a lovely metallic dark-grey, which matches my VAIO perfectly (and the contrasting deep turquoise ball is pretty neat)
vii) it can occupy a fixed space on the desk, arm of a chair, or your lap-top wrist-rest if required because there isn’t any need to keep wiggling it about
viii) you only need one transceiver for multiple Logitech wireless devices
ix) it has an on/off switch on the underside (possibly to preserve battery life) but a little green indicator light which illuminates when I first use it after a short period of downtime would suggest it may have an automatic sleep mode also (there is an online manual available from Logitech, but I haven’t read it yet)
I love it, and I hope not to throw this one away in a hurry. I can’t yet comment on durability or battery life having owned it for less than a week, but it did come ready to roll with a Duracell battery installed.
Excuse me, but I have to go ‘Unify’ my Logitech K350 wireless keyboard.