We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. A conventional mouse requires you to move it across the surface of your desk, resulting in the types of tiny wrist movements that can stress your tendons, joints, and carpal tunnel. That's why some people prefer trackballs like the Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball ($79.99). You scroll with it by moving the ball with your thumb instead of moving the entire device around the desk, thereby reducing repetitive wrist movements. The Pro Fit Ergo feels comfortable and has numerous customization options, but my test unit's housing was quite stiff, resulting in jerky movements that don't jibe with its rather high price. Trackball Vs. Mouse One classic trackball design, popularized in the late 1990s by devices like the Logitech TrackMan and the Kensington Expert Mouse, involves sticking the ball in the middle of the peripheral, sandwiched between the left and right click buttons. By contrast, the Pro Fit Ergo's ball is on the left side of the device, where a right-handed user's thumb rests. This means you grip it as you would a conventional mouse, instead of moving the ball with your pointer finger. The Pro Fit Ergo shares its layout with peripherals like the Logitech MX Ergo Wireless Trackball Mouse, but the Pro Fit Ergo is significantly more angled than the MX Ergo is. When you lay your hand on the Kensington trackball, your palm is at a 60-degree tilt, approximating how you might shake someone's hand. It's not quite vertical, as the Evoluent VerticalMouse C is, but it's close. With most other mice, your palm is more or less flat, similar to how you'd pet a dog. Kensington says this handshake position is ergonomically approved, but if it doesn't feel comfortable, there's no way to adjust it. The MX Ergo, by contrast, can be switched between two positions—angled or flat—using a magnetic fulcrum. I tend to prefer the tilted orientation, but it's always nice to have the option to go back and forth. As good as the Pro Fit Ergo might be at reducing carpal tunnel and tendon stress, it can't eliminate the risk entirely, since you're still clicking buttons. Left and right clicks are accomplished the same way as on a conventional mouse, by pressing buttons with your index and middle fingers. In addition to these two essential buttons, there are also Back and Forward buttons next to where your pointer finger rests, and two additional function buttons located in the unit's base, below the trackball itself. There's also a scroll wheel, which you can press to click or tilt left or right. That means the Kensington trackball offers an impressive total of nine customizable controls, compared with seven on the Logitech MX Ergo, which lacks additional buttons next to its trackball. Plenty of Connections The Pro Fit Ergo fulfills the wireless part of its name by connecting either via its own USB Type-A wireless dongle (conveniently stored in a slot on the bottom of the device when you're not using it) or via Bluetooth. Both types of connections can be active simultaneously. In fact, you can set up two separate Bluetooth connections in addition to the 2.4GHz dongle connection and switch between them using a button beneath the trackball. Indicator lights next to this button briefly light up when you switch between connected devices. I tested the Pro Fit Ergo with both a PC and a Mac laptop, and the button-induced switching process worked well. It's not instantaneous, however, since you have to move your thumb significantly to reach the connection button, which for me took about the same amount of time as moving my hand from one mouse to another. So if your workflow involves switching frequently between two computers, the Pro Fit Ergo won't necessarily result in time savings, though it will reduce the clutter of devices on your desk. The KensingtonWorks software, available for PC or Mac, offers straightforward settings adjustments and customization options for the Pro Fit Ergo. Whether it was basic settings such as assigning functions to buttons or more advanced features such as syncing my profile to a Dropbox or Google Cloud account, I found the software easy to use. I especially appreciated a feature dubbed Slow Pointer, which lets you slow down the movement of the pointer when you're performing precision tasks that are difficult for a trackball to handle, such as cropping an image. KensingtonWorks lets you assign a keyboard shortcut to toggle this feature on and off, though oddly there is no option to assign it to one of the Pro Fit Ergo's own buttons. The MX Ergo has a dedicated button to toggle its similar feature. Kensington says the trackball can last up to 18 months on two AA batteries, which are included. That's impressive, but a built-in rechargable battery would be even better. The Logitech has one, though its rated battery life of four months is far shorter than the Kensington's. Jerky Movements Unfortunately, once I started using the Pro Fit Ergo, I noticed that the trackball resulted in noticeably jerky cursor movements. I ascribe part of this to its significant inertia: At least with my review unit, the trackball housing was simply too stiff for my thumb to move the ball effortlessly. Rather than gliding across the screen, my cursor lurched, overshot its destination, and then had to be brought back. Adjusting the sensor's resolution (measured in dots per inch, or DPI), via a button on the bottom that cycles through low, medium, and high sensitivity, didn't help, either. Jerky behavior often comes from a dirty trackball housing that needs to be cleaned, but that wasn't the case with the Pro Fit Ergo, which exhibited this behavior as soon as I took it out of the box. When it does come time to get the inevitable dust and detritus out of the trackball housing, Kensington thoughtfully provides a button that ejects the ball. The MX Ergo lacks this, which means you've got to stick a pen or other pointy object into the housing to remove the trackball. Full-Featured Ergonomics The Pro Fit Ergo gets a lot of things right, from a robust selection of customizable buttons to thoughtful touches like a built-in holder for the wireless receiver and an eject button that makes cleaning a cinch. It's also ergonomically friendly, reducing wrist movements and keeping your palm at a 60-degree tilt. A trackball's usefulness depends on its ability to move the cursor, however, and it's here that the Pro Fit Ergo falls short. I'm inclined to recommend Logitech's MX Ergo instead, or the Evoluent VerticalMouse for people who want the vertical orientation but aren't comfortable with a trackball. Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball Bottom Line: Despite its ergonomic design and plenty of customization options, the Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball suffers from a stiff housing that results in jerky cursor movements.

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