Leaf&Core

Kensington SlimBlade Review

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 11 minutes.

Kensington Slimbade Pro with an iPad and keyboardThe first trackball I reviewed was the Kensington Pro Fit Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball. That’s its whole name. I usually say companies like Sony should stop naming their things random letters and numbers like WFMXT1,304.2, but in this case, a number might be easier to say. The Kensington “ergo” trackball was anything but. The mouse was too vertical, and quickly created strain in my thumb as it was holding my entire hand up, and strain in my other fingers as well. I didn’t give up on trackballs though, trying out from Elecom and falling in love with it, then an even smaller Elecom, and feeling okay about it.

However, I wanted to try out finger operated trackballs. I had heard that they are supposedly even better for ergonomics, and switching between one and a thumb-based trackball can keep your wrist from getting repetitive stress injuries from small, frequent movements. So, I decided to give it a shot, and, as long as I was taking a risk on something new, I thought I’d take a risk on something I tried before, a trackball from Kensington.

I picked the Kensington Slimblade Pro. It’s a four-button trackball with Bluetooth wireless, a wired mode, and a wireless dongle. Unlike most of the devices I’ve bought that came with a dongle, Kensington actually encrypted this. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I went with the Kensington over an Elecom trackball I had been considering.

The Kensington Slimblade Pro is a ambidextrous trackball. Often, this means a product that is slightly uncomfortable for all users. When I first started using it, I hated it.

I hated this thing so much.

How do I feel about it now? That took testing to see if I was happy going back to my Elecom trackball. Oddly enough, it was a challenge. I actually came to love this trackball too.

Specs

Size:

Trackball:

Perixx Trackball:

Battery Life:

Connectivity:

Security:

Ergonomics 7/10

Yeah, I definitely hated this when I first got it. It’s such a strange thing though. Do you remember when you first learned how to ride your bike without the training wheels? It was hard at first and you hated falling down so much. But soon you realized that, with practice, you could go faster than you ever could before. You looked cooler and felt more confident, it was the right thing to do, just started off a bit rough. In some ways, you almost have to learn to use this, even if you’ve been using a thumb-based trackball, as I had. Once you do, it’s a lot more ergonomic than it is at the start. Because, at the start, this put a bit of an ache in my wrist. I feel off the proverbial bike. Now, however, it’s a different story.

Learning the Hard Way

I tried to figure out how to use this. I pulled up videos online. Where were people resting their fingers when they weren’t moving the ball? How could this ever be more comfortable than something that just is there, like my EX-G Pro, which fits in the hand and was made to do just that. The Kensington Slimblade doesn’t look anything like your hand. It’s flat, the buttons at the back of the device are hard to reach, you have to do a right click with your pinky, you move your wrist so much, you tilt your wrist upwards, and this feels like it’s going to be as bad as using a trackpad. How were people doing this? More puzzling: how were they enjoying it? How didn’t they all have hands shaped like claws after trying to use this damn thing for more than an hour?

Outside of the large ball getting in the way, there’s the buttons themselves. While they appear huge, they actually don’t respond to a press very well towards the top or bottom of the device. Instead, you have to press closer to the middle. Learning this does help you figure out you don’t really have to reach around or behind the ball to press the top buttons, but it is disappointing that they’re not easier to click.

One thing I noticed right away was that I needed a wrist rest. I needed to ensure my arm was about level with my desk, that I had a wrist rest in front of the trackball, and I didn’t have to angle my wrist up so much. That was the largest problem with the ergonomics in the beginning, that I had to reach up my wrist, bending it at an awkward angle, to use this trackball. I made another wrist rest myself out of some parts I had laying around, and it’s been working well for me. The height I’d recommend is at least 20mm, or just under one inch. That’s a little taller than most wrist rests, but I found it worked best for me.

As for where I’d rest my fingers, generally I’d only put my hand towards the ball if I was going to use it. However, if I did want to sort of hover over the ball, I’d place my fingers on the ring around the ball and sort of hold my hand up. I’d also sort of “brake” the ball by putting my ring finger on it and on the ring around the ball, and then resting the weight of my hand and wrist on both the ball and the wrist rest I made. It’s not perfect, but it works. Everyone will have to find their own sweet spot with this.

Finally, there’s the wrist movement. The entire reason I ditched trackpads years ago was the amount I’d have to move my wrists to use them. When I was using the Kensington Slimblade for the first time, it was clear I was moving my wrist more than I should. However, I’ve learned to increase the speed of the cursor, and use more than just my index finger to move the ball around. Now I use a combination of my index finger, middle finger, and ring finger. I move my wrist a lot less since I got used to it. I sort of “toss” the trackball between fingers, with the cursor moving across the screen smoothly.

Newfound Comfort

I started to find how I could comfortably use this trackball. Then I slowly started to like it. I began resting my hand on it less and figuring out how to do so when I had to. My fingers flicked the ball around without as much wrist movement. I could click every button, feeling like my hand was a spider on a web, easily reaching every side.

Is it as comfortable as my favorite thumb trackball, the Elecom EX-G Pro? No. However, it’s quite comfortable. On top of that, if you get pains in your thumb from a thumb trackball, this would certainly be more comfortable to use. While I haven’t suffered much in the way of wrist pain since I started using a trackball mouse, it’s nice to have variety and options. Holding your wrist in a different position on occasion can help keep wrist pain away. It’s a nice option to have.

Break-In Period

Trackballs aren’t like optical mice. The ball is suspended on bearings. Often, these are static bearings made out of a low friction material, like ceramic or synthetic rubies. Sometimes, they’re physical rolling bearings. The ball itself may have a coating on it from the factory that makes it stick a little. This will wear down with time, though I found you can speed it up with cleaning. Rubbing alcohol and scrubbing with microfiber, as well as a trick involving wrapping it in wax paper, helps clear up this trackball stick in a few days. Mostly, you should just use it normally, it’ll fix itself with time.

The Kensington ball was a little “gunky” feeling at first. Just kind of stuck and rolled slowly. I’ve had previous positive experience with third party balls from Perixx, so I ordered a replacement. However, I noticed by the time it arrived, the Kensington ball was starting to break in better. I still prefer that Perixx ball, however, after leaving the stock ball in a bag with other balls and a POM ball, it has become far smoother. It just needed some time to break in.

The break-in period wasn’t bad. Certainly worse for other devices I’ve tried. In about a week, it was a much smoother trackball. After just a few weeks, it was my smoothest trackball. The Elecom trackballs I’ve tried never got this smooth, perhaps because they use sharper synthetic rubies instead of smoother ceramic bearings.

Connectivity and Reliability 10/10

The “Pro” version of the Slimblade works with Bluetooth, 2.4GHz wireless, as well as wired. These are done right. I don’t notice jittering or stuttering on Bluetooth or the wireless dongle. The wireless dongle, besides obscuring its operating channels, uses 128-bit AES encryption. Even if a hacker could capture the wireless traffic, which would not be an easy task, the signal they’d intercept would be encrypted to government standards. No simple mouse jacking here. Of course, there’s also the 100% reliable USB-C port, for charging and wired usage. There’s nothing to write home about here. It just works. Perfectly, exactly as you want it to.

Customization and Control 5/10

Kensington includes their KensingtonWorks software to allow customization of your trackball mouse. I cannot emphasize enough that I don’t think you should install it. If you use any other mouse software, you will have conflicts with KensingtonWorks. On top of that, the software is an absolute nightmare to uninstall. It took me over half an hour of work to remove it from my computer, including multiple reboots and command line tools you can’t access during normal runtime. If you’re not comfortable with the command line, you’re not going to be able to remove this from your computer on your own. It feels like removing a sneaky piece of malware. On top of all of the install problems, the settings aren’t portable anyway. Nothing is stored on your trackball, so you might as well use a third party tool. I highly recommend Steermouse.

Steermouse will work with just about any mouse you have, and turn it into a more capable mouse. I love it, I can’t recommend it enough. Just buy it. With Steermouse, I can not only customize what each button does, but also set them as a sort of modifier key. Press the top left button and the bottom right button, and it’ll go one space to the right. Press and release the top left button alone, and it’ll launch Mission Control. You can customize scroll direction, acceleration, key combination chords, whatever you want. It’s far more involved than KensingtonWorks. You won’t get as much information about your device from it, such as battery life through USB dongle, but it’s worth it to have more control over your mouse without overbearing, hard to remove software that could break the experience on every other mouse or trackball you have.

Design / Looks 9/10

Trackballs have a reputation for being old fashioned. They’ve been around since the mid-40’s, apparently. Just because something’s old doesn’t mean it should be abandoned. After all, the keyboard is ancient too. So is the pen. Sometimes, something is perfect and doesn’t need more than a few tweaks over time. The trackball, despite its age, looks downright futuristic in the form of the Slimblade Pro. The wireless nature, glossy black plastic with metallic flecks in it, and ruby red ball just give it a look of class on your desk. It feels high-end. It’s the kind of thing someone from a movie prop department would place on the desk of a futuristic hacker. It’s sleek, modern, and shiny. In fact, it can show fingerprints on the buttons, but they wipe off easily enough.

It looks great on a desk. While it takes up more space than a thumb trackball, it still requires less space on your desk than a normal mouse, as you never have to move it around. This is a fantastic design that both feels classic and intuitive, while also feeling futuristic.

Battery Life 10/10

It’s not often I can say I forgot a device has a battery. The Kensington Slimblade Pro can be operated with Bluetooth, a secure, encrypted wireless dongle, or through a wired connection. As the latter would charge the device, and continue to top it off, I wouldn’t recommend it except when charging your trackball. Continually charging a battery can damage it. As for the wireless options, I’ve been shocked. Battery life is months long, not weeks.

I’m so accustomed to measuring battery life in hours, not months. I needed to charge it the first time, out of the box, in about a month of use. However, after fully charging it, it has so far lasted well over a month without needing a charge. While you can’t see the remaining battery when using the wireless dongle, at least not without the Kensington app, but you can see it in the Bluetooth menu on macOS when using Bluetooth. It’s not perfectly accurate, but after a month of wireless use, it’s reporting 70% of the battery is remaining. This is a mouse that won’t require frequent charging. My Elecom EX-G uses AA batteries. I use rechargeable batteries, as it would be wasteful to replace that battery monthly, which is about how long it lasts. I thought that was decent enough battery life for a mouse. The Kensington blows that out of the water. I’ll spend multiple months on a single charge, using it on both my work computer and home computer for many hours a day. I’ve charged it once in the nearly 5 months or so that I’ve owned it. You almost don’t have to think about battery life at all. It’s fantastic.

Sustainability 8/10

I wanted to try a finger trackball. I was looking at another trackball from Elecom, the Deft Pro, as well as the Kensington Slimblade Pro. The reasoning for my choice was varied. It included the fact that the Slimblade is ambidextrous, which could be useful if I get cramps or an injury in my right hand or wrist, and Kensington has a dedication to recyclable packaging.

I remembered from my first Kensington product that the box was a plain, unadorned cardboard box. It doesn’t overuse ink for pretty marketing images that could make recycling more difficult. Inside, it’s more cardboard, and a very small amount of foam where necessary. It’s some of the best packaging I’ve seen.

On top of that, you can use a rechargeable battery. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have externally visible screws. To work on this, I’d have to peel back pieces or rubber, potentially damaging adhesives. Being able to replace a damaged battery is extremely important, and something anything with a lithium ion battery should make easy. If not, you may have to replace the entire device, which obviously creates more e-waste than simply replacing or recycling the battery.

Kensington did well here, but I’d prefer slightly easier disassembly and replacement part ordering. In a perfect world, you could order parts as easily as you can order the product itself. Unfortunately, few companies are willing to do this, though it would help the environment and consumers alike.

Other Thoughts

This isn’t my only trackball, but it is currently my only finger-operated trackball. It’s also my largest. Something my downstairs neighbors probably didn’t appreciate at midnight when I turned it upside down for the first time and forgot the ball isn’t locked into this. It just kind of sits in the body. It’s completely loose. Easy to clean, sure. Fun to fiddle with on your desk. Also makes a loud noise when it falls. It’s not a mistake you repeat. Sorry, neighbors!

There’s a rather unique scrolling mechanism here. While most trackballs have a single sensor, the Kensington Slimblade Pro has two. The two sensors help it differentiate between moving the cursor and twisting the ball. Twisting will produce a scrolling motion. It takes no tine to get used to, though you may accidentally scroll sometimes. One interesting little tidbit about it? The scrolling sound that comes from it sounds like a clicky scroll wheel. But that’s all it is: a sound. There’s no actual click here. Instead, there’s a tiny speaker in the unit that makes the sound of a click. You forget, and it almost feels haptic, but it’s true, nothing’s actually clicking. It’s a smooth ball, but somehow feels a little notchy if you can hear it clicking. It’s not, but it’s a neat trick of the brain.

I wanted to make a quick note about break-in periods as well. It took quite a while for this to stop making an occasional honking noise. Now that it has, it’s far more smooth, both in sound and feel. However, before that, it would occasionally honk at me. Perhaps you’ll want to break yours in at home before taking it to the office.

Overall Score 9/10

The first day I had this thing I hated it. It’s so strange to think that was months ago and I’m still using this trackball every day. It seems outlandish at first, and you may need to get used to how you hold your hand over it or where you rest your wrist, but once you do, it just “clicks.” It just feels right to use. Fun, even. It’s an exciting tool for your desk, and it’s going to make your computer experience better.

When I first switched to trackball mice, it took a while to get used to them. But I started with a thumb trackball, and it wasn’t as difficult to learn. Still, I couldn’t go back to a normal mouse. I tried the wonders of a trackball and couldn’t go back to a mouse. Those are for the tasteless and unenlightened. This isn’t quite that drastic. I still love my thumb trackball mouse and use it on occasion. But now I found another mouse that I like, can use with either hand, and have turned into a useful and essential part of my desk. I can never go back to traditional mice or trackpads, but I can jump around to different types of trackball with ease. I want to try them all now. Maybe I will?

The Kensington Slimblade Pro isn’t perfect, but it is undeniably one of the best trackballs on the market. It’s a unique experience that will certainly improve your use of a computer. Being one of the best trackballs on the market means it’s one of the best pointing devices overall. If you’re curious about trackballs, it would be a tricky start. A thumb trackball may feel more natural to start with. However, if you can stick with the Kensington Slimblade Pro past the first few days, you’ll learn to love it, and you may never look back.

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