Kensington Expert Trackball
Ranked 4 of 4 trackballs by recommenders
Recommended as a non-keyboard pointing device, with reports of long-term daily use, including on Linux. One critic objects that its buttons remap only in software.
Recommended as a non-keyboard pointing device, with reports of long-term daily use, including on Linux. One critic objects that its buttons remap only in software.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good non-keyboard pointing device
“the earlier Expert Mouse trackball have been pretty good for folks wanting an HID besides the keyboard”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Kensington TB800 Trackball now shipping” Long-term daily use
“my trusty Kensington Expert”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “The Ploopy A+ Trackball Is Here” Regular use on Linux
“see regular usage on Linux”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “OpenBSD 7.9 Released”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Buttons remap only in software
“The Expert doesn't have hardware remappable buttons, only software which IMO makes it no good.”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “The Ploopy A+ Trackball Is Here”
Other trackballs people recommend
The three most recommended other trackballs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ploopy A+ Trackball | 6 | 3 | 67% | 2 | — | — |
| Ploopy Adept trackball | 6 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Keychron Nape Pro | 6 | 3 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| Kensington Expert TrackballThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The Expert doesn't have hardware remappable buttons, only software which IMO makes it no good.”
“my trusty Kensington Expert”
“see regular usage on Linux”
“a Kensington trackball mouse”
“the earlier Expert Mouse trackball have been pretty good for folks wanting an HID besides the keyboard”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.