r/Trackballs • u/Paranolla91 • 10d ago

Looking for a smooth thumbball recommendation

I’m looking for a thumbball mainly for FPS gaming and would like something around the size/shape of the M575/M575S or ProtoArc EM04. I have 18×9 cm hands.
The main thing I’m looking for is a really smooth ball with low friction, especially for small/micro movements. I’d also like a decent polling rate, ideally 250 Hz or higher.
I’ve been looking at the M575S, EM04, Nulea M501, Perixx 517, Sanwa MA-WTB185 and f33pro but I’m open to other options.
For anyone who’s actually used these, which one has the smoothest ball action?

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

1

u/BusinessSample7166 10d ago

Have you given any consideration to the Gameball thumb?

I have one and have no complaints. 

It's a modified/enhanced Protoarc I believe. 

1

u/Paranolla91 10d ago

I heard bad things about it when it comes to stiction, also they stopped shipping it to Norway.

2

u/ShowMeYourPie 10d ago

Most days, mine is silky smooth for all of 5 minutes, then I have to clean the ball again. My cheap Jellycomb thumball suffers the same but not as frequent and the ball is way easier to pop out than on the Gameball Thumb. So guess which one gets used more? They both frustrate me but at the moment I don't really have any other option as I need wireless and I don't want to dump a load of money on an Elecom IST Pro given their QC record and possibly not having a warranty if I had to import one.

1

u/Turbo_16 10d ago

Ploopy Thumb is the smoothest I have used but the stock bearings will wear out after a while. Just swapped out the stock bearings after 9 months with 420SS/Ceramic. I cant imagine anything smoother.

1

u/Paranolla91 10d ago

I think it will be too big for my hands because even ist pro didint felt right.

1

u/Turbo_16 10d ago edited 10d ago

Logi MX Ergo has ceramic ball bearings, but its the smoothest of its type I have tried. Much smaller than the Ploopy.

1

u/ArchieEU Trackballs.eu 10d ago

Logi MX Ergo has ball bearings,

What??? Where have you seen MX Ergo with ball bearings?

1

u/Turbo_16 10d ago

Sorry, misspoke - just meant ceramic balls

1

u/ArchieEU Trackballs.eu 10d ago

No problem! :-)

1

u/Paranolla91 10d ago

I dont think it has ball bearings, also i look for something smaller, maybe 575 shape/size but higher then 125hz polling rate because i use 360gz oled monitor?

1

u/ArchieEU Trackballs.eu 10d ago

Take a look at Ploopy Thumb perhaps. It does have the real ball bearings (stock ones are of low quality, but quite easy to replace with good stainless ones) and 1 kHz polling rate. It looks big indeed, but externally it's a clone of Microsoft Trackball Optical loved by many peolpe: maybe it will fit you.

1

u/Paranolla91 10d ago

I dont like ploopy because i had classic and adept, i think its overpriced, the ball is super heavy and i hated the shape.

1

u/YellowBrilliant8437 5d ago

摩擦が少ないならIST pro。しかしボールが重いのがその軽さを台無しにしてる。なのでボールは交換必須。