Improving a Kensington SlimBlade Trackball

After years of using a classic mouse, then a vertical one, I recently switched to a trackball: the Kensington SlimBlade Pro.

I wanted to give trackballs a try, and I quickly decided to narrow my search to a center-ball design. During my research I have found three models that looked interesting:

• Kensington SlimBlade Pro
• Kensington Expert
• Ploopy Adept Trackball

The Ploopy was my favorite, but it’s very expensive and costly to ship to Europe. The Kensington Expert is the most popular trackball, but the Kensington SlimBlade Pro has a more ergonomic shape.

In the end, I went for the Kensington SlimBlade Pro, and I have to say that I love it. The first few hours were awful and I almost returned it. But after that, I completely got used to it, and I now can’t imagine going back to a mouse.

I just have one complaint about this trackball: there is a small buzzer that makes a very annoying noise when scrolling. And the buttons make a very loud click sound.

After waiting for a few months, I never got used to this noise (neither did my coworkers), so I decided to open the trackball and try to fix it myself.

The process is straightforward:

• You remove the silicone pads on the bottom
• You unscrew the 7 screws hidden under the pads

• You open the case carefully, without forgetting to disconnect the two ribbon cables and the battery connector
• You locate the buzzer and the buttons

• You unsolder the buzzer and the buttons
• You solder in some silent buttons (here are the ones I used: silent micro switch)
• You reassemble everything

In less than one hour, I was done, and now my trackball is silent! And now the SlimBlade Pro is perfect for me.