Great idea, hard to keep clean and smooth moving

This was actually the first trackball I had. I used it for almost a year. The first thing I learned after a very short while is that the rubber guides have to be cleaned on a weekly or more basis. Otherwise the ball would stick and the pointer was difficult to move around. Also, another problem inherit with the design are the crown mounted bearings which fell out after a cleaning. After a while it became rather useless without the tiny balls to make the ball move smoothly. Not learning my lesson YET at that point, I bought it's big brother the Turbo Ring...same exact problems. The features are nice on this but the maintenance required and the longevity are definite strikes against it. I recommend the Microsoft Trackball Explorer, which is a million times better and easier to clean and maintain.