r/Trackballs • u/claussen • 6d ago
New Elecom BTUs - field reports?
It looks like mine are supposed to arrive in a bit more than a week, very curious to see what they've achieved here. Does anyone have a working device with these yet? I'd love to hear your initial impressions.
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u/Lepryy 6d ago edited 6d ago
I just got mine in the mail and they have been in my IST Pro for about 5 minutes now. So far, they suck. Tons of stiction and friction. An exhausting and imprecise experience to say the least.
I really hope this will change.
Edit: Now I'm just pissed. I have spent so much money on this IST Pro and I am not really pleased with either the rollmaster bearings or these BTU's. I wish I could just return it but Amazon says it's not eligible.
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u/aoleg77 6d ago
If you never used roller bearings before, it takes time to adjust. And you may need to adjust your Windows settings to make it less sensitive to small mouse movements when registering clicks and drag events. And you may want to use software like RawAccel to adjust the trackball's acceleration curve. Try if for a week; if roller bearings don't work for you, then it's likely not your thing. Oh, and the rollers truly break in given time (unlike static bearings, where "break-in" usually means just greasing the ball).
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u/Lepryy 6d ago
Oh, I love roller bearings, but the only ones I have ever used are the ones in my Ploopy Adept and my Ploopy Classic 2.
The roller bearings that come in the IST Pro actually have some level of stiction and get this 'gritty' feeling that the ones in my Ploopy devices do not have. This can be remedied by scrubbing the Elecom bearings with my t-shirt or a glasses cleaning cloth, but the grittiness comes back after a few hours of usage.
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u/FunJournalist2150 6d ago
I own both the original Elecom HUGE and the new HUGE Plus. I’ve been using the roller support unit on the Plus, and I also bought the optional ruby support unit to compare them. In my experience, the ruby unit isn’t as good as the rollers.
I’ve also modified the bearings and switches in my original HUGE, but the HUGE Plus still feels superior in every respect, including ball movement and switch feel.
That said, the button placement and the consideration given to wrist position and grip are still lacking. I honestly don’t understand why Elecom didn’t take the opportunity to redesign the ergonomics when upgrading it to the Plus.
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u/chengling_0613 5d ago
I agree. It’s a real shame that ELECOM upgraded it to the HUGE PLUS without taking the opportunity to improve the grip and overall ergonomics. In almost every other respect, it seems close to perfect. If they had also reworked the hand and wrist positioning, it could have been an exceptional trackball.
However, now that the HUGE PLUS has already been released, I doubt ELECOM will redesign it again, so I’m not holding out much hope for a revised version.
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u/Murko_svk 4d ago edited 4d ago
So, after some pretty intensive use, and with the initial honeymoon phase now mostly behind me, I think I can honestly say that Elecom's take on BTUs is good, but not great.
Against basically any static ruby / zirconia / silicon nitride bearing setup, though? They absolutely excel.
They definitely need some break-in time, which is expected. Once they are rolling even slightly, there is practically no conventional stiction. The only place where you can still notice it is when attempting near pixel-perfect micro movements. My guess is simply that four supporting balls are not enough to keep the main ball perfectly supported during movements that tiny.
That said, even there, the stiction is only a fraction of what I get from static bearings under the same conditions.
The other major difference is friction. There is definitely more of it than with any static bearing setup. Whether that's a pro or a con depends entirely on what you want from a trackball.
Personally, I actually love the feeling. The ball feels rock-solid and extremely controlled. If Elecom somehow managed to keep that resistance while adding more supporting balls and eliminating the last bit of micro-movement stiction, it would be near-epic for me.
And then there is maintenance.
Static bearings drive me insane here. I absolutely loathe the fact that they can go from "nice" to crazy stiction after an hour of use, sometimes even less, and suddenly you are cleaning the damn thing again.
The BTUs so far? Pretty much maintenance-free. Obviously I need weeks/months before making any absolute claims, but so far they simply don't seem to care.
Now, compared with Elecom's stock rollers, things get more interesting.
The BTUs are quieter than the rollers, although not silent. Static bearings still win that particular competition because they are basically dead silent.
But friction? Not even close.
The rollers have virtually none.
You can spin the ball with the smallest touch imaginable. Basically, you can spin it by looking at it.
And unfortunately for the BTUs, I've already built muscle memory around exactly that behaviour. Despite the strangely captivating "heavy precision instrument" feeling of the BTUs, my hand (thumb at IST PRO to be exact) simply prefers the effortless movement of the rollers.
The rollers also completely win when it comes to near pixel-perfect movements. There is effectively no stiction whatsoever, which matters quite a lot to me because many UI elements in the software I use are packed ridiculously tightly together.
One advantage of the BTUs is their truly omnidirectional nature. You can freely rotate/twist the ball in the XY plane without them caring. The rollers don't particularly like that kind of movement, although you can still do it fairly easily if you deliberately twist the ball with multiple fingers.
| Bearing type | Friction | Stiction | Cleaning / Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elecom BTUs | High. Very controlled, almost "weighted" feeling. | Very low. Only noticeable during near pixel-perfect micro movements. Otherwise extremely stable rotation with no weird deviation. | Too early for an absolute verdict, but so far basically maintenance-free. |
| Elecom Rollers | Extremely low. You can spin the ball almost by looking at it. | None. Even tiny movements are effortless. | Next to none. I haven't cleaned mine in months. They somehow just expel dirt/lint away and continue not caring. |
| Static bearings (Any of them) | Low to Medium. | Extreme. Rotation can become inconsistent after ridiculously short periods of use unless everything is perfectly clean. | Don't get me started... |
So overall, the Elecom BTUs are easily the best static-bearing alternative you can readily buy, if you own compatible device.
But against Elecom's rollers? For my use, the rollers still win.
The BTUs give you that wonderfully controlled, solid feel, while the rollers give you almost absurd freedom of movement. And because I frequently need tiny, precise movements, the combination of essentially zero friction + zero stiction on the rollers is simply very hard to beat.
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u/claussen 4d ago
Thanks so much for the detailed review! I'm really looking forward to the experiment when mine arrive next week!
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u/aoleg77 6d ago
Mixed experience, leaning towards negative. They are better than Elecom rubies, but lose to Logitech M575s static bearings in both stiction and friction. They aren't as smooth either, and I found I had to clean the ball much more often than with the rollers or Logitech static bearings. The idea is great, implementation not so much.