Spaceball is a must for product designers.

If you use Autodesk Inventor or similar solid modeling programs to design products you know what a pain the rotation, pan, and zoom commands can be when you are trying to get into a feature. You also know that time is money (likely big money) and you have to increase productivity while cutting cost every year. How do you do that in a room full of engineers or drafters? 3D Connexion recommends the Spaceball and so do I.

What is this thing?
Hook this to your computer and sit it on the opposite side of your keyboard from your mouse. It's designed to function as a left hand compliment to a person who uses the mouse with their right. When you are operating 3D modeling software you can keep your right hand on the mouse to initiate commands but use the Spaceball to fly through your models like a pilot.

Rotating, zooming, and panning are all done by applying pressure or twist to the Spaceball. You can literally design, verify, print, and approve an entire part without taking your hands off the Spaceball and mouse. No more hitting spacebar to change rotation methods or swithing rotate and zoom back and forth. I've cut my modeling time in half with this device and that has allowed me a savings of thousands of dollars each year.

What else?
Spaceball will integrate itself with the Microsoft Office suite to help you navigate through spreadsheets and email but to be honest with you it doesn't shine in this area. You can zoom in a spreadsheet and do the ol' page down/page up scroll but that's just as easy with the mouse.

One big advantage is that the Spaceball has 11 onboard buttons you can program with keyboard stroke macros. It also knows when you change software so a button that writes your name in the approved by block in Autocad can fill a column header in Excel if you are so inclined. If you use them all good luck remembering what they do...no labeling method is included with this version of the Spaceball.

Wrist comforts?
I've used this every day for three years for at least four hours a day and my wrist has not been sore even once. It's just an easy product to use if you force yourself for a week so you can get used to it. It's as awkward as any new input device the first day but you will adjust quickly...and be SO glad you did!

Size
We all have small work areas, right? Maybe not but desk space is premium. This is about as long as a mouse and a half. The ball compares well with a baseball so it fits the average hand really well. Get a grip, baby, and let's fly through the model!

Lefties aren't forgotten
Are you left handed? Put Spaceball on your right. The wrist support simply comes off and attaches to the opposite side to create a version for the southpaws of the world. A 30 second changeover with no tools required...3D Connexion must employ some left handed folks to have nailed this so well!

A final thought
Get serious about productivity and add this to every solid model license you have. I've used it in Autodesk Inventor where it has integrated flawlessly and increased my productivity so much that I can't bring myself to try to view a model on a work station that doesn't have one. It's faster to go back to my desk and load the model than it is to fight through an assembly without my Spaceball!

I can't endorse this product enough, I love it!