Ploopy Adept Trackball Impressions

I recently came across Ploopy, a small company making open-source peripherals. They design mice, trackballs and even headphones.

I was in the market for purchasing a trackball to reduce wrist and hand pains I was experiencing from using a mouse for up to 12 hours a day. The Adept trackball caught my attention due to its layout and aesthetics, and I like supporting independent companies making open-source things. Ploopy did not ask me to write this or compensate me in any way. I made the purchase myself after doing research online.

Ordering Options

Because Ploopy’s products are open-source, I had options when it came to how I wanted to get mine. I chose to buy the parts and assemble it myself, saving a few bucks for less convenience. 3d printer STL files, board schematics and more available on their GitHub.

Assembly

Ploopy provides clear assembly instructions on their GitHub which also includes 3d printing STL files and QMK firmware compilation details. Assembly took less than 30 minutes including soldering and was surprisingly intuitive.

Firmware & Re-mapping

My board came with a VIA-compatible firmware, so I did not need to re-flash it in order to re-map buttons. If you have a Chromium-based browser, you can likely use https://www.usevia.app/ without installing anything to make changes. Since I do not use a Chromium-based browse, I use via-bin which is VIA wrapped in Electron for portability.

Changing/updating the firmware is pretty straightforward if necessary.

Using it

Despite it being 3d printed, the quality was a lot better than I was expecting. It has solid construction, the buttons are clicky and the ball rolls smoothly with the bearings.

The texture of the buttons has a nice flat finish that does not feel 3d printed despite how it looks.

General web and desktop navigation is unremarkable, in a good way. Once I remapped the buttons to my preferences it took only a few hours before I didn’t have to think about what I was doing.

Gaming also turned out to be pretty decent for mouse-driven games such as Old School RuneScape or Anno 1800.

Final Thoughts

Will I be getting rid of my mouse? No, it will remain within reach. Will this be my daily driver for the foreseeable future? Yep.

I’d like to eventually try some of their other trackball designs

Next I am planning on modding it to add BLE and battery to make it wireless.