The new Expert Mouse TB800 EQ isn’t just an update; it’s a maximalist statement with three scroll wheels, eight buttons, and a whole new look.

Trackballs are a bit of an acquired taste. In a world of feather-light, high-DPI gaming mice, the trackball is the quirky, established cousin who prioritizes comfort over everything. If you’re in the “trackball club,” you’re probably in it for life, evangelizing about ergonomics and how you haven’t actually moved your wrist since 2015.

And in that club, Kensington is royalty. Its Expert Mouse has been a beige-and-red-ball icon on desks for decades.

But “icon” can sometimes be a polite word for “outdated.” While Kensington’s trackballs are beloved, their design language has often felt stuck in a different era. That all changed when they dropped the sleek, modern SlimBlade Pro in 2022. It seemed the company had a new vision.

Now, Kensington is bringing that vision to its flagship line. The company has just announced the Expert Mouse TB800 EQ, a ground-up redesign of its wireless workhorse, and it looks like they’ve thrown every idea they’ve ever had into one device.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the TB800 EQ looks nothing like its chunky predecessor. It’s inherited the low-profile, “designed in this decade” aesthetic of the SlimBlade Pro. It’s slimmer, sleeker, and features a new built-in wrist rest, addressing one of the main ergonomic complaints of older models.

But don’t let the svelte new look fool you. This thing is packed.

Kensington has apparently decided that the main problem with mice is that they just don’t have enough scroll wheels. So, they gave the TB800 EQ three of them.

Yes, three.

The party piece is, of course, the classic Kensington scroll ring. It’s the dedicated physical ring surrounding the trackball, a feature that loyalists would riot over if it were removed. It’s all here, and it even maintains its ability to toggle between a silky-smooth, infinite-style scroll and a “stepped” line-by-line click, perfect for precisely reading documents.

But then it gets weird, in a good way. On either side of the mouse, you’ll find two additional, vertically-oriented scroll wheels.

Why? Horizontal scrolling.

If you’ve ever found yourself scrubbing through a video timeline in Premiere, navigating a monstrous Excel sheet, or zooming in and out of a Photoshop canvas, you know the unique pain of horizontal navigation. These side wheels are built specifically for that. They’re designed to handle horizontal scrolling and zooming right out of the box, which could be an absolute game-changer for creative professionals and audio editors.

By contrast, the cheaper SlimBlade Pro—which this now resembles—forces you to twist the trackball itself to scroll. It’s a clever solution, but for many, it’s just not the same as a dedicated, tactile wheel. The TB800 EQ gives you that dedicated feel… times three.

And if you’re a minimalist who finds this all a bit much, don’t worry. You can disable each of the three scroll wheels individually using switches on the bottom.

But wait, there’s more (buttons)

If three scroll wheels weren’t enough, Kensington also decided to add, well, all the buttons.

The original Expert Mouse had a classic four-button layout surrounding the trackball. Those are still here, and as always, they are fully programmable using Kensington’s desktop software.

But now, there are four additional buttons running along the top edge. Out of the box, they’re set to control media playback (play/pause, skip) and volume, turning your mouse into a mini media remote. Naturally, these are also fully customizable, bringing the grand total of programmable buttons to eight.

It’s clear who this is for: the productivity power user who wants to map copy, paste, undo, and an entire Adobe suite’s worth of shortcuts directly to their mouse.

Finally, a modern battery

Perhaps the most significant “quality of life” upgrade has nothing to do with scrolling or clicking. The old Expert Mouse ran on AA batteries. In 2025, that feels archaic.

The new TB800 EQ finally joins the modern era with an internal rechargeable battery. Kensington claims it will last for up to four months on a single charge, which is impressive, to say the least.

When it does need a top-up, it uses a standard USB-C cable. And, in a nod to the “pro” users who can’t afford a single second of downtime or wireless lag, that same USB-C cable also lets you use the mouse in a fully wired mode.

It still retains all the wireless flexibility you’d expect, connecting via either low-latency Bluetooth or an included 2.4GHz USB dongle.

So, what’s the catch? As always, it’s the price tag.

This much innovation doesn’t come cheap. The new Expert Mouse TB800 EQ is set to launch later this year with a price bump, going from the current $109.99 for the old model to $129.99.

Is it worth it?

If you’re a casual browser, probably not. But this mouse wasn’t built for you. This was built for the person who lives in spreadsheets, for the video editor who measures their day in frames, and for the ergonomics-obsessed user who demands ultimate comfort and zero compromise.

Kensington has effectively created a “pro” controller for your desktop. It’s a maximalist, kitchen-sink approach to mouse design, and for the right kind of power user, it might just be perfect.