I decided years ago that since the conventional computer peripheral is called a mouse, trackballs are rats.
I also decided years ago that rats are where it's at and that's all I'll use. A mediocre rat still has tons of advantages over mice, because mousepads are a scam by Big Computer Desk and I spent my formative years suffering technology that didn't work. If the surface is subtly wrong a mouse no longer honors your movements; a rat has no such problems and can be stopped only by debris falling into the optical sensors, which is as obvious as it is easy to troubleshoot/clean!
I'm not gonna say I'm objectively right or anything– I like there being options so people can pick what meets their needs! But I am a fan of the rat. I love the rat. I honor the rat.
(it was called the Turbo Mouse back then, mechanical, two buttons and no ring; I fell in love with it playing Descent at a gaming café and never looked back)
...uncertain how I feel to report this is the exact trackball I'm using right now.
Slightly mollified to hear someone else went "this is my gayming cursor-wriggler of choice" and has enjoyed it since, at least. While I enjoy tormenting unwary strangers with "I play games with an office trackball!" it does in fact do that job just fine– at most I miss out on the extra buttons a gaming-oriented mouse would have, and I'd be missing out on those anyways if I was using a regular mouse.

