There is something about the trackball that I just find to be more ugh... I can't find the right word to describe it. Maybe its related to the fact that your hand stays still the entire time, so you don't get jitter from all that mouse movement.
I use the Marble +, with the trackball that is thumb operated and I find it to be VERY quick and very accurate, well, at least as accurate as my thumb can be.
The left button is primary fire, the right button alt fire, the center scroll wheel selects weapons, and pushing the wheel selects my translocator.
But I went to Comp USA today and looked at the Panther XL and the Gravis Exterminator. Well having never really paid any attention to joysticks before, I got a $69 sticker shock, and was surprised to see that both of these are huge joysticks, especially the panther.
So I tried em out, and couldn't really decide weather to shell out the cash, or play UT a little longer and get better at it with the trackball. The thing about getting a joystick now is it won't be so painful later on trying to learn one.
I'm kind of leaning towards the panther because of the trackball. Trackballs are just sweet in my opinion, the Gravis had a small analog thumb scroller that seemed fairly decent, and the Gravis also had some buttons built into the joystick that would auto-turn a person in any direction. For example you could be running forward, then push the back button, suddely you are turned 180 degrees and running in that direction.
Hard to decide...
Rotgut