Thanks for the advice.

The zoom function at least works along with the rest of the buttons via MED key mappings. Just don't have rotate, pan, and tilt but I easily manage those functions with the regular mouse will zooming with the pressure sensitive knob on the 3D mouse.

Maybe one day I'll master C and create a plugin using the 3dconnexion SDK kit. Until then I'll continue to use whats currently available.

Also glad to know blender works well as I was questioning other alternatives.

MED is right at the edge of being good enough for me at the moment however once I make the switch to A8 I'll most likely switch to modeling with something more complex. Modeling with a 3D mouse is so awesome