So... The machine that works (mostly) is running cheetah3d 7.3.3 on OS X 10.15.6. The panning works (right, left, up, down) and I can zoom in and out pretty consistently. (pushing the controller in different directions) This tends to start failing after Cheetah 3d has been open for a while. (Not blaming any Cheetah 3d code on this, just observing circumstances). When it does fail, it requires a restart of the machine to bring it back. To get this to work I had to play with installing and uninstalling the 3d Connexion drivers a couple of times. Unfortunately I don't have exact steps and I'm afraid it will break if I start over.I'm on OS X 10.15.1 and the latest Connexion drivers. I've tried the previous Cheetah3d, the current one, and the 7.5.b1 with no luck. I thought I'd read something about uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers and/or Cheetah3d to get it to work, but I haven't had any luck so far. This is pretty frustrating and eating into my workflow, so I'll keep working at it and let you guys know if I find anything.
The oddity is how it rotates around the object. (twisting the controller). This works sometimes, but I haven't been able to find any rhyme or reason for it.