Little write up of pads I have experience with and my thoughts:
Hard surface:
SteelSeries SX (metal) : low control, smooth glide, ideal for higher DPI applications. In general the best hard mousepad I had chance to use. Sadly as many other great products, discontinued.. If anyone happen to have one new for sale I'm very interested
Razer Manticor (black, metal) : middle control, very rough texture. Might be choice for anyone who want control with hard pad (easy to stop movement of mouse, hard to start movement). For me rather bad surface, hardpads should remain low control/high speed
Mionix ENSIS 320 (metal) : low-ish control, smooth texture. Slightly slower than SteelSeries SX, yet reliable with control force (not hard to stop movement, easy enough to start moving). Good pad for mid-high DPI
Corsair Vengeance MM600 (plastic with metalic core) : low control, high speed glide. Suprisingly good two sided surface. Cannot talk for durability however control, glide and comfort are close to SteelSeries SX quality.
Cloth/Soft surface:
Roccat Taito - medium to high control, rather smooth texture, thick pad!! Compromise surface, very good choice for anyone who find QCK too slow
SteelSeries QCK (thin version) - high control, textured (rough) textile at start (first months of use). Very slow surface, should be prefered by anyone who need superior control.
CM STORM Speed-RX (thick) - low to mid control, very smooth surface. Very fast "cloth" mousepad! Unfortunatelly with
terrible vertical anomaly/jitter/skips using optical sensors (tested Razer Abyssus, Kana V2), not usable with optical (if requested I may try laser sensors for compatibility)
CM STORM Power-RX - low to mid control, rubberized cloth surface. Not even cloth pad anymore, nice feeling and smooth glide with touch of control. Would be my preference if.. again optical sensors (Abyssus, Kana V2) having trouble with movement, eventual cursor jitter (at random movement, not vertical). Again might be issue with lower DPI settings on optical mices.
Artisan Raiden - low control, smooth surface. Superior glide and low control, nice feeling of surface.
TERRIBLE vertical jitter, skips on optical (Abyssus, Kana V2).
The problematic pads were tested on two Razer Abyssus and one Kana V2 to remove possible sensor related problems. These pads are simply not fully compatible with optical sensors from my experience. All other surfaces should be compatible with most mices, if you would like I can do test with any mentioned surface on following mices:
SteelSeries XAI, Corsair M60, Razer Naga, Alienware TactX, G9, Roccat Kone Pure Core, Razer Orochi (older version), Logitech G500, SteelSeries Kinzu v2 PRO, Razer Abyssus, SteelSeries Kana V2, Razer Imperator, Team Scorpion Zealot.
I currently use Corsair MM600 for standard use and QCK+ for CS:GO (at 450dpi).
Coming soon to test (as I keep looking for compatible fast cloth pad).. QPAD CT (thin, large version) and Zowie G-FT (Speed).