my I-1 is still as new, and i love the feel/friction/sound, but it's just way too small.
so, looking for something similar, i ended up getting an aluminium pad..
turns out my optical sensors do not like it. (no, my mice are not cheap mice with crap sensors.)
so there's the risk of my mice not tracking well on a surface, and then there's the risk of not knowing how long the material will last.
it sounds great and all, but it's just too big a risk to take.
his pad does look very cool, though :-)