mousepad suggestion

[Arcane]

hey

I'm looking for a very good mousepad at the moment. The main reason is that many of the so called gaming mousepad I had simply wore out very quickly. I noticed that plastic mousepads which have a structured surface usually wear out pretty easily. You can see some shiny areas on the mousepad, these are the worn out areas. You can also feel that the mouse glides much better on the sides of the mousepad than in the middle.

So once again my main purpose of the mousepad should be durability.

I read that the icemat is a very durable mousepad because it is made of glass. My problem is that I have a laser mouse so a glass mousepad wouldn't be compatible...

Also I read some good stuff about ratpadz mousepads, don't have any experience with their products so far. Can you confirm that they make good quality mousepads?

Do you have general suggestions for a durable mousepad?

thanks in advance!

Arcane

[audioave10]

Newegg had some X-Trac mousepads that were smooth and kept their form for a long time...I have one of them. It doesn't degrade so far-about 4 months.

[Arc'xer]

What laser mouse exactly?

From what I read some have tested the icemat and it's usually the earlier generation laser mice with the issues. The more modern lasers have little to no problems on glass.

Also before deciding on anything what is your sensitivity? low? mid? high?

Don't want to pick the wrong mouse pad. I know some will say it's preference but you seem to want a specific surface.

I'm guessing high cause of the Icemat reference.

Ratzpads never done much research on them but from the bits and pieces I've picked up. While popular with some high-sens gamers they seem to be disliked a lot. For various reasons including eating mice feet like no one's business. I notice it's not mentioned a lot and many seem to steer clear of them.

[gr1m]

I usually hate hard pads but I enjoy the lack of friction, so I switched out my Razer ExactMat clone with a cloth pad and now with a Razer Destructor. I like the Destructor a lot and would recommend it to anybody. Smooth with the G500. However, I can't comment on durability since its only been a month.

[microsoft windows]

I would recommend a Wallace & Gromit mouse pad.

[Arcane]

What laser mouse exactly?

Steelseries Xai with 1600dpi, midsense I would say.

[Arc'xer]

Steelseries Xai with 1600dpi, midsense I would say.

Seems like there isn't any problems. Based on these Japanese tests.

http://wikis.jp/interfacedevice/index.php?MaximumSpeed_en#r13eb7dc

Hopefully the link sends you to the ADNS-9500, G9x same sensor as the Xai except the Xai uses a different model number with more customization.

The I-2 is a 10"x12" so it's pretty small if your anything above that(about 25cm).

Remember the icemat is about high sens; http://esreality.hexus.net/?a=post&id=1873529.

Some people hate the icemat because it's glass; gets cold, dirty, noisy with the scratching of the dirt. Not sure if to say buying the icemat is a risk it probably is the most durable mousepad so long as you don't break it. Plus some have notice it tends to eat up your mouse feet a bit.

It's glass even metal mousepads eventually deform and or wear out. So some people have use the icemats for well over 5 years with no issues.

Honestly, I'd do my research if your wanting a new mouse pad. I'm not trying to sell you on the icemat. There's a lot of high-sens pads out there, on the market. I don't want you to come back and say you wasted your money or anything. Check around and research other pads, if your worried about the icemat.

[Mith]

I just bought SteelSeries SX few months ago and I'm very happy with it. If you're looking for durable mousepad that's definitely one viable option.

It's aluminium so it's easy to keep clean and you can put your pad on any surface. (bed, sofa etc.)

The awesome anodized oxide treatment wore off pretty quickly, but after that the feeling of aluminium is still quite nice. You might have some hard time getting used to smooth glide, but for me it turned out to be perfect, even though I use very high sensitivity settings. (my mom can't even click an icon on my setup)

If you're careful with grains of sand and other trash under your mouse, this pad will last forever and ever.

[Rajagra]

Somebody posted some graphs showing how fast various mice could track on various surfaces. I have a Logitech G9 and an Icemat, and the tests said this was a poor combination. But I had never noticed any problems. It depends what type of gaming you do and how fast you want to move the mouse (if you use low sensitivity you'll sometimes need to move the mouse fast and far.)

For me the Icemat was the best thing I'd ever used. If anything the amount of friction was too low, any tension in the cable would drag the mouse along when you let it go, so I used the heaviest weights in the mouse to counteract that, lol.

The only reason I stopped using the Icemat is I got annoyed how mats divide your deskspace up and constrain how you work. But I'm missing how well it performs, so I'll probably go back to using it soon.

EDIT> Found the thread. Here's the Icemat graph:


My old G9 fails before 1m/s speed is reached. The newer G9x and others get closer to 4m/s.

[microsoft windows]

The winner of all that would be an IBM Trackpoint L40. Those mice can track on anything from asphalt to a dog (Don't think it would work too well with my cat though; it would probably kill it).

[ch_123]

Yep, just what I need for a 640x480 screen...

[J888www]

i would recommend a wallace & gromit mouse pad.

those mice can track on anything from asphalt to a dog (don't think it would work too well with my cat though; it would probably kill it).

 啊 啊 啊 啊 啊.
Strange that others find you annoying and keep telling you to be quiet, I on the other hand find you very humorous. :laugh:

[ch_123]

I dunno. The humor value wears out after a while, like watching Sarah Palin or George Bush talk.

[EverythingIBM]

The mousepad I have is like... old as my 300PL (1997), I've been using it since I first got a computer. It's kind of worn down but after all those years, it still works nicely. It's just a cloth surface on top of rubber.

So, get one that's CLOTH, they work really nice. Last for years and years and years and years...

[Arc'xer]

The mousepad I have is like... old as my 300PL (1997), I've been using it since I first got a computer. It's kind of worn down but after all those years, it still works nicely. It's just a cloth surface on top of rubber.

So, get one that's CLOTH, they work really nice. Last for years and years and years and years...

But it might not be conducive to his style of play. Cloth is usually for lower sensitivities so they sweep their arm across the pad and use the cloths friction to control. A good example is RTS, cloths are usually not used not because you can't control the sensitivity, it's just too much friction for such small, quick movements required becomes fatiguing. No matter how smooth/slick your cloth pad is, it is nothing compared to a hard pad.

While for high sens they need the slickness due to the smaller movement. Even though hard pads can have friction they have a level of speed not usually associated with cloth for wrist/finger movements.

Hell even some low sens gamers admit that while cloth is nice and all some hard pads while not being the size they require do give better results over the cloth.

[Mith]

Hell even some low sens gamers admit that while cloth is nice and all some hard pads while not being the size they require do give better results over the cloth.

Hmmm, I love cloth pads myself but they just don't deliver good enough glide and are usually hard to keep clean.

[EverythingIBM]

But it might not be conducive to his style of play. Cloth is usually for lower sensitivities so they sweep their arm across the pad and use the cloths friction to control. A good example is RTS, cloths are usually not used not because you can't control the sensitivity, it's just too much friction for such small, quick movements required becomes fatiguing. No matter how smooth/slick your cloth pad is, it is nothing compared to a hard pad.

While for high sens they need the slickness due to the smaller movement. Even though hard pads can have friction they have a level of speed not usually associated with cloth for wrist/finger movements.

Hell even some low sens gamers admit that while cloth is nice and all some hard pads while not being the size they require do give better results over the cloth.

Nope. Cloth works just fine. I do everything from graphics to gaming. You can't get "fatigued" from moving a mouse on cloth, there is virtually no resistance, no different from a wooden table.

On the other hand, I do have my cursor speed set really high, and it's not thick cloth.

[hyperlinked]

Hmmm, I love cloth pads myself but they just don't deliver good enough glide and are usually hard to keep clean.

I've always had a cloth mousepad myself, but with my last keyboard tray I got a 3M Precise Mousing Surface mousepad attached to it. I really like it a lot. At first, you'd think it would give you too much friction because the surface is grooved. It may have been a little "catchy" at first, but mine is broken in now and it holds as much as I expect it to and it glides uniformly so there's no snags in movement.

[hyperlinked]

If your mouse is any good it'll track fine.

Agreed. For me the mousing surface is all about giving a little tactility to the mouse movements. I don't want it to glide like it's on ice nor do I want it to stick. I want that ever so slight bit of resistance the roller ball used to provide to give me feedback about how much I'm moving the mouse.

[TheSoulhunter]

I use the Steelseries Icemat glass mousepad for some years, its the best pad I ever used (Ratpadz, Everglide, BlahBlah) really...
Zero wear on its texture (of course, glass is very hard) and also zero problems with my Logitech MX518 (optical) and G5 / G9 (laser)!

[microsoft windows]

I dunno. The humor value wears out after a while, like watching Sarah Palin or George Bush talk.

But not when Joe Biden talks, Mr. Liberal. He says even funnier stuff than Bush.

[EverythingIBM]

But not when Joe Biden talks, Mr. Liberal. He says even funnier stuff than Bush.

Those Liberals... always messing up the country.

[dfj]

I use the Steelseries Icemat glass mousepad for some years, its the best pad I ever used (Ratpadz, Everglide, BlahBlah) really...
Zero wear on its texture (of course, glass is very hard) and also zero problems with my Logitech MX518 (optical) and G5 / G9 (laser)!

My G9 din' like the icemat - or mebbe it was me that din' like it. Anyway, both me and my mouse like a lump of end-grain hardwood breadboard, mouse-vendors be damned. It tracks very well, and is exactly as fast as I like. You can adjust the speed with very fine grit sand-paper as you like, though. It's made of wood.
  I 'measure' tracking by moving the mouse rapidly from side to side without acceleration, bringing the mouse repeatedly up to the side of my other hands' fingers which I hold against the pad. I watch where on the screen the mouse is bumping my fingers as I repeatedly swing it from side to side. Tracking 'well' for me means that the mouse bumps against my fingers at close to the same spot on the screen each time, and doesn't drift much - and certainly not in any particular direction.

my $0.02,
yup,
dfj

[Buckling_Summer]

I have been using cheap mouspads since the first day.  
This year I bought one of the Razer series called Razer Destructor™.

I am ok with it because it is durable and comfortable. I am not into gaming etc.
Just a little Word, Excel and Photoshop.

[ricercar]

My favorite surface sensation is a Teflon-padded mouse on sanded and oiled oak plywood. MMm. Almost as smooth as NIB Cherry blacks.  ahhhhh.

Sorry about the mess.

[microsoft windows]

I just use an old piece of cardboard I ripped from a box as a mousepad. It works.

[Mercen_505]

I've had hard plastic mouse mats, soft cloth with thick and thin fibers, tried going without on a desk, and in times of need I have resorted to ripping a piece of cardboard off a heavy shipping box just to get some decent tracking. Everything seems to work fairly well, but right now I got a good deal on a medium sized Razer Goliathus "control" pad, and shockingly... it tracks really well. For the first time in my life, I can actually say a mouse mat has made a significant difference in how well my mouse controls. I had to switch to my old (whoo... very old) cloth mouse pad for a bit just to make sure I wasn't deluding myself into falling for some sort of placebo effect. While horizontal tracking seems largely the same, vertical tracking is now far more accurate for me, and I suffer less overshooting whether I'm browsing, developing, or gaming.

Crazy. Never woulda thunkit for a moment.

[microsoft windows]

My old ball mice don't even need mouse pads. But the laser mice seem to be picky about some surfaces. They don't track at all on the metal computer desks at work.

[EverythingIBM]

My old ball mice don't even need mouse pads. But the laser mice seem to be picky about some surfaces. They don't track at all on the metal computer desks at work.

Well if your ball mouse uses a trackball, I don't think it would.

I can't use any type of mouse on a hard or polished surface, has to be cloth or something.

[niz]

Go to an art store and buy a huge cutting mat for $10.

Screw the gaming companies.  If your mouse is any good it'll track fine.

Show Image

I like your thinking...might have to go do this now. I do have a nice hard surface mat I got from Cooler Master with a case. Pretty small though.

...I swear I'll stop quoting you now Rip.

[EverythingIBM]

I like your thinking...might have to go do this now. I do have a nice hard surface mat I got from Cooler Master with a case. Pretty small though.

...I swear I'll stop quoting you now Rip.

R.I.P. Rip quotes.