TotalNoob?: Help me decide on a mouse pad / gaming surface

[shogrran]

I hope I am in the correct area...

I am expecting my order of the Steelseries sensei by this friday.

I am overly excited that finally it has become available in my country that I have prepared for its coming like an expecting father. I have downloaded the software drivers, made my own custom logo for uploading in the LCD and now I am shopping for a decent mouse pad / gaming surface I can use with it.

Right now I have a couple of choices :

RAZER Goliathus


Steelseries QcK mini


From watching videos I feel I would like the thickness of the Goliathus since I am used to a thick mouse pad while gaming. I don't think I would like a surface that is so thin that it feels I am just working off the top of the table.
The Steelseries QcK mini however I like it because its the cheapest gaming surface from a very reputable manufacturer and due to its size.

So veterans of the peripheral world please lend me your knowledge and help me make a choice again. (I have made a mistake of not consulting geekhack forums regarding a purchase before and I regretted it a little)

I have the following criteria for judging.
1. I would like a small mouse pad. I literally live in a box so space on my desk is limited.
2. I would prefer a mouse pad with some heft and thickness to it but definitely NOT hard mouse pads.
3. I don't like overly smooth surface. I would like to still feel the mouse as it glides over the pad. Control pads are good for me.
4. Mouse pad must be washable I am a pig sometimes and will sometimes neglect cleaning the mouse pad. Maintenance should be a breeze.
5. Price. Low-Average price range folks! I am not a professional gamer even though I game like an average of 6 hours a day. I believe there are overkill mouse pads that don't really help much in gaming anyway.


Any tips you can provide are welcome as always.

[RamaBot]

I use a black Steelseries Qck with my Xai. I have no problems with it at all.
The lift distance is less than 2cd's.
It is like the mouse floats over the surface.
I used a goliathus before and it was no where near as good.
It should be perfect for the Sensei.
It is a doddle to wash. My wife just chucks it in the washing machine for me.
It does like to gather lint and dust though - so I use a magic lint brush on it. A lint brush is good for all soft pads and only costs a couple of quid.
The only thing with the Qck is that it comes rolled up and does take a while to flatten out completely.

It is also cheap. So good value for money.

If this one wears out I will just buy another.

[shogrran]

@RamaBot Thanks for the quick reply!
I am not sure about what "2cd lift distance mean"
Can I just use Scotch Tape to remove the dust? (it doesn't leave a residue)
I totally agree with the Qck being a good deal for money... its the cheapest good branded mouse pad I could find here.
Let me also ask... I watched in a review that the surface on the underside of the QcK isnt so grippy but grippy all the same. Is it a good idea to use thin double sided tape to fix it down the desk?

[hcry4]

I think he meant thickness of the pad. He's saying it's less than 2 CDs or about 2.5mm, I believe.

[shogrran]

Hmm... I was doing some further research. There is Steelseries QcK mini... and there is Steelseries QcK mass which is thicker and heavier. Any one has some feedback on the comparison of both? Right now I am greatly considering what Ramabot said earlier. If the qck mini wears out its just a matter of getting another one. Its pretty much like a disposable mouse pad.

[ZeroGraVT]

I have the goliathus extended.  Great mouse pad.  I've had it for 6 months or so now and it still looks new.  Very thick and good grip on the bottom.  The only thing I don't like is the green splash design of the logo.

[RamaBot]

When I said 2cd's I meant the distance at which the mouse stops tracking when you lift it off the pad. A low distance is preferable to most people as it stops you facing a random direction every time you lift the mouse when  playing FPS games.
If you want to test the lift distance you place your mouse in between 2 stacks of cd's on on you mouse pad. The higher the stacks the higher the lift distance.
On my goliathus the mouse tracks to 3cd's so for me it is not as good.

As far as the pad wearing out. I have had mine for six months and I use it for at least 10 hours a day. If shows no sign of wearing yet. It looks brand new.

On a little side note as it is a thin pad I allow the front edge to fall over the front edge of my desk so all of my wrist is touching the nice surface of the Qck.

I used to really like the thicker pads but have found the Qck to be the best one I have used so far. But maybe that is because I have become used to it.

[shogrran]

Which brings me to another question. I thought it was best that we have an even surface for mice. How does that splash design logo not affect tracking. O_@?

[RamaBot]

I have the normal Qck and not the mini so my mouse never gets close enough to the edge to touch the logo. I just tried and to get the sensor to be on the logo the mouse has to be partially off the mat anyway and that would never happen.

[popol]

Razer Goliathus is simply the best mousepad ever, whatever is the category (hard soft...). Take the Control Edition.

[Greenbean]

I suggest you purchase a hard surface pad for your Sensei.

As you may know, your Sensei runs a laser sensor (Avago 9500 specifically). And with cloth surfaces, your sensor will likely experiencr tracking issues because you will notice that the pixels skip, or that the cursor starts to jitter if you move your mouse slowly.

For a hard surface pad, I suggest the Steelseries 4HD as I think it would complement your Sensei nicely, the 3HD is also an option if your area has it.

[RamaBot]

I suggest you purchase a hard surface pad for your Sensei.

As you may know, your Sensei runs a laser sensor (Avago 9500 specifically). And with cloth surfaces, your sensor will likely experiencr tracking issues because you will notice that the pixels skip, or that the cursor starts to jitter if you move your mouse slowly.

For a hard surface pad, I suggest the Steelseries 4HD as I think it would complement your Sensei nicely, the 3HD is also an option if your area has it.

We have had 2 Xai mice on Qck pads here for over six months and have experienced no problems of this sort at all.
Not a single skip. And I use my xai for high definition 2d and 3d work where I'm moving the mouse very slowly and need accuracy. Not a single problem.

[popol]

We have had 2 Xai mice on Qck pads here for over six months and have experienced no problems of this sort at all.
Not a single skip. And I use my xai for high definition 2d and 3d work where I'm moving the mouse very slowly and need accuracy. Not a single problem.

I second this: not any problem of that kind using a Razer Imperator lazer on my Goliathus Control, and I wouldn't exchange it for any hard surface pad. What is nice with the Goliathus is the Extended XL edition that allows you to put yuor keyboard on it, which absorb a bit noise and make its typing feeling a bit better for instance on KBC Poker that doesn't sound the same at all on every key which might be annoying if you type a bit heavy.

[Kick]

I suggest you purchase a hard surface pad for your Sensei.

As you may know, your Sensei runs a laser sensor (Avago 9500 specifically). And with cloth surfaces, your sensor will likely experiencr tracking issues because you will notice that the pixels skip, or that the cursor starts to jitter if you move your mouse slowly.

For a hard surface pad, I suggest the Steelseries 4HD as I think it would complement your Sensei nicely, the 3HD is also an option if your area has it.

He is correct. Of course, it isn't going to occur in EVERY case, but he is correct. The g500 runs on the same laser and tracks fine on my razer sphex but the sensei can't track on the white surface of it.

Go Google or look for the ocn review of it. The artisan pad is much better for the sensei but it costs a lot more. I went with the ratpad because the sensei prefers a harder surface

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[Fobbah]

I have a steelseries qck and would definitely recommend the qck mini, although i would say go with the bigger qck if you can fit it on your desk. The mousepad is not very thick, so you can always place things on top of it if need be.

Very high quality product.

[Fobbah]

Honestly dust is not a huge problem. I smoke at my desk and the desk surface gets _filthy_ with ash, but it's easy enough to just brush off the mousepad - it doesn't really accumulate imho.

[dorkvader]

I have had good experience with a sheet of resume paper taped to a table. The paper is thin, but the surface felt great (I like harder mouse mats) and the roughness, or matte-ness of the paper made an excellent surface to game on. It might be "McRip" but I thought there was an improvement over the wood of the table.

[Greenbean]

We have had 2 Xai mice on Qck pads here for over six months and have experienced no problems of this sort at all.
Not a single skip. And I use my xai for high definition 2d and 3d work where I'm moving the mouse very slowly and need accuracy. Not a single problem.

I did mention "likely" will have some tracking issues. I'm surprised you haven't experienced any as many others have on the forums such as OCN. Given that your mouse doesn't have tracking issues, it must have some accelertion in the sensor which can be amplified by certain surfaces.

I second this: not any problem of that kind using a Razer Imperator lazer on my Goliathus Control, and I wouldn't exchange it for any hard surface pad.

Ah, Razer laser mice. Known to use Philips Twin-Eye lasers which the Axis issues. Search it up on OCN, it's quite difficult to describe. There are issues with the mouse, and you may not know of them.

[popol]

I did mention "likely" will have some tracking issues. I'm surprised you haven't experienced any as many others have on the forums such as OCN. Given that your mouse doesn't have tracking issues, it must have some accelertion in the sensor which can be amplified by certain surfaces.



Ah, Razer laser mice. Known to use Philips Twin-Eye lasers which the Axis issues. Search it up on OCN, it's quite difficult to describe. There are issues with the mouse, and you may not know of them.

This is a bit exagerated and have been corrected mostly with the latest firmware from May.
I must say that I uninstalled the Razer drivers using only the mouse memory.
I personally have no tracking nor axis issue or nothing really important in low average sensitivity on Goliathus. I recommand this combo, maybe with the 2012 version of the mouse.

[shogrran]

Hmm...I got my steelseries just today. I haven't bought a mousepad since they are all out of stock. But I'm using a free cloth mousepad and I have no issues so far. I'm still getting a mouse pad though.

Add to the criteria... I hope the surface does not degrade the mouse feet. That's what bothers me with hard type mouse pad, and just table type "McRip's".

Previous mouse I had, I never had to replace mouse feet and the glide stayed the same for four years.

[HWI]

Cloth pads are generally a bad idea with the Avago 9500, it can cause inconsistent positive acceleration and jitter. On a hard pad at least you get consistent positive acceleration with that sensor.

[shogrran]

Sorry, I have always used cloth surfaces... but I never had jittery mouse pointer. I really like how the mouse glides over smooth microfiber over the mouse moving over hard surface.

But to be honest. I have never used a hard surface mouse pad. The closest to a hard surface I used before is the table top itself. Isn't a hard mouse pad more expensive anyway?

I can't get the regular Steelseries QcK though. It would be a waste of surface. I barely have the full length of my thumb to little finger space to fit the mouse pad. I have a medium sized pad right now and almost half the width is sticking out and hanging off of the table.

The constricted space doesn't bother me though. I set the DPI of my mouse so that from to move the pointer coming from the center of the screen all the way to the corners of the screen just takes exactly one swipe of the mouse with just using the fingers and NOT moving the wrist.

[bckai]

In terms of a gaming mouse pad, I just got the Mionix Propus 380 and I couldn't be happier. I used a Qck pad for a while, and I liked it, but it didn't work well with my laser mice. Since I have large hands, the only mouse that I found that doesn't make my hand cramp after extended use is the Logitech G9x with the ID grip (which they've since stopped making) which is a laser mouse so I had to look for a hard pad. The Propus had the best price/performance ratio, and since I've gotten it, I haven't looked back.

As for mouse depending on your grip style, I would go with a Logitech MX 518 (G400) if you're a palm gripper, or the G9x if you're a finger tip gripper.

[shogrran]

Its the first time I have read someone reccomend Mionix. I was going to add it to my list since I saw that it also is relatively cheap, has decent size options and heavyset.

I was watching a video earlier about an aluminum mouse pad. has anyone tried to customize his own mouse pad? Buy some guage 10 aluminum and have it sanded and buffed and probably gloss painted?

[pruik6]

Qpad CT is good mousepad  the thickness off a goliathus the speed little more speed then a goliathus speed version its hybride mouse so between a hard and softpad in  the top feels like soft but the rubber under it make the mouse pad feels like hard mousepad very nice
you can lost some drink onto it you can wipe it off very easy search Qpad CT in google that term and see takasta youtube reviewer Qpad ct dota
works for me like a god with razer salmosa 800 dpi and us 5/11 windows   so litterly i have 600 dpi  but the speed of the mat gives me lot more  and control is also very good with my mouse setting not tried other setting
The Qpad ct have lot of different color layouts and pictures from games  or just white with some nice lines for all taste for everybody i think so  GL

[shogrran]

I just finally bought the SS.QcK mini mouse surface. And I am actually just using 1/4 its total surface area.