Touching Cloth - mousepad comparison

I

IanM

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,289
updates on 24/08/10:

  • added comments on PureTrak Talent
  • added some rankings for glide speed by mouse
  • added Ozone Gaming Exposure photos, more comments to be added soon

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Introduction
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This thread contains my thoughts on 7 new cloth mousepads I recently had the opportunity to play with, and compare them to my 4 1/2 year old Razer Mantis Control. I hope it will prove useful for anyone looking for a new cloth pad. As mousepads are quite a subjective preference this should not be viewed as a definitive test of which is 'best' - it's just my opinion, and perhaps other people will post their own experiences with these mousepads and any other similar cloth pads.

I wanted to replace my Mantis with something more modern, preferably with a low friction surface and high compatibility with the latest very high D.P.I. laser sensors i.e. my Razer Imperator (Twin-Eye laser sensor) and Alienware TactX (Avago 9500 laser sensor) The first of the new mousepads I tried was the Mionix Alioth 400, but I had problems with the defective stock and you can read about it on this thread.

Meroncourt, the Mionix distributor, and Mionix themselves have been excellent in the way they responded to my feedback about the Alioth. Do not write off the Alioth just yet, and my thanks to Steve at Meroncourt (PowerDrive Computers for retail customers) who was kind enough to send me a fantastic bundle of mousepads to try out :) Links on the list just below are to my comments.

New cloth mousepads

My old cloth mousepads


Brief comments on other, untested mousepads


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Preliminary notes
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Traditional cloth v. Textured weave v. enhanced/surface coated
As every pad has it's own attributes, this seems like an easy to way to loosely pigeonhole the sub groups of cloth mousepads. I quickly realised that you can't obviously predict the way a mousepad will feel from the basic type of pad it is, nor the manufacturers adjectives e.g. what does "smooth" mean? non-textured or low friction? "fast glide" may be fast for one manufacturer, but compared to another manufacturer it may be average or slow.

​
Overall Tracking Accuracy and sensor differences
None of the pads are bad, however there are differences and if there is a generalisation to be made: reduced comfort is the trade off for increased accuracy.

​
Philips Twin-Eye laser sensor v. Avago 9500 laser sensor
Both sensor types have their own merits and drawbacks, but the Philips sensor draws the most complaints from users re tracking issues and mousepad compatibility. As I am fortunate enough to have mice with both types I have been able to determine which pads are peferably to be avoided by Twin-Eye users. It should also be mentioed that Razer say the Imperator (and other Razer mice) have zero drift compensation, whereas the TactX (Logitech/Avago) maybe are using some movement assistance which could explain some subtle differences in tracking feel.
​

Glide: static friction and moving friction
Do not assume that:

  1. a textured surface will have high friction
  2. a plain "smooth" surface will be low friction
With many of these pads the difference in overall resistance to mouse movement is quite small, it's only a couple of the enhanced surface pads that give a definitive feeling of being 'faster' / lower friction. I couldn't measure moving friction, but for static friction I did a simple test to see if it matched my impressions; I put each mousepad on a stiff, flat board with a chrome fan grill on top of the pad. I lifted one end of the board until the grill started to slide, so higher lift = higher static friction. It didn't always match my subjective impression of just moving a mouse around, so the moving friction matters.

​
Comfort
The thickness of the pad is not a true indicator of the comfort level. The overall softness and compliance of the surface material + backing is more important.

​
A few testing parameters
I tried to set both of my mice to be as similar as possible:

  • Windows' Enhance pointer precision off
  • Razer acceleration off
  • Alienware (Logitech Setpoint) acceleration off
  • Windows' Mouse Speed at 6 of 11 (neutral)
  • Alienware (Logitech Setpoint) Speed at 5 of 10 (neutral)
  • D.P.I. @ 1000, 3000 & 5000
In theory these options should be the most neutral, with the least amount of software/driver interference on pointer movement. D.P.I. with no speed adjustment is not how normally set up, usually I run mid-high D.P.I. with reduced speed. As configured:

  • 1000 D.P.I. feels terribly slow
  • 3000 D.P.I. is manageable, but a bit too fast
  • 5000 D.P.I. outside of my comfort zone and difficult to be precise (I would normally run this dpi with reduced speed)
I just did some simple desktop tests - how easy is it to move the pointer to a specific location? how easy is it to trace the outline of desktop objects/pictures? how easy is it to trace around a specific really small circle object? Nothing radical, but enough to gain an overall sense of which mousepads are more precise, and which ones overall offer the most resistance to small movements.
​

Other random thoughts

  • A brand new cloth mousepad with rubber padding, fresh from the packet, smells pretty bad: six brand new mousepads fresh from the packet smell like the devil's own arsehole.
  • No pad is awesome in every way, when there is excellence with certain attributes something else will disappoint.
  • QPAD CT is almost out of place amongst the cloth pads as the Hybra-Tek coating is so dense, however it does make for an excellent reference and to me strongly indicates that the fastest, slickest cloth variations are still noticably slower than these low friction hybrids (and probably also many low-friction hard pads)
  • Pads with sharp edges could be trimmed, but warranty would be voided and trimmed edges might fray.
 
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Traditional Cloth
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These two pads are the most similar to each other than any other combination of alternatives that I looked at. Good blend of comfort and adequate tracking accuracy. Gamers with very competitive personality (or just anal about accuracy) possibly should look elsewhere. If you have a mouse with Twin-Eye sensor and prefer v. high dpi you might consider other pads, these do work but I feel compatibility with that sensor is being pushed to the limit here. Haven't tested long enough to determine if one pad is better tracking than the other, but I doubt it.


Ozone Gaming Ground Level

Ground Level

  • feel against skin: very pleasant, fine weave cloth
  • wrist support: 2mm pad thickness is firm and not quite enough give for my taste, I recommend getting the 3mm edition (3mm is largest size Ground Zero only)
  • edge quality: one of the best! beautifully soft and comfortable

  • glide/friction: typical/average, friction and smoothness is predictable

  • Avago 9500: adequate tracking
  • Philips Twin-Eye : some slightly sticky/stuttery movements, it just seems to require a fraction more effort to get the pointer exactly where you want, and slightly trickier to control high dpi

  • wrinkles & flattening: very good, only very slight curl to outer edge after 1-2 days

Mionix Sargas

Sargas


  • feel against skin: pleasant, fine weave cloth.
  • wrist support: padding is very firm, but comfort level is OK
  • edge quality: laser cut edge has some sharpness about it, tolerable on some edges but the curved front is worst. New batches may already be improved? Mionix say they altered the laser cut angle to fix this on improved Alioth, so presumably did the same for Sargas?

  • glide/friction: typical/average, friction and smoothness is predictable

  • Avago 9500: adequate tracking
  • Philips Twin-Eye: some slightly sticky/stuttery movements, it just seems to require a fraction more effort to get the pointer exactly where you want, and slightly trickier to control high dpi

  • wrinkles & flattening: good. XXL Sargas 460 gently curled at the edges after 3-4s days but settling nicely and no lumpiness. Better than the two Alioth 400 I bought and returned last week

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Winner?
--------------

Which design do you prefer? which size will suit your desk? The differences in quality and performance here are splitting hairs!
 
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Textured Cloth
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Corepad Cerro

 Cerro

An unexpected surpise, the Cerro has some genuine unique qualities to set it apart: It's the only pad I tested where there is an impression of extra quality in the construction, it feels like it could moonlight as a floormat in the car! The edge is finished with (elastic?) piping which may help durability, but I'm uncertain of the long term comfort. Surface texture is unique, more deeply pitted and closer spaced pattern compared with Razer. It has the strongest smelling rubber.

  • texture: fine mesh (coarse relative to plain cloth)
  • feel against skin: pleasant enough and should breathe OK but liquid resistant fabric may get clammy?
  • wrist support: a little more give in the padding than others, seems good on the short test.
  • edge quality: the jury is out for now (sorry folks) That rolled edge is new to me so I am too aware of it for now. It has some give, and I think it will be perfectly comfortable.

  • glide/friction: as smooth and fast as any of the cloth mousepads, texture does not limit the movement - just makes for a mildly different tactile feel (and different sound)

  • Avago 9500: OK
  • Philips Twin-Eye: poor! Cerro's achilles heel, more jerky and inaccurate movement than any other. It's usable, but I felt precise movement was resisted more than with any other pad. Fine tuning the dpi settings may cure this? I emailed Corepad about this and they said that they didn't test with Twin-Eye specifically so probably best to choose this pad for Avago or optical sensors only.

  • wrinkles & flattening: it's the only mousepad that come out of the packet perfectly flat and wrinkle free as soon as it was placed on the desk!

Razer Mantis Control
discontinued! instead try: Goliathus Control / Goliathus Control 'Fragged'

Mantis

*** Comments are very biased as I've used these pads for 4 1/2 years, familiarity may skew my opinion! ***

  • texture: 'net' pattern won't necessairly suit everyone, but it's soft enough
  • feel against skin: coarse weave is soft and breathes easily. This pad never feels clammy.
  • wrist support: excellent, the best of any. However the 4mm padding is old, softer and more compliant than anything else tested. Could this be due to age? I don't know if a new Goliathus would be similar...
  • edge quality: slightly frayed and rough finish, but remains soft and fully intact

  • glide/friction: overall similar friction to traditional cloth, slightly less static friction. Textured cloth has a different tactile feel:
    • somewhat too rough and heavy through TactX feet.
    • Imperator has fast gliding, rounded feet so the pad texture is felt far less.

  • Avago 9500: adequate, perhaps fractionally better than the traditional cloth pads
  • Philips Twin-Eye: adequate, better than the traditonal cloth

  • wrinkles & flattening: Never had problems flattening these, excellent

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Winner?
--------------

  • Razer Mantis Control if you use Twin-Eye mouse(s)
  • By utterly unfair subjective criteria, I prefer the all-day comfort of the Mantis which beats everything else here.
  • Cerro might just be fantastic for some people, it's OK with Avago and I suspect it's good with optical sensors.
 
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Surface Coated Cloth / Other Enhanced Cloth
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Confidence in tracking acuracy is higher with these pads than the plain or textured cloth. However there is a definite trade off in comfort and how nice the surface feels. Competitive types, and those experiencing tracking issues on other pads may want to consider the options here.

Corepad C1

C1

This pad may be the closest to an all rounder, the surface is closer to traditional cloth than I first thought so more comfortable and cooler than the Taito for all day use. However it has a smoother texture than Sargas or OZGL, so overall I think it's a good choice to get a reasonably high level of comfort and smooth glide - especially with a mouse like the TactX.

  • feel against skin: Comfortable. However at first impression C1 is a bit odd, slightly clammy and/or sticky in the y-axis. Smoother feel in x-axis. It's OK overall, after a few days feels better than 1st impressions suggested and it has ended up being my preferred pad. I think it's just a little temperature sensitive and feels nicer in milder or cooler weather.
  • wrist support: good, thick pad is moderately firm (but one of the softest in the group)
  • edge quality: soft and comfortable

  • glide/friction: A little faster and smoother than plain cloth, I think an overall improvement due to reduced moving friction. More static friction than the Roccat Taito.

  • Avago 9500: Good
  • Philips Twin-Eye: Good

  • wrinkles & flattening: After a couple of weeks it has smoothed and flattened enough to be OK. There is still a lumpy strip 0.5"-1.5" along the front edge, which is a niggly problem for me but I suspect it wouldn't bother most people. Mouse movement across the pad feels smooth. N.B. The C1 was very poor out of the packet! distinct visible creases, and very lumpy at the edges.


PureTrak Talent
*** Defective stock recieved. Comments may be updated in future ***




The Talent might be a good choice in between the Corepad C1 and the Roccat Taito, unfortunately there are several pubes in the soup here. Sadly the two pads I bought from PureTrak have some significant manufacturing defects that spoil things and the overall quality is very far short of the reputation PureTrak have earned :( Look closely at the the photos and particularly the one top right of the thumbnails. There is a very distinct ridge pressed into the pads, approx. 10" on the first pad and 4" on the other. I can only speculate that there was a mistake on the production line and a batch of pads got mangled somehow. As well as the gouge in the surface, the backing is also excessively lumpy and uneven on these particular Talents, so I'm hopeful that is also a side effect of the production error and not a reflection of the normal quality. I'm pleased to say that Nick at PureTrak seems like a decent guy, he let me know that some of the other pads he pulled from stock exhibit the same tool marks so anyone else buying a Talent from now on shouldn't recieve something like ths (please do post on the thread if you do get a bad one, or confirm that the new stock purchased after 23rd Aug is good)

It's more difficult to explain or rationalise the dimensions of these pads, advertised as 19" x 14" (483mm x 356mm.) Actual size received is 18 3/8" x 13 7/16" (467mm x 342mm.) I firmly believe that if you advertise dimensions in mm, the precision should be within less than ±1mm, and no more than ±1/16" if you prefer to advertise in whole inches. Cutting short is a pretty cheap trick and not something I can forgive, gamers get treated like chumps far too much so this really annoys me. This is not the only example of this I've seen with mousepads so I will check the other brands again and see who is honest and who isn't.

There are good attributes with this pad, and assuming normal quality is free of the issues I think it would be worthy of consideration. Buyers in the EU should (for the time being at least) stick with the Corepad C1 as it's more readily available, cheaper and larger. Once the issues are confirmed as fixed I think the choice between C1 and Talent could depend on preference for the colours, or a preference for a slightly firmer and slightly faster feel of the Talent .

  • feel against skin: very smooth, comfortable texture, nice enough to use for long periods but a slight tendancy to make the wrist feel warm/clammy when the temperature and humidity rises.
  • wrist support: it's a little thicker, but feels very slightly firmer than the C1. Feels good to use all day
  • edge quality: soft and comfortable, and neat finishing

  • glide/friction: smooth glide is hampered in some places by the lumpy and uneven surface where the mouse can dig in and 'stall.' The mouse catching on the strange tool mark is also extremely annoying. Otherwise the friction is a good balance between speed and control similar to the C1 - maybe the Talent is fractionally faster, but this difference may only be due to the newness of the Talent, whereas the C1 I have is used.

  • Avago 9500: Good
  • Philips Twin-Eye: not tested yet, will add comment soon

  • wrinkles & flattening: unrolls and flattens well from the excellent packaging, but there is uneveness in the rubber backing which is too easily felt under the mouse (to the extent that glide is affected)


Roccat Taito

Taito

This pad could be so much better if Roccat would address their manufacturing quality issues. The low friction and glide is a great positive for the Taito, but the finish on the edges cripple the performance. The price of this pad is actually quite modest, even more so when you consider the size, so I'd recommend it for the fast surface but the major caveat is the edges can be very irritating unless they are trimmed.

  • feel against skin: smooth and artificial, and similar to satin. Potentially clammy (ball of my thumb feels warm and clammy on this pad more easily than the plain cloth) I've found the Taito to be OK for all day use while the weather is mild/warm, so it might be OK in hot weather for those folk who don't tend to sweat too much.
  • wrist support: adequate
  • edge quality: vicious bastard of a pad and worst here by far! Laser cut finish is far too sharp on three sides and really irritates the skin. It also constantly snags the braided cables of my mice. Short side (nearest label) is better, but still has a 2.5" strip of sharp edge. It's not a total deal breaker if you are willing to use some sharp scissors to trim the edge yourself, but Roccat need to address this at the factory a.s.a.p.

  • glide/friction: lowest friction of the cloth pads in the side by side comparison, effectively the 'fastest' cloth pad here (Alioth might be faster or similar) Using the TactX is muchbetter on this pad than the standard cloth.
  • Avago 9500: Good
  • Philips Twin-Eye: Good

  • wrinkles & flattening: OK after some time to settle (it was disappointing out of the packet) some light creases still visible after a few days. After a couple of weeks some faint lumpiness that persists - only very faintly felt under fingers, but thankfully not noticable under the mouse glide. It's good enough now.

Mionix Alioth

Alioth 400. See older thread for photos: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035872658#post1035872658

Mionix graciously ackowledged my questions about Alioth and noted that production improvements are already implemented: laser cut angle has been altered to lessen the impact of the sharp edge, and the rubber backing is being sourced from an alternative supplier. Improved versions hopefully available soon as new stock arrived in Europe, it needs to filter down from Mionix to distributors and retail.


  • feel against skin: artificial, not as nice as pure cloth and potential to get clammy
  • wrist support: OK
  • edge quality: some sharp edges

  • glide/friction: fast/low friction compared with traditional or textured cloth

  • Avago 9500: good (not tested the same way as the other pads)
  • Philips Twin-Eye: good (not tested the same way as the other pads)

  • wrinkles & flattening: poor. Very visibly creased and lumpy / non-flat. Unacceptable and retuned to store.

QPAD CT (#3801)

CT


  • feel against skin: a bit like lino? absolutely the least cloth like.
  • wrist support: OK
  • edge quality: it's got a sharp edge, but angled down and away from the wrist.

  • glide/friction: a definte step away from the coated cloth. CT is faster/lower friction than any of the other pads

  • Avago 9500: good
  • Philips Twin-Eye: good

  • wrinkles & flattening: v. easy to reform and flatten. Can smooth in a short time, but I'm not sure how robust it is - accidental creasing might ruin the CT

  • Noise: braided mouse cable dragging on the CT makes too much noise for me.

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Winner?
--------------

Score draw. Surfaces in this catagory are all sufficiently different to be chosen on their own relative merits. QPAD is its' own thing and I see why it has a strong following. I still wouldn't buy one, however it's much more usable than a hard pad.

After a longer period of testing I ended up using the C1 the most. I had intended to find something a little faster than this, but the comfort level of the C1 is excellent and would be difficult to give up. I think if I was to order a new pad now it would be the C1 as the Taito was just a little too firm, both Mionix and PureTrak have too many problems, so it just makes more sense to compromise a little on the speed/low friction rather than put up with uneven surfaces or padding that's too hard for me (I'm probably not average, I prefer the softer pads and more cushy padding)
 
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----------------------------
Other contenders
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Notable alternatives missing from this comparison:

  • Steelseries QcK+
  • Steelseries NP+
  • Puretrak Talent
  • Sharkoon Rush Outplay
  • Zowie G-TF
The QcK+ is very popular and well known, with some regular complaints about tracking issues and fast wear rate. I have fondled a QcK in a shop, and based on that I think it's probably very similar to the Mionix Sargas & Ozone Gaming Ground Level in terms of feel i.e. nice to touch, traditional cloth. If you have a QcK+ and are experiencing problems with it then I would recommend avoiding the Sargas/Ground Level, make a more radical change! Anyone who is looking for a similar feel to the QcK will probably like Sargas or Ground Level

Steelseries describe the NP+ as compressed fibres with a rough, high friction feel. Not what I want personally so I'll leave it to others to chime in with their opinions on this one. Found a review here, another one that looks like it doesn't flatten out of the box!

PureTrak Talent is very well received by reviewers and users, some says it has a slow feel and nice soft padding. It's not easily available in the UK, and I won't be importing one as I don't think it's a mousepad I would want to use in the long term - I'm just not sure base on other reviews that it would be quite fast enough gliding compared with what I have.

Sharkoon's Rush Outplay Sharkoon describe "Minimal start and drag resistance" and 'undertheradar' has been testing lots of different mice and sharing his thoughts on hardfroums, he is quite complimentary about the Fireglider and noted the very slick feet. EDIT: There are some good photos of the Rush Outplay on this French language review: http://mickaeln2006.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1274&Itemid=2

ZOWIE GEAR G-TF looks interesting, another fast, low friction cloth with some texture and a rolled edge like the Corepad Cerro. Reviews of the G-TF: http://www.esportsreviews.com/2009/12/zowie-g-tf-mouse-pad-review/ & http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=414&page=1



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Hard surface mousepads
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Ozone Gaming Exposure

I got this by chance so added it to the mix. Too fast and too slick for my taste, and too sweaty against the skin due to being a hard surface. That said, this feels like a good quality product and is nicer than the old Func 1030 I used many years ago.


  • texture:
  • feel against skin:
  • wrist support:
  • edge quality:

  • glide/friction:

  • Avago 9500:
  • Philips Twin-Eye:

  • wrinkles & flattening:


-------------------------------------------------------
Glide resistance ranking by mouse
-------------------------------------------------------

I've tried to figure out an order according to how fast each pad feels, but the mouse feet make too much difference to the overall order to make a definitive list, so I made a list of slowest to fastest for each mouse. If comparing the mouse feet: the Imperator has exceptional fast glide, very slick teflon feet with rounded edges. TactX and Radon are quite similar, nothing special about the feet on either mouse and just OK for gaming mice. The LS1 is a cheap mouse and the quality of the feet is poor (high friction)

Razer Imperator
--- sluggish ---
Ikea Galant desktop

--- average & comfortable ---
Sargas, Ground Level
Mantis Control, Cerro

--- fast & comfortable ---
C1, Talent
Taito

--- very fast ---
Qpad
Exposure (hard surface)
​

Alienware TactX (Logitech G9x the same?)
--- sluggish ---
Ikea Galant desktop
Mantis Control

--- average & comfortable ---
Sargas, Ground Level
Cerro

--- fast & comfortable ---
C1
Talent
Taito

--- very fast ---
Qpad
Exposure (hard surface)
​

Ozone Gaming Radon 3K
--- sluggish ---
Ikea Galant desktop

--- average & comfortable ---
Sargas, Ground Level
Cerro
Mantis Control

--- fast & comfortable ---
C1, Talent, Taito

--- very fast ---
Qpad
Exposure (hard surface)
​

Logitech LS1 (cheap, basic laser mouse)
--- sluggish ---
Ikea Galant desktop
Mantis Control, Cerro
Sargas, Ground Level
C1, Talent
Taito

--- average ---
Qpad
Exposure (hard surface)
​
 
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you need to include the steelseries QcK+ if this is be an in-depth review
 
Should sticky this thread or something, very good in-depth review, or rather comparison of the different mouse pads available, it would be great if you can add the QCK since most users probably have that mouse pad to compare with.

Keep up the great work, definitely will continue to monitor this thread!
 
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The Alioth pictures you posted of your battered shipment is nothing compared to what I just got:



mionix.jpg




Wondering if I should return or not...
 
Great rundown. I suggest testing out the Steelseries QcK since it is an extremely popular cloth mousepad, that would round out your article nicely.

EDIT: Bleagh, saw the mention of the Steelseries in your last post of untested mousepads. Whoops!
 
wirex said:
The Alioth pictures you posted of your battered shipment is nothing compared to what I just got:
Click to expand...
Useless :rolleyes: I still can't wrap my head around how this happens so often - it's such a fundamental part of running an internet retail / mail order business. How can companies afford to regularly spoil product with cheap, lazy packaging?

Serpico said:
EDIT: Bleagh, saw the mention of the Steelseries in your last post of untested mousepads. Whoops!
Click to expand...
Don't worry about it. It would be ideal to test the QcK same way as the others but I really don't want to buy mousepads just for this test. 'SoAndSo' suggested it before I was done editing post 5, but I guess I should put something about the QcK in a more prominent place as a couple of other people also asked.

I emailed PureTrak and Sharkoon last week to see if they would be willing to send their cloth mats for me to test - no reply, but to be fair I did say that I didn't want to be out of pocket returning items from the UK to USA (PureTrak) or Germany (Sharkoon)
 
Appreciate you taking the time to research and compile all this info IanM.

I've been intensely curious about the Alioth but seeing the quality control issues apparent with their shipping, it's probably a safe bet to steer clear from them for a few more months and see if things improve.

It'd be interesting if you get a response from PureTrak. I've had my eye on that one as well for some time.
 
Vittra said:
I've been intensely curious about the Alioth but seeing the quality control issues apparent with their shipping
Click to expand...
A very large chunk of the blame lies with the retailers who keep using inappropriate soft courier bags instead of stiff boxes, however that seems to be increasingly common (side effect of the slow economy?) I guess manufacturers need to be more savvy and take action themselves, I see Puretrak get a lot of positive comments about the tubes they use for the Talent pads, so other manufacturers should probably take note of this.

For UK & EU buyers I recommend Amazon.co.uk and Play.com for mousepads i.e. buy direct from one of those two, not their marketplace sellers. Amazon & Play do tend to use boxes with stiff sidewalls. I've probably had 5 mousepads from Play inc. 3 of the Mantis and all were packaged well. Amazon are usually good too, and have great customer service on the odd occasion that they do screw up an order.

Vittra said:
It'd be interesting if you get a response from PureTrak. I've had my eye on that one as well for some time.
Click to expand...
I'm 99.9% sure they decided to ignore my email as it was over a week ago. I sent another to the sales queries and just asked about shipping to the UK, that question got a response within hours.

The PureTrak Talent looks like it could be excellent, and probably a better match for the TactX than my Mantis Control. However the overall friction is probably only slightly lower than plain cloth, perhaps similar to the Corepad C1 or Goliathus Speed? - I'm basing that on the comments I've read from various reviews. I may re consider tthe Talent at some point, for now it stays on the short list as a 'maybe'
 
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my steelseries sx was packaged pretty poorly, nothing more than just package covering my pad, even thought it metal, it was not flush/flat when i received it, a tiny bit of bending seemed to do the tricky. this was a combination of the horrible newegg packaging (boxed looked like it was given a stomp) and the plastic by steelseries.
 
I've updated a few comments, mainly on the C1 and Taito. These are the two that take the longest time to settle and flatten out of the packet, and after a couple of weeks they are satisfactory. Taito probably deserves an extra comment - it's actually relatively cheap (especially for the size) and could be something of a bargain for anyone wanting a 'fast' cloth pad. Purchase needs to be an informed decision though because of the poor edge quality.
 
I absolutely love the idea of this thread. It would be amazing if you could get a hold of a puretrak talent on account of I really have to know how well the philips twin eye sensor works on it. Thanks for the mini reviews though!
 
I got talked into ordering a couple of the PureTrak Talent, hopefully will receive them in 1-2 weeks (shipping across the pond)
 
I'm anal about mousing surfaces feeling smooth... but if you have a frys near you, they sell cheap thin cloth pads with rubber bottom that are almost as good as some of the razer pads... they just are always out of the really huge size :(
 
Hi guys, I'm looking for a cloth mousepad for my Kone[+]... I want something that offers fast glide and low friction as possible...not too thick, not over 3/4 mm; budget is not very important, I'm looking for something that is durable and made of good quality materials.

Doing some reserch I've found out that the goliathus speed (razer) has a very fast glide (probably the fastest out there among cloth mousepads)...but since razer quality material is famous to be a bit crappy, I would prefer avoiding it.

Lately I've stumbled across the Mionix surfaces. They seem well made. But I don't know which one should I choose between the Sargas and Alioth, since I don't know which offers the faster glide.

Or should I just forget about those two and go with something better...but what? Any advice?
thanks in advance.
 
Metal pads are notorious for wearing out.

If you want slick then you can't beat the Steelseries Experience or Icemat. Coupled with some Hyperglides and you have an extremely low-friction setup.
 
The Goliathus speed is not fast... Infact its slower then the control (weird huh, but the control is actually slicker, terrible marketing). Anyhow I would expect of everything you mentioned the Alioth to be the fastest, I had one myself and for a hybrid/cloth pad it was the fastest I had... My only complaints were that the edges were too sharp (But that's been fixed in a 'newer' version). The sargas I would expect is slower since it's just a cloth mousepad.

If you really want something fast, consider plastic or glass, however I would say those are too slick and don't have a great feeling, you'd be better off with a 'hybrid' cloth pad such as the Mionix Alioth and a set of hyperglides or new mouse feet (rounded at the bottom). That way you have a great feel, and it should be VERY slick.
 
Anyone know if the Steelseries QCK mini is discontinued or something? It's out of stock at all the stores I've checked (Amazon, Newegg). Steelseries doesn't even have it listed in their US store. My local Microcenter has some but it's a bit lame to spend an hour to pick up a $7 mouse pad.
 
what is the slickiest cloth surface mouse pad bigger than 15"x11" ? thanks.
 
behr said:
what is the slickiest cloth surface mouse pad bigger than 15"x11" ? thanks.
Click to expand...

Probably the Zowie Spawn G-TF. My smaller P-TF is the fastest cloth pad I own. It's almost as fast as the QPAD hybrid. The QCK feels like quicksand by comparison.
 
thanks. i was between qck+ and xtrac qpad.

i read the reviews, they say mouse moves like on a plastic. that's what i am looking for.

i forgot to mention i have everglide dkt, and it is too rough. i don't know if you have that. how would zowie compare to that one?
 
I can't tell you much about the Zowie pad, but I've heard good things in terms of it's slickness, it just has a strange texture...

Take a look at the Mionix Alioth as well and possibly some other hybrid mousepads (watch out for ones that wear out quickly)

The QCK isn't really a fast mousepad, but it has an excellent feel.

Qpad wears out quickly and won't be a fast mousepad after a month or so.

I can't comment on Xtrac, but my guess is that it is similar to the QCK.

Ontop of all that if you want a quick and slick feel, make sure to replace your mousefeet, that will make a huge difference as well if you get high quality ones such as Hyperglides or others that copy its design and round the feet.
 
I've not had an everglide dkt mat so can't compare. If you want the speed of plastic from a cloth mat you'll definitely have to go the hybrid route. The Zowie is quick but it's nowhere near the speed of a quality plastic mat (which is a good thing for me, others like speed tho).
 
as a reference, i like the slickness of Func F10s. how would they be compared to that one?
something like Func 1030 would be OK too, but not slower than that.

i use computer for long hours so plastic causes callus in my palm. so, i can't use plastic
or hard surface mouse pad. so, even if the surface is very slick but rough (like ratpadz),
i can't use it.

i thought mouse pads come only in cloth and plastic. i did not pay attention to other ones.
i like plastic for speed, but cloth for comfort. maybe it is a good compromise.
what are the good hybrid mouse pads?

i have used regular teflon skatez and pleased with the result. i was actually looking to buy
some too. but, skatez didn't make the DKT fast enough.
 
The Steelseries 5L is an example of one. Glides very well when new, but give it 6 months or more to absorb your sweat and it loses its smooth glide.
 
mouse pads are around $20. if a mouse pad lasted 6 months, i would not complain.

i think the best for me is to buy the slickest cloth mouse pad to see what the limit is. if i do not like it,
then i can look for a compromise.
 
It was around $40 when I got it. I'll stick to $8 Supermats from now on.
 
behr said:
mouse pads are around $20. if a mouse pad lasted 6 months, i would not complain.

i think the best for me is to buy the slickest cloth mouse pad to see what the limit is. if i do not like it,
then i can look for a compromise.
Click to expand...

Steelseries QcK mousepads are only $10, and they are fantastic.
 
I'm looking to purchase a slightly slicker mousepad then what I have now. I'm currently using an Xtrac-Pads Ripper. One of the mouse pads I'm interested in is the C4 NGen04 which isn't reviewed here.

What do you guys recommend for the G9x?
 
Is there a mousepad like the Zowie Spawn pad in terms of surface and still cloth, but just smaller?
 
roadlesstraveled said:
I'm looking to purchase a slightly slicker mousepad then what I have now. I'm currently using an Xtrac-Pads Ripper. One of the mouse pads I'm interested in is the C4 NGen04 which isn't reviewed here.

What do you guys recommend for the G9x?
Click to expand...
I had a C4 NGen04 for a few months. It was pretty good for awhile, but over time I wanted more control than its slick surface provided. I went back to cloth pads like the Corepad C1 and Goliathus Control. I'm using the C1 and it works very well. In all honesty, I can't tell any real difference between a $45 or a $5 cloth pad. I just know they give me better control than any hard or slick pad. I'm using a three year old Razer Diamondback, at the moment, but am considering a Roccat Kova to replace it. Not crazy about dropping $75 on a mouse, though.
 
I'm debating between the Corepad C1, the Puretrak Talent, and the Ozone Ground Level. Wish I could try them out first, though.
 
Bump for a great thread review that lead me to the amazing Corepad C1 Large.
 
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