Written By:
Date Posted: March 18, 2002

Here's a scanned image of the surface. Bumpy, isn't it? I should mention that the thing is pretty much unbreakable under "normal" circumstances. Our gun laws are pretty strict up north here in Canada, but I did use it to fight off some annoying door-to-door sales people. The pad came out of it unscathed.

One issue I did have with the surface was that it may be too solid and bumpy. After a couple of days, I noticed a film build up where I track my mouse. I thought it was dust, so I tried cleaning it, and it wasn't really coming off. I looked at my Logitech mouse feet, and noticed that it was starting to wear down. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, as it did the same thing on the fUNC and Everglide. It just seemed faster on the Ratpadz, but I wouldn't pin it on the pad just yet, as I've switched to my Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, and the feet are holding strong. This is just an observation, and by no means did the Logitech stop working after that. A few friends suggested taping the mouse feet to protect it, which sounds like a good idea.

Final Words

Well, if I sound impressed, it's because I am. I'll lay it out for you. I'm a gamer, and for me, a large, fast surface is essential. Durability is important, because I don't want my mouse pad wearing out or breaking if I'm lugging my stuff to a LAN party. The Ratpadz is at least as fast as the Everglide, but it's a heck of a lot bigger. The surface works great for ball and all optical mice, making compatibility a non-issue.

I'm also someone who works a lot with Photoshop and other design apps. Day to day work requires a precise mouse surface to work on. The surface of the pad allows for precision work, and doesn't stop your mouse from tracking when you're applying an airbrush effect.

For the clumsy folks, it's rock solid, and will hold up well against falls from the desk, or accidentally putting a hot plate of food on it.

Finally, it's priced very competitively, and knowing that, there's no reason why you shouldn't have one of these on your desk.

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention how it performs in gaming. Well, like I said before, you can certainly move and look around well as the surface allows. Not once did I move the mouse off the pad, which is a credit to it's size. Alas, it didn't increase my frag count, but it held up well as I smashed my mouse, out of frustration, up and down on it after getting spawn fragged by some sniping spawn camper... again.

Ratpadz:

98%

Pros: Big, fast surface. Extremely durable, and comfortable. Good pricing.

Cons: Surface can be abrasive on low quality mouse feet.

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