I’m a gaming mouse professional: This is why I fastidiously choose my mouse mat

Of all of the PC gaming peripherals, none is as missed as the common-or-garden mouse pad (or mat).

That’s a pity as a result of mouse mats are available quite a lot of supplies which have totally different velocity and maneuverability profiles.

Learn on to search out out which of them are the quickest and which of them the slowest, and why you must actually choose your gaming mouse mat fastidiously.

Exhausting mouse mat supplies: Made for velocity

Mouse mats made out of onerous supplies like plastic, chrome steel, wooden, aluminum, and glass are the quickest of the entire materials sorts for gaming. These supplies present much less friction over their surfaces so that they’re splendid for making fast sweeping actions like strafing and spinning round.

Exhausting supplies additionally present a satisfying tactile feeling that many players like, however on the draw back their slippery surfaces aren’t really easy to cease or change course on, to allow them to present much less precision than some softer supplies. They’ll additionally trigger extra discomfort to participant arms over time.

The quickest of those supplies is tempered glass. It’s particularly favored by elite players on the lookout for an edge in aggressive video games. To that impact, the surfaces of most tempered glass mouse mats are often embellished for the smoothest glide.

The Razer Atlas mouse mat, for instance, includes a polished floor which has been etched to inside 2 micrometers in order that it’ll work optimally with optical mouse sensors. Different onerous grade mouse mats thought of extraordinarily fast embody the SkyPad Glass 3.0 and aluminum Corsair MM600.

Exhausting mouse mats are additionally fairly sturdy. Surprisingly that goes for glass mouse mats too regardless of glass’s fame for breakage. Tempered glass is generally scratch and influence resistant.

Comfortable mouse pad supplies: Champion precision

Comfortable mouse pads are made out of supplies like neoprene, rubber, and material. Many gentle gaming mouse pads fall right into a hybrid class, in that they’re comprised of a mix of various supplies often plastic or foam beneath, with material protecting excessive.

These sorts of supplies are likely to have barely extra friction than onerous mouse pads which implies they’re barely slower whenever you transfer your mouse over their floor.

The upside to that, nevertheless, is extra exact management; you possibly can cease your mouse on a dime, so gamers discover it simpler to drag off precision maneuvers and hit targets inside a smaller vary.

That’s the consensus. There are exceptions to the rule the place producers have used specialist material coverings for his or her gentle mouse pads to make them faster for professional gaming. The Japanese-made Artisan Raiden mouse pad, for instance, has a really un-cloth like quick floor because it’s made out of densely knitted silky polyester.

You can too largely overcome any velocity variations by altering your mouse’s DPI sensitivity, so having a gentle mouse pad just isn’t actually any form of velocity handicap. In the end, it comes right down to your private desire and what feels finest for you.

One other upside to gentle mouse pads, is {that a} higher variety of gaming mouse sensors will work with these supplies. By comparability, solely a top-tier record of fairly costly gaming mice often work flawlessly on glass, so preserve that in thoughts.

Comfortable mouse pads additionally are usually extra snug in your hand. Though cheaper, they do are usually much less sturdy and are vulnerable to curling of their high layers. They’ll additionally stain extra simply from spills.
Some very extremely counseled “quick” gentle mouse pads embody the QPAD FX-900 and Puretrak Expertise, each with material surfaces.

In abstract

In the event you’re nonetheless uncertain as to which mouse mat (or pad) materials to go for, my recommendation is to check out a couple of choices to see what works finest for you. In the event you’re going to do this, begin with the gentle mouse pad choices first, since they’re quite a bit cheaper and also you’ll be quite a bit much less out of pocket than for those who purchase a pro-grade onerous gaming mouse mat and discover that it’s not an incredible match.

Personally, I get superb outcomes on neoprene mouse pads and discover them mixture of velocity, precision, and luxury. Plus, I additionally actually like the truth that they are often made to order with no matter designs I like.