XTracPads gaming mouse pads

XTracPads gaming mouse pads

Feature

The Xtracpads mouse pads are perhaps best known for their thick and comfortable Fat Mat, but the selection also includes other interesting choices.

Fat Mat
Look and feel: The fray-resistant nanofibre coat on the pad looks nice and shiny and any gathering dust is easily wiped or shaken off. The soft thickness of the pad feels luxurious under the touch but is still sturdy enough to provide the mouse a precise surface to read. In short, the Fat Mat's looks and feel are some of the best we've seen on any mouse pad ever.

Smoothness : 9
Noise : 9
Stability : 10
Look & Feel : 9
Total : 9

Logic
The Xtracpad Logic pads are basically stickers, so – for the first time ever – we've found a real reason to use the term mouse surface, rather than mouse pad. However, before you think that the Logic surfaces are no better than any other sticker you might find in your collections, let us go on. Basically, the plastic-coated Logic surfaces are equipped with a semi-adhesive backing which allows you to attach, remove and attach the surface again and again on different tabletops and other suitable spots. Additionally, the surface material is polypropylene and provides nice traction and glide for a mouse – certainly better than any regular tabletop. Our Xtracpads contact tells us that you can use these surfaces to kindle new life into your old mouse pad by simply attaching the Logic surface on top of the old pad - sounds pretty cool although we didn't get to try it out.

XTracPads gaming mouse pads
Usability: We must admit that we had strong reservations about these surfaces. Having got used to regular mouse pads, using a simple sticker on a tabletop was a little bit alienating. However, the surface provides extremely good glide for your mouse and even dampens the harsh sound that a bare wooden tabletop might cause. It certainly feels better to us than some of the hard plastic surfaces that we've seen, while providing the same hard and exact surface that the users of such pads value. Naturally, given that we are talking about a sticker here, the surface sits extremely solidly on the table and will absolutely not slide away from under your mouse. Once again, the surface provided excellent accuracy for our selection of testing mice.

Look and feel: This is where the Logic surface suffers the most. Being a simple sticker, it doesn't look that exciting sticking on your tabletop. It helps a little, though, that you can choose between pink and white hex as well as a solid black surface. The coating feels a bit sticky against sweaty palms even though it allows the mouse to glide without much effort. This stickiness is common to plastic-coated mouse pads, however, so it is a matter of taste. All in all, we might see these as an excellent introduction to an office environment where regular mouse pads tend to get lost under heaps of paper and get moved out of the way, but, as gamers, we are left wondering. On the other hand, we are sure that there are gamers out there who will jump at the chance of getting something like the Logic into their hands.

Smoothness : 9
Noise : 7
Stability : 10
Look & Feel : 6
Total : 7

Finishing thoughts
Overall, Xtracpads offerings, especially the Fat Mat, proved to be formidable additions to the world of gaming gear. We feel no reservations about recommending the Fat Mat to any gamer who doesn't object to fabric-coated pads in general. The Logic family is also an interesting addition and we don't doubt that it will also please many gamers out there. Likewise the Pad-O-Matic service on Xtracpads site is something that you should try out - it really touches upon some of the main criteria on choosing the pad that is the best for you, even if your final choice wasn't an Xtracpad.