Mousepads come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and it’s mainly up to you to figure out which one is going to be right for you. All of the pads in this article are going to be doing exactly what they need to do when it comes to sensor performance and what not so it’s mainly a job of figuring out what suits you. If you’re completely unsure we would recommend you to go for a nice middle-of-the-road cloth pad to start out with. Plenty of professionals use a special customized version of a certain pad with a team logo or gamer tag on the surface, but those pads are essentially all the same when it comes to the overall specifications and performance, so we added those to the count of their unbranded/non-customized versions. These special colorways and personal editions usually have the logos and names added to the pad by sublimation, so the glide isn’t affected at all. Logitech G640 Then, allow it to air dry in a well ventilated place. It is not recommended using a blow dryer or fan, as this could introduce more particles onto the recently cleaned surface. Mouse pads, including ones for gaming, come in different varieties of pliability, made of combinations of cloth, plastic, rubber, and even glass or metal. While all gaming mouse pads reduce unwanted traction (or over traction), the soft ones have more traction than the hard varieties. Obviously, a hard and smooth surface offers much more glide and less traction, but can feel too fast and floaty to many users. Most people prefer the sweet spot offered by modern gaming mouse pads, which balance traction and glide. While seemingly an aesthetic choice, mouse pads with good stitching don’t just look good, they last longer as the stitching prevents gradual fraying. But even good stitching may prove abrasive and cause irritation to your hands. If you find that edge stitching irritates the skin on your wrists as you move your arms over it, then it’s obviously time to go with a non-stitched mouse pad.

The reason is that the fabric on the top of the mousepad is laminated to the base material with adhesives in a heating process. Detergent or any of the previously mentioned methods will likely damage the texture and cause the adhesive to deteriorate, resulting in the peeling of the top layer away from the base. ZOWIE G-SR-SE ROUGE uses exclusive humidity-rejecting materials, and was designed with humidity resistance in mind, so that its surface doesn’t trap moisture even if it’s the height of summer, the A/C is off, and you’re sweating from hours of intense gaming. So why even bother with a hard surface gaming mouse pad? Well, they’re excellent when precision and control aren’t priorities but movement speed is. It’s like ice skating versus football. There’s almost no friction with a good hard surface gaming mouse pad, which means stopping the mouse is much more of a challenge. Games that require sweeping movements may benefit from this, or you may just want to challenge yourself. As a little side note: the glide of cloth pads can be affected by a number of factors, including how clean the surface is, the humidity in the air, the age of the pad, and your playing style. As such, your experience with a certain mousepad can be drastically different from what someone else is experiencing. This makes the search for a perfect pad a little bit more difficult, but it’s not as if a control pad is suddenly going to turn into a speed pad or anything like that, so hopefully this guide aids you in your choice. There is a middle ground. Newer materials in gaming pads like the ZOWIE GTF-X and PTF-X strike a balance between hard and soft attributes, so you may want to try them out.

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Think of it like a shirt or jersey. It tends to get a buildup of dirt from sweat and dust after a while of frequent use. The grime will cause the mousepad texture to deteriorate and possibly even affect mouse functions. So it's better to clean the mousepad on a regular basis. Here's the instructions: All in all, the advantages seem clear to us. If you’re even a bit serious about your gaming it’s a great idea to get yourself a nice pad to really complete your setup. The List

You might think that you can just use any ol’ mousepad (or even just play on your desk) but that’s not true, at least not for shooter games. In MOBAs (where mouse precision is of less importance) we do see some pros who don’t use a mousepad, but over 99% of professional shooter players are using a gaming mousepad over a regular office pad. Next, take a damp, clean piece of cloth or wet wipe that is alcohol-free to wipe down the mouse pad.

Lastly there’s also the fact that a gaming mousepad is generally better for the long term health of your mouse. If you’ve got yourself a shiny new gaming mouseyou don’t want to be sanding down the feet of your mouse by sliding it around on a wooden desk or a plastic cutting board you’ve found in the kitchen, for example. Obviously, where you intend to use the mouse pad matters most here. The gaming mouse pad must correlate in size to your desktop space. Only go with small mouse pads (under 300mm x 200mm) if you’re really pressed for space. In any case, there are plenty of options, from desk-covering 900mm x 300mm/400mm extra large mouse pads to sweet spot ZOWIE pads sized at up to 470mm x 390mm. That’s a good balance and not too large, offering plenty of room for even the most sweeping mouse movements. Extended or extra large pads take up lots of room and may cover a big chunk of your desktop, so plan accordingly.

The ZOWIE G-SR and P-SR are great examples of soft gaming mouse pads that have just the right amount of traction. They’re excellent for precision control, with optimal stopping power and glide. The ZOWIE G-SR-SE ROUGE is a little softer, but a favorite among CS:GO players because its design is perfect for long range sniping and small movements of the mouse. This isn’t unique to gaming mouse pads, as good office and productivity mouse pads also take wrist comfort into account. But a good gaming mouse pad certainly strives to keep carpal tunnel syndrome away. This is why the gaming mouse pads you’re looking for are made from ergonomically-focused materials that respond to your arms and hands and aren’t too stiff or abrasive. If they have dedicated cushioning, all the better. This is one of the main reasons good mouse pads are large, so that they cover more space and allow you to rest your wrists on the pad while still having plenty of room for mouse movement. Also, mousepads, like the clothing items, will inevitably wear out after prolonged use. You may feel the glide change gradually over time. Ultimately, usage frequency and how intensely you play with the mousepad will determine the level and speed of deterioration. As with everything related to PCs, RGB has made it to gaming mouse pads, with some of them looking a lot like a Times Square billboard when plugged in. Others limit the RGB to the edges. Again, whether you like this or not is up to you, but do remember an RGB gaming mouse pad needs a power source, aka a USB connection, so that’s more clutter on your desktop. ZOWIE mouse pads prefer to keep things neat, clean, and understated. Many brands offer this kind of look, with a simple logo being the only graphic. Others skip RGB but have elaborate artwork on the pad, like a Windows desktop wallpaper, in essence.

Good mouse pads for gaming undergo pretty strict testing to ensure a smooth and consistent surface, whereas for non-gaming pads, this isn’t that much of a priority. Gaming mouse pads employ specific surface materials and subsurface components to ensure high levels of consistency and a smooth platform for your mouse to work on, while regular pads just provide a plain old surface for the mouse, and often aren’t much better than using your desk. In fact, you may have noticed that a lot of your non-gaming mice work just fine directly on your desk compared to a generic mouse pad. Or even better than on that generic mouse pad. In that sense, regular mouse pads are often optional. Gaming mouse pads are not, that is if you want the best possible performance. People often think that all cloth mousepads have the exact same glide, but that’s a common misconception. The Zowie G-SR is living proof of that. When compared to (most) other cloth gaming mousepads this one offers a very controlling glide with a pretty large amount of surface friction. This won’t please everyone (then again, no product does) but it is a great option for people who have a tendency to use large, aggressive swipes or for gamers who often find themselves overshooting their target.