Mouse pads for optical mice?

[Ace-Of-War]

Do they actually do anything to boost your performance? I was considering purchasing one, but I'm not sure if it really will have any effect at all.

Can anyone say they've used one and noticed a real change or do you think just the desk itself works fine?

[JohnDriLLL]

i use my old mario paint mouse pad. its gray plastic

[OutLander]

It depends on the style of desk.

I just use a regular mouse pad because my desk wouldn't pick up all of my movements. But I can't say anything about mouse pads that are specially made for optical mice.

[Xerol Oplan]

I just prefer using a mousepad all the time anyway, since I'm just used to it.

[Smoke]

I use a glass mousepad that I purchased about 2 years ago. It did offer a noticeable improvement as far as motion and tracking goes compared to the fabric mousepad I was using before. Takes some getting used to though.

Never used my desk as a mousepad, but that's mainly because I prefer using an actual pad, it just moves better.

[OverCoat]

I use a cloth mousepad [it says Gateway 2000 on it!] because they don't get sticky

from... you know

semen

But seriously, I had this plastic one and it got all this grime clumped up all over it, so I switched to the cloth one where the dirt simply rubs into the cloth. No worries! It's also better for my wrist.

I used to use a hardcover book which worked great until my palm rubbed through the cover.

[Ace-Of-War]

Well I got one of these for a birthday gift one year, and I don't think it lives up to the hype. Often times I'll be moving my pointer and the thing will just freeze for whatever reason. I don't know if it has to do with the surface, the mouse, or the computer, but I do know it is annoying. I found a good deal on one of those Fatal1ty mice (still going on at buy.com if anyone is interested, it's like 40 dollars with a 30 dollar rebate) and I had heard good things on it. I picked it up and now I'm waiting for it to ship, but in the mean time I was wondering if, like Smoke was saying, someone had used or is using one of those glass pads like an Icemat or a higher-end cloth pad like a Mantis.

It might all just be a bunch of fancy words to get someone to spend 20-30 bucks on some crap, but I don't know much about the stuff so that's why I made the thread.

[Smoke]

I use a Logitech G5 myself, and before that I used a Logitech MX510. Both work better on the pad than on other surfaces as far as I've noticed, mainly because the glass surface and teflon underneath the G5(Pad came with teflon strips for other mice) result in a low-friction environment.

The actual pad I use is this one:

http://www.corepad.com/index.php?pagina=artikel&id=9

I have to clean it from time to time though, but once it's clean it's smooth.

However, depending on what you use your mouse for, it might not be worth it for you.

[Legion303]

In my experience, they only help if you have problems with your mouse (jerky motion, mostly). If you keep your desk clean and you don't have a high-gloss finish on the surface you're probably OK without a pad. Otherwise, or if you're experiencing jerking and you aren't SOC (ba dum chh), get a generic $1.00 mouse pad and that should be the end of it.

-steve

[Pyrion]

I would recommend getting a pad (any pad, really) just due to the fact that constantly using a mouse on a surface for long has about the same effect as sandpaper. On a desk I used to have, it's obvious where the mouse was used, because the teflon feet had worn away long before I tossed the mouse and there were two half-circles full of scratches where the mouse would always be.

[Ace-Of-War]

Thanks guys, I guess it's settled then. Stick with this pad I got.

I got the mouse in a couple days ago and set it up this morning. Lord, they ought to outlaw 1600 cpi on a computer mouse. Thank goodness I can change it but I'd like somewhere in between 400 and 800. The weights are kind of useless but I'm starting to get adjusted to the five-button scheme. I have one of them set to alt-tab, which is pretty useful when I have several windows.