New Mousepad
I’ve been working at a feverish pace lately and the failure of the mouse cursor to do exactly what I want it to do has been met with increasing frustration. So, I decided to see what I could do about it.
I went on over to newegg.com and searched for mousepad. Lots came up. I ordered a few different brands at a few different prices. By and large, the pads were only $10–$15 each. Then I saw an Steelpad S&S for $30. Hmmm. Ok, I’ll try it.
When they arrived I opened the box and saw a few cloth mousepads curled up and the plastc mouse pads shoved in like sardines. They weren’t damaged but they were obviously treated with disdain by the packager. Then, I saw the Steelpad which seemed to be treated with exceptional care. It had it’s own box and was surrounded by its own layer of packing material. Oh my, now this is interesting.
Inside the Steelpad’s box was a black nylon carrying case suitable for pack-and-play for your next LAN party. Inside the case was the mousepad itself.
Wow. It’s a medium-large format measuring 10 2/3 x 12 2/3 inches. This is not as large as some of the other pads I got. Some were tabloid sized, 11x17 inches. It’s jet black having only the Steelpad logo on the lower-right-hand corner. The pad has a sticky bottom and it was protected in shipping by a piece of crisp brown vellum.
I removed the Steelpad from it’s case and placed it on my desk, quickly chucking my old faithful hard-plastic pad I got from the Guggenheim Museum Store (looks like the one I got is out of print since they only now have these).
I took a breath and started to glide by mouse over the pad’s surface. I knew in that moment that I was returning the other mousepads. They were worthless in comparison. The surface of the Steelpad S&S was profoundly slick and the optical tracking was perfect in every way. The large format of the pad makes working on a large 24 inch widescreen monitor a breeze since I don’t have to lift up and pull back as often.
I must admit that large movements are not as significantly improved as small movements. When I need to do a lot of quick small gestures, the slick nature of the glide makes the effort almost zero. Some of my physics friends can probably describe the pad as having a low coefficient of friction. At high velocities, friction becomes not much of an issue. At low velocities it takes more effort to overcome it. Thus, the pad’s low coefficient of friction makes small low-velocity movements much easier than with a traditional mousepad.
Overall, I gove the Steelpad S&S migh highest rating. If you go over to the manufacturer’s website, you can even see some more expensive models. I imagine they are just bigger. Other than size, in what ways this pad can be improved upon is a mystery to me.
Happy mousing!
