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QPAD XT-R Mouse Pad Review 123

Posted by CmdrTaco
Christian Bakke writes "QPAD is famous for their cloth mouse pads. But they are now producing hard surface mouse pads too. ClubFnatic looks at the brand new QPAD XT-R hard surface to see how well it performance. This mouse pad is supposed to be worth 47 which is of course a lot of money. The reviewer tries to see if the pad is worth this much money with cheaper alternatives available." I use a hard mouse pad from func.net on my living room chair arm, but given the 20 odd free mousepads in the office, it's hard to consider paying for one.
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QPAD XT-R Mouse Pad Review More

QPAD XT-R Mouse Pad Review

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  • 47? (Score:4, Funny)

    by The MAZZTer ( 911996 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .tzzagem.> on Sunday June 25, 2006 @09:46AM (#15600314) Homepage
    47... what? Rupees? Yen?

    • Yeah, man, 47 rupees. (Score:5, Funny)

      by BitwizeGHC ( 145393 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @09:48AM (#15600324) Homepage
      Of course, down in Kakariko Village it'd be five rupees, six tops, but today you're shopping with Tingle.
      • I suggest getting a L1 Shield instead(you can get one in the dark world shield shop or in the village of outcasts), at 50 rupees its just 3 rupees more, but in addition to getting a hard surface for your mouse enjoyments you can also quickly grab your mousepad to deflect arrows in case of an enemy attack.

    • Re:47? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Euros, but Slashcode filters out the Euro () symbol in submissions, pretty much like how it used to filter out the Pound Sterling (£) & Yes (¥) symbols.

      • Re:47? (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        You mean the € symbol? You know, you'd think someone like an editor or something would look out for these known problems with slashcode.
    • Zenny coins.

    • Re:47? (Score:2, Informative)

      by strider44 ( 650833 )
      Pounds.

      You know you *could* have clicked on the article to find out... I know that's way more effort than the average reader is capable of.
      • Bah maybe I just can't read. I saw the euro symbol and read that as pounds - incidentely I need to raise the font size on my computer.

  • Worth 47 what? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by David Horn ( 772985 )
    It's worth 47 what? Dollars? Pounds? Yen?

    Seems a pointless purchase anyway, I use an optical mouse directly on the table.
  • Most people don't work in IT, and don't get free mousepads. Unless you're trying to brag up your uber-mousepad collection on slashdot? Ok, that makes more sense. Carry on.
    • my family used to have a shop selling kitchen and bathrooms as well as a plumbers merchant's shop. We got about 15 mouse-pads yearly, at every trade show you would get about 3... it's just one of those things that people will stamp their logo on to try and make you think about their product at work or home... That industry is about as far as you can get from IT, I bet they still do it too, and I wouldn't be that amazed if loads of other companies did it as well
    • Erm.. I bet a massive proportion of people here work in IT, actually.

      Uber-Mousepad collection..? I believe that would be this guy: hhttp://www.mousepadmuseum.com/

  • editor, please! (Score:1, Redundant)

    by GC ( 19160 )
    today we're demonstrating that adults are not just juvenile, but illiterate too.

    47, expensive? 47 what? Rupees? Pounds? Dollars?

    • Re:editor, please! (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Obviously we need editing if the article is so bad it lowers the literacy levels of those responding to it.

      Shift key much, there, GC? Capitalization is our friend.
  • People still use mousepads?

    • Re:Obligatory (Score:2, Informative)

      by jrmcferren ( 935335 )
      I have an optical mouse, I get the best performance when using a mousepad. I remember in 8th grade, the school had a special computer for me to use in English class (my penmenship was shittier than it is today for some reason) I ended up using a folded piece of notebook paper for the mousepad on a ball mouse (Mac LC) and it worked like a charm.

    • Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Asztal_ ( 914605 )
      A lot of gamers do. It is a lot more enjoyable to play games with a precise mouse that isn't 5 inches wide and a large low-friction, comfortable mouse pad. You may debate on whether it's worth it, but it's certainly better :)
    • I haven't used a mouse pad in years, because I use trackballs. Seriously. I don't know why the mouse is so much more popular. You don't have to worry about desk space, and constantly picking it up and putting it back in the right spot. That and before optical mice, mice were a pain, something you had to clean every 3 days, and you needed a mouse pad. And even then they weren't that good.
      • "I haven't used a mouse pad in years, because I use trackballs. Seriously. I don't know why the mouse is so much more popular."

        Do you play FPS games? Err, sorry, I don't mean to make that sound like a challenge to your post. Just curious if ppl with trackballs have a better or worse time than people with mice when playing games. I used a trackball years ago. I was really good with it, but I never was too successful at Doom. I wonder if I should give it another chance.
        • I play with an excellent (CAL-M) heavy in DoD 1.3 who uses a trackball. His recoil control is impeccable.

          However it would probably take a month or more to transition over to.

        • Re:Obligatory (Score:4, Informative)

          by Omestes ( 471991 ) <{moc.liamg} {ta} {setsemo}> on Sunday June 25, 2006 @03:03PM (#15601484) Homepage Journal
          I used to be pretty good at Q3 with a trackball, it was startling how easy "gross" (such as a 180) were, but finer aiming and such required much practice. For awhile I even managed to play my FPSs with a touch-pad, which was a total pain in the butt (though tap shooting was nice).

          For the past couple years I've been using a decent optical mouse though. I wanted a scroll wheel and buttons for my non-gaming life, and they didn't have a decent left-handed trackball that could handle that demand (no, I refuse to use a right handed mouse/tack-pad). The mouse is MUCH better at finer motions and aiming, though the gross motion suffers a bit. A mouse is definitely the preferred way to go, in the end.

          • Re:Obligatory (Score:4, Informative)

            by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @08:33PM (#15602741)
            Look at this trackball [kensington.com] if you want something left handed. It's ambidextrious, and instead of a scroll wheel, it has a scroll ring. It also looks like it has 4 buttons. I haven't tried this one specifically, but I have a logitech, with a large ball (this one is bigger), and I have to say that the large ball makes it easier to control. I also find that using fingers works better than the thumb.
            • I haven't used a trackball in years (mostly because of FPS games I indulge in every now and then) but the scroll ring seems to be a brilliant design idea...

              I don't know if it breaks stuff in Windows but in X I think you can have several mice without trouble (so you could have a trackball for generic comfort and a regular optical mouse for FPS or precision drawing)...
              • It doesn't break stuff in windows. I've done it before. Of course they all control the same cursor, or act as a single device. so if you move them in opposite directions, the pointer pretty much stays in the same spot. You might have a problem if you had two mice with gaming, little movements could be picked up on the inactive mouse, causing movements you don't want. Probably wouldn't be a big effect. I've often thought it would be nice to be able to have 2 or 3 mice hooked up independantly. 3D space
              • I've had one, and you need to be aware of a few things...

                Firstly, the scroll ring feels cheap. It works fine, it just feels... cheaply made and not like it's supposed to be a part of a $100 trackball. Actually, the whole thing feels a lot more cheaply made than the old Turbo Mouse (the old, beige, 4 button ADC Mac version of the same trackball) I have laying around here somewhere waiting for an ADC-to-USB adapter and an 8-ball (they fit perfectly in the old mechanical ones, which is way cool)...

                Secondly, th
            • I used to have a classic kensington turbomouse and my objection, if the ball is still solid, is that the ball is too heavy. It simply has too much inertia for fine, rapid finger control in FPS games and the like. Threw off my aim all the time. I had much better luck with the logitech trackman marble. I use a cordless logitech mouse now though, they're like $15 and they're either-handed. At work I have a trackman wheel, the current version of the marble basically, and I don't think I'd like it for gaming muc
      • I used a nice Logitech trackball for a while, but now it makes my hand hurt after using it for a while. I've talked to others who have had the same problem.
    • Yeah, I don't get it either. I haven't used a mouse pad since I got my first optical mouse. They track pretty much flawlessly on any surface. Others here have mentioned that they use them for gaming (which I haven't done on a PC in years) or that they use trackballs. I love my Kensington Expert Mouse trackball, but it's about 10 years old and mechanical, thus requires frequent cleanings. I could get a new one, but $100 seems like a lot to spend on something that's not functionally any better than the $20 Lo

  • What it's worth (Score:5, Funny)

    by TaggartAleslayer ( 840739 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @09:58AM (#15600357)
    Obviously it's worth 47 first posts asking if they meant rupees, yen, chickens, or virgin sacrifices.

  • 47 euros (Score:4, Informative)

    by whimmel ( 189969 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @09:59AM (#15600358) Homepage Journal
    I actually read the article. As of right now that's US$58.8064

    • Re:47 euros (Score:2, Funny)

      by matt328 ( 916281 )
      Thanks for the info, I'll make sure I receive my $0.0036 in change when I buy one over here.
    • As of NOW it's $58.7594 (US) yay

    • There is now a postscript to the article:

      25/06/06 Post Script:

      In the comments I got notified that other websites than the official QPAD website sell the pad much cheaper (see comments). A price of 29.50 euro is almost 40 percent cheaper than the official website and an ideal price for the mouse pad.

      So the mouse pad can be found elsewhere cheaper. Thanks so much for telling us where. For that matter, there is an ideal price for a mouse pad? I thought that was roughly 0 euros.

    • As of right now that's US$58.8064

      That's a shame...if it were $58.80, I'd go for it, no question. But if they think they're getting another $0.0064 out of me, I'm sorry; they're losing a customer. That extra sixty-four ten thousandths of a dollar is how they get you!

      Because paying nearly sixty dollars for a mouse pad isn't bad enough already...

  • Granite or Marble FTW (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DrunkenTerror ( 561616 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @09:59AM (#15600359) Homepage Journal
    After trying various "high end" mousing surfaces and being disapointed by all of them (they all start to wear down after a month or so, in my experience), I have been using a 12" x 12" slab of Ubba Tubba granite. It works wonderfully with my MX518 optical mouse. Nice and slick, and she ain't gonna wear out! It's certainly not going to move around as you mouse. It stays relatively cool to the touch. Plus, it's just classy as hell. I windex it off every couple weeks and she's good to go.

    Stuff like this: http://www.kreana.com/Catalog.asp?MainCat=60&SubCa t=135 [kreana.com] Ask a local tile store. They'll have lots of cool stone that will work great as mousepads.
    • Isn't this uncomfortably cold on your wrist? I mean, my hand is already freezing after a looong gaming session in a cooler room - but granite is so thermally conductive, it's feeling very cold and keeping that way for hours.

      Could you keep gaming with this mousepad for several hours or just for the occasional mouse move while working at the office?

      • ...but granite is so thermally conductive, it's feeling very cold and keeping that way for hours.

        Sorry to nitpick, but no it's not. Granite is a pretty decent insulator, and has a thermal conductivity a couple of orders of magnitude lower than a typical metal. Here [hypertextbook.com] are some thermal conductivity values for common materials. It is probably a couple of orders of magnitude higher than typical mouse-mat material, but you have to give context to that kind of statement.

    • can I ask what advantages a mouse pad gives you over just having your mouse on the desk? I would think that the stone surface with minute defects in it could well create pretty random refractions and cause the mouse to jump. Have you ever found that problem?
      • Beacuse if you have a 'traditional' wood desk, and just use your desk's top surface directly, you will end up wearing away the finish and putting a 'rut' into your desk.

        If you have one of those masonite tops, then i agree.. why bother.
        • Beacuse if you have a 'traditional' wood desk, and just use your desk's top surface directly, you will end up wearing away the finish and putting a 'rut' into your desk.

          Does your mouse have sandpaper on the bottom?

          I haven't used a mousepad for many years. I also work extensively with them at home and at work. I have yet to have made a visible impact on any wood or Ikea-style composite desk.
      • I've found optical mice get confused by wooden tops with regular grain patterns for some reason.

        Using a large granite tile as suggested elsewhere seems the most optimal solution, although you won't get mousepad branded case badges with it (although you could buy those 1" micro-tiles for that). Next up, the bathroom themed custom case mod.
      • Two things...

        - If your desk is like mine and has a hard rough melamine finish, the teflon pads on the bottom of the mouse will last maybe 3-4 months before wearing off.
        - If the desk doesn't have a hard rough melamine finish, the desk itself will end up having the surface worn off it by the mouse.(I'm talking either real wood, or the paper veneer stuff)

        Now a granite desk... that's probably a different situation.

        But my experience has been using a mouse right on the desk is hard on the mouse.
        • My clear glass desk confuses my optical mouse completely.
          • I have a friend who invites people over for mini-LAN parties every few weeks. I assumed that I wouldn't need a mouspad the first time I went, but when I got there, we were all setting monitors, keybaords, and mice on a heavey glass table. Nobody brought any mousepads. I thought, "no problem, we can just tape some construction paper under the table." That didn't work. They glass was pretty thick and inconsistent. The pointer moved erraticly or not at all. Probably would have made some interesting art
            • Sorry but I gotta ask, why didn't you try taping the construction paper onto the top?
              • He didn't want tape resedue on the top, and didn't want to scrape it with a razor. But the bottom he was somehow okay with. I suppose I might have mentioned that. HAHA

                Also the paper would move around the table if you rested your palm on it and moved the mouse, most annoying. So that's why we used the heavy books.

          • Glossy surfaces and fine-pitched uniform patterns confuse optical mouse, yes.

            When that happens to me, I find that a clipboard and a pad of paper make a perfectly suitable playground for my optical rodent.

            If you feel you need to spend a minor fortune on a 100% ideal mousing surface, go right ahead, but I find that a clean sheet of smooth bond paper meets 90% of performance requirements and 99% of economical ones, and since it's paper, the aesthetics are 100% up to you.

      • dunno about other people, but I have a very nice desk that I had built with the proper dimensions to fit into my oddly shaped room. Since it was rather expensive, I have a quarter inch thick sheet of plastic from an industrial supplier a couple subway stops away covering the desk (so I dont hurt the wood, the plastic I can more easily replace if it gets scratcher :-P). I *have* to use a mousepad because the clear plastic renders using an optical mouse on it useless. Ironically, a ball based mouse (which is
    • Plenty of colors available!! But I missed yellow. And if it's granite, how do you drill those "swiss" holes? Like this [istockphoto.com]. :-)

    • or Glass (Score:4, Informative)

      by Saeger ( 456549 ) <farrellj@nosPAM.gmail.com> on Sunday June 25, 2006 @02:09PM (#15601277) Homepage
      I too got tired of all my freebie cloth & plastic mousepads getting nasty and wearing out over the years, so a couple months back I finally bought one that can't wear out on me: a glass "icemat" [newegg.com]

      ~$26 for a 10"x12" sheet of tempered, rounded, colored glass with rubber feet seemed a little steep, but I'll be hanging on to this thing for years. My MX510 mouse (the model previous to the MX518) glides like butter across the surface, and I'd never go back to a normal pad.

      Only two minor downsides to this type of glass mousepad:
      1. It's slightly noisier than a coventional mousepad. It makes a sortof finegrit sandpaper scratch sound with fast mouse movement.
      2. With a surface this smooth you can quickly start to feel a layer of dust build up on the less used upper parts of the pad; have to wipe it clean with my palm every day, but maybe I'm just being anal about it.
    • I'm sure that stuff is great for the desktop, but I bought the lightest laptop I could find for a reason.
    • I had a coworker who used an architectural sample of granite for his too. It worked incredibly well, much better than the drafting table under it.
  • I don't know what's worse: the fact that the article slips readily into pidgin english, the fact that the summary is also in pidgin english or the fact that the eds didn't notice that both of the above were in pidgin english.

    I know it's sunday and all, but come on.



    triv
  • Does anyone notice that this artuicle does not have a "From ABC department" subtitle
    • I guess "from the slashvertisement dept." wouldn't have sounded too great. (Is this really news, anyway? I don't remember the Icemat 2 or any of the Steel series getting posted on Slashdot.)
  • Indeed, let's "see how well it performance". And to think they turned down my submission about Dustin Diamond (Screech of Saved by the Bell fame) getting his house reposessed. C'mon, he's the ultimate geek!

  • Genius mouse pad (Score:3, Funny)

    by MM-tng ( 585125 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @10:36AM (#15600462) Homepage Journal
    R u kidding me, what a rip off. I have this genius mousepad. It came with my 286AT and looks brand new even now. Hard plastic, yeah baby.

  • Quality of reviews... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Radi-0-head ( 261712 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @10:39AM (#15600465)
    "In this review I will look at the QPAD's XT-R, the company's first hard surface mouse pad and will see how well it performance."

    Would it be too much to ask to post reviews that don't appear to be written by twelve-year-olds?

  • Mousepad??? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by foniksonik ( 573572 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @10:55AM (#15600502) Homepage Journal
    I haven't used a mousepad since opticals were available... going on 10 years at least... what's next, buggywhips for our motor-coaches?
  • My favorite mouse pad what the gray plastic one that came with Mario Paint. and does any one remember the mouse clear? I don't know how you live go with out one before optical mice.
  • Free mouse pads are everywhere. My bank, video store, and nearly everywhere else around me hands them out on a regular basis! (I have been cutting them up to use as a sound dampening material in some of my projects... ;) ) I found a MemoryFoam mousepad and never looked back! I purchased one for my laptop, then another for my desktop! It is SOO Confortable!
    • I have a gel wrist rest mousepad that I've used for years. I recently noticed that the mouse no longer glided nicely.. Reason? cleaning lady got too close with a can of Pledge. Pledge and mousepads don't mix folks... A little washing and it was good as new.
      • I've had gel wrist rest mousepad's. They are great... However for me they get an indent where my wrist sits, and become unconfortable... (That and I have had them leak... Just poor luck for me I guess) I always thought that the instructions for Pledge were to spray it onto the CLOTH then wipe the wood... (Even tho the TV commertials show them spraying directly on the wood...) I am glad you were able to wash the pad off!

  • Sounds like... (Score:3, Funny)

    by uberphear ( 984901 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @11:53AM (#15600744)
    Me big Uggabongo. Bestest mousemat tester in world. See how well it performance.

  • Do they make a difference with laser mice? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Qbertino ( 265505 ) <moiraNO@SPAMmodparlor.com> on Sunday June 25, 2006 @11:59AM (#15600765)
    Any pro level gamer here? Do these mousepads maken a difference with laser mice instead of a piece of cardboard or something? I'd presume modern laser mice really work the exact same on nearly any surface, no?

    • Re:Do they make a difference with laser mice? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah, I used to game professionally (and then I decided to go to college for a degree in 3D Animation so I could make the things instead of play them). I've played with super mouse pads and the like and in all seriousness I chose to use a piece of cardboard that had a thin foam layer attached to the bottom of it for three years because it was the largest and lightest pad I could find (and by find I mean I ripped the latex off of the sides a puffy children's Barney notebook I bought for a buck. Two pads, 5
    • It basically comes down to how you play, and friction. If you're a twitch gamer and use a high DPI mouse with teflon feet, the low-friction surface you get on hard gaming pads can be definitely worth it in terms of responsiveness (UT springs to mind) - it's less tiring on your wrist if nothing else. Plus they're easy to clean. A pure matt surface also tends to work better with lasers, anything reflective can make the mouse go a little crazy at times. If you're a low sensitivity player (and play roles which
  • Im sitting here in my Sunday chair and I cant think whats worse? 1. That I am replying to this article 2. That I read the other replies to this article 3. I clicked on the RSS feed to actually *read* this article Votes will be collected and tallied unfortunately I think they all tally to say that Im an idiot today :)

  • My mousepad is better! (Score:3, Informative)

    by HomerJ ( 11142 ) on Sunday June 25, 2006 @12:21PM (#15600857)
    47 for a mousepad? That's chump change. THIS is a mousepad [formula1.com]
  • Mousepads like this are released every day. Unless its something amazing, we don't care to read about it, least of all on the FRONT PAGE OF SLASHDOT.

    I'd like to read a review of one of these, however: www.corepad.com
    • I picked this up randomly when I got a new mouse on newegg. For those who don't know anything about it, Corepad is a huge mat (same mousepad foam) that offers tons of space. It really makes sense once you use it.

      I have a huge Logitech g15 keyboard and a shuttle contour pro in conjunction to a mouse. The pad is still large enough for me to game on. Not only does the pad clean up the look of my desk a lot, it's nice not having to worty about keyboard placement, mousepad placement. I put it down once and it st
  • the Razer eXactmat [razerzone.com]. It cost me 50 SGD($34.99 USD), comes with 2 surfaces(rough/smooth) for different mouse sensitivities and it's quite big compared to a func to boot. I am using the rough, aka "control" side, with my Logitect G1+ mouse. Good enough for FPS gaming, precise enough for Photoshop too.
  • I hear it adds 10hp to your computer to use a $50+ mousepad as well. Too bad the reviewer forgot to paint the edges of the pad blue for maximum performance, and they also didn't provide any statistics as to accuracy with case badges applied versus without.

  • Lazy reviewer (Score:2, Funny)

    by ingo23 ( 848315 )
    What kind of review is it? I want to see some solid performance stats, thermal resistance, MTBF, noise level, at least tell me if I can update the firmware!

    Is he reviewing a high-tech product or a fashion accessory? Oh, wait...

  • Take a peice of white paper. Take a peice of transparency. You might want to wash off any coating now or is will come off later. Tape the paper and the transparency to your darkly coloured desk. Your optical mouse should now work.
  • I hold my optical mouse quite still in one hand and move my other hand around underneath it.
    At first I tried moving the desk, but that just scuffed up the wood floors.
  • ...to edit the damn articles! ;) The spelling. The grammar. Seriously, that was one of the worst postings I've seen on /. Not to mention the fact that I really didn't need to read a review of a mousepad.

    Here's a tip: smell your mousepad. If it's cloth or foam, and you've had it for a while, it will probably smell like catfish bait. Buy a nonporous mousepad and clean it regularly. That is literally all you need to know about mousepads.
  • My favorite pad is the one I designed for myself at CafePress http://www.cafepress.com/randomvariable.43609878 [cafepress.com]

    Alas, they don't carry hard mousepads, or I'd definitely have done that. But my pad is still an excellent optical mousepad.
  • what a way to waste money. i remember vga cards used to be cheap also, and afterthought compared to the pc. now they are easily 10x the price, all because of hype. considering that these pad must cost tens of cents to make, i think the company has a good business plan no matter what i think.

  • Famous? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by WhatDoIKnow ( 962719 )
    I guess I don't get out enough. I never knew that there were ANY famous mouse pad manufacturers.

  • I have found that a mouse pad has become redundant. I recently got the Logitech G5 with teflon pads, and I haven't found a need to ever use a mouse pad again. The pads never gum up and cause friction to slow down the mouse and the high resolution tracking is enough to track well with the wood grain on my keyboard tray.

    Perhaps for those people that go to LAN parties, bringing in your own mouse pad where you never know what surface you might have to play on is important, but I can't see spending that much m

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