Intro:
You've undoubtedly seen some Icemat reviews
previously. Well, so have I. I've always want to look at one, and when I had the
chance, I jumped on it. The good, the bad, the ugly? Well, as usual, I'll give
you my honest thoughts. They probably won't reflect the other reviews you have
probably seen already. While this is a great pad, just like the price, this is
really a specialty pad.
The package:
Opening my DHL delivered package, I was greeted with what you
can see in picture 1. A very nice looking package actually. I knew something was
up when I found it to be somewhat heavy. Opening the box and removing the top
Styrofoam piece, we can actually start to see the pad. A strip of
Padsurfers, which we will get a bit more into later on, is included. Being
surrounded by Styrofoam does the trick quite well. The pad came in outstanding
shape from halfway around the world.
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| (1) Top of box |
(2) Contents |
The Pad:
At first glance it almost doesn't look like glass, but it is.
The pad measures approximately 9 3/4 inches wide, 8 1/4 inches long, and
counting the
6 rubber feet to hold the pad in place, about 1/4 inch in thickness. The top of
the pad is somewhat resistant to fingerprints, however the bottom isn't. And who
cares though really? Who will see the bottom of it? Note to self: Do not eat
beef jerky while handling review products. Moving on...
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| (3) The top |
(4) The bottom |
A closer look:
Below, in picture 5, you can see a better detail of the top
surface. The logo really does seem kind of blurry like that actually. But if you
really look at the picture, you can see the detail of the texture that dawns the
surface of the pad. The surface reminds me very much like frosted glass, and it
does feel like it too!
The bottom of the pad is covered in a black film (picture 6).
As previously mentioned, the six rubber feet grip the pad to your desk. That
it does well. You will also notice that the edges are rounded, and nicely ground
down as to be perfectly round. You wouldn't want anything to be sharp there
would you? We are talking about glass
here don't forget. The pad has been manufactured to exacting perfection if you
wanted me to sum that up for you.
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| (5) Close up of logo |
(6) Bottom corner |
Padsurfer fun:
Included in the box, we have some a strip of Padsurfers. What
that is, is basically Teflon for your mouse feet. It gives your mouse less
resistance moving it across the pad, and helps cut down on the noise. Noise?
Yes, the pad is noisy without the Teflon sheets on your mouse. To avoid me from
having to do something that I feel is extremely similar, I will point you
towards an MP3 I made for the Steelpad. That is
here.
(Please right click and save target as please.)
Adequate instructions are included as what to do with
your Padsurfers. I'd estimate they'd probably last a month or better. The
problem is though, if you listened to that MP3 above, you'll pretty much want to
keep your mouse feet covered. The noise when using the pad with just your existing
mouse pads is just too much for me. Maybe you will like the raspy noise your
mouse makes each time you move it, but I certainly don't care for it at all. At
4 bucks a pop shipped, this maybe quite expensive to keep your pad and mouse
feet in
top, non-noisy condition.
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| (7) Padsurfer close up |
(8) Instructions |
Size comparison:
So, with a mouse on it, how does it feel? Good actually. The
size is adequate, and the accuracy is fantastic. This is a truly accurate pad.
Honestly, just like the
Steelpad, the accuracy is the best I have ever seen. Honest! While I'm not
so much an avid gamer anymore. I still dip into FPS shooters quite a bit. It
seems like content creation has been more of my hobby now for 2+ years, but nothing
really gets my goat like not having the mouse be accurate for that too. Trying
to copy and paste, or just plain edit anything, is very frustrating when you
can't get in just the right spot with your mouse.
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| (9) With a mouse |
Problems that rear their ugly head to me with this pad is,
the noise, and the cost. That keeps me from recommending this pad to everyone.
The Icemat however, does have a niche market. Gamers. And perhaps even graphic
designers too. The pad is so accurate, that your mouse feels like you just got a
new mouse. This is a glass pad, and it's textured. For giggles, I pulled a
picture off the wall. I put my mouse on it, and it was
reasonably quieter with smooth glass. Now that is what I'd like to see next from
Icemat. A smooth one! For me personally, I can't stand fan noise anymore in my
PC, nor will I accept having to tape up my mouse just to use a mouse pad. I'll
stick with my X-Trac Zoom for now... I'm only marking this down for what I feel.
How you feel about the pad could be an entirely different story...
