SteelSeries Gaming Kit

QcK Heavy Steel

One surprising fact is that despite hard mouse mats being the choice of pro-gamers in Europe, cloth mouse pads are the choice of the majority of US gamers. At the moment the best theory about why this is the case is attributable to cultural differences. The US had few hard mouse surfaces available commercially and therefore US gamers tend to use cloth mouse pads. Gamers like Fatality swear by them.

I have to admit, before getting my hands on this mouse pad I was strictly hard only (stop giggling in the back). However my whole view on mouse surface dynamics has changed. To start with, this mousepad is huge, probably twice the size of any other regular pad.

There are smaller versions available so don't fret if your desk is as cramped as the Tube in rush hour. At first I thought the extra size was overkill, yet having a large desk at work I have found it has come in really handy, especially when running programs like Photoshop.


The huge size is complemented by the glorious feel of the cloth. Skin to pad contact felt great and at no stage did I feel uncomfortable moving my hand around the pad. As far as mouse to pad relations are concerned, the results are also positive. Like the S&S mat above this has been designed with the help of professional gamers. There is very little resistance in a cloth mouse pad which makes it a little bit more forgiving, especially in those tense nervous, moments where your hand is a little shaky – on a hard surface those moments are exaggerated whereas on a cloth surface it's less likely to show up .

The thickness of the pad means it doesn't really matter what surface you stick it on, it will still be relatively smooth. I have to say after using this pad I won't be going back to a hard surface, with my only real qualm with it being that it is so large and black it looks a little bit like a sinister vacuum on the desk. Perhaps SteelSeries will release a different coloured version of it.