Everglide Titan mouse mat

Cut from the same Cloth

Is it actually any good? Well, the unspoken part of that question is 'compared to...' The Everglide Titan has two major competitors: the Fatal1ty cloth mat, and the dominant hard mousing surfaces.

In testing, the mat worked brilliantly. We played a good number of hours on Battlefield 2, Splinter Cell and Half-Life 2, as well as a little bit of Counter-Strike Source. The surface area of the mat means you're never going to run out of room (except on your desk) and the cloth surface really is a whole lot better than you would think - easily as smooth as a hard surface.

It takes more effort to move across the cloth than across a hard pad, but the consequence is that you can perhaps get more accuracy without having to play with the mouse settings.

We tested it against the Fatal1ty mat and honestly, we couldn't feel much difference.

The one concern we have is about durability. Our Fatal1ty mat is starting to get a little weathered around the edges now, and there's nothing to suggest that this Titan won't either. Cloth isn't as durable as hard plastic, and you may find yourself needing to replace this in 6 months.

Rock, Cloth, Scissors

What does it come down to, then?

Well, this pad is £20 from Everglide.co.uk. Whilst you can't buy the Fatal1ty pad in the UK, it costs US$13 Stateside - that's about £7.50. Whilst you can get the Fatal1ty in the US, ironically, the Everglide isn't available there yet - so, in a sense, which one you buy comes down to which side of the Atlantic you're on.

I'm not convinced that one is better than the other, but I do like the carry tin on the Everglide.

To be honest, the decision you're going to have to make is this: if I'm using a hard pad now, do I a) want to give up a lot of desk space for a cloth pad and b) want to make the effort to learn to use a cloth pad, because it really isn't the same as a hard one.

If you're into gaming in a big way, you owe it to yourself to at least investigate the latest kit being used by the pros. If you're a casual gamer, you might find that the added familiarity and durability of a hard surface means you're better off sticking as you are.

If you don't own a nice mousing surface at all... what the heck are you doing? Seriously - the mouse is one of your primary interfaces with your PC, and you will find your mouse control in normal Windows work improves dramatically by investing in an Everglide or RatpadzGS. We all use them every day, for work and play, and it is one area you don't want to skimp on.