Performance & Testing

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I pulled out my usual array of mice to test out on the new Icemat. A healthy selection of games, including Doom 3, Far Cry, UT2004, and GTA Vice City were played with all four available mice.

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The Razer Viper loved this pad. With stock Teflon feet, the Viper just slides all over this pad, and it does not seem to have any of the jitter problems that sometimes occur with certain mouse pads and this mouse. I did notice one or two odd moments where the cursor would be moving slightly in one direction on the screen for a few moments, with nothing touching the Viper. This was eliminated with the next movement of the mouse.

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The Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer was also a solid performer on this pad with the Xtrac Mad Dotz still installed. Tracking was smooth and accurate, and the action was very slick.

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My ancient Sony ball mouse functioned well on the 2nd Edition pad at first…the Mad Dotz still installed on this mouse as well. Once I got seriously involved in an UT2004 Onslaught online match, the sweat and condensation started to cause the ball to slip making it totally unresponsive at critical moments. Switching back to a quality cloth pad (Xtrac Ripper XL) solved the problem entirely. This pad would be fine for a casual ball mouse user, but not for the serious gamer.

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And finally, it was time to test out my small modded Targus USB optical mouse. As mentioned before, this mouse uses a blue 2600 mcd LED instead of the standard red one. I like to include this mouse to determine mouse pad compatibility with this popular modification. The test failed immediately, with erratic and inconsistent tracking.

One thing that did get on my nerves was that the hard rubber feet didn’t do very well keeping the Icemat in one place. Although the mouse itself does not push the pad around much, my wrist certainly did. The rubber feet will be easy enough to replace at least.
 

Conclusions

This 2nd Edition of the Icemat gaming pad is an impressive product…The action is very slick, and to quote the propaganda it looks damn cool! I did find that this pad is a bit picky on what mice you can use on it, so a little online research might be in order to verify compatibility in your particular application. We’ve also determined that this pad does not like the “Blue LED” mouse mod, nor does it do well with ball mice under heavy gaming use. The rubber feet are also a little weak…if you tend to shift your current pad, you’ll almost certainly move this one. If you are a dedicated gamer and use optical mice, I really can’t think of a good reason for you not to go out and get this pad. The Icemat 2nd Edition retails for $47.50 USD + shipping, and you can find out more about this product or check out other Icemat products at their website. Make sure you stay tuned…I have another one of those products up for review very soon!

Check out Xoxide.com's full line of Mouse Pads, including the Icemat 2nd Edition Performance Mouse Pad

 

Pros	Cons
Extremely slick surface Lots of color choices Teflon tape included Large playing area	Mouse compatibility (blue LED, ball) Pad tends to wander

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