Surface

The pad was tested with laser and optical mice. While some may still used an old fashion mouse ball, it will certainly not be in a gaming environment where mice and mouse pads have become an important asset. The follwowing mice were used to test the Sharkoon 1337 XL Gaming Mat:

• Logitech MX Revolution,
  
• Sharkoon Rush Laser Mouse
  
• Logitech MX518
  

The Logitech MX Revolution is one of the most advanced mice out there, but is not nessecarily considered a gaming mouse. The Sharkoon Rush Laser Mouse on the other hand is geared towards gamers and offers a variable DPI setting between 400 and 2000dpi. The Logitech MX518 is one of the most successful optical gaming mice and is still commonly used today as the weapon of choice.


The surface of the 1337 Gaming Mat is made out of very fine cloth, which shimmers a bit when looked at from an angle. There is no feelable roughness on the surface when moved over with ones fingertips.

All three mice did not have any problems on the mouse pad. There was no noticable friction between the mice and the pad, making the movement as easy as possible. The Sharkoon Rush performed well no matter what DPI setting was used. At 400dpi the user is forced to move the mouse fast and far to gain a noticable movement on the screen, while a setting of 2000dpi results in a far movement on screen, while very little distance is needed on the mouse pad. Both variants worked perfectly fine and were quite comfortable.

Size

The Sharkoon 1337 XL Gaming Mat has grown almost 10 cm on each side, when compared to the previous, smaller model. This makes it a great pad for low sensitivity gamers.

Comfort

The mouse pad has become a bit thicker as well. The small 1337 mouse pad is only 1.4mm thick, while the XL version features a thickness of 2.4mm. While the difference in thickness is noticable, it is certainly less than the 4 mm of other mouse pads of this size.

Durability

Having used the small Sharkoon 1337 Gaming Mat for over 5 months now, there has been a bit of flossing on the edges. But nothing drastic as can be seen in the pictures above. Cloth based mouse pads are not meant to last forever and a lifecycle of about a year is considered good for these surfaces. While 5 months have shown a bit of wear on the pad, the surface of the 1337 is still undamaged, and there has been no wear and tear in that area. I fully expect the 1337 to last one year on normal gaming use.