Introduction

I would like XTracPads for supplying the review sample

The following quotes taken from the XTracPads website give you an idea about the company's mentality and philosophy:

About:
Started in March of 2002 by a group of hard-core PC gamers, our mousing surfaces and accessories have won countless awards. We offer an expanding variety of surfaces and optical mouse pad sizes. Not only are our products used in computer gaming, they are equally efficient for many other applications such as digital animation, desktop publishing and more. The medical, military, gaming, art, scientific and aerospace industries all benefit from the high quality, speed and accuracy found in all XTracPads optical mouse pads. XTracPads is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Thank You:
We thought it was appropriate to have a special page dedicated to everyone that has contributed to the success of our company. Thanks to a higher power for providing inspiration each and every day. To all our customers and loyal fans, XTracPads would not be where we are today without you... "Thank you!" Thank you to our resellers and business partners all over the world. All our friends and affiliates in the review world, thank you for taking your valuable time to give your honest opinions on the products we've sent you for review.

Closer Examination

The XTracPads Pro mouse pad comes packaged in some very thin, but appropriate cardboard sleeve. The front lets the user know what the pad looks like and features a hole, so you can get a feel for the surface of the Pro pad before buying it. The back lists all the features in a simple box as well as a some quotes of past reviews.


Besides the mouse pad, there is also an XTracPads sticker inside the package. It is about 2 x 2 inches big.


The XTracPads Pro is a cloth pad with a hexagon theme on the pad itself. There is a black stripe on the right side with the company logo and the mouse pad name on the side. This is the most advantageous placement of such a logo and website address, as anyone sitting next to you will notice it.


The bottom of the Pro consists of some very fine foam. It has a some structure comparable to a tire which keeps the pad secure on any flat surface.

Surface

The pad was tested with laser and optical mice. While some may still use 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 following mice were used to test the XTracPads Pro mouse pad:

• 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 necessarily considered a gaming mouse. The Sharkoon Rush Laser Mouse on the other hand is geared toward gamers and offers a variable DPI setting between 400 and 2000 DPI. 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 has a very smooth surface and it is definitely not a very "fast" pad. Any mouse became noticeably slower when used in combination with the Pro pad. The accuracy is raised accordingly and mouse clicks are almost perfectly placed. This makes this pad perfect for strategy games but somewhat too slow for action games.