Date: May 5th, 2004
Article by: Nathan Glentworth
(Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: Corepad
& Icemat
<---Shop for MousePads Here
PRODUCT AESTHETICS
Advantage: Corepad
The Corepad won due to its unique stylish design complete
with rounded corners, color and the interesting fenced surface. With
a product targeted towards enthusiasts and gamers, they want something
that stands out and makes itself NOT look like a standard mousepad.
The Black Icemat 2 on the other hand does look ok, but
is a bit bland and looks more like an oversized standard mousepad made
of frosted glass.
PRODUCT ERGONOMICS & COMFORT
Advantage: Corepad
With the included foam wrist support, the Corepad hands
down wins this section. As a gamer, I know comfort is needed when completing
an all night Lanparty or a six hour online fragfest. The included wrist
support is rather stiff and could be softened for even more comfort,
but it is far better than using your desktop or the mousepad itself.
The Black Icemat 2 did not include a wrist support.
PRODUCT VALUE
Advantage: Corepad
When it comes to overall product value, the Corepad is ahead by a large
margin. For US$12.25 less than the Black Icemat 2, you will practically
get the same usable mousepad area along with the same teflon tape and
a wrist support.
I know you might be thinking that the Icemat has larger dimensions
so it is bigger. This in part is true but what I meant is "usable"
space. Here let me show you.
When using the Black Icemat 2, there is no wrist support
so you more often than not will be resting your wrist on the pad itself
while gaming. This wastes a considerable amount of space. Check out
how far my fingertips are from the edge.
With my wrist comfortably resting on the wrist pad you
can see that I have the same amount of usable area to move the mouse.
It may be visually hard to see it, but if you compare the photos, you
can see the difference is practically nil.
Now the reason that the Black Icemat 2 lost in the product
value category is very simple. Who in their sane logical mind is going
to flop down close the US$50 (+shipping) for a mousepad!!!! There is
nothing to warrant such a pricetag. Yes, glass might not be the cheapest
material on the market but it isn't THAT expensive. Icemat's marketing
department needs to realize that the young target consumer base doesn't
have that much extra money to blow on an overpriced mousepad and they
would rather put that money towards better memory or even an updated
case.
Think more affordable, think more popular. Name brand
doesn't mean everything and trust me, gamers know that.
PRODUCT GAMING PERFORMANCE
Advantage: Corepad
To test each mousepad, I played a 20 minute single player
session of Battlefield 1942 using each pad. Although the accuracy of
each pad was exactly the same, the Corepad had some advantages over
the Black Icemat 2. The first is just how quiet the pad is while gaming.
You could barely hear the mouse moving whereas the Icemat was quite
noisy and resembled a lower key version of nails on a chalkboard. The
quieter the mousing surface, the better chance you will hear your enemy
sneaking up on you.
The second was the Corepad's ability to stay in place
and almost stick to the desktop. The Icemat on the other hand was easier
to move around and required some adjustment after a certain amount of
gaming. My suggestion would be to lower the amount of feet on the mousepad
from six to four to enable it to stay in place better.
PRODUCT QUALITY
Advantage: Equal
Each product sample reviewed was well made, sturdy and
didn't show any defects or blemishes.
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