Some of the Best and Worst Mousepads I've Tried — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00all right so the last mouse pad video
2. 0:01that I did did way better than I
3. 0:03expected on the channel was about a year
4. 0:05and a half ago and it's somehow like a
5. 0:07top 10 video uh I don't know how but
6. 0:10yeah there is evidently a lot of
7. 0:11interest in mouse pads which is good
8. 0:13because I'm interested in it too I've
9. 0:15tried a bunch more since that video as
10. 0:18you can see so I thought we'd do the
11. 0:19same thing let's go through them one by
12. 0:21one and I'll let you guys know which
13. 0:23ones are really good and which ones I
14. 0:25didn't really like and yeah mouse pads
15. 0:26are still definitely something that I
16. 0:28get asked about quite a lot and I think
17. 0:30it's definitely a rabbit hole similar to
18. 0:32say mechanical keyboards or gaming mice
19. 0:34themselves because the different
20. 0:36experiences that you can get the
21. 0:38different aiming experiences and the
22. 0:39characteristics between all of these
23. 0:41different pads that are out there even
24. 0:43in this small pile here it's actually
25. 0:44pretty insane if you're going to compare
26. 0:46something you know as an extreme example
27. 0:48something really slow like a xowie GSR
28. 0:50to something super fast like in Artisan
29. 0:53reading for someone who isn't really
30. 0:54into mouse pads they both look like just
31. 0:57normal cloth pads but in reality the
32. 0:59aiming feel and characteristics are
33. 1:01completely different I will definitely
34. 1:03preface this video by saying that I
35. 1:05still think that you can get extremely
36. 1:07good on the majority of mouse pads that
37. 1:09are out there even the ones that are
38. 1:11super basic at your local game store
39. 1:13that you can buy for like 30 bucks like
40. 1:15a g640 those are pads that Pros are
41. 1:18using and they win tournaments on them
42. 1:20they have extremely good aim on them
43. 1:22this video is mostly just sharing kind
44. 1:24of what I feel most comfortable on and
45. 1:26kind of the different experiences that
46. 1:27you can get on either Pad but again you
47. 1:29can be good with pretty much anything in
48. 1:31this list so kicking things off we have
49. 1:33one pad which I was really Keen to try
50. 1:36this year and that is the xowie GSR SE
51. 1:38Rouge I think it is pronounced but yeah
52. 1:41this is a really solid all-round pad
53. 1:43this is definitely one of those mouse
54. 1:44pads that you can use for pretty much
55. 1:46any first person shooter out there with
56. 1:48the different styles of aiming whether
57. 1:50it's valorent or OverWatch this thing
58. 1:53has you pretty well covered it's a
59. 1:55smooth control pad it is fast enough for
60. 1:57something like OverWatch if you're
61. 1:59playing like really far DPS it's
62. 2:01definitely got enough Glide for that but
63. 2:03then again there's definitely enough
64. 2:04friction that you can hold angles and
65. 2:06hold that kind of static cursor position
66. 2:08quite comfortably most people would
67. 2:10describe this one as a smooth control
68. 2:11pad which I think is pretty accurate and
69. 2:14the surface finish as well is one of the
70. 2:16highlights of this pad is just super
71. 2:19smooth uh you don't feel like any green
72. 2:21or like fibers or anything like that
73. 2:23it's just a really nice smooth finish so
74. 2:26on your skin on your forearm as well if
75. 2:28you're doing swipes and stuff like that
76. 2:29you're not going to have any problems
77. 2:31there it's like one of the best things
78. 2:33that I found about this pad I'll be a
79. 2:35really great all-rounder it's kind of
80. 2:37like the g640 in that way like the g640
81. 2:40you can use it for pretty much any game
82. 2:42out there and you know lots and lots of
83. 2:44Pros do pro players use the g640 for
84. 2:46Valor Rainbow Six OverWatch it's like
85. 2:49one of those really good all-rounder
86. 2:51pads I would say the gsrc Rouge is
87. 2:53definitely more control focused though
88. 2:55so just keep that in mind there's just a
89. 2:57bit more friction so yeah personally I
90. 2:59really enjoyed using this pad
91. 3:00really really solid pad uh the reason I
92. 3:03didn't you know stick with it is because
93. 3:04one it is red as dumb as that sounds you
94. 3:07know it's a pretty cool pattern if this
95. 3:09was black it'd be pretty dope but more
96. 3:11importantly the Glide and the stopping
97. 3:13power I'm looking for something that
98. 3:14just has a bit more smoothness you know
99. 3:16less stopping power less friction for
100. 3:18games like OverWatch and Apex which is
101. 3:20what I'm playing most of the time to be
102. 3:22honest I felt like the gsrc Rouge just
103. 3:24had a little bit more friction and
104. 3:26stopping power than I'd like next up we
105. 3:28have the sky pad 3.0 and man I have a
106. 3:31love hate relationship with this thing
107. 3:33because first off let's just appreciate
108. 3:36how good this thing looks like it is
109. 3:39super clean all black hard pad full
110. 3:41glass construction it's like the
111. 3:43stealthiest mouse pad solution for your
112. 3:45setup I really wish I could have this
113. 3:47thing on my desk so yeah I guess we
114. 3:49should start there it is glass it is a
115. 3:51hard pad there is no compression at all
116. 3:54and most of the time it feels like your
117. 3:57mouse is just like floating on the pad
118. 3:59there's you know there's a bit of like a
119. 4:01nano texture to the pad there is a
120. 4:04little bit of feedback I think that's
121. 4:05mostly for the sensor to be honest so no
122. 4:07stopping power no control just this
123. 4:09unlimited Glide uh that I actually like
124. 4:12that quite a bit this unrestricted
125. 4:14approach to aiming zero stopping power
126. 4:16Just Pure input I'm glad at least one
127. 4:19company is out there doing it you know
128. 4:21you can do microscopic adjustments and
129. 4:23movement on this thing which are just
130. 4:24not possible on most cloth pads the
131. 4:27reason I don't use it though is because
132. 4:29of how grippy this thing is on your skin
133. 4:31after you use it for more than five
134. 4:33minutes the perspiration just grips
135. 4:35super super hard your forearm just
136. 4:37becomes basically glued to the pad now I
137. 4:39could just wear a compression sleeve you
138. 4:41know that would help most of my issues I
139. 4:43could also wear some sort of glove
140. 4:45because I would need to cover my hand my
141. 4:47hand gets stuck on this quite a lot too
142. 4:48but I just feel like I would need to be
143. 4:51an extremely high skill level to start
144. 4:53wearing that much equipment to actually
145. 4:55play games you know if I was putting
146. 4:57like 12 hours plus into OverWatch APAC
147. 5:00trying to go pro something like that
148. 5:02that is something that I would maybe try
149. 5:04but honestly I'm not even close to that
150. 5:07I am seriously waiting for the day
151. 5:08though where we can have a sky pad with
152. 5:10some kind of alien technology which
153. 5:12doesn't stick to your skin as you start
154. 5:14to warm up uh because I'll honestly
155. 5:16switch to it in a heartbeat until then
156. 5:18though I'll be sticking to cloth pads
157. 5:20now on the complete opposite end of the
158. 5:22spectrum we have the extra fire GP Z1
159. 5:25which is also known as the Rocket Jump
160. 5:27Ninja mouse pad uh extra five sentence
161. 5:29over when they released their Wireless
162. 5:31MZ ones and to be honest I have not had
163. 5:34a lot of time using this thing as soon
164. 5:36as I felt how slow it was uh yeah it
165. 5:39basically just went on the Shelf you
166. 5:40know I played a few games with it I've
167. 5:42got some mouse cam footage as well which
168. 5:44I'll show you guys but yeah this thing
169. 5:45is so slow and that's just not really
170. 5:47what I'm looking for in a mouse pad now
171. 5:49that absolute ton of stopping power it
172. 5:52does actually have a plus side if you're
173. 5:53someone who is pretty jittery on their
174. 5:55setup or maybe you find yourself over
175. 5:57aiming and constantly making mistakes a
176. 5:59super high friction part of this might
177. 6:01actually be what you're after especially
178. 6:03for games like Cs and valorent there are
179. 6:06a lot of pro players that love super
180. 6:08slow pads because they give you a ton of
181. 6:10stability as a consequence though
182. 6:12because you need to overcome so much
183. 6:14friction to get the mouse moving things
184. 6:16like micro adjustments and small
185. 6:18movements are really difficult so as a
186. 6:20bit of an example Soldier 76 and
187. 6:22OverWatch 2 are hit scan tracking at
188. 6:24medium to long range you kind of feel
189. 6:26that your cursor is continuously
190. 6:27stopping and starting as you fight the
191. 6:29friction on the pad now compare that to
192. 6:31The Artisan region which we'll get to in
193. 6:33a moment this is a much faster pad I've
194. 6:36still a cloth Pad but small Mouse
195. 6:37movements on it are a lot easier the
196. 6:40input is a lot more continuous but on
197. 6:42the flip side of this there's much less
198. 6:44stability so making mistakes and Jitters
199. 6:47they're a lot more common so you can
200. 6:48definitely get extremely good on a super
201. 6:51solid pod like the gpz1 as I mentioned a
202. 6:54lot of Pros in CS and the valorant scene
203. 6:56really like slow bands like this because
204. 6:58you can just switch and hold angle so so
205. 7:01quickly but for more tracking based
206. 7:03games I kind of feel like the pad is
207. 7:06constantly just fighting you and holding
208. 7:08back your input switch I really don't
209. 7:10like and as someone who's already tried
210. 7:11a xowie GSR which this is very very
211. 7:14similar to I'd kind of moved on from
212. 7:16that you know for a more faster tracking
213. 7:18experience alright but next up we have
214. 7:20the lethal gaming gear Mercury and this
215. 7:23is a pad which honestly didn't see a lot
216. 7:25of time at my setup since I had already
217. 7:27tried the artisan hean and the Razer
218. 7:30Strider this felt very similar to me you
219. 7:33know I had kind of already moved on from
220. 7:34that texture of pad this is very similar
221. 7:37in fact I would say it's even just a
222. 7:40little bit worse the kind of sandpapery
223. 7:42feel that you get from this it's not as
224. 7:45like textured in terms of like how high
225. 7:47the bumps are like on the Razer strider
226. 7:49for example this has much more of a just
227. 7:51dry coarse kind of sandpapery feel which
228. 7:54I honestly just don't really like I will
229. 7:56say though in terms of like aiming
230. 7:58mechanics in terms of how much Glide it
231. 8:00has stopping power has how cursor input
232. 8:03feels and stuff like that it's a really
233. 8:05really good pack like just as with the
234. 8:08hand and The Strider that kind of fast
235. 8:10input experience where the pad isn't
236. 8:12restricting your inputs as much but then
237. 8:15you still have that little bit of
238. 8:16stopping power to you know hold an angle
239. 8:18or you know just a buffer out all of
240. 8:20those Jitters but again for me it's the
241. 8:22surface finish which is just not it man
242. 8:25like it's like a dry sandpaper if you're
243. 8:27doing vertical adjustments especially
244. 8:29like of course if you're using fingertip
245. 8:31grip it's fine but sometimes you need
246. 8:33more room and you know any hand movement
247. 8:36is just not great on this pad at all
248. 8:38it's frustrating for me because I
249. 8:40otherwise like this part uh quite a lot
250. 8:42in terms of the responsiveness the Glide
251. 8:45how fast it feels and the amount of
252. 8:46stopping power I think is pretty much
253. 8:48perfect for fast-paced games but if this
254. 8:50had like the surface finish of gsrc
255. 8:53rouge or an artisan Raiden it would be
256. 8:55pretty much perfect next up we have the
257. 8:57vaxi zygen PA which is a really easy one
258. 9:01because it is basically the same as the
259. 9:03gsrc Rouge I don't know if I'm just not
260. 9:06good enough to tell the difference but
261. 9:07they legit feel like the same pad maybe
262. 9:09a little bit different I feel like the
263. 9:11PA is like just a little bit faster now
264. 9:13that I'm you know comparing them here
265. 9:15side by side the gsrc route has like a
266. 9:18little bit more stopping power but you
267. 9:19know I'm really grasping at straws here
268. 9:22I would say just pick whichever one you
269. 9:24think that looks better
270. 9:25um the density as well compression
271. 9:27basically the same and the surface
272. 9:30texture as well is just extremely close
273. 9:32I would say the PA is just maybe just a
274. 9:35little bit faster and that's pretty much
275. 9:36it so of course everything that I said
276. 9:38about the Zao you can just apply to the
277. 9:40vaxi as well uh it's a smooth control
278. 9:42pad really one of those pads which you
279. 9:44can use just for any first person
280. 9:45shooter out there the amount of friction
281. 9:47and the amount of Glide and stopping
282. 9:49power is just pretty much perfect to be
283. 9:51honest for a lot of people I think this
284. 9:53is like kind of the style of pad that
285. 9:55most people want maybe just a little bit
286. 9:57on the slower end for my personal
287. 9:58preferences but otherwise just a really
288. 10:00solid experience next up though we have
289. 10:02the mouse pad which I've personally
290. 10:04clocked the most hours on which is the
291. 10:06Artisan hayati otsu so if it looks a
292. 10:09little bit grotty a little bit well worn
293. 10:11like you know you can see an imprint of
294. 10:12my arm here which I'm not sure if you
295. 10:14can see that on camera or you can see it
296. 10:15on the second camera and you can see a
297. 10:17bit of feeding here from the mouse
298. 10:18Glides not really affectionate
299. 10:20performance it's probably due for a wash
300. 10:22but durability otherwise is actually
301. 10:24pretty good here but the main reason
302. 10:25I've been just sticking with this pad is
303. 10:28that I'd say for tracking based games
304. 10:29OverWatch Apex just the amount of Glide
305. 10:33and stopping power that you have here
306. 10:34it's just a really good balance so it's
307. 10:37a decently fast pad unit especially in
308. 10:39the mid variant that you have here
309. 10:41there's not much compression at all and
310. 10:43not much drag it's basically like a hard
311. 10:45cloth pad and you have a ton of freedom
312. 10:47to move around on this thing micro
313. 10:48adjustments and small tracking movements
314. 10:50are no problem at all and all at the
315. 10:52same time you have enough friction to
316. 10:54hold a static position easily enough so
317. 10:56yeah I can definitely definitely
318. 10:58recommend this one it's an extremely
319. 11:00good mouse pad from Artisan it's the one
320. 11:02that I've used the most and I'd say the
321. 11:04Glide speed here again is definitely
322. 11:05biased towards more fast-paced more
323. 11:07tracking oriented games where you're
324. 11:09just continuously moving your mouse I
325. 11:11should also mention that Artisan have
326. 11:12these three tiers of thicknesses for
327. 11:15most of their mouse pads you've got mid
328. 11:17soft and extra soft so ranging from the
329. 11:20firmest and the kind of hardest to the
330. 11:23most kind of plushy soft experience so
331. 11:25on Mid you have just no compression at
332. 11:28all soft gives you a bit of compression
333. 11:30but not too much I think this is going
334. 11:31to be the sweet spot for most people if
335. 11:33I'm honest and then extra soft is like a
336. 11:36pretty like plushy you know compression
337. 11:38experience like I haven't really felt
338. 11:41another mouse pad that is this soft also
339. 11:44the softer that you go the more friction
340. 11:46you're going to have the slower the
341. 11:48mouse pad will get even within the same
342. 11:50model of mouse pad so if you have an
343. 11:52artisan zero for example the zero mid is
344. 11:54going to be a lot faster than a zero in
345. 11:57extra soft now on the soft end
346. 11:59especially on the extra soft you kind of
347. 12:01press into the pad to create this kind
348. 12:04of experience where you're getting more
349. 12:06stability and more friction so this for
350. 12:08example is the Artisan Raiden extra soft
351. 12:11it is an extremely fast part it's the
352. 12:13second fastest pad in The Artisan lineup
353. 12:16and for the most part yeah there's not
354. 12:18much friction here but because it's so
355. 12:20plushy you can now push into the pad to
356. 12:22give you a bit more friction a lot of
357. 12:24people especially for tactical Shooters
358. 12:26like Valor and CS go it's something that
359. 12:28is used quite a bit you press into the
360. 12:31pad hold an angle lift up all of a
361. 12:33sudden you've got more friction it's
362. 12:34kind of this variable friction
363. 12:36experience depending on how hard you are
364. 12:38pressing into it but it can also be a
365. 12:40bit of a bad thing because if you're
366. 12:42someone who Panic aims you know you get
367. 12:44into a tense 1v1 scenario all of a
368. 12:46sudden your grip starts to firm up and
369. 12:48you're like you know squeezing into the
370. 12:50pad when you don't really mean to all of
371. 12:52a sudden you now have more friction than
372. 12:54you are used to this is actually the
373. 12:57main reason why I switched from a
374. 12:58hayatiotsu in soft to one one in mid
375. 13:01because on a mid there is no pressing
376. 13:05into the pad to get more friction I mean
377. 13:07there's a little bit but nowhere near as
378. 13:09much as an extra soft pad so if you're
379. 13:11trying to decide between a mid and an
380. 13:13extra soft consider if you really need
381. 13:15that mechanic where you're like really
382. 13:17pushing into the pad to get that
383. 13:19additional friction most people honestly
384. 13:21probably don't need to do that I would
385. 13:23say most people should go for like a
386. 13:24soft or a mid that way the amount of
387. 13:26friction is just completely continuous
388. 13:28and consistent and it's not affected
389. 13:30pretty much at all by how hard you are
390. 13:32pressing into the pad so yeah for the
391. 13:34most part uh this is my main pad right
392. 13:36here it's the Artisan healthyotsu in mid
393. 13:39but I have been using the Raiden extra
394. 13:41soft quite a bit recently probably for
395. 13:44the last couple of weeks just for
396. 13:45something different something uh you
397. 13:47know for a bit of fun a bit of a novel
398. 13:48experience so there's not much friction
399. 13:50or stopping power on this thing at all
400. 13:51as you can see the Glide is just
401. 13:53ridiculously quick and so that's why
402. 13:55it's been you know pretty fun to switch
403. 13:57to every now and then uh and the surface
404. 13:59texture as well is so oh so nice part of
405. 14:02it feeling like a cloud is that you just
406. 14:04have so much movement for your arm and
407. 14:06there's none of that grubby feeling
408. 14:07which I've talked about previously you
409. 14:09know I don't like at all like on the sky
410. 14:11part or on the LG G Mercury here it is
411. 14:14the complete opposite where you just
412. 14:16have unlimited freedom but yeah I've
413. 14:18been enjoying this you know you can
414. 14:19change direction extremely quick on this
415. 14:21thing small tracking movements as well
416. 14:23are insanely easy and free just a tad
417. 14:25easier than what I found on the
418. 14:27hayatiotsu and it's just an excellent
419. 14:29pad if you want to continuously move
420. 14:31your mouse without the pad kind of
421. 14:32getting in the way now if you're someone
422. 14:34who is already you know kind of jittery
423. 14:36and a little bit unstable with your
424. 14:38mouse on your current setup then this is
425. 14:40just going to make it even worse because
426. 14:42there is so little friction and so
427. 14:44little stopping power it's not going to
428. 14:46be kind of filtering out all of those
429. 14:48little micro Jitters and maybe even like
430. 14:50little hand spasms that your hand does I
431. 14:53even find myself doing it from time to
432. 14:54time I'm not even sure if I'm better on
433. 14:57the Raiden than I am on slower pads but
434. 14:59I will say I do have have more fun using
435. 15:02it especially that surface texture and
436. 15:04finish like this feels insanely nice on
437. 15:06your hand even with really fast swipes
438. 15:08your skin just Glides all the way over
439. 15:09it without a problem I just really wish
440. 15:12they made it in black and not brown now
441. 15:14something else I want to mention here is
442. 15:16that all of your mouse pad choices they
443. 15:18matter a lot less as a gaming mouse
444. 15:21become lighter and lighter so the
445. 15:23lighter your mouse is the less your
446. 15:25mouse pad Choice really matters and that
447. 15:27just has to do with the weight of the
448. 15:28mouse and the amount of friction that's
449. 15:30going to be imposed on the surface so
450. 15:32for example you know a bit of an extreme
451. 15:34example I can use the slowest mouse pad
452. 15:37in my collection which is the gpz1 but
453. 15:39using it with my 23 gram prototype Mouse
454. 15:42it's actually a pretty fine experience
455. 15:45like it actually feels totally fine to
456. 15:47be honest it doesn't even feel that slow
457. 15:49if on the other hand you're using
458. 15:50something that's like 70 grams 80 grams
459. 15:53or you know even higher for whatever
460. 15:55reason the differences among these mouse
461. 15:57pads are going to be a lot more
462. 15:59substantial I will say even for
463. 16:01something like a super light which is 60
464. 16:03grams and that's what I've used for most
465. 16:05of the mouse cam footage that you're
466. 16:07seeing there is definitely enough of a
467. 16:08difference between all of the mouse pads
468. 16:10that are out there in terms of like an
469. 16:12Aiming experience and the amount of
470. 16:13friction and glide it's just as we
471. 16:15approach mice that are 50 40 or even 30
472. 16:18grams in total weight I'd recommend not
473. 16:20thinking about mouse pads too much now
474. 16:22if you're after more of a comprehensive
475. 16:24list of different mouse pads and you
476. 16:26know pretty much all of the ones that
477. 16:27are out there I would definitely
478. 16:28recommend boards here on YouTube
479. 16:30especially his tier lists are yeah it is
480. 16:32kind of insane to think about how many
481. 16:34mouse pads that guy has tried definitely
482. 16:36check that out if you want to delve into
483. 16:38the rabbit hole a little bit deeper but
484. 16:39yeah that's pretty much it for me if you
485. 16:41want to check any of these out I will
486. 16:42leave them linked down below as always a
487. 16:45huge thanks for watching and I'll see
488. 16:46you all in the next one