XTrac Ripper Gaming Mouse Pad

Provided By: XTrac
Retail: $18.25
Review Date: March 25th, 2004

Tired of having your mouse drift off the mouse pad during game play? If so, you will want to consider the XTrac Ripper^TM gaming pad. XTrac promotes their Ripper mouse pad as large, precise, and smooth. Everything you need in a mouse pad, right?

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Packaging:

The Ripper pad was sent USPS. Since this product is bought through resellers and is only a mouse pad, I won't go into detail about the packaging. I will still note my first reaction to the package, huge! At first, I figured XTrac could not find a smaller box to ship it in.

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Opening the box revealed that the pad was really that big, WOW!

Specifications:

Specifications listed below can be found on XTrac's web site.

• Size – 11"X 17"
• Thickness - 1/8".
• Surface – Smooth cloth - extremely flexible
• Pattern – Large Hexagons with random dot configuration to ensure precise control
• Backing – Sure Grip rubber
• Durability – Extremely durable if properly taken care of.

Description:

Xtrac's Ripper is 11 by 17 inches. This might not sound big, but it is about 3 times larger than the average mouse pad. So big, it doesn't fit on my desk without some rearranging.

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The rubber backing allows the mouse pad to stick to your desk like glue. Pushing on it will not slide it one inch.

The surface of the Ripper is made of cloth. Even though it is made of cloth, it is very smooth. It does present more resistance that the SteelPad or ICEMat. I found that the resistance didn't hurt the precision at all. Black and white honeycomb shapes, along with scattered black and white patches, allow an optical mouse to be very precise.

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Usage:

After clearing off some desk space, I was ready to try this monster of mouse pad out. I used to mice, the standard Logitech M-BD58 and my 4 button M-BL63. Mouse movements were very precise. The mouse glided smoothly across the pad, no stumbles or jerks at all. Since the pad is very large, I found myself only using a small percentage of it during regular Windows and application use. If you slow the mouse movement speed down, you will use more area.

Once you get familiar with the Ripper, it works great for games like War Craft 3, Baulders Gate 2, and Civilization 3. The size of the pad allows for a quick, smooth scrolling between sections of the game map. For games like UT, I didn't find myself taking advantage of the full size. I stayed in the center of the mouse pad. Mouse movement is my look around functionality during first person shooters. Again, it will take a wihle to train yourself to allow your hand to move along the full length.

To the touch, the pad feels durable. After a solid amount of use, the Ripper mouse pad will wear out. This is opposed to the SteelPad or ICEMat that should last forever. The Ripper can be cleaned. I highly recommend you do this to prolong its life because it will gather dust and oils from your skin. The Ripper does feel like it will last longer than other standard pads.

Conclusion:

Other than being big, the XTrac Ripper mouse pad looks like an ordinary cloth mouse pad. When putting it to use, I noticed the mouse performs better than with ordinary pads. I felt the movement was more precise than the Steelpad, but not as good as the ICEMat. If you need to move your mouse all over the desk, than you will never run out of real estate with the Ripper.

Pros:

• Big
• Smooth surface
• Flexible
• Washable

Cons:

• Need a lot of desk space

Rating:
Very Good

(Ratings Possible Terrible, Very Bad, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent)