Steelpad QcK+ Mouspad
Steelpad
Steelpad QcK+ Mousepad
Manufacturer: Steelpad/SoftTrading
By: Jack Kolesar 12-21-04
Introduction
In the past five years the gaming industry has grown
exponentially. With it, has come various accessories for the
gamer to gain that extra edge. Today we are taking a look at one
such accessory, the Steelpad QcK+ Professional Gaming Mousepad.
The QcK+ is a cloth mousing surface that is the size of a small
city. This thing is BIG, measuring over 17" by 15".
If you have ever slipped off of your mousepad just before you were
about to frag someone, you can be assured that it isn't going to happen
with this thing. The carton got to me in one piece from Denmark
which is a feat in and of itself. It came rolled in the package
you see above. Installation was a snap. :) (Ok, its a mousepad
folks. Gotta fill the page with something)
You can get an idea of how large this
mousepad is in the picture above. While this setup will work if
you have enough real estate, it can be a bit... Dare I say it? Too
big. However, I assume that if you are purchasing a pad like
this, you already have a spot reserved for it on your desk. The
surface is a bit shiny if you look at it from the right angle.
I'm guessing that this help tracking for opticals. The pad is
very thin and lays very flat. Surprisingly, it didn't curl up on
me even during vigorous gameplay. I tested the QcK+ with two
different optical mice. I played a bit of UT2004 and Doom III (in
Linux of course). Tracking worked very well and mouse movement
was very smooth. However, the size was a bit much for my rig at
home. So, I took it into work.
In the real world, I work as a System
Engineer for a professional Audio/Video company. Lately, I've
been doing a lot of AutoCad work and found that quite often, I would
run out of room on the mousepad. For those of you who work with
Cad programs, you know that finding the right sensitivity and work area
for your layout can be tough at times. As you can see, the QcK+
fits quite nicely on the desk. Problem solved. I've been
using it ever since and it has really grown on me. The only
negative I have noticed is that the lower edge of the pad is starting
to fray from usage. It would have been nice if a seemed edge or
something similar were used to stop any fraying.
Conclusion
The Steelpad QcK+ is a good mousepad with very good
performance. However, the surface is REALLY BIG and fitting it on
an average desk may not work. Also, some people may find the
$19.95 price tag a bit steep for a cloth mousing surface.
Overall, I'd give it a thumb up and recommend it for any Cad folks out
there. Thanks to Steelpad for sending the unit for review.
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