Thunder8
Manufacturer: X-ray Technology LTD
Type of pad: Hard, dual surface
Material: Plastic
Size:11.44”x9.3”
Price: $19.00

X-ray's Thunder8 pad really brought it to the forefront of the gaming scene and built on the success of the Aqua3. Following Func's sUrface 1030 in the dual surface arena, X-ray delivered by most accounts a superior product to the Original 1030. The Thunder8 was larger than the 1030 and did not destroy mouse feet like the Original's rough surface did.

The packaging of the Thunder8 is very nice. It consists of a tin case that is stamped with the X-ray name and an X on there, pretty neat looking. Inside, the pad is secured with 2 shaped pieces of foam with hold it in place and prevents it from moving around inside the case. The pad consists of a hard plastic base, with a dual surface insert that can be flipped around at will via the easy flip corner. The package also comes with a mouse cord clip. This mouse cord clip is installed on the mousepad in a kind of weird way that makes it fall off sometimes during use, but most of the time it stays secure and works great.

While using it, you can tell the Thunder8 is a gamer's mousepad through and through. The surfaces of this pad are of a very high quality and just the basic 2 surface design itself is very gamer oriented. Not all gamers are alike, and the dual surfaces of this pad should be able to suit the preferences of all of them. The rough side is ideal for low sensitivity users, as it is reflective enough to offer flawless performance with optical mice without being overly abrasive, which causes rapid wear of the mouse feet. The smooth side, in my opinion, doesn't offer quite enough friction for higher sensitivity users, but it might suit other people just fine, and it is certainly large enough for a smooth pad. The Thunder8 is secured to the desk using 10 clear rubber pads that do a very good job; in fact the Thunder8 is the hardest to move out of every pad tested in this experiment. All types of mice track very well on this surface, but it seems to be optimized for optical mice, where performance was almost as good as it was on the rough side of the sUrface 1030 Archetype.

The construction of this mousepad is very good as well. The two pieces are made of a durable hard plastic and they fit together very well. The design of the pad is very simple and is up to the same “style” standards as the other two products reviewed from X-ray, the Aqua2 and Aqua3. The only effect dropping this pad from desk height had was the mousepad part flying out of the base part, but no permanent damage was caused. The best part of this mousepad is the price, which is only $19.00. For this price, the Thunder8 is a great value, offering outstanding performance for a great price. A problem I have with this pad is the surface's tendency to show the oils that are transferred to it from your hand. The smooth surface of this pad looks noticeably dirty as a result of me using it for several hours. Nothing a little cleaner and a paper towel wont fix easily, but kind of annoying nonetheless. The only other problem I have with this pad is the size. I repeatedly found the edge of my mouse barely starting to fall off the pad while using the rough surface. If this pad was a mere 1 inch wider then it would be a lot more gamer friendly in my opinion. X-ray actually realized this and created the Thunder9, which is simply a larger version of the Thunder8.

Pros:
+Superior desk gripping ability
+Easy flip corner
+Mouse cord clip
+Excellent tracking
+Nice packaging
+Great value

Cons:
+Shows dirt
+Could be bigger (Thunder9)

Score:
8/10