Our initial impressions of the pad made it quite clear that coated cloth mousepads have several advantages over traditional ones. The first of these advantages is in the appearance of the pad. While most cloth mousepads (read: most) look somewhat dull and washed out, the surface design of the QPAD|CT was very sharp and clean looking. We are very much in the dark about the whole mousepad surface printing process, but we imagine the surface being printed on plays a large role in the amount of detail that can be incorporated into the design. This ties in to the next advantage of the coated cloth mousepad: the coating itself. While the coating might not be meant for this purpose, we found that the QPAD|CT was far more resistant to stains caused by spilled liquids, or a palm that has grown sweaty after hours of gaming. This implies that the coating acts as somewhat of a sealant, which could also attribute to the excellent image quality the pad affords, as previously mentioned. But the big advantage of a coated cloth mousepad is the mousing surface. As is evident by the sheer number of variations of cloth mousepads, manufacturers seem to have quite a difficult time creating a surface that is both unique and what they believe to be superior by simply manipulating different kinds of cloth. In our Mousepad Roundup for instance, we tested the Razer Mantis Control mousepad. That surface has a very unique texture to it that cannot be found on any other mousepad. In contrast, the X-ray pad Aqua 3 has a standard texture on its surface but is far more glossy than any other mousepad we’ve seen. What the Hybratek™ coating QPAD used on the CT allows is the ability to adjust the surface characteristics of the pad without having to heavily modify the cloth itself. The result is what we are tempted to call one of the best cloth mousing surfaces we have ever used. The surface is far smoother than any other cloth pad we have used, yet maintains the level of surface friction that cloth mousepads are well known for.

Probably the most important characteristic of any mousepad is how well the mouse tracks on it. We put this pad through our rigorous test of moving the mouse as fast we could in attempt to make it skip. In this process we used 4 separate mice including the Logitech G5, Microsoft’s Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, Logitech’s MX310, and an old Microsoft Intellimouse 1.0. All of these mice have been put through this test on other surfaces without incident, so any problems with the tracking we might discover in this test must be the fault of the QPAD|CT. However, we did not notice any tracking issues with any of the mice while using the QPAD|CT.

As far as size goes, the QPAD|CT lies somewhere between the Razer Mantis (Everglide Titan) and the Func F30.R. Although not nearly as big as giant pads like the SteelPad QcK+, the QPAD|CT might still be a little bit on the large side for gamers that use higher sensitivities and prefer a little more desk with their mousepad. One criticism we have about the size of the pad is that the shape of it is far more oblong of a rectangle than most of the other mosuepads we have tested. This could lead to problems for gamers that use low sensitivity, as the mouse can fairly easily slip off the top or bottom of the surface. Aesthetically, this mouse ranks pretty high. The design is a 3D view of an embossed “Q”, and as noted before, the image quality is superb. However, we would have liked to try the black CT instead of the white one, because the white one shows dirt. It doesn’t just show a little bit of dirt either; the lower part of the pad has become significantly discolored in the 2 weeks that we have been using it. Furthermore, we are not too sure how well the pad would fit in to a modern desk setup with a very clean, dark, minimalistic style. This mousepad has considerably more ‘flare’ to it than pads with a more simple design, like the QcK+. However, this only applies to the white version of the pad. The product comes packaged rolled up in a tube and includes QPAD Glidz mouse skates.

Pros
+ Coated surface
+ Large, but not too large
+ Very well made
+ Includes Glidz mouse skates
+ Nice design

Cons
- Scarcely available in the USA
-White model shows dirt easily

Rating
9.0 out of 10