At the office I just moved into, there are no mousepads. The mice seem to operate just fine, or rather, as poorly as they did in my old office that did use mousepads. The innards seem to get just as dirty.
So, was the proliferation of mousepads simply based on a ploy by the neoprene industry to boost sales, or has there been a redesign in mice recently? I’m talking about the regular tailed mice with the rubber ball in 'em, not the optical, wireless ones.
A mousepad is supposed to provide a surface that allows the mouse to slide over it easily, and still be grippy enough to rotate the mouseball smoothly. If the desktop surface does this on its own, all well and good.
Aside from providing a smooth surface for the mouse ball (in graphics work, the mouse surface makes a huge difference), the pad also helps protect the surface of the desk from getting all scratched and dirty.
I know you excluded optical mice, but on certain surfaces optical mice just plain don’t work well without a pad.
Minor hijack - what is the optimal surface for an optical mouse? Are there any (good) mousepads made especially for such devices?
DarrenS, all an optical mouse really needs is a smooth non-reflective texture. All mouse pads have this, and should work equally well.
I got my first optical mouse a few months ago, and it just felt WRONG not to have a pad. I just tried it without, and I didn’t notice any difference. But it left like eating dinner directly off the table or something.
Let me ammend my last post. The texture needs to be visible, not tactile. It just happens that the texture mousepads have for ball traction works very well for optical.
There is a minimum scale for the texture though. Plain printer paper will work, inkjet plotter paper (smoother) will not.
i have my computer set up so i can set in my recliner and use it. i find the arm of my chair works great for my optical mouse ymmv of course.
Yummy?
hmmm…
in deed…
my particular mouse works cleaner withOUT a “pad”…
(er…CRASH—Pad?)
However, I did see an advertisement for a continual “self-cleaning”
mouse—pad" (?) in a whole earthe store. For around $20.
Gave me pause, and still does.
Every other day - my mouse—pad gathers storm,
but if I simply use the desk—top, it’s cleaner!
So…I’m doomed to the next advise…
What Say The Expertisimos?!
Hail§!
There are some exceptions. I’ve seen a couple that didn’t work at all with optical mice - both had shiny surfaces and no visible texture, though they had enough friction for a regular mouse.
scr4, sorry, should have been less absolute in my post.
All mouse pads that I have personally seen would work. Curious, where did you see these?
For an example of a mousepad built specifically for Optical mice, see the Everglide Giganta Optical Smoke. Realistically, an Optical mouse probably won’t benefit from the glitter they embed in the pad as the texture is more than enough for the mouse to track, but the main selling point of Everglide pads is their reduced friction, designed for extremely accurate mouse movement. Many of the gamers I know have either an Everglide or Ratpadz mousepad.