Long term Review: Steel Series Steel Pad

STEEL PAD Steel Series Mouse pad

The Perfect Mouse Pad

Time tested : 19 years.

 

Let me start by asking a rhetorical question? How do you know when a product is perfect?

The answer is:

When you forget about it, you then use it every single day for hours on end over the space of years and never even think of questioning if it will fail, refuse to start or wear out..

To this then, I give you the “Perfect Mouse Pad”.

I have been a PC Gamer for some time.. the first PC games back that I played were keyboard only.. (Commodore PET 40! YAY go me!). Mice were not in common use at that time. Over the years I have seen many products come and go, mice with –Balls- being one of them.. to be replaced by laser mice. The laser mouse in simple fashion emits a light beam to a surface sitting underneath that then is reflected back to the mouse which in turn reads that information to tell the mouse if you are moving the mouse up, down, or across the surface. The surface upon which the mouse is placed is of upmost importance, if the light being sent by the mouse is misdirected by the surface then the mouse may move in a direction on screen that does not correspond to the actual movement your hands make.

As you know all too well, as ‘Gamers’ we know the pain of missing a head-shot just at the last second, so a real-time accurate response from the mouse pad is of just as much importance as the mouse you are using on it. Oh and to those wondering I have a Razer Chroma mouse in the drawer that I use for special occasions, this cheapo mouse in the picture has lived through more beer soaked parties than most students have seen by their last day of University.

I originally bought the Steel Pad Steel Series Mouse Pad back in the year 2001 *ish* and it was an excellent pad, it even came in a grey steel tin and with its own cleaning cloth.. In 2003 I opened a dedicated PC gaming cyber café and by some act of God somewhere, through the post came 40 Steel Series pads sponsored by Intel promoting their upcoming Pentium 4.. (I think it was when I signed the shop for the Esports league..) Anyway.. I put 40 of the mouse pads out for my loyal customers to use.. the very same night as I was closing I had 32 left!..  the thieving little bas****s.. had just stolen 8!  so, one expensive (self installed) camera security system later and the mouse pads stopped walking away.

In the time I had my shop the clients would hammer and beat those pads… HARD and I don’t mean while playing hard, I meant if they didn’t like the other kid they would hammer it over the back of the other kids heads.. then, as if nothing had happened, put it back on the desk and start using them again.. so these pads took a beating (and often were instrumental in giving those very said beatings) and over the years that the shop remained open they were in constant use. When I closed my shop (yay for the 2008 Financial crisis) I took one home and still use it to this day. 11 Years later.

When DJ Anarkros says he does long term reviews you had better believe it!

If you look very carefully, written in black marker across the top of the pad you might be just able to make out the word “Playonet”.. the name of my gaming café..  my way of stopping said clients from stealing them!

I have tried and have owned and used many many many x 1000 mouse pads.. and surfaces, each to their own but I am reviewing the one I like and you may have your own opinion but in my opinion cloth pads suck.. over time the ends fray and roll up. Bits of crisps or some other small biscuit like textures become embedded into the surface like spots on a teenager and god forbid you spill red wine on them.. or beer.. if you think trying to get pints of arterial blood out of the headliner of a car is hard you should try removing wine stains off a cloth mouse pad.. err. Don’t ask about the headliner thing.. it was just the once.. and I think his head grew back on… eventually.. but he never stole another mouse pad again!

I have under my desk a brand new ‘never been’ used Mouse pad supplied by Alienware when I bought one of their pc’s.. it is still here, all shiny in its plastic wrap.. it is as cheap and just as nasty as that dodgy take away you had last year that has left you nervous about 2 day old Curried Egg filled Chop Suey Rolls ever since.

In Summary then :-

The Steel Pad Mouse pad has :-

1. Never let me down
2. Never forced me to register so I can download drivers (Nvidia, Razer HELLO????)
3. Never signed me up to dating sites without my consent
4. Never forced me to upgrade just so that I can still use it every year
5. Never stolen my beer
6. Never hidden a Trojan, secret backdoor exploit or Virus
7. Not shown any signs of wearing out, I think that long after I am dead and buried someone somewhere will still try and steal it.

Now the one downside of this mouse pad is :-

I don’t think it is biodegradable, in fact I think when the world does end, this will be the only thing left..  cavemen beating eachother to death over the last drop of water using my mousepad! ………..But.. on the flipside, this Mouse Pad has been in use for 18 years and I strongly suspect that it will out be in use for another 18 years and out live me.

So there you have it, why in my opion, it is the “perfect Mouse Pad”

DJ Anarkros

January 2020