X-Trac Mouse Pad

Supplied by: PCX Mods
Price: $7

by Brian Tiller  8/2/2002

When Christopher from PCX Mods first approached me to do this review, I was a little surprised, it is a mouse pad, what’s the big deal about a mouse pad right?  But, I agreed anyway out of curiosity more than anything else. 

About a week later, I got the pad in the mail.  When I first opened the package, I have to say that I was a little disappointed.  I guess I was expecting something similar to the Ratpadz that Dean uses.  The X-trac Optical Mouse Pad is 200mm by 203mm in size with a cloth mousing surface.  Contrary to what I initially thought, it is not smooth.  When you run your hand across the surface, you can almost feel the random dot configuration that PCX Mods has employed in order to increase accuracy in mousing. 

Since I am not really a gamer, the first thing I did when I decided to review this pad was to begin playing Quake 3 more often in an attempt to become more proficient, so the first test I did was to play several different games with 3 different pads.  The first one I used my original pad, which I had purchased over 3 years ago from a local computer store.  Next, I used the X-Trac pad.  Even an amateur gamer such as myself could notice a significant difference in the two pads.  The X-Trac had much smoother movement with faster reaction time on the game.  I was able to last a lot longer and fragged quite a few more opponents than before.  The final pad I used was Dean’s Ratpadz.  As expected, the Ratpadz performed better than either my one-dollar pad or the X-Trac.  I assume this is due to the smoothness of the pad surface allowing the user to slide the mouse much faster.  It is also much bigger than the others allowing for more movement space.

My second test was in graphics.  I am a wanna be web designer so this is where I really wanted performance.  Once again, I used all three pads as a comparison to one another.  This time the X-trac beat both my old pad AND the RatPadz, hands down.  The accuracy in Photoshop was amazing. If you have ever used Photoshop then you understand how accurate you need to be, especially with some of the smaller graphics.  I was really impressed with the X-Trac.  I have thrown away my old pad since using the X-trac in Photoshop.

Conclusion:

The X-Trac Optical Mouse Pad is an exceptional mousing surface.  While not as good as the industry standard RatPadz in gaming, it does provide better than average performance.  Just too bad it isn't bigger.  Where the X-Trac really makes its bones is in graphic design.  The random dot configuration combined with the rougher surface greatly increase accuracy even above that of the RatPadz.  I would definitely recommend this for graphics designers and webmasters as a must have item.

 

HOME