Razer Mantis Control
Over this blog and the next one, I will be reviewing two products by Razer, both of them designed to make your mousing input into the computer as perfect as posible.
Today, I am looking at the Razer Mantis Control mousepad, and I will go into the reasons why I chose this pad over the Xtrac Ripper XL, Everglide Titan MonsterMat and the SteelPad Qck+.
The first thing I should point out, is that there are two versions of the Razer Mantis. The Control (which I have here) and the Speed. The difference Razer makes between them is that the Control is for low sensitivity players because of its high friction (more control) and the speed is for high sensitivity players because of its low friction (able to move mouse easier).
Now before we even start. The Cotrol has les friction than the Speed, this is because the mouse makes less contact with the surface designed to be “rough” to give more friction. So just keep this in mind.
The first thing you notice about this mousepad when you get it, is the packaging it comes in. It comes in a nice plastic tube which you can use to transport it to LANs with (i use it for this as well). The tube looks like an oversides tennis ball package, and has the Razer logo plastered over it, with the version of the pad under the razer banner.
Now I will let you know, when I got this pad, I was at the eGames expo in Melbourne, and I figured, what better time to test it than strait away. So me and my friends who I was with went over to the Quake4 competition stand, and after a quick talk with the friendly chap running the stand, let me play using my new pad. Luckly the systems there were basicly my home setup, that being a Microsoft Comfort 2000 keyboard, Microsoft WheelMouse Optical 1.1 (this was the A version tho), and a lovly crisp 19″ CRT monitor.
So all ready for some fragging? Nope.
Apon taking the pad out of the tube, I relised it was not going to fit on the desk. Atleast not with the keyboard next to it. You see, this mousepad is big. 444mm accross and 355mm deep to be exact. So I had to addopt the “russian style” of Quakeing, that is, keyboard on my lap, with monitor rotated 45*. This gave me enough room to fit the pad onto the desk.
So I set my sensitivity, and fov, and started palying. At first I was disapointed. The WMO1.1 wasn’t gliding over what-so-ever, infact it was catching the mouse and preventing me from moving it. I was concidering taking the pad back and asking for a Everglide insted. But then I had a brain wave: The mouse feet.
Quickly turning over the expo’s mouse prooved to me that Melbourne is a dirty city. Five minutes of cleaning and shirt polishing the mousefeet (so they were nice and shiny like mine at home), and OMG!
The Razer Mantis is a brilliant pad. The mouse had no issues gliding from one side to the other, and was able to read accuratly without skipping over the entire surface.
I was able to make large arm motions accross the pad quicker than on my old pad, due to the lower friction. BUT I was also able to stop the mouse on a dime due to the texture of the surface.
The thickness of the pad is also brilliant, its about 5mm thinner than those old small MarBig cloth and styrophome mousepads that people used to once buy, so there is plenty of cusioning there for your arm. But, suprisingly, the mouse doesn’t sink onto the pad when using it. The honeycomb base really is quite extrodanary. I am yet to find someone who doens’t like the feel of this pad.
Now for the complaints. As with everything “perfect” there are flaws. And these are really minor.
The honeycomb construction of this pad. The edges “bump” up after a week, and can start to burn your forarm unless you have this pad right at the edge of your desk (this is experience with all thick pads tho).
The pattern. Ok, for a pad designed for low sensitivity players, why do we have such a small detailed area in the centre? The speed is designed for high sensitivity, and the pattern covers the whole pad, not just the centre!
I have to keep it clean, I mean, seirously, why can’t it put itself in the washing machine! Why doens’t it stop me spilling crumbs onto it!
Okay, okay, those were really small issues. I’m finding it hard to faulter the pad here.
I should also point out, that this mousepad is probably the best pad for those who wish to use a laser mouse. This is mainly due to the way laser mice work. That is, in a lazer mouse, the mosue isn’t taking photos of the surface, its comparing the difference digitaly, kind of like reading a CD in your computer. This is generaly why we see laser mice getting horrible negetive acceleration, and not tracking on that many surfaces, and the obvious “skipping”.
However, I can conferm that this pad will suport a laser mouse upto around 20cm for a 360* turn. Anything above that and you get skipping. Craig, before you jump in here and say “but we used a G5 at the lan and you couldn’t make it skip”, that was because I had the sensitivity at 18cm for a 360* turn. Without drivers, I couldn’t get the G5 down to my sensitivity.
But, just to conferm. Laser mice “do” work on this pad.
pros:
-Large size
-low friction
nice packaging
cons:
-requires cleaning
-mgiht make you be accused of cheating online
All up I give the razer a 8.5/10
Cost: AU$29-AU$39
At the start I said I’d explain why I didn’t go those other pads. Here are the reaosns: the Xtrac Ripper was too thin and wears down within a month losing its smoothness. This is the same problem with the Qck+, BUT the Qck+ also is THINNER, and only an extra 50mm deeper (that is 440mm x 400mm). And the Everglide is the EXACT SAME surface as the Razer Speed (they both use the same technology and fabrication plant), except it weighs in at $15 dearer.