Introduction
Ratpadz GS Review
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
The conventional mousepad has been the bane of regular computer users since the mid-80s. The surface often collected dust and absorbed dirt, causing grit to build up inside the mouse itself. This caused loss of traction and reduced accuracy. With GUI interfaces becoming more mainstream, usability problems caused by these mousepads were a major annoyance many of us lived with.
Since 1997, there has been a market for better mousing surfaces. It all started with the 3M™ Precise™ Mousing Surface. Though this solution was very popular amoung games and heavy computer users, it had a few design flaws:
- The surface was too small
- There was too much resistance
- The surface itself would curl-up over time
- The pad was a nuisance to clean
- Underside of the pad quickly collected dust, reducing its grip on the desk surface
This served to be the spawning pool of the premium mouse surfaces we see on the market today. These products were typically designed to overcome the flaws of the conventional mousepad and the 3M™ Precise™ Mouse Surface. They were easy to clean, sturdy, low-resistance, and gripped the table properly.
Though the original Ratpadz was one of the few premium mousepads to hit the market at the time, it enjoyed popularity amoung gamers and the computer enthusiast. We had a chance to ask the creator of the Ratpadz himself, Kyle Bennett, to better understand the evolution of this product and why it is so successful.