Rat Padz

The Pad for the Hardcore

At first glance, this mouse pad has one noticeable feature; it is enormous. There is enough room to park, and possibly use, three mice. The extra space didn't do much for me; I have a mouse sensitivity that allows my cursor to traverse the entire screen with one flick of the mouse. This is either a result of the acute laziness to move my arm, or need for total screen accessibility. I think I would probably be just as happy using a mouse pad that is a 3 x 3 inch square. For those of you that use low sensitivities, the pad will provide abundant space for various mouse maneuvers.

Little Paws

What really amazed me was the number of rubber feet used to keep this monster in place. Kyle must have gone crazy with these badboys. What was even more amazing was the intelligent placement. The Ratpad had a total of nine feet to keep it in place. Five of them are placed right at the front of the pad. Three more are placed in the back, with the last one almost in the center of the pad.

It's time for a little physics lesson boys and girls. If one applies a force perpendicular to an object, nothing happens. This would be like trying to move the pad forward by pressing down on it; it just isn't going to happen. However, if we apply a force to the pad that is parallel to the pad, we can move it. The parallel scenario never occurs when we use a mouse though. All the forces we apply occur at an angle above 0 degrees. And because the force we apply to the pad is not parallel, there are two force vectors generated. One vector pushes down, and the other pushes forward. The downward vector helps to keep the mouse pad in place by pushing down on the rubber feet. The designers took notice to this and placed many feet right at the front to take advantage of the free force they are getting. The forward vector will tend to move the pad, well, forward. The end result is a pad that is extremely hard to move.

Ratpadzzz

Gritty Ratz

Ooo la la the Curves

One rather nice feature is the lengthened curve at the bottom of the pad. This allows use of the entire pad at most any angle with relative comfort. While this makes no difference for foam pads or the Logitech PMS, it does with rigid plastic. The oversized entryway makes the entire pad more accessible.

The Ratpad is also smoother than the Everglide, as can be seen by the zoomed pictures. This creates a surface that creates less friction while moving the mouse. Although, it does provide sufficient traction without hindering movement. The Ratpad also had the least amount of traction in comparison to the other pads.

The Rat Like Nature

The only fault I found on the Ratpad is the unfinished siding. If you look at the Everglide the siding is smoothed to flatness where the texture area meets the edge. On the Ratpad, the textured side is raised slightly above the smooth surrounding border. In my particular mousing style I did not experience any trouble with this. It might irritate other users who tend to drag their hand across the pad though. This flaw will most likely be remedied in future versions.