When you’re looking at mouse pads you really only have to consider a few things. Do you want a hard or soft mouse pad? How big does it need to be? Thickness? Would you like a design on it? Let’s be honest: the mouse pad market is a little hard to be innovative in. Ether it’s a good pad or it’s not. Most of the manufactures have resorted to designing pads with designs from popular movies and video games. It’s very rare that we see anything come along with a new design that truly innovates in the mouse pad market. XFX’s new mouse pad the WarPAD may do just that. Its edgeless design is very intriguing, but is it just a gimmick? There’s only one way to find out.
Product Name: XFX WarPAD
Review Sample Provided by: XFX
Review by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Specifications
Height: |
0.236 in (6 mm) |
Width: |
13.98 in (355 mm) |
Length: |
16.97 in (431 mm) |
Max Clap Height: |
2 in (50 mm) |
Min. Clap Height: |
0.5 in (13 mm) |
Materials: |
Styrene Butadiene Rubber |
Packaging
XFX ships the WarPAD in a design that is meant to be hung from a peg hook only. Most mouse pads are similar other than a few of the more expensive model that have come in collectable tins. This time around though, most of the pad is accessible with only the middle section hidden behind the packaging. The packaging itself has a design across the front that reminds me of a bank vault. Around back there are a few photos of the pad in use including photos from different angles showing how it clamps to your desk. They have also include a short specifications listing for anyone who needs to know exactly how large the pad is before getting it home.
Performance
First let’s take a look at the WarPAD’s construction. The pad itself is a whopping 6mm’s thick and just under 17x14 inches in size. Make no mistakes this is a very large mouse pad. The pad itself it made out of two layers of Styrene Butadiene Rubber to get the thickness needed. The top uses a Smooth Synthetic APF featuring microfiber. When looking at the pad these materials feel JUST like traditional mouse pads, not really like what we have come to expect from some of the other manufactures. The padding is very flexible, unlike some of the pressed pads we have reviewed recently. In the top right corner WarPAD by XFX is screen printed in white. The bottom of the pad has a “T” shape design stamped into it for added grip. Honestly the pad itself doesn’t feel any different than any other cheap mouse pad, I feel like XFX should take a look at a few of the soft pads from their competitors. Where it does stand out is the “edgeless support system”. A plastic clamp built into the end of the pad secures it to your desk and gives the pad a smooth arch to rest on with no sharp edges to hurt your wrist and arm.
Before judging the performance of the WarPAD we had to get it installed and ready to go. Here in the office we have become a big fan of 6 foot white plastic fold up tables. They allow for us to change our configuration around when needed and give lots of space for our test benches, photography, and building PC’s. One of the downsides to the tables is their thickness. When the WarPAD came in I was a little concerned that it might not fit our tables considering there added thickness compared to a normal desk. To my surprise the WarPAD clamped right onto it without any issues. The WarPAD supports tables up to two inches thick, very impressive!
With everything setup and secured I went on to run through all of our standard tests using a few different mice including a Razer Deathadder, Steel Series Sensei, and a Razer Imperator to check to see how well this mouse works with the popular Phillips Twin Eye sensor. Our tests consist of working in Photoshop for detail testing and in game testing.
The first thing I noticed with the WarPAD was that the pad didn’t actually have the weight to hold down the top corners when I first sat it down. Being a thick pad I thought this was a little odd, but I think with the built-in clip XFX was avoiding the use of heavier rubbers to prevent it from weighing too much overall. Playing around in Photoshop and then in-game I found the pad to track great and was smooth like you would expect from a soft mouse pad. I normally prefer a hard mouse pad because of the quickness but I could get used to the WarPAD. The only issue I experienced with the WarPAD as far as tracking was with the Phillips Twin Eye. As expected the softness of the WarPAD accented the Z-Axis tracking issues. When you push down to click the mouse would move slickly because of the softness of the pad. This has nothing to do with the WarPAD itself; it’s just an issue with all Twin Eye mice on soft mouse pads. Beyond that issue I had no issues. The size of the pad was more than large enough for my gameplay style. I wouldn’t mind hanging a pad that is smaller in fact.
The edgeless design was a relief from the second I started using the WarPAD all the way though all of our testing. My normal mouse pad puts a red line right across my arm over and over as I game causing a little discomfort. Although our tables have rounded edges, some desks do not. The WarPAD will prevent both mouse pads and desks from causing that discomfort. This is one of those situations where you may have even become so accustomed to it that you don’t notice that its uncomfortable until you have the WarPAD on your desk. Once you feel what it should feel like, it’s hard to go back.
Overall
The WarPAD wasn’t without it's flaws. But considering this is XFX’s first product in the mouse pad market I am very impressed. They managed to bring out a mouse pad that innovates in a market that rarely has new designs. I hope they continue on and implement a few changes in the WarPAD including a denser rubber and designs of various sizes. Maybe they can figure out a way to integrate a hard mouse pad! Either way I think this is a perfect choice for someone who is looking to avoid the discomfort of a sharp edge on your mouse pad or desk or if you struggle with your mouse pad moving around. The WarPAD from XFX is going to stay put and be one of the most comfortable gaming experiences you will ever have. Once you try it out I bet you won’t go back.