Hearty thanks go out to the wonderful people at Icemat.com and Soft Trading for sending me this lovely Black Icemat all the way from Denmark.

The perfect mousing surface is not something that most people will ever experience in their lifetime. Usually the equivalent of a dirty rag is used to help control one of the most vital extensions to a gamer's life. Up until I received the Icemat, I had been that sad sorry gamer. Let's see if the Icemat can become the holy grail of mousing surfaces or just a hard dirty rag.

The concept of producing a mouse pad out of glass is not something that you come across every day. Usually it would be ignored because of the obvious problems that it could cause with the incredibly popular optical mouse.

The Icemat has overcome this problem and has been certified for use with the following optical mice:

Microsoft:
- Wireless Intellimouse® Explorer
- Intellimouse® Explorer 3.0
- Optical Mouse Blue
- Optical Mouse Blue, wireless
Logitech:
- MX 300
- MX 500
- MX 700

The Icemat may very well work with other mice but no official tests have been performed. It worked well on my Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical USB.

Unexpected Delivery

I rather unexpected received this package one evening and for the life of me couldn't remember what it was. After a few head scratches I ripped open the packaging and the room was filled with Ooooohh's and Aaaaahh's.

The Icemat itself was packed to survive even the most abusive courier with the item being sandwiched between two thick pieces of Styrofoam.

Front View

My first impression of the Icemat as it emerged from its square cocoon was a simple "wow". Various other comments from the peanut gallery were similar as well with a few mentions of "cool" or "interesting". It is really quite the beautiful piece of work.

Rear View

The Black Icemat is made up of a plate of glass of similar thickness to a typical window with the official thickness being 6.2mm. On the back is a metallic surface that gives it its flat black colour. Also mounted on the back are 6 polyurethane feet to prevent the Icemat from sliding during those frantic gaming sessions.

The dimensions of the Icemat are larger than your typical mouse pad. Measuring a hefty 250x210mm, it gives you plenty of space that will keep those with even the lowest sensitivity from having to readjust the mouse.

The www.Icemat.com logo is printed nicely in the corner of the pad and because of the surface looks almost slightly out of phase with its surroundings.

Saving the most important for last, the surface of the Icemat is extremely fine and smooth but you can just barely see and feel the minute bumps on the surface. To describe it more accurately:

If you have ever found a piece of glass that has washed up on shore at a beach you will know the feeling. Incredibly smooth and beautiful yet it has the wonderful ability to prevent your hand from slipping.

The surface also tends to take on a decent amount of static cling. I found during my testing that it held onto a good amount of dust. It could be easily brushed off and the cling can only help the mouse ball maintain its grip.

The Icemat also came shipped with a strip of Teflon tape and a small information card. The card states, "To improve accuracy, please apply the enclosed Padsurfers." These Padsurfers are specially designed to allow the mouse to slide more smoothly over the surface of the mouse pad when attached to the mouse feet. Unfortunately the amount that they give you is rather minimal and will run out after about 4 mice. Without the Padsurfers you may find that the mouse pad gives off a distracting scratching noise.

Performance