Most mouse pads are composed of two different types of material.

One option is the cloth based and the other is the plastic based. If you have used both of these, you will probably notice the distinct difference that each one has on your movements with the mouse. If you give your mouse a stern flick of the finger on a cloth mouse pad it will stop very quickly and will slightly jump off of the pad ever so slightly. This can cause you to lose a bit of control.

If, on the other hand, this is performed on a plastic mouse pad the mouse will slide for a ways before coming to a stop. This impairs your ability to stop in the proper position with your mouse.

The Icemat found the perfect medium between quick stopping ability and keeping the mouse firmly planted on the pad. If you flick the mouse it will stop quickly and will not raise itself from off of the pad. The difference may be minimal but for the hardcore FPS gamer even a millisecond can mean death.

I took the pad to a small local LAN party to get the impressions of a few of the gamers there. Each used that pad for about 15 minutes through rounds of Quake 3 and UT2003. Each of them gave me very positive feedback and I got a few offers to purchase that pad from me, which speaks well of its quality. Some comments included:

"Gotta love getting headshots with this thing"
"Where can I buy one of these?"

Optical mice without a doubt gain less from this pad because they lack the need to grip onto the ball. Even so, you will notice a improvement based on the excellent way that it glides over the pad.

Ball mice on the other hand gain an immense amount of accuracy from this pad over their plastic or cloth counterparts. The mouse will not only glide over the surface more smoothly but the ball itself will stop at the exact moment that the mouse stops. I found it easier to target small objects in Unreal Tournament from far away and I also found myself being able to do 360's in order to face the enemy faster than before.

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