When Fractions Count

Veteran FPS gamers know that the best FPS players have uncanny playing skills. However, it's axiomatic that in addition to talent and high dexterity, players also need a fast internet connection and blisteringly fast hardware. Even with all that, or perhaps because of it, success in virtual gunplay is often determined in fractions of a second.

Gamers often try to give themselves every advantage: copious amounts of RAM are always a solid investment, as is a robust video card and a high speed CPU. Once those are installed, many gamers will ironically suppress things like the graphical quality in those superior video cards and attempt to overclock their systems to eek out every hundredth of a second in speed advantage over their opponents.

With all this effort exerted in squeezing fractions of a second out of their hardware, it is no surprise that there are lower tech products on the market to assist players in their quest for the fastest trigger finger. One such company is QPad. Manufactured in Sweden, QPad has two products on the market that complement each other. The first is the QPad, which at first glance appears to be a simple mousepad. The second are Glidz pads, which are placed on the bottom of a mouse. The QPad is more than just a mundane mousepad, though, and it comes in two types: a soft pad 4mm thick, and a hardpad of 1.5mm thickness. I tested the soft pad.

Looks Can be Deceiving

Interestingly, the surface of the QPad is deceptive to the touch. Mounted on a rubber base, it's reasonably smooth, but the surface isn’t strikingly impressive. While at E3 I was given another mousepad by a gaming company with a cool decoration on it. That mousepad's surface feels silky to the touch and I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was fabricated of a microfiber of some kind. Based on touch alone I would have said the faster mousepad wasn’t the QPad, and I would have been wrong.

The QPad, which doesn't feel as friction free, is much quicker. The moment I placed my mouse on the QPad I could tell there was a qualitative difference manifested in less friction. The mouse moved with less effort and the difference compared to any other surface I have tested is noticeable. Another Wargamer staff member who was with me also tested the QPad and we both agreed: it works.

Now for the icing on the cake: Add to the QPad the other product, Glidz pads. The result is that my mouse moves almost without effort. I can't say quantitatively just how much of an improvement it is, but I can say that all of my future FPS gaming is going to be done with a QPad/Glidz combo. The only drawback I have found in placing the Glidz pads on my mouse is that the edges can catch on some surfaces.

This doesn’t apply to the QPad on a flat surface, but the other evening I was in the process of changing the sheets on my bed and happened to move my laptop to it for a quick look at my email. I noticed the Glidz pads kept catching on the uneven surface of the bare mattress. There is probably a workaround. If I had an exacto knife or similar tool I could trim the pads to match the oval surface of the original pads on my mouse. However, to be fair most FPS gamers aren’t going to be playing on a laptop and are likely to have a level playing surface. Nonetheless it’s worth noting that gamers accustomed to moving a cordless mouse across all surfaces (one Wargamer staff member who shall remain nameless uses his cat as a mousepad) may find the scope of surfaces more limited until the edges are trimmed from their Glidz pad.

The only other issue worth noting is that the Glidz pads I received had instructions only in Swedish, but to be fair, this stuff isn’t rocket science. The pictures on the instructions gave me a good hint: before placing the Glidz on my mouse, try cleaning it with something. The universal solvent in the PC world tends to be alcohol (rubbing; remember this is for cleaning, not drinking), which I used and appears to have been the correct choice.

Lastly, there was plenty of material provided inside the Glidz package. The photo provided shows two Glidz strips, the longer one is the original length, the shorter one is the amount I used to cover the four pads on my mouse. I have no idea how long the adhesive will last on it, but I suspect there is enough replacement material to keep my mouse moving smoothly for a long time.