Everglide Mousing Surface Review

Another new mousepad?

Thresh's comments in BLACK

Kenn's comments in BLUE

The "Everglide Mousing Surface" and gaming "Attack Pad"

Update: 11/25/98

Kenn:
We just spoke with David Welsh of Everglide fame, and he was kind enough to 1) answer all of the questions we had about the Mousing Surface, and 2) provide screenshots of the pad so we could post them up! You can jump directly to the new stuff right here.

Introduction

Thresh:
Mousepads are by far and away the most overlooked item on a computer system. Why is it that not even "Ultimate PC" articles include mouse pads? Keyboards and mice (and hence, mouse pads) are the most oft-used parts of a computer system. Yet for some strange reason, people still take a "live and let live" attitude towards their pads, putting up with whatever problems or inefficiencies a crappy pad may cause.

Kenn:
Most mousepads available are born of the same breed - fabric or plastic over foam rubber. A high quality pad will produce a smooth, precise roll, but most simply promote a good amount of slipping and sliding, as the mouse ball loses traction or contact with the surface of the pad. All fabric mousepads are horrible at keeping mice clean as well. As the mouse ball rolls over the pad, it picks up lint from the fabric, and all forms of dirt, grime, and body moisture, which soon collect on the rollers directly in contact with the ball.

Thresh:
Eventually, this collective goo begins to hamper mouse movement as well - there have been many times where I've used somebody else's mouse, only to feel a strange chunkiness while it rolled. It felt as if the ball had the same dull-clickiness as on the wheel of an Intellimouse or Mouseman Plus. When I dared to take out the ball and look at the rollers, I'd find the rollers engulfed in a gummy, brownish-black gunk - it was pretty sick. In a few extreme cases, the grime had been on the rollers for so long that after it was removed, the spring tension was so loose that the rollers would continue to spin even after the mouse was picked off the table.