optical hard mouse pad with neoprene back

[mike1127]

I don't know what forum for a mouse pad question: mods can move this if necessary.

I had two fine mouse pads... a 3M Precision with built-in wrist rest, and a round pad that doesn't have a brand listed. What I liked was that they were very smooth-gliding, with hard plastic surfaces. The round pad had a neoprene back, and the 3M precision also has some kind of rubber back.

The problems are that the Precision pad wrist rest eventually failed and split open, after many many years, and the round neoprene/hard plastic pad was left in my car and warped.

I bought a replacement 3M Precision pad and it's junk. It won't lie flat.. the edges curl up. Some kind of manufacturing problem I guess. A lot of reviewers on Amazon are complaining about this. Also the surface is not smooth gliding. I'm not sure if it got dirty or what, but cleaning it produces no change.

I can't replace the round neoprene pad because I don't remember where I got it, and it doesn't have a brand listed.

So I've tried searching the internet for alternatives... the problem is that search results for mouse pads are totally swamped by two categories (1) fabric pads with cute pictures, (2) gaming pads, usually metal or other totally hard (no rubber back) and much too large. I need a smaller pad, like 8" on a side. I simply cannot figure out how to search with any other keywords to return another result.

Oh, the 3M precision pad comes up in all these results too, but I'm afraid to buy it if it's still junk.

Any ideas?

Mike

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

I haven't used any type of mouse mat or pad with an optical mouse for at least a decade, neither has my wife or daughter. Not required, waste of money since ball mice became obsolete.

Mouse works perfectly well and accurately on my office wood-grain melamine desk top, wife & daughter use theirs on the cotton tablecloth in the dining room.

Try it without a mouse mat, you might be surprised.

Edit: Thanks for giving us mods permission to move your post - - lol -

 

[mike1127]

I haven't used any type of mouse mat or pad with an optical mouse for at least a decade, neither has my wife or daughter. Not required, waste of money since ball mice became obsolete.

Mouse works perfectly well and accurately on my office wood-grain melamine desk top, wife & daughter use theirs on the cotton tablecloth in the dining room.

Try it without a mouse mat, you might be surprised.

I do it all the time, but (1) no ordinary surface has the smooth-gliding, precision feel of the surfaces like the 3M (and variations on that idea) which is important for my work, and (2) I use a mouse with my laptop in locations that are dirty.

Also I don't like the thumping sound and vibrations that a mouse makes when picking it up and setting it down on a table. When my partner tries to sleep in the same room as me, she hates it.