Rude Gameware RUDE-220 Fierce Ultra-Slick Steel Mouse Surface

I purchased this mouse board to replace my Rocket Fish Aluminum dual sided mouse board. I do NOT use this for gaming, it's used for precision mouse function of Design/3D building programs. The Rocket Fish surface coating was becoming worn smooth from several years of use with a Logitech M705 Laser Mouse (my mouse of choice). I'm not one for change, so if I find something I like that works well, I stick with it and re-purchase another one when it's time. I was impressed by the ad presentation and claims of the RUDE-220 so I tried one.Upon receiving the RUDE-220, I couldn't help but notice that the rugged packaging was very well designed with considerable thought, very professional. After opening the package, I discovered that the 'FREE! Teflon Mouse Skates' were missing. Missing Teflon mouse strips aside, I still couldn't wait to try this thing out. The first thing I did was to wipe down the new board with some LCD screen/lens cleaner to remove any residue from the surface.The board is very nicely constructed with a fully bonded, non-skid rubber back over the entire area, not just 4 rubber feet as with similar boards. The mouse surface is completely bonded to the metal core which provides for extreme durability. Noticing that the metal core has been fabricated with radiused edges, gives a nice finished appearance with no sharp edges. I also discovered that this particular board is 'crowned' (curved/bowed) top to bottom, which means that the board does not sit perfectly flat on my desk, with a slight gap on the bottom. Because this 'crown' is so slight, performance of the board should not be affected.After taking the Logitech M705 mouse for a test drive on the new mouse board, I was very disappointed. There was no smooth mouse movement on the 'super slick' surface' as I expected. In fact, I experienced a heavy drag with the mouse on this board. The board's surface feels quite coarse and grainy to the touch, not at all like the 'super slick' surface' that is claimed by the product hype. Based on 35 years plus in the computer field, I feel the performance of this product has left me asking this puzzling question: Exactly what is it that makes this mouse board so special?In conclusion: It's very possible that performance could be enhanced by the 'Teflon Mouse Skates' that were omitted from my package. However, until I can verify this with the proper Teflon strips provided by Rude Gameware (seller), it is only a possible solution at best. Until then, I may be breaking out my old Rocket Fish mouse board, which has a much smoother and slicker surface.UPDATE 12/21/14: I have continued to use the board since posting my review and have found that the mouse surface seems to be getting smoother with use. Although I'm somewhat skeptical about thesurface improvement in such a short period of time, it is now far better than when I first posted results, which was yesterday 12/20/14.I will post further updates on surface performance as necessary.UPDATE 1/2/15: The tracking surface of this board has improved greatly and is now the accurate and smooth surface that I expected it to be. I'm still puzzled as to why the 'break in time' was required to 'smooth out the wrinkles'.Mel

EDIT EDIT EDIT 10-6-2010 Well, I no longer use this muse pad. I went back to my UHMW plastic one. It is just too hard to keep this mouse pad clean and the mouse gunks up. I have knocked a star off of the review to reflect that.Great mouse pad! 10 inch by 12 inch surface. About an 1/8 inch thick. Solid as a rock. Bottom is completely slip proof. Top Teflon surface is the second best mousing surface I have used ( and I have tried a lot of them!). The included Teflon tape for the mice feet is not worth putting on if your mouse has the normal black slippery plastic like my Logitech mouse has. Expensive for mouse pad but no regrets. It will last FOREVER.I am going to use this as my main mouse pad for a couple of reasons. One is that I can really fine tune the mouse pointer on screen with this pad. Donno why this is better than my old UHMW plastic pad at this, but it is. So for precise moving and slick surface, this is the pad to get.Two things to note (half a star off!). This mouse pad WILL let gunk form under the feet of the mouse after a couple of days of mousing so keep some wet wipes around (I put mine in Ziploc). Clean the surface of the pad at the same time even though I have not seen ANY sign of the surface getting dirty. The Teflon tape also will gunk so that is why I took it off. Did not make much difference anyways as this is one SLICK surface.The other point is that, this pad is the SECOND slipperiest pad I have used. UHMW plastic stock 12 inch by 12 inch by 1/4 to 3/8 inch. It is THE most slick surface around and the mouse will not get gunk under the feet. The plastic does need to be cleaned as it will start to gunk after a while. It easier by far to clean this Teflon pad than the plastic sheet so a wash in that respect.

I purchased this after getting a new Death Adder. I wanted a quality item that could go along with the mouse. The Death Adder has a very high DPI, so you start to notice problems with the surface you use. If you move the mouse gently over an uneven surface, the mouse will move in fits and starts, and the cursor will jump around without much precision. If you move the mouse over a surface that is not slick, the mouse might not move in fits and starts, but it will take greater force to move.Before receiving this product I crafted a makeshift mousepad from some junk I had laying around. This was just to get me by until I received the product. To my surprise, I would later discover the product I purchased performed much, much worse than my homemade version. The difference is very tangible. The product's surface was harder to slide across. The product produced a much louder sound as the mouse slid across it. Worst of all, there were occasional "bad spots" that would cause the cursor to jump around unpredictably, rendering the mousepad useless.So if you're seriously thinking about getting this mousepad, here's a recipe for a better one! You'll need:* one plate of glass, 2mm thick or less* one roll of ScotchBlue Painter's Tape* one roll of double stick tapeCoat one side of the glass plate with your roll of blue painter's tape. This will be the "bottom" of the mousepad. Make sure no spot on the bottom is left uncovered. Leave the "top" side uncoated. Place some double stick tape on bottom side and stick the mousepad to whatever desk you want to work with. You now have a mousepad that costs less, provides a lower coefficient of friction, and has a surface with much greater consistency. Your mouse pad is Pareto superior to this one.