Artisan mousepad review

I've been very much into mousepads ever since I know of Artisan
Thought I'd share my impressions and opinions on some of the Artisan mousepads that I own.

Artisan_2012_review-by-tubby.pdf

It's quite lengthy so it there will be a fair bit to load
Feel free to post questions or critiques and suggestions

After reading HaiiYaa's post, I re-evaluated my comfort rank and feel the need to edit the chart. So I ended up splitting 'surface comfort' to 2 separate columns, 'glide comfort' and 'texture feel'. Thought the previous chart wasn't exactly fair, since I am partial to Hayate's glide feel, but not so much on the texture feel, as there are several others that are more comfortable to touch.
Edited by tubbby - 10/30/12 at 7:43pm

Thanks a bunch and another thanks for the +rep, end0rphine!
I miss Sydney... I spent 1/3 of my life there
Hiya, HaiiYaa
Thanks for the kind words. Honored
Even though I really liked my first Artisan pad (Shiden), I was hesitant on spending on a $50+ mousepad (excluding the $30ish shipping). It was actually your review that pushed me into getting the Hayate. So thank you

In regards to the Hien, I myself actually prefer fast surface (hence choosing Shiden as my first Artisan pad). And when I first received the Hien, I didn't quite like it. It felt too sluggish after moving from the Shiden and Hayate. But it was its surface that made the Hien grew on me.
But again, its a preference thing And my scoring is on a ranking basis. Since I don't quite like the others as much, the Hien kinda placed itself at the spot where it currently is
Not scratchy is a really good way of putting it. Very textured but its texture has a rounded "tip", hence the absence of scratchiness
I think I'll be putting that in the review if I have enough space
And while at it, I'll put my nick somewhere. Thanks for the reminder

Sorry if my method of testing confuses you. I was really thinking on elaborating that section, but since its most likely sensor-related, I thought I'd just skip it to save some space

The numbers stated in the review is the total lift off distance. Adding another 1/2 CD after that height caused some delay before the sensor starts to pick up the surface and starts tracking again. This keeps on occurring until about 3-4 CDs.
I'm not sure if it happens only on PTE sensors or just the RAT, but I somehow get higher LODs if the increase is gradual.
For example, I can start moving my RAT back and forth on the pad's surface, and start to lift the mouse very slowly while still moving it side to side. The sensor could always track even when the lift height is over 5mm high!
But if I move the mouse around on the surface first, then lift it, say to about 3mm high in one go, it wouldn't track at all.
I'm not sure if this is something common and have been previously discussed before, but I don't remember ever reading about it before and also my friend couldn't seem to reproduce this with his IME.

But anyway, I chose to ignore this, because on a daily basis and even more so when gaming, one would not lift their mouse this slow, nor would anyone hover their mouse for this long a duration
I hope someone with a RAT or any other mice with PTE sensor could clarify this though.
And yes, sadly, I don't own a DA

Thanks for bringing this up cos I am actually looking forward to hear anything that could enlighten me about this issue