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A quick look at some Artisan Pads

1220 Views 14 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Dunan, 
C
After a somewhat disappointing experience with an Artisan Hein a while back, I decided to bite the bullet and try out a Shiden-Kai and a Raiden. The first good thing about this experience: Shipping took 5 days as opposed to the 2-weeks of my Hein order. Something of note as well, is that the Artisan 'English' site has been updated. They have ditched the awkward visual hexagon contraption that is intended to inform you of the mousepads feel, stopping power, texture..etc. The 'English' descriptions are only mildly more helpful, but it's progress nonetheless.

Shiden-Kai Mid: Easily the slickest pad I have ever used. Faster than Speed or Ladon by far. Tracking with my EC1 evo is much better as well. There is no initial motion drag, and there is no stopping power. Movement is effortless, though it is the furthest thing possible for someone that might like a little more control in their pad. I will tear out my laser mice and original EC1, IME3.0 over the next week or two and report back their tracking performance.

Raiden Mid: After putting the Shiden-Kai through some paces, I wanted to take a little look at the Raiden. It's slightly cheaper than the Shiden-Kai, but feels nearly or exactly as slick to me. Evo tracks just as well. I really can't tell any difference and the surface looks and feels the same to me. Is the Raiden just a Shiden-Kai without the glass coating?

Anyway, these pads are hands-down the fastest pads you can find. Unlike a Hein, the surface is smooth and feels similar to a Puretrak Talent so you shouldn't have any skin/pad drag/comfort issues. Like all Artisan pads, they come with obscure Kanji labeling on the sides. If you own multiples, it's probably a good idea to get them in different colors as over time you might forget which is which. I have also heard rumblings that the pad has neg accel issues at high speeds. I don't know how much stock to put into these, and I don't really hit those speeds ever. I have also heard claims that the glass comes out of the pad if rolled or just from use over time. This is a bit disconcerting and I would like to hear from others. Not that I have any intention of rolling the pad...I just don't want to be rubbing glass dust into my forearm and ham of palm over the next couple months.

At this point though, Shiden-Kai is easily replacing my GT-F Speed. It's much faster and has much better tracking, at least for my current mouse. Anyone else who owns either of these pads, if you could chime in and let me know about your experience concerning how these pads hold up over time, or what exactly the difference is between the Raiden and the Shiden-Kai, it would be appreciated. I also have a lot of mice, and can verify any other rumours you have heard concerning these pads if you would like to bring them up.
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M
but do you have good control over ur mouse if you are playing fps and what made you go shidenkai and not shiden
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C
Control is not very good. There is no tactile feedback and it's kinda like a slip and slide. I think it would take getting used to, but if you want something faster than a Speed that tracks better optical, I would recommend it. It's also soft and I don't see it eating up your skates, though it will take time before I can find out if the glass coating does infact wear them down. I went with the kai, as the Hein was very slow for me even though it was described as a 'fast' pad. I wanted to go with the fastest pad on their spectrum to see if there was infact a difference. The difference is huge. I would recommend it to GT-F speed players looking to try something new. It's way slicker and has better tracking. The tracking is a plus, the slickness might be over the top to some though. I have the MID version, I believe there is a soft and perhaps an xsoft which I would imagine has better stopping/control.
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raisinbun
Quote:
Originally Posted by maikon View Post

but do you have good control over ur mouse if you are playing fps and what made you go shidenkai and not shiden
Click to expand...
Shiden-kai gives you no control whatsoever (mine is the XSOFT version). - - - edit: I think it is just with Savu, which has some of the smoothest mouse feet - Control on this pad is OK with EC2 and Imperator

Raiden, on the other hand, is a bit less slick but has much better control. The texture also feels different to the wrist, the Raiden being a tad rougher.
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C
I've been playing around with the pads some more. Shiden-Kai is still the slickest pad I have the pleasure of using, but a Raiden would seem to be better. The Raiden doesn't track as well with an eVo, though. I thought that was weird. Both very slick pads though. Maybe a regular Shiden is the best of the bunch? It's definitely a niche pad, but the experience is pretty singular. Right now, im going crazy with pad swaps between Skai, Raiden, Speed. Speed and Raiden are pretty comparable on the tracking department (not the best), but Raiden has a better feel yet lacks the stopping of a Speed. For any mousephile though, they need to pick up a Shiden-Kai. You can't understand this thing until you use it. Whether or not it's the most functional pad on the market, it is the slickest and a pleasure to play with. If the Raiden had the tracking of the Shiden-Kai I would definitely recommend it, but it's optical tracking is pretty poor.

Edit: What I meant to elaborate was that a Raiden and GT-F Speed are on the same level. The Raiden does everything right that a Speed does wrong, and vice versa. Sweet pads, different, but the two definitely leave at a tie-breaker. A speed is definitely easier and cheaper to obtain. Shiden-kai has better tracking than either of those pads, it's also very slick...too slick in my opinion, but it feels fantastic. Hard padders eating up their skates with crappy plastic pads should look at this. There is nothing faster than this.
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M
Hey I was wondering if the SENSEI works for these mouse pads. Also I’m trying to choose between Shiden and Raiden, I have only ever used hard mouse pad and I just realized how fast the plastic gets sanded down by the mouse. So I’m giving cloth pads a try, which, one do you think is closer to hard pads? Personally I’m not giving cloth pads a try for control so it’s not an issue if the mouse pad doesn’t give feedback but I per say want something that’s faster than plastic. I’m leaning towards Raiden because Shiden is coated in glass which means that it might be able to be sanded down like the plastic?
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C
I don't know if the Sensei works well. I need to wait for another day off before I can do a ton of testing. I own a Naos 5000 and a g500 which both have the same sensor as the Sensei and perhaps we can glean performance with similar 9500 mouse.
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Skylit
All 9500 sensors aren't created to equal specification. Add in heavy variables such as chip/fw quality and expect dramatic performance shift.
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D
Hayate

Mousepad bliss
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M
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dunan View Post

Hayate

Mousepad bliss
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dust on hayate would affect ur mouse movement?
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Phos
Keep it clean maybe? I haven't run into anything and I've had mine for a while.
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P
Quote:
Originally Posted by maikon View Post

dust on hayate would affect ur mouse movement?
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Considering how an optical sensor works, no. That is if the dust does not dislodge and stick to the lens.
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D
maybe over time. i lay something over it to minimize the dust.
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J
Quote:
Originally Posted by maikon View Post

dust on hayate would affect ur mouse movement?
Click to expand...
I try to keep my Hayate clean but dust doesn't seem to affect tracking in my experience. The pad itself seems to be picky with the sensors used on it when it comes to tracking. The G9X worked very well with it. The Naos 3200 didn't and my current Deathadder 2013 tracks seems ok with it. I think Artisan has a compatibility chart on their website but its very incomplete so its not really useful.
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D
Quote:
Originally Posted by jologskyblues View Post

I try to keep my Hayate clean but dust doesn't seem to affect tracking in my experience. The pad itself seems to be picky with the sensors used on it when it comes to tracking. The G9X worked very well with it. The Naos 3200 didn't and my current Deathadder 2013 tracks seems ok with it. I think Artisan has a compatibility chart on their website but its very incomplete so its not really useful.
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my ikari laser seems to track very well with the hayate
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