[Avalar]

Hey guys. So it's here!

Pictures

Spoiler: Videos

I think I'll do a review later one once I've used it for a little bit. What I can say about it right now though, surprisingly, is that it's overall slower than my ACT LABS aluminum pad. I have a feeling that it's because the surface on the Frostpad is much finer, which you can see from the comparisons in the pictures I took. However, they claim that the pad will not wear; the same cannot be said for my aluminum pad, which has worn slightly on the side that I use it most. That hasn't changed the appearance of it physically, and in fact, it's actually made the surface even faster. So if you're looking for the fastest surface you can get, this isn't it. More on it later, though.

Edit: http://www.overclock.net/t/1628208/fastest-pad-mat/40#post_26046635

 

[munchzilla]

interesting. you use stock feet on your G403?
I'm not sure if this is relevant but Hyperglides or Hotline Games made a huge difference over the G303 stock feet.
I made my custom glass pad and then put hotline games on after.
made it go from Kinda Nice to Really Great.

the glide was slow on stock feet sadly. but I don't know how much finer the Frostpad is vs Icemat/my custom pad though, but mine was faster than stock Icemat actually. not a lot, but faster noticeably.

 

[Avalar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by munchzilla

interesting. you use stock feet on your G403?
I'm not sure if this is relevant but Hyperglides or Hotline Games made a huge difference over the G303 stock feet.
I made my custom glass pad and then put hotline games on after.
made it go from Kinda Nice to Really Great.

the glide was slow on stock feet sadly. but I don't know how much finer the Frostpad is vs Icemat/my custom pad though, but mine was faster than stock Icemat actually. not a lot, but faster noticeably.

Right now I'm actually using four G Pro Hyperglide skates until they release their G403 set. I had to shave the sides a little on two of them to fit in in bottom channel, but it hasn't affected the glide negatively, I think. Imo, Hyperglide's feet have the best/fastest glide.

And unfortunately, I never got to use an Icemat, but Frostpad say that their pad is the same. If I were to get another glass pad though, I'd get one that had a surface texture as coarse as my aluminum pad, or even more so. Would make the glide even faster.

Fyi, the Frostpad feels somewhat like a classroom chalkboard, now that I think of it. That's the closest comparison I could think of to a real-life surface lol.

 

[munchzilla]

huh that sounds really uncomfortable

I am curious to try it, but I don't want to own one. sounds a little odd. hyperglides + Icemat is one of my fav glide combos.

 

[Bucake]

might want to make it clear that it's a review / impression thread.
+2 for glide comparison and sound check

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avalar

I never got to use an Icemat, but Frostpad say that their pad is the same. If I were to get another glass pad though, I'd get one that had a surface texture as coarse as my aluminum pad, or even more so. Would make the glide even faster.

- they shouldn't say that imo. there could be a difference in acid as well as in method / technique used for etching. i got this info from mailing with glass shops. this is why the texture of one acid-etched pad might differ slightly from another. the difference is probably never very big though.
- you could look into sandblasted glass, but it will probably end up significantly more expensive.

since you mention "fastest glide", then you want something plastic, not glass or aluminium (from my experience). glass is probably #1 for least static friction though.
speaking conventional pads only of course. something DIY can most likely get even faster

the user Melvang mentioned his DIY pads, certainly sounded interesting..

edit: the func 30 is probably the fastest pad i've owned.

 

[Maximillion]

I had the same experience as far as glass feeling slower than aluminum. And overall pretty much what I expected as far as impressions.

As stated before I'd say glass is my favorite hard surface as far as glide property and physical feeling on my wrist. Can't really claim it's the "best" at anything but I "get" the cult-like appreciation for it.

I still want a larger glass pad but it's not a super-priority. I'll hold off for awhile and see if I can nab an ICY, otherwise I'll just grab an XL Frostpad. I'm just glad that there's a stable post-Icemat presence now.

 

[Avalar]

Btw, if none of you guys have ever seen this before..

www.mtg.co.jp/G-PADen.htm

You can pretty much tell just by the surfaces of these pads how they will perform, if you know that a grittier surface means less friction. Something closer to the texture of some plastic cutting boards would be a lot faster, which I think that one is.

And then there's Maxtill

The surface of those look pretty much the same as Frostpad, from what I can see.

 

[realex]

just out of curiosity: is anyone who is using a hard pad (no matter what material) playing on (mid to) low sens (like 30cm and above/360)? if so, do you play any games at a high level? cause i consider myself not bad at fps (broke into top 500 last season in ow), yet i cannot get any consistency on hard pads. i can have excellent stretches but it is so difficult to consistently deliver on a high level, compared to cloth mats to me.

 

[Avalar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by realex

just out of curiosity: is anyone who is using a hard pad (no matter what material) playing on (mid to) low sens (like 30cm and above/360)? if so, do you play any games at a high level? cause i consider myself not bad at fps (broke into top 500 last season in ow), yet i cannot get any consistency on hard pads. i can have excellent stretches but it is so difficult to consistently deliver on a high level, compared to cloth mats to me.

It's probably due to wear of the mouse pad, the mouse feet, or both. Your feet will wear faster on hard surfaces, but the surfaces themselves will wear over time as well, and will feel different than parts of the pad that you don't use as often. Plastic especially wears pretty quickly, for example. If you're looking for total consistency with hard pads, you'll be changing out your pad and mouse feet every few weeks.* 2 expensive 4 me lol.

As for the sensitivity though, I started using 1600 DPI and the default in-game sens in OW lately. I don't play often, but it works for me. Getting called a god Widowmaker in your first game after months of inactivity, with a new mouse and mouse pad. Feels gud

*That I can't confirm with glass, though.

 

[Avalar]

Btw guys, at least one of each pad is currently in stock right now. ^_^

https://frostpad.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=frostpad

Get em while you can. ;p

 

[daniel0731ex]

Aluminium pads don't wear, their surface is anodized which is harder than any glass pad.

What you perceive as "pristine" surface of an aluminium pad is not the true surface. For any new aluminium pad, you should take a conformal material and rub it over every corner of the surface. The resulting surface should have the smoothest glide of all hard pad. I personally use a worn clothpad or my skin for the initial cleaning.

 

[b0oMeR]

I had a glass mousepad once, I couldn't stand the sound it made whenever I moved my mouse around, it was literally the sound of chalk on a chalkboard!
Biggest waste of money for me.

 

[Tarinth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avalar

As for the sensitivity though, I started using 1600 DPI and the default in-game sens in OW lately.

Afaik the default in-game sens in OW is 15. This would mean you play 5.773cm / 360.

 

[pindle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarinth

Afaik the default in-game sens in OW is 15. This would mean you play 5.773cm / 360.

That sounds a bit too high to be true, maybe he adjusted Win sens downwards?

Sidenote for Avalar: it's best to keep OW sens below 5, to avoid pixel skipping. If you're unfamiliar with it google it, won't make a huge accuracy difference but it's an improvement nonetheless.

 

[Avalar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pindle

That sounds a bit too high to be true, maybe he adjusted Win sens downwards?

Sidenote for Avalar: it's best to keep OW sens below 5, to avoid pixel skipping. If you're unfamiliar with it google it, won't make a huge accuracy difference but it's an improvement nonetheless.

That's high? That's super slow for me lol. I used to play on 20 in-game sensitivity and 1800 DPI. I turned it down to see if my accuracy would improve. I've been doing a bit better since, but I don't play often.

And I've never used that cm per 360 thingy that you guys use as a metric. I used to just set my DPI so that I could do a 180 with one comfortable swipe, but it's a bit lower than that, now.

 

[Bucake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0oMeR

I had a glass mousepad once, I couldn't stand the sound it made whenever I moved my mouse around, it was literally the sound of chalk on a chalkboard!

depends on feet. hyperglides almost kill that chalkboard feel/sound. i use DIY ptfe feet myself and they're great on frosted glass. some stock feet are absolutely atrocious and will give you that experience on hard pad

 

[pindle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avalar

That's high? That's super slow for me lol. I used to play on 20 in-game sensitivity and 1800 DPI. I turned it down to see if my accuracy would improve. I've been doing a bit better since, but I don't play often.

And I've never used that cm per 360 thingy that you guys use as a metric. I used to just set my DPI so that I could do a 180 with one comfortable swipe, but it's a bit lower than that, now.

If you can do 360's within just 6 cm I think >80% of the people will say that's very high

I'm being called a mid-high sens player and use 1600 dpi and 4 sens in OW.

 

[maltamonk]

Does the height of the pad make it an irritant to your wrist/forearm?

 

[Avalar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maltamonk

Does the height of the pad make it an irritant to your wrist/forearm?

It doesn't bother me at all, but it might mess with other people. Probably more likely than not, unless you're used to the thickness of some hard pads. The ACT-LABS pad I've been using is about 1mm shorter, so I'm used to it.

 

[andrews2547]

Could you guys please stop the off topic arguments?

Thanks.