QCK+ Limited is fast but has stitching, however the stitching is nearly the same height as the rest of the pad material (not noticeably thicker like many others). It's my favorite pad personally.

It will be significantly smoother than a QCK Heavy, just in case you might have concern there. They aren't the same type of material.

 

My G640 has the lowest friction from all the pads I own. Padded nicely with no stitched edges.

 

Steelseries Dex if you prefer low dpi gaming it is very close in performance to a hard pad but is optimized for low dpi sensors, I found it skipped with a high dpi setting on my g502 though.

Pro tip, if you spend a lot of time at the pc a wrist rest for your mouse hand can help, I use an Innovera gel rest and it's the best one I've tested both for comfort and movement, and has no odor.

 

I use stitched edge pads hanging over the edge of my desk, no issues here.

g-tfx is a real pain in the buttocks to flatten though.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE5FK0213

take a look at this one instead. it's cheaper, stays flatter, and has a bit softer rubber making it more control friendly, but still really fast.

just make sure you got good rounded mouse feet cause these pads are the most picky about feet. and good feet do make mouse glide a lot faster too

 

Great suggestions, keep them coming!

Glad to see that stitched edges aren't causing problems - this definitely opens up more options. I ordered a few of these and will test them out.

 

Easily the best and fastest mouse pad I've ever used is the Artisan Hayate Otsu. I've tried SO many mouse pads trying to find one, and this mouse pad almost feels like liquid. It's insane.

 

I've seen some glowing comments regarding this one, though Amazon reviews are a bit mixed. Recent reviews suggest that Amazon is selling a knock-off, so I wonder if there's a safer vendor to try it out with...
Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberWolf575

Easily the best and fastest mouse pad I've ever used is the Artisan Hayate Otsu. I've tried SO many mouse pads trying to find one, and this mouse pad almost feels like liquid. It's insane.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugin7

I've seen some glowing comments regarding this one, though Amazon reviews are a bit mixed. Recent reviews suggest that Amazon is selling a knock-off, so I wonder if there's a safer vendor to try it out with...

Well, if you're willing to put up with pads as small as Artisan's, The ShidenKai is much faster. One of the fastest cloth mousepads out there.

 

Low price with good performance that I like is the Hyperx Fury, eventually it becomes very dirty, so you can buy a new one because its so cheap.

If you wanna go for durability, the Hayate Otsu is very easy to wash and is top quality.

 

Seems that a lot of vendors, including Amazon, changed their return policies for mouse pads. It used to be possible to buy a bunch of them to try out and return all but the best one without consequences. Now Amazon appears to apply its DOA policy for electronics to mouse pads, so it seems they're non-returnable unless there's something wrong with them. Most other vendors hit customers with restocking fees and return shipping. A pity, since mouse pads are such personal items and one man's treasure is another man's trash.

Some of the best pads are available at Best Buy, where you can still try out/return. Unfortunately, some of the more "exotic" pads aren't, making them risky purchases. I ordered a few from Best Buy and if none are amazing, I'll move on to exotics.

 

Here's something disturbing about this pad:

https://www.fakespot.com/product/hyperx-fury-s-pro-gaming-mouse-pad-large-hx-mpfs-l
https://reviewmeta.com/amazon/B072J47KJC

It seems that the reviews aren't genuine.
Quote:

Originally Posted by plyr

Low price with good performance that I like is the Hyperx Fury, eventually it becomes very dirty, so you can buy a new one because its so cheap.

If you wanna go for durability, the Hayate Otsu is very easy to wash and is top quality.

 

This pad has a glass surface. Would it hold up if hung and bent over a desk edge?
Quote:

Originally Posted by Avalar

Well, if you're willing to put up with pads as small as Artisan's, The ShidenKai is much faster. One of the fastest cloth mousepads out there.

 

How good are rubberized cloth pads? Like the CM Storm Power RX, any experience? Seems like the surface has been mixed with rubber. Will it damage mouse feet?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugin7

This pad has a glass surface. Would it hold up if hung and bent over a desk edge?

no unfortunately not. bending it and it will crumble. it wears out a bit nasty too cause it crumbles after too much wear

 

Thank you, I was afraid of that. Probably best to stick with conventional cloth to avoid nasty surprises.
Quote:

Originally Posted by munchzilla

no unfortunately not. bending it and it will crumble. it wears out a bit nasty too cause it crumbles after too much wear

 

I know you've done a lot of research on pads in the past based on old threads I found and I'm curious as to how you arrived at this Cherry pad. It seems to be under the radar; I can't find a single review and very few vendors sell it. Do you know of any returns-friendly vendor that carries it? If not, what are your favorite "mainstream" pads that meet my criteria?
Quote:

Originally Posted by munchzilla

I use stitched edge pads hanging over the edge of my desk, no issues here.

g-tfx is a real pain in the buttocks to flatten though.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE5FK0213

take a look at this one instead. it's cheaper, stays flatter, and has a bit softer rubber making it more control friendly, but still really fast.

just make sure you got good rounded mouse feet cause these pads are the most picky about feet. and good feet do make mouse glide a lot faster too

 

The only person I've seen use the Cherry mousepad is Uzi from League of Legends. It's a Chinese brand, and he's Chinese so it makes sense. Probably won't see any reviews from the Western World.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugin7

I know you've done a lot of research on pads in the past based on old threads I found and I'm curious as to how you arrived at this Cherry pad. It seems to be under the radar; I can't find a single review and very few vendors sell it. Do you know of any returns-friendly vendor that carries it? If not, what are your favorite "mainstream" pads that meet my criteria?

yeah it's meant to be a Zowie G-TFX clone but lower price. has a less dense rubber base so it's more cushiony too. not as fast but still really fast.

and I don't know any other vendors unfortunately. it is not very well-known currently.

for more mainstream pads... well there's always the Razer Goliathus Control. it's just so ugly...

Cougar Speed is pretty decent too, but apparently has the same issue as Zowie G-TFX in that it's really difficult to make it stay flat.

if you can try the Goliathus Control and return it... assuming you really like it and would be fine with it long term, the Dechanic Control is available through Amazon, and is basically the same but less ugly. comes in all-black with a little white logo. and available in 3mm/6mm thicknesses, both which are great, depending on if you want cushion or not.

 

QPad FX could work for you

 

Why Control for Razer Goliathus? They have a Speed version of the same pad, so wouldn't it be a lot smoother/faster?
Quote:

Originally Posted by munchzilla

yeah it's meant to be a Zowie G-TFX clone but lower price. has a less dense rubber base so it's more cushiony too. not as fast but still really fast.

and I don't know any other vendors unfortunately. it is not very well-known currently.

for more mainstream pads... well there's always the Razer Goliathus Control. it's just so ugly...

Cougar Speed is pretty decent too, but apparently has the same issue as Zowie G-TFX in that it's really difficult to make it stay flat.

if you can try the Goliathus Control and return it... assuming you really like it and would be fine with it long term, the Dechanic Control is available through Amazon, and is basically the same but less ugly. comes in all-black with a little white logo. and available in 3mm/6mm thicknesses, both which are great, depending on if you want cushion or not.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by abso

QPad FX could work for you

terrible durability. and not very good for hanging off of the desk. not at all a fan sadly. and it gets veeery sticky feeling quickly.
it is very fast at first for sure but not after a few months.
Quote:

Originally Posted by hugin7

Why Control for Razer Goliathus? They have a Speed version of the same pad, so wouldn't it be a lot smoother/faster?

the Control is faster, actually. the Speed is smoother but not faster.

it has a lot lower static friction and a fair bit lower dynamic friction.

 

Wow, seems like an odd marketing blunder, thank you.
Quote:

Originally Posted by munchzilla

the Control is faster, actually. the Speed is smoother but not faster.

it has a lot lower static friction and a fair bit lower dynamic friction.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by munchzilla

g-tfx is a real pain in the buttocks to flatten though.

Mine was really bad, but an iron completely flatten it out though.

 

For cloth pads, nothing beats the speed of Raiden from Artisan. It's faster and durable than Hayate and G-TFX.
Most artisan pads lose its glide speed fast but the Raiden never lose its low friction glide in my experience. Even in humid condition.
The down side of this pad is how optical sensor hates its surface.
You have to keep dust and crumbs clean from the pad or else the mouse will spin off often even with a 3360 sensor. I also highly recommend using a mouse which supports a software with surface tuning.

 

Is it just optical mice that tend to run into problems with Artisan Raiden? I tend to prefer MMO mice for buttons galore, most of which are laser. I'm currently using a Razer Naga.

Which of the Raiden pads has the lowest friction against wrist/forearm? There are XSOFT and MID versions and I've seen conflicting info. Per Artisan's site, XSOFT is "our fasted speed in all of our cloth pad series," but I've seen a few claims that MID is faster.

I suspect that this is the best place to order Artisan pads to avoid running into knock-offs: https://www.artisan-jp.com/mousepad_all_eng.html#tdhv5. They ship to the US.
Quote:

Originally Posted by NoahSlayer

For cloth pads, nothing beats the speed of Raiden from Artisan. It's faster and durable than Hayate and G-TFX.
Most artisan pads lose its glide speed fast but the Raiden never lose its low friction glide in my experience. Even in humid condition.
The down side of this pad is how optical sensor hates its surface.
You have to keep dust and crumbs clean from the pad or else the mouse will spin off often even with a 3360 sensor. I also highly recommend using a mouse which supports a software with surface tuning.