Entertainmentopia continues on the Razer train with a look at the new Razer Destructor precision mouse pad boasting a higher response rate and faster speeds as compared to the $2 pads that come with your shiny new computer. The Destructor utilizes a pitted and grooved plastic material collectively referred to as Razer Fractal Technology which provides both a smooth surface and added mouse speed due to the optics of your mouse interacting with the fine pits in the plastic.

As with most high end gaming pads, the Destructor comes neatly packed in a nylon, zip-up case for easy transport. Embroidered with the Razer logo in green and housing foam specially designed to hold your new addition firmly in place the perks of the product are certainly worth the $40 MSRP purchase.

The mouse pad itself, as described above, is grey with a black Razer logo and “Destructor” name curiously using an ant as the products logo (moving away from the snake names used by previous Razer products). The underside of the pad features a rubberized grip to bind it to your desk and prevent slippage. During our tests we did notice some movement, about a half inch creep after a couple hour session, so some readjustment may be necessary at times, but this isn’t a big factor.

The performance of the pad is hard to test other than subjective means, but the Destructor provided a great surface for gaming, graphic design, and for normal home use. Gaming tests were conducted using Audiosurf, World of WarCraft, Bioshock, and Portal, with control of each game firmly in the user’s grasp. As with cheaper pads the laser can become lost due to the same color or reflective nature, but the pits and grooves in the Destructor provide a unique surface for the laser (in our case, a Logitech G5) to track, giving us excellent response time. Graphics work was done in Adobe Fireworks CS3 with some vector and freehand drawing of web graphics. At a high zoom level, even minute movements were tracked accurately and precisely.

The Razer Destructor is an excellent addition to your gaming setup, coupled with a gaming grade mouse and keyboard. While the rubber grip wasn’t as strong as you may like during longer play sessions, the hard plastic, with a unique shape and design certainly works in your favor when gunning for that game winning frag or avoiding the latest Big Daddy to be in hot pursuit.

Entertainmentopia previously had the chance to review the SteelSeries S&S, a hard plastic mouse pad that impressed us with is smooth glide, spacious size, and little touches like a carrying case for those trips to far off LAN parties. For those not looking to spend the monetary equivalent of a full priced PC game, SteelSeries has something for you.

The QcK, essentially a soft pad version of the S&S costs about half the price, but delivers all of the performance you would expect from a SteelSeries product.

Coming rolled up in a box the QcK unrolls into a pad with roughly the same amount of real estate offered by the hard pad big brother. The soft pad features a grip on its underside to keep it firmly in place on your desk, of which it blends in perfectly, and its cloth surface is everything you’d expect. Once again testing the unit with our Logitech G5 mouse, the QcK performed great in World of Warcraft and everyday operations like browsing your desktop. Not once did we need to stop, and readjust the mouse pad’s position on the desk because of pressure and slippage.

The smooth feet of the G5 work well with the cloth surface of the QcK, although we still prefer the hard pad’s superior glide in conjunction with this particular mouse. This doesn’t detract from the craftsmanship or usefulness of the cloth pad, its merely a personal preference after being able to test both pads expensively.

The QcK is an excellent, affordable, and well manufactured mouse pad from one of the leaders in gaming-geared accessories. The ultimate preference of hard vs. soft pads will play out with the end-user, but either way, SteelSeries has put out two very good options for gamers and causal users alike.

Generally most people would assume that your mouse pad is a disposable part of your set up, and for most casual users this is most likely true, but for gamers, where split-second timing is everything, a mouse pad could be the difference between a rocket to the head, or narrowly dodging disaster.

SteelSeries has long been known as one of the premiere gaming peripheral manufacturers with mouse pads, gaming headsets, and even co-branded mice and keyboards all aimed at making your gameplay easier, and smoother.

The SteelSeries S&S is a 12.6’x10.6′ hard plastic mouse pad which serves as one of the company’s entry level pads. The surface is suited for all types of mice, and for the purposes of this review a Logitech G5 Laser Mouse was utilized. The rubberized underside of the pad creates a non-slip grip to your desk, and the pad didn’t move once during our testing, including extensive late-night sessions of World of WarCraft and a few select first-person shooters.

Previously using a standard cloth mouse pad you instantly notice an increase in responsiveness due to a decrease in drag from the cloth. The plastic surface coupled with the already smoothly designed feet on the G5 provided quick, reactive movement in all the games and programs tested. In the mouse-intensive World of WarCraft the mouse worked wonderfully allowing you to move your character with general ease. The huge surface area of the pad eliminates the need to pick up your mouse and re-center it after extended playtimes.

We also tested the S&S with the entirely mouse-based Space Quest Collection from Sierra where lightning fast reflexes are not necessarily required, but the extensive surface area is the biggest benefit. Finally, testing was done in Adobe Fireworks creating the graphics used on this site; the precise movement was a noticeable change from the cloth pad and from not using one at all.

The SteelSeries S&S comes with a protective carrying case and self-adhering feet for your current mouse, should it not be out-of-the-box equipped with specially designed feet like the G5. SteelSeries knows how to make products for serious gamers and the S&S puts that pedigree in the limelight, you can’t go wrong with this pad, it’s a must addition to any serious gamer’s setup.