Everglide Ricochet 2.52 Mouse Pad

The deal with most mousemats is usually either it's incredibly bad or it is ok and does its job. That is the way it has been for me until I had a delivery the other day when I received an Everglide Ricochet 2.52 mousemat / pad.

You know you have something slightly different then the norm when your new mouse comes in it's own shiny box, has an instruction booklet! and a Certificate of Authenticity!

Ok, ok you might not really get excited about a mousemat (maybe you do?), but I'm pretty much giving the whole review away when I say this is without doubt the best pad I've ever used to this date. I'll explain the pad more with the following criteria:

Size - bigger the better, so you can move your arm about without fear of the mouse falling off.
Material - solid is better, will not crease or peel, leaving you with a flat even surface.
Texture - depends on the mouse you have, textured pads will grip the ball more, and a matt finish will not reflect well for optical mice.
Profile - a really deep pad will cause wrist ache, a thin pad will keep your wrist straighter.
Grip - must stick to desk.
Looks - there is a style aspect believe me ;)

Let's take a closer look at the Ricochet 2.52 pad from Everglide:



The Ricochet is certainly big, there is a relatively huge area to move your mouse around on. It is rectangle shaped so the area is increased. It is the biggest pad I've ever used and during usage the mouse hasn't gone off the edge. Which leads me to one of the features that makes this pad stand out. There are 8 pads on each side of the pad, primarily used as feet, they also act as a barrier to stop your mouse slipping off the pad, and so you know if you need to reposition your mouse without actually looking.

The pad is dual-sided, hence having feet on both sides. So effectively you get two mousemats in one. The two sides offer two different surfaces / textures which - claim Everglide - are used for "different settings, games, environments and opponents."

One side is slightly smoother then the other, there maybe a little extra grip for ball mice but either way there is very little friction ensuring really smooth mouse movement. I did think that my optical mouse would not perform on the smoother side but I cannot seem to fault it no matter how fast I play a game. Also since using this pad I simply cannot get the bottom of the mouse dirty. Obviously a dirty mouse would be a bad thing, and this pad has amazed me by remaining dirt free even when put my coffee mug down on it.

I think you need to play for a long period of time to find out exactly what surface is better for your own circumstances. I haven't had any problems at all with the smooth side and equally I'm having no problems with the rough side right now.

You may or may not have guessed the thickness of the pad from its name - Ricochet 2.52 - well it is 2.52mm thick. Yes that is pretty thin indeed, you really do not notice the pad is there which is a good thing and will cause minimum stress on the hand. So you could think why have a mouse pad then? If you have read what I've said so far and the rest of the review you will understand.

The pad is made from plastic and is surprisingly rigid considering how thin it is. It will break if you waned to (you wont), but it is pretty safe just to use it like a normal mouse pad. The two surfaces are glued on by the looks of it but I have had no luck so far trying to peel them off. (Stupid I know but there is testing to be done).

As previously mentioned the Ricochet has eight feet on each side that provide reasonable grip. They grip well at first but the material they are made from (rubber) has the tendency to become coated in dust from your desk. It's not too much hassle to spend 20 seconds wiping them clean again however. This is really the only downside of the pad which is counteracted by the fact that your mouse floats across the pad ensuring that the pad will not move across the desk.

The pad looks nice, very clean and smart with its low profile design. Not a lot to mention about this aspect but the pad looks great.

A great pad but not cheap in the UK (again), but it works well with your mouse and this will boost your performance.


Let's see what Everglide say about their product:

Everglide has done it again, in response to demands from pro-gamers around the world for a slim line (2.52mm) dual surface pad we sent our white coats back to the lab and the Ricochet is the result !

The durable single piece construction makes the pad easy to transport to those essential LAN events without hassle or damage.

Specifications:
Surfaces: DUO-Precision
Surface Dimensions: 290 x 230 mm
Outer Dimensions: 300 x 240 x 2.5 mm
Thickness: 2.52 mm
Available Colors: Magma(Red),Lava (Black), or Ash (White)
Non-slip Feet: 8 each side!
Compatability: Works great with Optical and Traditional Ball mice.



The pad retails at £29.99 in the UK http://www.everglide.co.uk but you can get it cheaper in the US http://www.gamerzstuff.com or in Europe http://www.everglide.de/

Check the Ricochet 2.52 pad out here.