fUnc sUrface 1030 Competition Mousing Surface Review - Comparison
(Page 3 of 4 )
The first question that comes to mind when testing a mousepad is this: "how the hell do you test a mousepad?!" There certainly aren't any benchmarks or time demos when it comes to a mousing surface. But, this doesn't mean we can't gauge just how well this pad performs with a little time and some head-to-head testing against the most popular counterparts.
First, who needs a mousepad like this? If you're a casual user who uses the PC for a little email, browsing, and the occasional game of solitaire you probably don't need precision performance from your mousepad. On the other hand, if you're a gamer, you
know how important it is to have a good surface. Nothing sucks more than getting your butt fragged because your cruddy mousepad makes your mouse skip, lurch, or crawl. You need both high response to quick movements and very precise response to small movements. Aside from your hardcore gamer, another group who should demand a quality surface is the graphic designer. If you are using a mouse for your design work you know how important precision response is.
On top of actual performance we also want to consider comfort level. Even if the pad rocks for gaming, you don't want sore wrists after just a few frags. To simplify things, let's break this down some. The major factors affecting overall quality are:
- Micro response (response to small movements)
- Macro response (response to large movements)
- Smoothness
- Comfort / ease of use
- Price
As you can see, I threw price in there too; as with anything, even the best product can be worthless if the price tag is too high. Aside from price, we want to know how the pad handles small, precise movements, and large usually faster movements. Another important thing to consider is smoothness: does it skip when you reel the mouse from one end of the pad to the other or is it one smooth movement?
In order to gauge how well the fUnc 1030 does up against the alternatives, I'll be using a small variety of mousing surfaces and mice for my testing. For surfaces we have:
- fUnc 1030
- RatPadz GS
- Allsop foam rubber mousepad
- Tabletop
These four pretty much cover the most common options right now. Of course, there are lots of other specialty surfaces out there, but we'll save that for a future review. The Allsop is your standard issue foam rubber mousepad. You've probably seen them at Wal-Mart or Best Buy a million times. The tabletop is a clean, smooth oak surface, entirely not intended for mousing. The RatPadz GS is another very popular performance mousepad that had a hand on the market until surfaces like the fUnc started appearing.
The Ratpadz is a very different design and should help us compare the effect of texture, height, gripping methods, and surface material very well. Here's a look at the RatPadz GS:
It's definitely thicker than the fUnc, with a much rougher surface and a curved design - a good contrast to fUnc's methods. The base is also very different, using rubber feet instead of a flat rubber mat.
The surface of each mousepad is critical. fUnc recognizes that you may have differing needs and has a reversible surface. One side is very smooth while the other is a bit rougher. Let's take a side-by-side look of each texture in extreme close-up:
 |  |
| fUnc - Smooth | fUnc - Rough |
 |  |
| RatPadz GS | Generic foam rubber |
It becomes pretty obvious looking at these pics that the RatPadz has a very rough surface. The fUnc's smooth surface side is extremely smooth, with the other side being slightly rougher but still nowhere near what the RatPadz is going for. The generic foam rubber mousepad has a cloth top like most of them, and it's probably about the same surface roughness as the rough fUnc. Different material though, which can affect how it performs.
Of course, the mousepad is only a portion of what defines your mousing experience. The mouse itself is primary to the cause. I'll be using three mice to test with so we can get an idea of how each mouse-type works with each pad:
- Logitech cordless optical mouse
- Logitech corded optical mouse
- Microsoft corded ball mouse
For testing I'm simply using each mouse in turn with each surface. I poked around my desktop, ran a few office apps, and then fired up Photoshop to see how it felt working with some precision images. After that, it's a few rounds of the popular
Desert Combat mod of
Battlefield 1942. This is the perfect game for testing, as it relies heavily on mouse movement and precision for flying, shooting and of course, just running around trying not to get your self killed.
After using each mouse/mousepad combination, I got a very good feel of how each performed. There were some clear winning combinations, as you will see on the next page.
Next: Conclusion >>
More Input Devices Articles
More By Tekime
/ 25 
