With the new arrival of the Ratpadz Mousing Surface in Australia on this new site, the guys were kind enough to send through a unit for us to evaluate - check out our review for a closer look.

As a small competition, we're going to be giving this review unit away to one lucky AusGamers-hosted site - all you need to do to enter is put this Ratpadz button on your site somewhere (linked to http://www.ratpadz.com.au) and then send an email to me. All the sites submitted will go into a (virtual) barrel and one will be drawn randomly, and the winner will receive this awesome Ratpadz Mousing Surface! Drawing will take place on the 21st of May, so stick the button on your site now.

Can you take the button off after the comp :)

whats the diff between the ratpad and the everglide giganta?

i have a giganta

fade2bl0r has a Everglide and he dosnt like it all that much. I have thise dodgy coretech mouse pad which someone gave to me. It is the best mouse pad I've come across yet! Craps all over the Everglide and is Infanitly cheaper too :D

i have this cheap lil cloth evercrack mouse pad i got when i bought the game (biggest waste of money ever) the mouse pad on the other hand isnt to bad, meh its just something to sit my mouse on when im not useing it, TABLE ALL THE WAY BABY!

Those RatPad looks quite nice, generous size too.

I'm sick of pad's like the func being marketed for gamers when they're SO SMALL.

I just started using a small chopping board for a mousepad as it was just laying around and my old Homer cloth-on-rubber one is starting to wear out. Its quite slippery but its ok.

i got my ratpadz on tuesday. its pretty sweet. pretty decent size. at first i thought it may a bit too small height wise because i have an intellimouse explorer 3. but i havent run off the pad at all which seemed to be a problem with those 3m ones. it takes a little while to get used to but once you do. its pretty awesome. using anyone else is real s***. JackaL seems real keen on getting a steelpad from the states so it will be interesting to see how that compares to it. I mean really if JackaL wanted a steelpad i could have given him the sides of a case for much cheaper :)

yeah the first you think when you get the pad is s*** i could have bought a chopping board for less. but all that goes away when you use it :D

Yep, that's Toll's mouse pad, and that is also a rather large image you posted.

A little... too large

aww :(

how much did they pay you to do that "review"

would they still pay you if you told the truth and said ratpads are a muchly hyped peice of s*** mousepad??

charging that much for a peice of plastic thats gunna wear down in a few months is criminal

how much did they pay you to do that "review"

$0, same as everything I get for working on AusGamers

would they still pay you if you told the truth and said ratpads are a muchly hyped peice of s*** mousepad??

ooh, good one, you're obviously a PRO GAMOR and have your own opinions, which you can't resist spouting in a typically lamergamer fashion. I've been using an EverGlide for the last 2 years or something, and this pad is heaps better than that, simple as that. You'll notice the review specifically says at the start that mouse pads are a personal thing; if you're too clueless to read and understand the concept of a review and insist on spouting your inflammatory comments in a negative way, then sure, that's your right, but at least come up with some sort of useful comments about what mouse pad YOU use and why YOU prefer it

charging that much for a peice of plastic thats gunna wear down in a few months is criminal

My everglide is still pretty much the same as it was ages ago.. wore down a bit after 2 years of use but not too bad. I'll never go back to using a non-hard plastic surface mouse pad now after getting used to the everglide. the ratpadz, for me, is a naturally better progression - its bigger and has the same surface type and is a better shape than the stupid round everglide I have.

I have had a ratpadz for over 12 months now. It rocks.. hasnt how any signs of wearing out or anything.

The only ones that wear are the logopadz.. the logo tends to rub off after a little while.

I love my ratpadz, great for optical mice.. considering taking it to work aswell but people would look at me funny.

I would get one but I have laser maus :P

I would get one but I have laser maus :P

Optical mice work fine with ratpadz

Hey all. I am one of the guys distributing the Ratpadz in Australia. Glad to hear *the majority* who have have had a chance to use the Ratpadz like it.

Cheers goes out to Trog for the review, I cannot believe we didn't pay him for some of the stuff he said ;) Great man.

As for the general concern regarding the padz wearing out. Unfortunatly a bad batch of everglide pads was recieved in Australia a few months back which all suffered the fate of wearing out. It really did hurt everglide and taint these mousepads in general, however everglide rectified this issue and continue to pump out their great pads and ratpadz fortunatly never were built from this dodgy plastic.

so there yah go, and if you got any questions complaints whatever just wack em in here and I will have a go at addressing them all.

as for the first question regarding the ratpadz button. You only need it up for the duration of this competition, but it would be nice to see the odd site keep it up :)

fair enough
spose i was a bit harsh

Rofl that first post was a little joke :)

Hmm seems company people are usen the qgl forums more and more now to answer questions/get feedback.

Those ratpadz are too big for my desk even if I wanted one. I need desk room for junk, like empty cups and random bits of paper.



Thrax. Was it you who gave me this most j0rsome mouse pad?

my ratpadz seems to be bending up.. ie, instead of sagging it's doin the opposite
so my mouse doesnt sit right
sure, i can bend it back
but i have to do so every day : -\

your entitled to your opinion, so fair enough.

when i got mine it was a little bent and didnt seem to sit on the table balanced. tho i soughta worked at it a bit and now its pretty sweet. im happy with it. the only prob i had was the whole pay system. i paid by credit card and i didnt know that you guys used that pay pal system otherwise i would have used the direct deposit. so dodgey i got charged about $35 all up because of the dodgey fees that they impose on you like using the service and transction fee and conversion fee and s***.

Farseeker, I have seen bent padz and well I say just bend it back and it works a treat. Tough as anything but i have never seen padz that are constantly bending, any reason why? How old it is, are you using it as a chopping board or something, or is it sitting in the sun... i am just curious to know how that could be happening?

Regarding paypal. They charge a tad extra for piece of mind I guess. We may look into other solutions but they all involve additional expenses, which we would then have to add to the ratpadz price which we would rather not do

more like they charge you extra to put in their pocket. hehe. the ratpadz is good and congrats on finally getting them over to australia. hey maybe if you guys wanna raise your profile you should talk to the bunker about perhaps lending some on loan since we are hosting the cpl-qld qualifiers on the 25-26th.. now that would be leet no wait... it would be reet!!! =)

hmm, tempted to get one.

Close to 2 years use from my Ratpadz .. no real wear marks at all. Have been using it with an intellimouse explorer Intellieye since they came out. No problems. These mouse pads rock.

anyone selling new ones at qgl, i might look at it :)

and anyone know whats a great TV I could use for a moniter, one taht will do 1024x768 @ 85hz, crystal clear...

should of used a decent mouse to test

what i'd like to know is does it work properly with a logitech dual optical? it would skip like anything on my everglide (the one with the HL print), and on a friends funcpad. the only thing that works properly that i can find is my own table, the tables at siege, and the tables at my uni. ta

should of used a decent mouse to test

haha, you have no skillz

Optical mice suck so bad, I can't stand them. I like my mice with balls.

TROG : haha, you have no skillz

Hahaha, tou·ché brudda, tou·ché

Hahaha, tou·ché brudda, tou·ché

omg, you fag.

I'm sick of pad's like the func being marketed for gamers when they're SO SMALL.

Thats why you need a stealpad!

intense, it's fairly old i spose.. bought it second hand
it isnt in the sun.. it's odd
i mean, you'd think that it would want to sag a bit
but instead it bends up the more i use it?

simultech, unfortunatly no glossy pads work with the dual optical mouse such as the logitech one you have. Ratpadz are built for ball mice and single optical mouse thus far and I am sure anyone who has used one would agree that they work a treat.

hmm, farseeker i guess my only plusable explaination would be the fact that ratpadz have 'evolved' over time and you may have gotten a fairly early one..

oh and regarding lans / sponsership etc.. we have had a ton of interest and am keen to hear offers. Unfortunatly we are based in Melbourne so thus far organising outside these bounds is a wee bit difficult. Plus we gotta get our foot in the door and establish a few sales before you really see ratpadz hitting the lanning scene hard :)

damn eh :P
ah well, it's an awesome pad in general.. when it's flat :P

I recieved my ratpad bout 2 weeks ago and yeh i it works great with my intellimouse optical. i havent had one occasion where it has skipped or ran off the pad. best i have ever used

Just ordered one online... I trust you guys. :)

sifnt desktop

sif desktop :)

and course you can trust us... *now where'd i put that plane ticket*

however if you dont trust us we are trying to organise a reseller or two such as PCCaseGear who have expressed significant interest

Intence

Me and a freind got those Everglide Giganta pads a few months back and all the detail on the surface wore off both of em, now you say this wont happen to the ratpadz. do you replace them if it dose ware off?

cuz I have no respect for everglide cuz of that pad

and if i bought one how long would it take to get it delivered to melbourne?

the cover of a ring binder is good enough for me =P

Grim. Yep the everglide had a batch of bad plastic and thus there reputation was tarnished.. they have since fixed this, but Ratpadz are better anyhow :P So to answer your questions, unless you run sandpaper over it no it does not wear out, and yes we do replace them within a month...

as for delivery we are based in melbourne so upon recipt of payment which is instant with credit card but takes time with other method we would like to see you get your pad within a week, 2 at absolute most

cools thats what i wanted to hear

I just put a order in

Well... I purchased online with my credit card... let's hope it arrives by the end of the week so I can use it at QGL. :D

/me steals LD99's credit card and signes up for more newsgroup leechage!
hehe

i know this aint the place to say this, but you will be pleased to note that payment has been recieved and i will tell our mailman to get his butt into gear so you can proudly boast your pad at QGL :P

and of course own with it...

Intense: Great!! I eagerly look forward to receiving it... Not that I am complaining, but the tables used at QGL aren't the best surface for mouse. :)

Scuzzy: Yeah... use as much as you like. I've used up my ADSL quota for the month. :(

well many people are scared of bending these pads, trust me bend the crapola out of it into any a decent shape to fit the tables groove :) and i guarantee you can bend it right back and not even notice... that it ever was bent!

I want one with an AusGamers logo on it, can you sell me one like that?

at the moment no, however we are looking into it, and you can order a blank one and get it printed, fairly cheap but i guess you want us to do it :)

sifnt get everglide :P

I bought a new optical mouse and now i've bought more then 3 mouse pads and can't find the right one,i hope this one fixes my problems

what sort of mouse? There's something mentioned (I think in this thread) about some sort of optical mouse that has problems, I think.

yer, all of them.
Ball mice all the way

I wouldnt mind trying one of these ratpadz, i've been using my trusty everglide for quite a long time now, and maybe its time to upgrade to a nice new slippery mousepad :)

Theres no way i would go back to cloth based pads imo, hard plastic pwns me.

Trog,
I got the Dual optical Logitech mouse

Unfortunatly as I stated earlier dual optical mice are the only ones which dont work with hard platic based pads. All others work a treat

I'm sold.. ordering one now =)

happphy camper.

Well, I had an everglide for about 12 months and in the end the smooth coating on top wore off and the mouse just didn't move well over it.

Now I have a $10 flexible non-scratchable plastic chopping board from King of Knives. nice cos it's HUGE and also nice and thin, so it's comfortable for the hand to rest on. Only downside is that I have to tape it to the table...

I just use a Terry Pratchett hard-cover book. Great surface.

Ive got one of them 3M PMS doodads.

I find they provide just the right amount padding for the pice of A4 paper I use as a mousepad :) Never need to clean it; just throw it out and replace it. Tracks wonderfully, and provides just enough resistance so I know when Im moving the mouse (for some reason, I like the tactile feedback that way; the smooth as silk ones are hard to control afaic).

But what I would like is a set of them ratpadz I saw mentioned somewhere a while ago... they look like theyd be Seriously Good Things to replace the ageing acrylic pads on my mouse (its 2 years old and still going strong.. love the logitech gear :) )

ivw entered the comp about a week ago. Am i meant o have gotten a confirmation email or anything?

no

I used one of these a long time ago before I went off plastic pads.

They are an excellent pad, more comfortable than the giganta and they have a better texture (I reckon). They still wear out like everglides but they last a lot longer. Really good pads, but it will wear out eventually which sucks if you grow a liking to it when it's fresh. If you use some lube with an optical it won't wear out as much (I am talking over like a 9 month period).

ok, thx trog =D

Could that guy from ratpadz give me some sort of time indication when my ratpadz will come ?

I'm in melbourne where they are based and it's been 9 days since i ordered.

And they answered 1 of 2 emails i sent =p

I would enter the competition if Ausgamers would host my site.....

i'm a still waiting =(

and the winner is.......?????

=D

The announcement will be delayed a bit, sorry guys! I lost the ENTIRE list of people that entered in my harddrive crash on Friday, but I'll be recovering it as soon as I can.

hehehe =D
np

hey all, I am back :)

Been a tad busy over the past few weeks, hence my absense. Anyhow I have been shifting through the various websites which entered, and damn their are some slick looking pages around. Great work, thanks for participating and hopefully good ole trog can finish it off shortly...