You should already know how important it is in gaming to have a great gaming mouse. But, where getting a great mouse and getting a subpar one can come down to a large difference in price, the same so with many gaming mouse pads. Not only is it worthwhile to pick up a quality mouse pad, but you have virtually no excuse. Most great mouse pads don't cost all that much, and they'll be a huge step up over the budget barrel options you might find in an actual barrel at your local electronics store. A good gaming mouse pad helps keep crumbs on your desk from marring the smooth swiping experience of your mouse, and it can also help extend the lifespan of the feet on your mouse.
Mouse pads can also help improve the tracking of your mouse, as the textured surfaces give your mouse's sensor something tailor-made for it to see sliding by, ensuring you get all the performance your mouse is supposed to deliver. Using a mouse is also a lot more comfortable and consistent than using the back of a notebook or a magazine like we've all tried at one point (or many points) in our life. So, put that magazine back on the bookshelf, and check out these great gaming mouse pads instead.
TL; DR – These are the Best Gaming Mouse Pads:
- Corsair MM200 Pro Premium
- SteelSeries QCK Medium
- Razer Acari
- Cooler Master MP510
- Artisan Ninja FX Shidenkai
- Cooler Master MP511
- Razer Sphex V3
- SteelSeries QcK Prism Cloth 5XL
- Razer Firefly V2
- Corsair MM1000
1. Corsair MM200 Pro Premium
Best Gaming Mouse pad
If you need a big, quality gaming mouse pad, there's really not all that much to it, but a few smart considerations here and there can go a long way to making it something that works great and holds up in the long run. The Corsair MM200 Pro Premium gets these details right. The Corsair MM200 Pro Premium starts with a thick and soft fabric, giving you a bit of extra comfort if you have a palm grip and like to rest your wrist. Corsair has stitched the edges of the mouse pad, which can go a long way to helping prevent fraying or separation of layers.
The fabric also has a spill-proof and stain-resistant finish, so the occasional accident with a bottle of soda won't ruin it or even stop you from playing for long. On the flip side, Corsair has used an anti-skid rubber that'll help keep the mouse pad in place while you're gaming. We've selected the X-Large size, but Corsair offers a variety of options, so you can find the one that fits your desk best.
2. SteelSeries QCK Medium
Best Budget Mouse Pad
You can look at a SteelSeries mouse pad and think you're getting some budget barrel gear when you see the price tag. But, the company makes some really great mouse pads, and its cheapest options easily offer an experience that's far greater than the price would suggest. The QCK Medium is a $10 option that's ready for high-performance play with an exceptionally smooth surface for fluid mouse movements. It's pleasingly soft but not so soft and thick that your mouse is going to push into it.
The rubberized bottom on the QCK series mouse pads keeps them from slipping all over your desk, and the pads are thin and flexible enough that you can simply roll them up and take them wherever you go. If you need a bigger mouse pad than the QCK Medium, SteelSeries has a bunch of other size options available that maintain affordable prices. The Large option is great for gamers working on full-arm aiming, while SteelSeries even has versions that can cover entire desks.
3. Razer Acari
Best Hard Mouse Pad
If you’ve got a heavy hand when you’re mousing around in your favorite games, you may not want a big, soft mouse pad that can depress and throw off the consistency of that smooth gliding. The Razer Acari helps you get around that with a hard surface. This mousepad gives you plenty of space to hone your skills and rely on large muscle groups for your flick shots and precision aim. With a nano-bead surface, the Razer Acari provides your mouse’s sensor with finer points to see for better tracking, plus it adds waterproofing to keep your pad dry. A rubber base on the Acari will help hold it in place.
4. Cooler Master MP510
Best Cloth Mouse Pad
The Cooler Master MP510 goes beyond the basics of a simple cloth mousepad. It’s built up to be more plush, giving you a bit of cushion while you mouse around. It’ll definitely feel more prominent than the thinner pads, like the base SteelSeries QCK. Cooler Master also built it with cordura fabric that can help it shrug off spills if you have a habit of keeping your drinks too close to your mouse pad. If you need a bigger mouse pad, you’ll be happy to see it comes in a wide variety of sizes.
5. Artisan Ninja FX Shidenkai
Best High-End Mouse Pad
Can't choose between a soft or hard mouse pad? No worries, the Artisan Ninja FX Shidenkai gives you the best of both worlds—though it comes at a premium. This nearly $70 mouse pad is a soft pad embedded with tiny glass beads. This unique composition allows the Ninja FX Shidenkai to be both squishy like a sponge and incredibly slick at the same time. You can take full advantage of this mouse pad's interesting blend of characteristics by gliding the mouse across this surface and then applying pressure to come to a dead stop.6. Cooler Master MP511
Best Durable Mouse Pad
When you’re gaming, you need to have gear you can rely on, and that applies to your mousepad, too. For competition, you can’t have a mousepad that’s fraying at the edge or scuffed up in a way that can make your mouse sensor falter. So, it can be worth your while to go with a more durable mouse pad. The Cooler Master MP511 is just what you should be looking for. This beastly pad (though smaller options are available) is built tough with Cordura fabric that can hold up to some abuse. Cooler Master has even seen fit to stitch the edges of the mat for further durability.
It’s not just the stamping and sliding of your mouse that the Cordura fabric can withstand but also sweat and spills. If you accidentally knock over a drink, you can just wipe it up as it won’t immediately soak in. At $35, it’s not a cheap mouse pad, but it could be more economical than regularly buying a new mouse pad each time a weaker one wears out. Plus, that $35 gets you an XL model.
7. Razer Sphex V3
Best Flat Mouse Pad
For a mouse pad that can get the job done while feeling like it's almost not there at all, the Razer Sphex V3 is what you're after. This hard mouse pad provides the smooth gaming surface you need to easily glide around, giving you little resistance for your flick shots so you have a consistent feel.The Razer Sphex V3 will all but meld into your desk space thanks to its almost pure black design, but even more so thanks to its incredible thinness. This pad is less than half a millimeter thick. And, since it's made from hard polycarbonate, you won't have to worry about it rumpling up underneath your mouse. Given how thin and light it is, you might be worried about it sliding around underneath your hand, but Razer has seen to this with an adhesive base that'll keep it in place. If you aim more with your arm than your wrist, the Razer Sphex V3 also comes in a large size.
8. SteelSeries QcK Prism Cloth 5XL
Best “Desk Pad” Mouse Pad
Forget about mouse pads that just cover a portion of your desk, the SteelSeries QcK Prism Cloth 5XL is here to take over the entirety of your tabletop. At over 60 inches wide and over 30 inches deep, this mouse pad will cover up even some of the biggest gaming desks and standing desks.
The QcK Prism Cloth 5XL is made of a thick, micro-woven cloth for a smooth-gliding surface with a fine texture that helps your mouse track accurately. Meanwhile, the underside has a rubberized surface to keep it firmly in place on your desk. That's only half the fun, though, as all models of the QcK Prism Cloth also feature an RGB light strip around the perimeter of the mouse pad. That light strip has two-zone lighting and supports the SteelSeries engine, so you can have it sync up with your other SteelSeries devices, flash with music, or even offer visual cues from your games.
9. Razer Firefly V2
Best RGB Mouse Pad
With RGB lighting emanating from your gaming PC, keyboard, mouse, and everything else, you might as well complete your set with a light-up mouse pad like the Razer Firefly V2. It's our top pick for a light-up mouse pad due to its slim profile and 19-lighting zones. Compared to Razer's first Firefly mouse pad, it offers four more lighting zones and brighter LEDs to boot. It offers a hard surface with great accuracy for quick swipes and precise smaller movements. And while you’ll have to add another thing to plug into your PC, it doubles as a mouse bungee to keep your wired gaming mouse's cord out of the way.10. Corsair MM1000
Best Wireless Charging Mouse Pad
There's a very real possibility you have a phone on your desk, or at least nearby, while you work. Wouldn't it be great if you could just plop it down and let it charge without messing with a charging cable? The MM1000 mouse pad from Corsair has your back. It features a Qi wireless charging pad built right in, and it's located at the top corner of this somewhat large mouse pad, so you don't have to worry about bumping into it. It also comes with a bunch of USB and Lighting adapters, so you can charge anything wirelessly, as if by magic.What to Look for in a Gaming Mouse Pad
Below I've broken down the various surface types most gaming mouse pads feature as well as some of the materials they’re usually made of. Shopping for the best gaming mouse pad might seem as simple as finding one that looks good to you and will fit in with your gaming setup, but there’s more to these mouse pads than you would think.
For starters, you’ll usually find that mouse pads will have either a smooth or rough surface, and these different types of textures cater to certain styles of play. You’ll find that most mouse pads made of cloth are a bit resistant and make it harder to quickly whip your mouse around. The main reason you’d want to slow down and limit your mouse movements is for better control in shooter-style games or other tasks that requires precision.
Outside of mouse pads made of fabric, you can also get the same experience from a hard mouse pad with a grainy or coarse texture. On the flip side, most hard mouse pads are designed to have a slick surface that makes it feel like your mouse is gliding on ice. The idea behind these low-tack surfaces is to make it easier for gamers to move their cursor from one side of the screen to the other as quickly and easily as possible, which comes in handy for real-time strategy games.
All hard mouse pads aren’t necessarily restricted to just having a slick surface either. Some manufacturers will also glue on a sheet of fabric or speckle the surface so it's grainy like sand to give users play space better suited for control.
As for what materials mouse pads are made of, it’s pretty straightforward. Cloth mouse pads are made of...well, cloth. Hard mouse pads, for the most part, are made of plastic, and usually of the polyethylene variety. Some manufacturers also make mouse pads out of metal, which helps make them extra sturdy and unquestionably flat.
Alternatively, you might find other wilder options like tempered glass and acrylic. And that’s everything you need to know about finding the best mouse pad. Ultimately, getting any of these mouse pads is better than not having one at all, but think hard about the types of games you want to play before you make your final decision.
Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
Mark Knapp is a regular contributor to IGN and an irregular Tweeter on Twitter @Techn0Mark
