Nothing really special...
But still cool looking.

The Ratpadz was created back in 1998 by Kyle Bennet (yes the same Kyle Bennet from HardOCP) as a “Gamers mouse pad”. Made out of an Ultraslick™ polymer that allows faster and smoother mouse movements, which means more accurate fragging. It also is one of the largest mouse pads I have ever seen. It’s exact dimensions are 9.5” tall, and a whopping 11.5” wide!  That’s almost as big as my keyboard.

You can sort of see the surface texture in this pic.
Click to enlarge

The surface of the Ratpadz is far from your average mouse pad surface.  It’s very coarse and feels very similar to the top of a plastic cutting board.  This is both to allow the ball on normal mice to grip better, and to allow the LED on optical mice to read more accurately.

Little rubber feet hold the pad in place

There are 9 rubber pads on the bottom of the pad to help keep it in place during those crazy UT sessions.  Over time however the pad can get a little bent out of shape that can cause some of the pads not to touch, which in turn makes the Ratpadz slip around a bit.  Not to worry however, these things are durable enough that all it takes is a little bending to get it right back in shape again.

Coarser Surface		Smooth Surface

The fUnc sUrface 1030 (gotta love that name) is a much newer addition to the world of mouse pads.  It was created by fUnc Industries and was also made to be a “Gamers mouse pad”.  It to is made out of the Ultraslick™ polymer which helps make it VERY slippery.  Unique to the sUrface 1030 is the fact that it has two unique sUrface sides users can choose to mouse on, both providing a smooth feel with a high level of traction consistency and precision.  One is coarser, and its texture is very similar to the Ratpadz.  The other side is much smoother, but still has a slight texture to it.  This is to provide something for the mouse ball to grip on to.  One thing I have to point out is the packaging that the sUrface 1030 came in.  It is packaged in a very cool looking shiny metal tin, which can also be used as a transporter to and from various LAN Parties, very useful.

fUnc is only slightly smaller then the Ratpadz

The size of the sUrface 1030 is only slightly smaller then the Ratpadz, 10”x8.5”.  Still quite a bit larger then your standard mouse pad.  Also included in the package is a very useful cord clip.  Now I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I always seem to run out of mouse cable at exactly the wrong time, usually when I’m trying to frag someone in UT.  That is where the cord clip becomes a lifesaver.  The clip connects to base at one of six locations accommodating left and right handed users, and allows for surface to be used "wide" or "long" depending on user preference.  It also applies pressure at two locations on the cord ensuring a firm hold, stabilizing it in one position.  The only disadvantage I can see to the clip is the fact that, after I played around with it for a while, I notice quite a bit of little tiny scratches all over my mouse cord.  Now of course this doesn’t affect mouse performance at all, but it is a little annoying.