Pulsar is a brand that has been killing it, releasing some really strong products that made significant waves in the enthusiast scene, and we even saw some pros moving to mice such as the Xlite V2. All of this was (and is) massively impressive for a brand that’s rather new to the mouse market, and with the Superglide Mousepad, Pulsar is moving into the gaming mousepad space. Is this premium glass mousepad worth your hard earned money? Find out all you need to know in our full Pulsar Superglide Mousepad review!
At A Glance
Pulsar Superglide Mousepad
If I were to main a glass mousepad, it would be this one.
Pros
- Very smooth glide
- Extremely stable rubber base
- Pad feels solid and doesn’t flex
- Nicely rounded edges
Cons
- Very expensive
- Moving your mouse around on a glass pad is noticeably louder than on a cloth pad
Specs
| Height | 42 |
|---|---|
| Length | 49 |
| Thickness | 4mm |
| Stitched edges | Yes |
| Material | Glass |
| Glide | Speed |
| Static Friction | 35 |
| Static Friction Angle | 6.02 |
| Glide Difference X/Y | 2 |
| Dynamic Friction | 1.42 |
First Impressions
Those of you who follow Pulsar or the gaming peripherals scene a little bit will probably know about the brand’s Superglide mouse skates. If not: these are super slick glass mouse feet that the brand produces for a variety of mouse models. I am mentioning this because this pad carries the same name, but it’s important to note that the Superglide mousepad feels completely different than the mouse skates. The skates are extremely smooth and glossy, whereas this mousepad has a slight texturing to it, so if you were expecting a Superglide mouse skate that’s been enlarged to the size of a mousepad it’s a good idea to adjust your expectations. Another small note: don’t use Superglide skates on the Superglide mousepad (or, to put it simply: don’t use glass on glass) as this can scratch or damage both.
With that out of the way, I have to talk about the unboxing experience. It’s utterly fantastic. The mousepad box looks nice and has a good amount of padding in there, so Pulsar has really tried to make sure that this mousepad arrives at your doorstep safely. Inside the nice looking box you’ll find a little guide along with a sticker and, of course, the mousepad itself. It’s nice to see that Pulsar dedicated some attention to the unboxing experience. It’s of no importance to the overall performance of the product (and it won’t influence my opinion on said product) but it’s a nice extra regardless.
As for the design of the mousepad itself: I don’t much care for the looks of the particular pad that I got, but Pulsar also sells the Superglide Mousepad in a black and a white colorway so if you’re bit turned off by the looks of the mousepad in this review you can rest assured that there are other options for you out there.
Performance
If you think ‘glass’ you’re probably thinking ‘speed’. And you’d be right, but there’s more to it. Of course the Pulsar Superglide Mousepad is (a lot) faster than most cloth pads, but it’s not all speed. The static friction is extremely low, meaning that there’s almost nothing holding you back when you’re doing micro adjustments and small aiming movements, but once your mouse really gets going the mousepad tells a slightly different story.
The Superglide Mousepad has a surprising amount of stopping power for a glass mousepad. Of course it’s absolutely nothing compared to medium and control-oriented cloth pads, but in my testing I found pads such as the Glorious ICE and the EndGame Gear MPC to be quite a bit faster on the dynamic friction front. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on what you want out of a mousepad: if you want ultimate speed you’ll want to consider other pads, for example, but this does make for an extremely interesting glide.
Of course our tests are just that: tests. We try to make our tests as ‘real world’ as possible, but the fact remains that they can never tell the whole story when it comes to ingame feeling since it’s impossible to replicate real usage by a human being. Gamers do things such as increase or decrease the pressure on the mouse at different times, change the angle of a swipe, and so on, and those are all things you cannot replicate in a ‘lab environment’. My own personal testing did confirm what I saw in the data tests, however.
Usually with pads that are extremely speedy (which most glass pads are) I constantly overshoot my targets and I feel as if I’m caught out on an icy road in sandals. That’s partially down to the fact that I prefer control-oriented mousepads, making the jump to a speed pad even more ‘shocking’, but I have to say that I didn’t have a whole lot of issues with overshooting here. After only 30 minutes or so of getting used to the pad I started hitting some really satisfying flick shots, and I never really felt like I was out of control when swiping.
Summarizing the glide of the Pulsar Superglide Mousepad, I can say that it’s a pad with almost no static friction and, for a glass pad, a surprising amount of dynamic friction and stopping power. This can be ideal for people who want a completely free experience when making small movements (spray control, microadjusting, …) but want some control when swiping.
The bottom of the Superglide mousepad is fully covered in a heavily textured rubber material, and this base does an awesome job at keeping the pad exactly where you left it. Unless you’re deliberately pushing it horizontally by applying pressure to the edge (which is something you obviously never do when gaming) it’s impossible to get it to move. The edges feel pleasantly rounded all over the mousepad, and the ever so slightly textured surface is completely consistent and doesn’t flex in the middle. This is one high quality mousepad.
Being a glass mousepad, it has a number of unique characteristics that you really have to take into account before pulling the trigger, doubly so because this isn’t a cheap product to say the least.
I’ll start with the surface, which is obviously completely solid. This makes for an extremely consistent glide that will stay the same for many, many years as glass mousepads simply don’t degrade as fast as cloth pads. The tradeoff here is that this solid surface is completely unforgiving to dust or other small pieces of debris that you can find on household surfaces. Getting a tiny hair stuck under your mouse feet is something that you definitely feel when using a glass pad, so you will need to keep the surface squeaky clean and you can also forget about using subpar/scratchy mouse feet since those stick out like a sore thumb too. That’s not the pad’s fault (manufacturers shouldn’t make bad mouse feet, after all) but it’s still something to note, especially if you’re using an older mouse or something like that.
The Superglide Mousepad is also a lot louder than a cloth pad. If you’re someone who plays on a lower sensitivity and you have to do a lot of swiping this becomes even more apparent: gliding makes an audible noise, and putting your mouse back down after doing a swipe reset sounds as if you’re slapping down a piece of plastic on a glass table, since that’s basically exactly what you’re doing.
Lastly, people with sweaty arms/hands should also look out. As the surface is non-porous, sweat will just sit on the mousepad with nowhere to go, so if you’ve got sweaty forearms or sweaty palms you will leave damp spots on the mousepad, and those can and do influence the glide.
Let me be clear: I am not bashing the Superglide Mousepad here. The things I mention are all inherent to glass mousepads and can’t be avoided if you’re making a glass pad as they simply come with the territory. I just mention them in the interest of giving people who are considering this pad (or any glass mousepad) a full picture of what they can expect.
Pulsar Superglide Mousepad – Conclusion
This is a very interesting glass mousepad. Most people, myself included, think of limitless speed and a glide without any resistance at all when they’re thinking of glass mousepads, and while the Superglide Mousepad offers almost no resistance when it comes to making small movements, it does have some stopping power and control when making big and fast swipes. This doesn’t come close to cloth pads of course, but it still gives the Superglide a very interesting glide with almost no static friction and a decent amount (for a glass mousepad) of dynamic friction.
If all of this what you are after, the Superglide can truly be your pad of choice. The rubber base is stable as can be, there’s no flexing in the pad itself, the texture is smooth and consistent, and the edges of the mousepad are nicely rounded. If I were to main a glass mousepad, it would be this one.
The quality is undoubtedly there, but so is the price. If you’re absolutely sure that this type of glide is what you want then the Superglide Mousepad comes warmly recommended, but if you’re just starting out or you want to explore your options a little bit when it comes to mousepads I would recommend trying out cheaper cloth pads first.
This product was received for free from the manufacturer and given to our reviewer to test and review. Brands and manufacturers have no editorial control over our reviews. For more information, check out our review FAQ.
