Mousepads are an often overlooked piece of gaming equipment. They’re not necessarily the most important piece of equipment, but a decent pad will definitely improve your gaming experience and performance.
Much like other peripherals mousepads have their own characteristics; one pad will feel faster than the other, for example. It’s up to you to find out what you are looking for in a pad, but in order to help you on your way we’re going to be reviewing a variety of pads.
The Zowie G-SR is the first pad that’s featured in our upcoming lineup of pad reviews since it’s one of the most commonly used pads out there. Read on to find out how our reviewer liked the Zowie G-SR.
At a Glance
ZOWIE G-SR
Used by 98 players (Jun, 2023)-
b1t
-
Mistic
-
sScary
-
sushiboys
❝The ZOWIE G-SR is still one of the best control pads out there. If you want your mousepad to rein you in with plenty of stopping power and a controlled glide then you should look towards the G-SR.❞
Specs
| Height | 39 |
|---|---|
| Length | 47 |
| Thickness | 3mm |
| Stitched edges | Yes |
| Glide | Control |
Pros
- Stitched edges
- Very consistent surface and foam
Cons
- Slightly sensitive to dust, sweat, and oils
First Impressions
The Zowie G-SR is a relatively thin and large sized mousepad. It’s a lot wider than it is ‘high’ so the G-SR (as a logical consequence) is more rectangular than some other mousepads out there. That’s neither positive nor is it negative, but it’s an observation. There’s plenty of room for low sens gamers in all directions though, and if you don’t need all this real estate you can go for the Zowie P-SR which is the same pad in a smaller form factor.
Straight out of the box (the G-SR comes rolled up in the package) I almost felt worried that the pad wouldn’t stay where I put it due to it not immediately laying flat on my desk and the pad being so light. Once it’s ‘broken in’ and laying completely flat it’s almost impossible (everything is possible if you just try) to get it to move though, which is a sign that the rubber base is doing its job perfectly. I never had an issue with the pad slipping away or otherwise doing stuff it shouldn’t be doing.
The G-SR isn’t the thickest pad out there, so if you’re playing on a massively uneven surface you might encounter some issues, but it’s thick enough to cover up small imperfections on the playing surface that you would normally encounter when playing in most conditions.
Performance
Zowie has always made a point out of not adding any unnecessary drivel to their products, and although they have released some rather ‘gamer-y’ mousepads in the past the G-SR would not look out of place in a more formal setting. The pad has stitched edges and is finished with a small stitched on Zowie logo on the side of the pad. That logo does technically interfere with gameplay if you glide your mouse over it, but if it comes to the point that this becomes a problem ingame then you were probably going to get fragged either way, so this is a non-issue really.
It needs to be said that the materials and the finishing on the Zowie G-SR are top notch. I’ve been using this pad for the past couple of months and it doesn’t look a day older compared to when I first got it.
I play on a rather low sensitivity, so I’m often doing big and fast sweeps and what I found was that the G-SR felt rather controlling. That is not an issue at all, since the speed of a mousepad is mostly personal preference, but it’s something to note regardless. The G-SR has a remarkable amount of stopping power, so if you tend to overshoot your targets or want to get a bit more control you should definitely take a look at the G-SR. If you want a very fast and speedy glide this one should probably be a hard pass though.
Speaking of glide: even though the G-SR feels pretty ‘controlling’ (which is in part due to the pretty wide texturing, you can click the image to the right to see a closeup) it has to be said that it glides smoothly everywhere. There are no inconsistencies in tracking or performance, and the dozen or so mice that I used to test the tracking performance of this pad all performed perfectly as they should.
One small negative thing to note is that this pad tends to lose its initial feeling pretty quickly when compared to other pads. I found that it needed a wash after about 1.5 months of medium usage (which means some hours of work and an hour or two of gaming each day in this case, so your mileage may vary) because the accumulated dust, sweat, and what have you managed to influence the glide on the pad. A thorough washing will largely fix this, so this isn’t a massive issue, but if you live in a dusty environment or something like that you may want to take note.
Update 2nd of March, 2023: ZOWIE has provided us with a link to their recommended way of cleaning their mousepads. You can find the video here.
G-SR Review – Conclusion
The Zowie G-SR is a premium large sized pad which offers a very smooth, though very controlled glide with plenty of stopping power.
It’s finished with high quality stitched edges so it’s going to be plenty durable as well as extremely comfortable due to the quality of the stitching. You’re going to need to wash it quite often, however, since the accumulation of dust, sweat, and so on affect the glide of the pad in a pretty large way. That’s not a big deal, but it is something to take note of.
Concluding: the G-SR is a relatively thin and large sized control pad which does what it sets out to do perfectly. Everything about it feels very premium, and the stylish and timeless design provide perfect performance. If you want a fast pad you’re better off skipping this one, but if you’re looking for a little more control I can only recommend the G-SR.