Black Icemat (On Ice After Dark)

Reviews: Peripherals

Accessories | Gaming Devices | Keyboards / Mice | Printers

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Kurtis Kronk
Brian
Icemat
May. 29, 2003

Specifications

Delivery / The Package

Something I would like to note before I go into the review is the delivery of this product. If you live in the USA as I do, and you want to order one of these Icemats, I highly suggest using Express shipping. The reason I mention this is because I was sent two Icemats, one via standard shipping, one via DHL express. The Standard shipping took 15 business days to arrive and the express took only 2 business days to arrive. The difference in price is only ~$3.00 USD, and to me $3.00 to shave 2 weeks off of the delivery time is well worth it. Anyways, on to the package!

As I mentioned earlier, I received two Icemats, one via standard delivery and one via DHL express. Both were packed the same, just the outside wrapper was different. Just for fun I will show you both, it's not because I'm anal, I promise. Once you rip off the 1st layer of the package you will find a very pretty box. I congratulate Icemat on the excellent job they did designing the graphics for the package. First impressions are important, and with that said, I couldn't wait to rip the Icemat out of the box and proceed to romancing and shagging it... I mean... fragging with it in CS, yeah... Anywho, let's open the box and see if the Icemat is as sexy as the box it is in.

Inside the Box

Once you open the box you will find two pieces of styrofoam that completely surround the Icemat for full protection during shipping. Do not break or lose the styrofoam or the box, you will want to use it later if you take the Icemat to LAN parties or anything of that nature. You will also find a strip of Pad Surfers on top of the styrofoam. Icemat includes a strip with every purchase (Enough for many applications if you are conservative), but you may choose to buy some more Pad Surfers for ~$4.00 (2 x 10cm strips). When you take off the styrofoam you will reveal the stylish Icemat. Looking at the bottom right corner you will see the Icemat logo. The logo is a tiny bit foggy but I believe it is due to the special coating Icemat has put on the top of the glass. Anyway, it isn't a big deal at all, the Icemat still looks great. Something small to note is that when you first open the package, the Icemat will probably not be completely clean. The edges will have a little bit of white smudged on the edges, but it can easily be taken off with a moist cloth.

Quality Inspection

Now that the Icemat is all cleaned up let's take a closer look at it.. Something that would be a little painful is if you were to stab yourself in the wrist with the sharp corner of a glass mousepad while intensely playing your favorite game and bleed to death... Icemat doesn't want their customers to die so they decided to round the corners on the Icemat, smart move! On the bottom of the mousepad there are 6 feet to prevent the Icemat from moving while you are gaming. On my RatpadzGS I found myself repositioning the pad every few hours, but I haven't had to reposition the Icemat once. Also on the bottom of the Icemat is a special coating on the glass that gives it great tracking for optical mice. It almost seems like a metal plate on the bottom, but the entire pad is actually glass. The surface of the Icemat is also very smooth mainly due to the fact that it is made out of glass. The smooth surface spoils you, once you use the Icemat you will never return to inferior cloth pads or even the RatpadzGS which I once loved. As I said earlier, I received two Icemats, and both of them arrived in perfect condition. Neither had any chips or scratches on them. So far so good for the Icemat, let's continue...

Dimensions

In case you care, here are the dimensions of the Icemat as measured by me and my handy dandy ruler:
Width: 9.75"
Depth: 8.25"
Height: 1/8"

Putting the Icemat to the Test

It has been established that the Icemat looks amazing, but the most important thing is that it performs well. To start the testing I used my Logitech MX700 (Logitech MX700 Review) wireless optical mouse (~$65.00). The MX700 utilizes superior optical tracking technology and I expected no problems with using it on the Icemat. The MX700 held up to my expectations and performed superbly. The tracking is just as good as on my Ratpadz GS (Ratpadz GS Review) and the movement is even smoother, especially with the addition of the included Pad Surfers. If you do not use pad surfers with this mousepad, the movement will not be as smooth, and there will be some annoying noise and there will definitely be more friction. The pad surfers make an excellent addition to this mousepad. Note: For best performance using pad surfers, use small pieces that only cover the mouse's feet. If you use strips that are too large, they will often get pulled back and drag across the Icemat, slowing you down and making for some annoying noise. (See pictures below for suggested size).

The next mouse we tested on the Icemat was a MS Wheel Mouse Optical. Once again this mouse performed flawlessly.

The next mouse I tested was my 3-year old Intellimouse Explorer. You can't even buy this mouse anymore, so I didn't expect it to perform well, and boy was I right. When I used the old mouse on the Icemat it was skipping back and forth like a mouse on drugs. The reason there was a problem with this mouse is simply because it is an old mouse. With the new developments in optical technology, my old mouse was left outdated, and teased by all other mice.

Anyways, we tested on one more mouse, a Targus Wireless Optical Mini Mouse, and this mouse also performed flawlessly and joined the others in teasing the old outdated mouse.

We didn't use any ball mice to test the Icemat on because ball mice are outdated. The mouse ball will always find a reason to get stuck and the performance of a ball mouse can't touch that of new optical mice. So to sum up testing... If you have a really old optical mouse, you will want to invest in a newer optical mouse to be able to use the Icemat. I highly suggest the Logitech MX700 if you have the money, or if you are on a budget, the Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical is another good choice.

Some other things I took note of during testing is that the Icemat can get dirty rather easily. To get the best out of the Icemat you need to keep it clean. To do this, every few hours I swipe my Goldfish (Yes, the cheesy crackers) crumbs off of the Icemat with my hand, and that does the job. If you are not sure how often you should clean the Icemat, consult a physician.

Conclusion

Overall the Icemat is an outstanding product. Whether you intend to use the Icemat for the office, gaming, or both, it will fulfill your needs and/or fantasies. This mousepad offers style, customizability, and most importantly, functionality. I must warn you, however, if you have an old optical mouse, the Icemat may not work for you. If this is the case, and you still want an Icemat, I suggest you invest in a newer mouse such as the Logitech MX700 or the MS Wheel Mouse Optical. However, if you are looking for a cheap solution that still provides great performance I must suggest the Ratpadz GS Gaming Pad. It performs just as well if not better and it only costs $10.00.

Note: If you purchase the Icemat make sure to hold on to the box and styrofoam to keep it safe in transport. If you transport the Icemat without taking these precautions, it is possible you will break it. This does not mean it is not durable, but it is made out of glass, so don't take a chance.

Pros

Very stylish
2 Color Options
Available as a combo with a MS IME 3.0
Customizability (When ordering 100+)
Plastic feet actually work
Perfect size
Very smooth surface
Included Pad Surfers

Cons

A bit expensive, there are cheaper solutions with on par performance
May not work with old optical mice
Glass is breakable
Doesn't cool beverages as the name ICEMAT implies...

Extra Images

*UPDATE* 12/03/03

After using the Icemat for over a month, I found it to be quite annoying. Although I really like how it looks, I found it increasingly difficult to keep clean. The Icemat's biggest flaw is the fact that tiny particles can dramatically affect your mousing experience. What I mean is that these tiny little specs will cause extra friction between your mouse and the pad, and a nasty scratching sound will be made. I did mention this in the review previously, but it got to a point where it annoyed me beyond belief. This could possibly be fixed by cleaning the mousepad regularly with glass cleaner (or something else other than your hand), but who wants to bother cleaning their mouse pad? Not I.

That said, I have been using my Ratpadz GS for several months, and have been extremely pleased with it. Although it does have a tendency to slide around a little bit (despite the rubber feet), so does the Icemat. If you are not looking at the Icemat just for its stylish design, then I highly recommend you strongly consider the Ratpadz GS.

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Add Comment

9 User Comments

1 - Posted by handrail on May 30, 2003 - 9:35 am

i don't know anything about the ICEMAT, but that $14 MS optical mouse is a great buy. i have 2 of them i got from ol' directon.com. i just saw the same one for sale at my local PC shop for $34.99, so it's a heck of a deal.

btw, i just bought a bunch of crap from directron ~$300 worth and i linked to their site from yours. i hope you get some kickback/referal $$$.

2 - Posted by Kurtis on May 30, 2003 - 12:52 pm

hmm, wierd. It shows no commission. When did you do this? What link did you follow. Some just go to directron.com, the one you have to follow for us to get commission is:
http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?directron+bxF...

:( Maybe it will show in a couple days, I duno. Anyways thanks for clicking through our banners anyway :)

3 - Posted by handrail on May 30, 2003 - 1:34 pm

i used the ad banner on the home page. sorry if that was the wrong one. not to worry, i have another big order to place in about a week.

4 - Posted by Kurtis on May 30, 2003 - 2:56 pm

sweet :)
Well, if you used the banner on the homepage it should work... I will look into it :P

What did you buy?

5 - Posted by Kurtis on May 30, 2003 - 3:06 pm

update: I spoke with yahoo because its a yahoo store commission thing... Anyways, they say it works but my stats page isn't real time. If you just placed the order, it will take 24-48 hours for it to show on my stats page. I will let you know if we get anything from it. Whether or not we do, I really appreciate you tryin to support us by going through our banners :)

6 - Posted by handrail on May 30, 2003 - 3:39 pm

cool, i hope you cash in from my purchasing.

i got a new mobo (asus a7n8x deluxe), a 40gb maxtor hdd, and a geforce4 mx 440 (an upgrade for my home machine, next week i will be purchasing the radeon 9500 pro for the gaming machine). also a new powersupply to replace my noisy one at home. got the TT300ss.

almost have all the components for my gaming machine now. i am so sick of my crappy geforce2 for gaming. 32mb just doesn't cut it unless i am playing hl or a hl mod.

7 - Posted by Kurtis on May 30, 2003 - 3:43 pm

we only get 2% commission heh. your 300 bucks is 6 bucks for us :P YIPPEE :P
I didn't realize we got SO little commission, oh well though. If we can get hundreds of people to buy stuff we recommend through the banners, then we will be doing well :P

8 - Posted by Guest on June 18, 2004 - 1:58 pm

The good points of this review are very true and from a gamer's viewpoint this ICEMAT is great! Your finer movements aren't jerky just to line up that clean headshot from a looooooooooong way off.

I also own a RatPadz GS too, but I also found that the R-GS tends to wear out. The dimpled surface only lasted me six months and (commonly known to other R-GS owners) now bears a heavily worn semi-circular arc when the mouse is constantly dragged across. Although mouseskates help alleviate the problem, my vote is definitely FOR the ICEMAT.

Great review and all the best,
-BuzzPuppy

9 - Posted by Guest on August 2, 2004 - 4:09 am

I've used a black icemat for over a year now and it's perfection (or as close to it as to be indistinguishable).
Before that I used a transparent one for a year, replacing it only because it doesn't work well with optical rodents (it's now in my laptop case together with an old traditional mouse for the few times I need to use the laptop on the road).

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