Steelpad 4D Review

reviewed by Falcon

Thanks to Danny from SoftTrading for providing the Steelpad for evaluation.

Introduction:

Today I’ll be taking a look at another product from the Steelpad family – the Steelpad 4D. This mouse pad provides a 2 sided plastic surface at half the cost of the aluminium based Steelpad 4S.

The Steelpad 4D comes in at a familiar 290x267mm (11x10 inches), and is 2mm thick including the base. One side of the pad is smooth with a glossy finish, which is designed to provide excellent traction capability specifically for ball mice. The other side is rougher and has more of a matte base. Since mouse pad feet would be impractical and less efficient, the 4D uses the same rubber material that is used with the 4S. This provides an iron grip on the table that basically requires the pad to be lifted from below to be moved - Much better than having the mouse pad slide on the table while the mouse feet stay attached to the pad :)

Also included with the packaging is a set of “padsurfers”, which if you haven’t heard of before are 10cm Teflon based strips placed on the mouse feet in order to improve slickness.

Impressions and information:

The inclusion of the padsurfers are quite useful for the rough surface, as they makes an instantly noticeable difference. Using a mouse on the rough side without them can be jittery while sliding across the surface.
While it was not completely smooth using the rough side, the level of friction was right to my liking. I had excellent control, sliding the mouse along easily without losing desired control over where it went.

The minute ripples can be seen on the rough surface of the mouse pad

The glossy side is smoother and shinier

The shiny side of the pad provided a smoother motion, but the glossy coating caused extra friction requiring slightly more force to move the mouse. This was a bit too much resistance for my linking, especially in comparison with the performance of the Icemat and Steelpad 4S. I also found that the cursor movement was slightly less precise on the shiny surface. (Optical mice have a habit of disliking very shiny surfaces.)

One thing that I like about the pad is the fact that it is extremely flat, and barely sits above the table surface. The plastic is also slightly flexible, so I can sit my palm along the edge and barely notice its there.
A couple of points, specifically in comparison with the Steelpad 4S is that the 4D is virtually silent while moving the mouse along the surface, and also isn’t cold to touch. Additionally, it has the advantage of working with all ball and optical mice, including the old Logitech optical series for anyone who still happens to be using one.

Onto the testing and conclusion: