XTrac Zoom Mouse Pad

Company: XTrac
Product: Zoom Mouse Pad
Street Price: ~$15
Date Reviewed: August 25, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey Chao

Using the XTrac Zoom:

To test out the pad, we decided to first try out a few FPS games. The pad felt very good and worked well with the Logitech MX700 optical mouse that we used. Precision and accuracy was all there. The Zoom is slick, but not too slick, and there was no noise from the friction of the mouse gliding on the surface of the pad. The Steelpad 4S however is very noisy unless you use some sort of teflon tape to make the feet glide better. The XTrac had no problems without using tape on the feet of the MX700. As we said earlier, the size of the mouse pad maybe not fit all desks (like ours) but it can be placed underneath the keyboard without causing any unwanted wobble.

The next set of testing was just performing everyday tasks along with some Photoshop. Again, the pad worked great and we have no complaints that come to mind. The movements were very smooth and there was no jitter or random skipping. Since the pad is very thin, you can place you hand directly on the pad or on the desk without any discomfort. Some pads have cutouts such as the Ratpadz GS for users who put their hand on the desk. The XTrac Zoom does not need a cut out due to the ultra thin design.

The one thing that we would not recommend doing with this mouse pad is folding it over. Even though it is thin and flexible, folding can cause creases and maybe even ruin the pad. The thin design would seem like it would fold or curl, but after using it for weeks, it is still perfectly flat. Cleaning is not a problem either, some household cleaners should do just fine. The pad overall require very little maintenance, if any.

Final Thoughts:

The XTrac Zoom has to be one of the best mouse pads we have used. The Ratpadz GS is a very nice pad but it is large and may cause issues with small desks, however the keyboard can be placed on the edge of the XTrac Zoom. The overall experience was pleasing and the pad has replaced the Steelpad 4S that I was previously using. There are a few other models from XTrac, some are smaller and feature little differences in design. Price wise the Zoom is not a very expensive pad costing about $15 USD. Just about anyone can afford this nice mousing surface.

Basically, if you are looking for a new mouse pad we highly recommend considering the XTrac Zoom. It performs as well as all other we have tested, look cool, and is easy to keep in good shape. Congrats on a nice product from XTrac.

A special thanks to PCExtreme for sending this product to review. They currently have this product in stock and ready to ship, as well as tons of other items to customize your PC.

Overall: 9.5/10