Introduction

SteelSeries has always been known to produce some of the best hard mats in the world. Recently they released a revamped version of the S&S which has been considered one of the best hard mats on the market for many years. A couple of days ago SteelSeries released the long anticipated SteelSeries SX. The SteelSeries SX can be considered as the next evolution of the old SteelSeries 4S, which like the SX was made of polished aluminum.

The all new SX is one of those mats that you just can't help staring at. It not only looks great, but also feels different than any other mat I have ever tried. The SX is aimed at providing a new type of surface for gamers. It's a lot smoother than any other pad on the market and has a different type of grain that I will discuss later in the review.

This new SX is extreme in every aspect right from the some what ridiculous price to the way it is built.

Specifications from SteelSeries homepage:

• Extremely smooth mousepad
• Lifelong durablity thanks to coated aluminum
• Compatible with gaming grade optical and laser mice
• 320 mm x 270 mm (12.6 x 10.6 in) - thickness 2 mm (0.08 in)

First Look

One of the first things you notice when you first receive the SteelSeries SX is that the package is really heavy. The package itself consists of a cardboard box with a plastic case inside that houses the mat. Since the mat is made of aluminum I'm pretty sure that no harm will come to it while it's being shipped from the seller to your door.


When I got the mat out of the package I noticed that SteelSeries ships this mat with a lot of different stuff. Besides the usual commercial adverts they include a lint free cloth and some SteelSeries Glides. The lint free cloth is quite good at cleaning the mat. This is of course necessary because the mat is made of aluminum, so each thumb print is quite easy to see in daylight.


The Gilde MS mouse feet are made of high quality Teflon. The adhesive used on the back is quite strong and should make sure that you can get them to stick on top of the OEM mouse feet without falling off. I installed the mouse feet on top of some Teflon that I got with a NOIDpad and they remained in place throughout the entire review.


Another little design feature is the SteelSeries logo located at the top of the pad. It looks just like a case badge.