Package

With the Epic Gear Hybrid Pad all you get is the mat. There are no extras in the form of mouse feet or carrying bag. As with all mouse mats the quality of the mouse feet are essential if you want to get the most out of the mat. Any mouse equipped with quality mouse feet will work just fine on the Hybrid Pad.

Closer Examination

The mat looks alright even though it is styled to Epic Gears' somewhat unusual orange / black combination. The amount of surface area consumed by the logos is fairly limited so you get a lot of mat real estate for the money. The first thing you notice after playing around with the mat is that the surface is very finely textured even for a hybrid soft-mat. The glide experience is thus super smooth and very linear compared to what can be achieved on the previous generation of soft-mats.


Surface wise the Hybrid Pad is very well off and the surface works well with all mice straight from a Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 1.1 to the latest laser sensor equipped mice. The Epic Gear Meduza mouse also works great with this mat.


The two logos are placed at the very edges of the mat, and besides that they are quite small. Other companies could learn from this. The glide is still compromised where there are printed letters.


Mat height is always an issue even with soft-mats. The Hybrid Pad from Epic Gear is very good when it comes to thickness measuring in at only 3 mm. That coupled with a very soft rubber base and top layer means that the mat is extremely comfortable in use.


On the back side you find a box standard threaded rubber base which works alright. Due to the low weight of the mat it has a tendency to slide around during gaming, but that is pretty normal for a low weight soft mat.