Packaging

Such an absolutely massive mouse pad naturally comes in a big package. It is rolled up by default, which I dislike if done with smaller mouse pads, but it's completely understandable with huge ones like this. The contents of the box are the mouse pad itself, a sticker, and a user manual with a small FAQ. One of the main points of the latter is the smell. This mouse pad has a quite strong rubber smell when you first unbox it, but it should disappear in a few days. This is a common thing with cloth mouse pads, so there's nothing to be afraid of.

Size and Surface

Let this horribly photoshopped picture do the talking—this mouse pad is enormous! My desk is about 140 x 80 cm, which unfortunately means a small portion of the 3XL doesn't fit on to it properly because of my monitor stand. It was really hard to snag a somewhat proper photo of the whole thing laid out as my camera and soft box kit aren't nearly good enough for something of such proportions.


As for the surface, it's a micro-woven cloth, which is very similar to a few I've tried before, such as the Dream Machines DM pad. As you will see in the comparisons part, their surface (and backing too) is almost identical. The Glorious mouse pads have a rather fast mousing surface, the glide is smooth and consistent, and the material is a bit on the rough side. To compare it to a well-known mouse pad, the SteelSeries QcK (non-special edition) has a similar touch.

The Glorious 3XL is of course not completely flat out of the box. It needs a couple of days, or maybe even weeks, to lay completely flat. You can speed up the process by placing some flat, even weights on it; carefully, not to scrape up the surface material. The mousing area should get flat the soonest, especially if you are gaming a lot on a low sensitivity setting.

Underside

Glorious uses the same backing material on all their mouse pads, which is a textured rubber material that should prevent any movement of the pad itself. In reality, this material isn't the best for this as it doesn't stick to the desk as well as some pads from other manufacturers (Razer Goliathus or SS QcK, for instance); however, with such a size and mass, this should absolutely not be an issue. I couldn't make the pad move around at all by normal or abnormally huge mouse swipes either. For smaller-sized Glorious mouse pads, like the Large and XL ones, I'd probably spray some hair spray underneath them (only a small amount, carefully as the surface material shouldn't get any) to make it stay in place on the desk. I've used this method successfully with multiple pads in the past; it doesn't harm the pad or table material.