Introduction

QPAD is one of the biggest manufacturers of high quality mouse mats specifically intended for gaming. In the beginning their line-up consisted only of one hybrid surface mat, it was an instant success amongst gamers. Here many years later their line-up has expanded a lot and now includes anything from hard plastic mats to soft cloth mats. Today I will be taking a look at their new cloth mat called the UC. The UC represents QPAD's first venture into cloth mats. The UC line of mats are made in the same QPAD wrist friendly shape as the EC-R and XT-R mouse mats. You can get the UC mat in four different sizes right from small to extra large. The mat I received for review was the extra large variant.

The Package

The UC ships in a big box with a few accessories. Since it is a soft mat it is quite hard to damage, but if it is rolled up in a box like the UC is, it will take it some time to smooth out. The moment you pop up the box you realize just how large this mat is. It is 50 cm x 36.5 cm which means it is huge and will take up a lot of desk real estate. You get the choice of how big you want the mat, so you can basically get one in a size that fits your needs. I usually game with a low sensitivity so the “the bigger the better” mantra rings clearly here.


With the UC you also get two case badges and five Microsoft type Teflon skates. The "Glidz" as QPAD has named their mouse feet are extremely well made and these are precut for use with Microsoft mice. It is nice to get some good skates, but it is weird that they deliver skates only for Microsoft mice it would have been better with a piece of uncut Teflon because it means you could cut it yourself to fit whatever mouse you have.

Closer Examination

The mat is extremely big and has the same basic shape as the QPAD EC-R and XT-R mats which is nice. The shape means that your wrist’s angle of attack is the same no matter where you have positioned the mouse on the mat. It does not matter that much comfort wise with soft mats like the UC. The image was taken straight after unboxing the mat and as you can see there are some bumps across the mat which are caused by the mat being stored in a box rather than a cylinder. No matter how you store it, the edge will tend to curl up a bit. After two days on my desk the bumps were almost gone completely.


The rubber base is approximately 3 mm high. You really do not notice the height of the mat when in use because it is soft and wrist friendly.


Even though it is a soft mat the edges do not seem to be prone to flossing. The finish of the edges was perfect all the way around the mat. The fact that the edges are so neatly trimmed has a beneficial effect on durability, since the first thing that usual starts to come undone on a soft mat are the edges. QPAD has done the right thing here and sealed the edges thoroughly. Although they probably will come undone over time, the UC has the prettiest edges of all my soft mats.


The surface is very finely knit and is quite hard for a soft mat. It does not stretch to the same degree as my older cloth based mats, which is a good thing because that would make the glide worse.


This mat is enormous, just to get a sense of its size I laid an AA-battery on top of it. The mat measures 50 cm x 36.5 cm which makes it one of the biggest around only rivaled by the desk mats and perhaps the SteelSeries QcK+. With a thickness of only 3 mm this mat is very comfortable to use.


The logo is really just a heat sealed sticker so the glide in that particular area of the mat is virtually non existing. Thankfully the mat is huge so it is not a problem at all.