Packaging and Build Quality

Packaging

The Atlas arrives in a flat cardboard box, for obvious reasons. Inside, a foam padding covering the entire mouse pad ensures no damage to the Atlas during transport. Out of the box, a minor chemical smell may be noticeable.

Build Quality

My unit has impeccable build quality. Being CNC-milled, the edges are rounded, and I haven't been able to detect any imperfections. The same goes for the surface, which too doesn't show any defects. The rubber base likewise doesn't peel anywhere. Maintenance is very easy, as a damp microfiber cloth will suffice to get rid of any dirt, dust, or smudges.

Materials

Surface

The surface of the Atlas isn't plain tampered glass. Instead, a 2 μm deep texture has been micro-etched, which enables optical sensors to properly track the surface in the first place. In addition, the Atlas is 5 mm thick, which too aids in optical sensors being able to track fully.


Furthermore, an oleophobic coating with 9H pencil hardness has been applied, which provides oil-rejecting (or, rather, non-attracting) properties to the surface. The main benefit of an oleophobic (or lipophobic) coating is that any finger oils left by the user bead up, making it easier to wipe them off without any smudging or smearing. Oleophobic coatings should be familiar to most people from phones or tablets. Even on those, the coating eventually wears off, and considering that mouse movement involves higher abrasion, the coating may wear off reasonably quickly (i.e., in a few months), depending on usage. While oleophobic coatings are often described as largely unaffected by isopropyl alcohol, usage of the latter may be deemed excessive as the coating already enables one to fully clean the surface without having to resort to cleaning agents such as IPA. For what it's worth, if it eventually has worn off, restoring an oleophobic coating is perfectly possible.

Underside

Regular textured silicone rubber. A hexagonal pattern is used, which is supposed to provide improved non-slip properties.

Logo

If orienting the pad as intended, the logo will sit either in the upper-right or the lower-left corner. The logo is realized through leaving the parts in question non-etched (i.e., without texture), which is why sensor tracking may be negatively affected or even interrupted when moving the mouse across the logo. The size of the logo is roughly 5.5 cm x 5.5 cm, which amounts to roughly 1.68% of the usable surface area. While hardly oversized, reducing its size or moving it closer to the edge may have been preferable, especially as the logo cannot be removed.