Packaging

If you've read any of my previous SteelSeries reviews, or simply bought one of their recent products, the box design might be very familiar. This white-gray-orange color scheme, which I think can be called their signature nowadays, looks sleek and elegant, while maintaining a form of minimalism. The boxes have the usual specifications and render images. Once opened, you can access your new mouse pad. They may have a strong rubber smell at first, but the odor should completely disappear within a few days.

Size and Surface

As previously mentioned, there are three size variants for both mouse pads.

The Edge model is available in these sizes:

Medium: 320 mm x 270 mm x 2 mm
Large: 450 mm x 400 mm x 2 mm
XL: 900 mm x 300 mm x 2 mm

The Heavy model is available in these sizes:

Medium: 320 mm x 270 mm x 6 mm
Large: 450 mm x 400 mm x 6 mm
XXL: 900 mm x 400 mm x 4 mm

In this review, you'll see the medium-sized variants tested and photographed. All of these have the exact same surface and backside material.



My main gripe with the QcK mouse pads is that they still have raised logos after all these years. It's an annoying feature as the mouse slows down or sticks when touching these areas. I hope SteelSeries will finally get rid of this in the near future.


The QcK's surface is rather rough; it's not very pleasant to the touch at first, but I think it's not very hard to get used to, which is subjective. As you'll see under the comparisons section, other mouse pads have a much finer, denser weaving than these. Even though the surface is rough, it's definitely not slow. Some people have the misconception of the QcK being a slow mouse pad. This is nowhere near true, albeit determining the sheer surface speed of a mouse pad isn't the easiest task. In my opinion, the QcK is medium-fast. It's faster than the Zowie G-SR for instance, but noticeable slower than the Corsair MM300 or MM350—both of which have very smooth, densely woven surface materials.

While there are some pads out there that tend to build up static electricity after a few big swipes, I've never once had the issue with a standard-surfaced QcK (the printed ones, like the Limited, on the other hand, are unfortunately very much capable of this).

Underside

The underside of the QcK pads is a bit different from most I own and have reviewed before, as it is densely-woven and has small dots as holes between the weaving. The usual pattern consists of small, arrowhead-shaped waves. I've got to say, the method SteelSeries uses here is a lot better since it makes for a contact surface that is a lot smoother and tackier, which results in awesome grip. The Heavy is notably better in this regard; it sticks extremely well, which has to do with its weight and thickness as well. As with all their newer mouse pads, there are also some SteelSeries logos on the underside.