IceMat - Pictures and review

Mainframeguy

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First three pictures - then I will post again with the review, they'll all be thumbnailed on here so you only have to see them big if you're really interested 'k?

Also leave feedback/critique of review or questions on the thread and I may come back and /EDIT the review post - OK?
 

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Reviewed...

I was given the IceMat last Christmas as a gift that I had said I would rather like... the reason mainly being that I would not be prepared to spend the £27 that I think was the asking price at that time (inc. tax and P&P).

However when I received it I was immediately fairly impressed - it has a cool look and feel right out of the box. By the way when you do open it try not to loose the little sticky tape section you get - although it is not obvious what this is you will later discover there's an insert explaining it is Teflon sticky tape for your mouse feet (and if you chucked it out with the box this could be annoying!)

Next - size... this is NOT a large pad for those of the sweeping gestures - 24.5 x 20.5 CM as I measure it. You might notice from my pics that I have VERY cramped triangular "nook" for my workspace though - so for me a small pad was almost essential. The third pic is trying to highlight the bevelled edging of the pad which is very helpful in the ergonomic feel where your wrist is liable to rest. It is also nice having a cool frosted glass surface near your hand whilst working I have noticed. Lastly it looks pretty cool!

Prior to the icepad I would consume maybe one a year of more regular pads as the surface would deteriorate and, more significantly the edges start to ride up and curl under my wrist. This is a thing of the past with the icemat!.

NOTE OF CAUTION - Icemat is definitely fine with regular and Laser mice (that's my MX1000 you see poised upon it!) BUT be careful about optical. Why? Well although it is frosted and opaqued on the reverse which the makers claim makes the pad IDEAL for optical mice I have found by personal use that it would not immediately track my M$ optical mouse. I think the reason is that the optical field is farther away (as though your mouse were on "stilts" if you like!). In my case it was very very annoying, but I DID resolver the problem by cutting off the small feet that M$ mouse had and replacing with the Teflon tape. Others may have to improvise in similar fashion if using optical mice. I did send an email to the IceMat site - no reply whatsoever, so thumbs down there.

I cannot comment on suppliers etc since this was a present and someone else took care of that.

Last comment - use with the MX1000:- well this is like the "dream team" for me with mouse useage - ultra prcise, highly controllable and responsive, feels totally smooth, zero mouse wobble (some may find their MX1000's can come with one i have heard, and was aware if anything would show up such a flaw the IceMat would be very unforgiving).

So in summary - recommended to those that want a regular size mat for a lifetime and are liable to go with laser technology mice.
 
Unwonted said:
I like the pube in pic #3. It's a nice touch.

1. Why make the assumption it is a pubic hair? (It's not!)

2. Can we stay On Topic! (Or are you saying redo this pic? Or are you saying you LIKE this pic? Or what?)

For some reason I feel this detracts from my review - if a mod sees fit could they either copy paste my review if it is worthy or maye delete the quoted post and this one?

Then again the jokers here will probably just run away wqith the darned thread on this one topic alone (PLEASE don't - make another one if you want to discuss the "hair" issue!)

Lastly - do NOT reply to this post please! (Will only make it worse!) PM me if you must...
 
It's a fine review you've got here. Icemat is about the only high-end mousepad I haven't tried yet, but I'm interested. What is the difference between the MX510 and the MX1000 (besides cordlessness)?

Have you used many other hard-surface pads? How does the Icemat compare to them?








































It looks like a pube.
 
MX510 = optic
MX1000 = Laser

BIG difference in response. works great for gaming. i know, i love gaming wit it. hell, i think Mainframeguy got it jus cause i made a mini-review about it. See HERE.
 
wrong reason ED - But I may well read that review - fact is I was looking at laser anyway (because I had cut the feet off my M$ optical mouse for my IceMat! And the teflon pads were starting to make annoying plicky sounds when they picked up dust!).... Fast is like I say I wanted a Laser mouse that had a charging dock - that was my first point - then I saw the MX1000 owner club thread here - and sold! So I guess your mini review figures in a roundabout way - and BTW thanks for answering on my thread - saves me hassles!
 
i'd like to see a review on this MX1000
 
Unwonted said:
It's a fine review you've got here. Icemat is about the only high-end mousepad I haven't tried yet, but I'm interested. What is the difference between the MX510 and the MX1000 (besides cordlessness)?

Have you used many other hard-surface pads? How does the Icemat compare to them?
hey i saw the little thing at the bottom..... you know what i mean buster :)

the difference is the 510 is optical and the 1000 is laser guided, now i always thought optical was laser but guess i'm wrong, laser is laser and optical is a weird red light that i thought was a laser but now it turns out its not because a laser is a laser so what is an optical mouse if not a laser....:D
 
Optic just uses a bright red LED light. Laser.... think it actually uses something more along the lines of a laser pointer or something, i don't know. can't tell what kinda light it is.... cause you don't see it when you pick the mouse up. right after it leaves the surface, it turns the laser off pretty much entirely. if you hold it at the right angle and look at the hole, you will sometimes see a little red dot, but that's it. not a nearly red flashlight-ish LED light like on my MX500. that thinks wicked. all i know is it's a LOT more responsive than other mice such as the MX500. greatest mouse i've ever owned. and if you looked in my last post, there's the hyperlink to my review thread kinda thing.
 
Laser is optical. It's just that all the LED mice were simply called optical and so Logitech therefor says that the MX1000 isn't optical for that reason. It is optical, just not LED.

Since it's not very healty to look into a laser, the MX1000 will turn itself off as soon as it leaves the surface. So either what you're seeing ElementalDragon isn't the laser or you're mouse isn't doing what it should (in which case don't look at the laser!).

The advantage of laser is mostly the narrow ray of single-frequency light compared to the spread out light of the LED. I'm not sure about the frequency characteristics of a LED, but it's probably not as narrow as a laser.

LEDs:
schema3.jpg

Laser:
schema4.jpg


Good reading btw:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20040924/index.html
 
If you wanna write this in a little more detail, I would be more than happy to stick in the reviews section and post a link on the frontpage... perhaps combine it with a mx1000 review, which I could of course add my own comments to ;)
 
Zedric, it's a very low power laser in the first place. it's not like a laser pointer kinda laser as far as i know, and the only thing i see when i do that is a red light. it's not like a bright blinding kinda light like laser pointers are.
 
ElementalDragon said:
Zedric, it's a very low power laser in the first place. it's not like a laser pointer kinda laser as far as i know, and the only thing i see when i do that is a red light. it's not like a bright blinding kinda light like laser pointers are.
Yes, it's very low power, but still being a laser, afaik, it's a too narrow beem to cause the eye to react to it (i.e "defend itself"). So it could do damage anyway. I wouldn't bet money on it though. :)
 
Optimal Surface for MX1000

hi,
i'm a mx1000 owner. This mice is marvelous!
I have a question for you: can a wodden surface (a desk) cause problems of accuracy with the laser receiver?
I'm sorry for my bad english :eek: (I'm italian).
Thx,
 
well... i'm usin mine on my somewhat polished black desktop with no problems. don't see why wood would be any different.
 
Got an Icemat 2 here, didn't think it would be good, but its awesoem :D
 
I have one of those IceMats, its pretty crap with my wireless logitech mouse, its a bit heavy and always makes a scraping noise, plus those silly friction reducing tape strips didnt do jack.

That said when I use my Razer Viper mouse, which is wired and a lot lighter the whole thing just glides over the mouse mat and its wonderful. So mileage can vary depending on your mouse
 

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