What kind of mouse pad and mouse feet do you currently use and why?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

We already have a good thread going on what kind of USB mouse people use but I'm curious about what kinds of mouse pads and mouse feet (also called mouse skates) people use.

This poll is in two parts; one for the pads and one for feet (aka skates). You may vote more than once since you may be currently using multiple combinations of feet and pads.

Soft mouse pads are generally made of cloth covering a slightly padded substrate. Hard mouse pads can be made from a variety of materials, such as metal, glass, or hard plastic, and may or may not be textured. Other mouse pads may include homemade pads or even no pad at all.

Stock mouse feet are the feet that came installed on the mouse. Some manufacturers may sell replacement feet for when the factory feet wear out; these would still be considered to be stock feet.

Aftermarket mouse feet are feet that are sold claiming to be an upgrade to stock mouse feet (they may or may not be an improvement). They may install in the factory location for the feet or may need to be installed alongside the factory feet. Most aftermarket mouse feet are aimed at gamers.

Other mouse feet or feet modifications may include homemade feet various tapes to go over existing mouse feet.

Please be sure to include comments on why you use whatever you use.

[AZgl1800]

I prefer the mouse pad with a soft foam backing, and a pixelated Image on the top side for the mouse to slide over.

no dust bunnies to clog up the mouse, and infinitely mouse tracking control

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm currently use a lightly textured hard plastic mouse pad made by Allsop when at my desk (I haven't used a soft mouse pad for over a decade). I find the hard pads have much less drag when moving a mouse across them. Hard mouse pads tend to not get as dirty as soft pads and are far easier to clean when they do get dirty. They also do not wear out as quickly as soft pads do.

Sadly, the Allsop pads have apparently been discontinued by the manufacturer and are now only being sold by *&^%$#@! scalpers for four to five times the original price. Fortunately, I was able to stock up on the pads when they first started to disappear before the prices skyrocketed and still have eight spares on hand. These pads have been lasting me between six months and a year so far. I use the larger size pads so I don't have to reposition my mouse as often but I keep some smaller ones in my laptop bag to use when away from home and the surface I'm using the mouse on is either too rough or too reflective to use the mouse on without a pad.

I've found spraying some silicone spray on the pad and spreading it around with some tissue paper both makes the pad slicker and cleans up any dirt on the pad.

When I'm in bed watching a movie or reading on my TV screen that is patched into my computer, I use a mouse as a remote on the blanket covering me or on my clothing. It's crude but reasonably effective.

One downside of using textured hard pads is they wear out mouse feet far more quickly than they would otherwise (I wore out the feet on a Logitech mouse in six months and Logitech doesn't sell replacement feet). To eliminate the wear on the factory feet and to make them a bit slicker, I cover them with PTFE (aka Teflon) tape. The tape will last roughly two weeks to a month before it has to be replaced. Besides wearing out and needing replacement fairly often, the tape is soft enough that dirt can get embedded in the tape, increasing friction (I hate a dragging mouse!).

I had started experimenting with something called mouse disks, which are round disks made of a hard plastic that should last longer than the tape I was using but I recently stumbled on some aftermarket mouse feet made of ceramic on Amazon. I would think those would wear even better than the tape covered feet and would be even slicker so I bought some to try out. As far as mouse feet go, they are as bit thicker so they are intended to be stuck onto a mouse alongside the factory feet. Six feet come in each package but, for the trial period, I'm using only four on the mouse I use at my desk with my daily driver (the other mice I have will continue to use the stock feet covered with PTFE tape or mouse disks for the time being).

The ceramic feet on the hard plastic pad is the slickest combination I have encountered so far. I can just barely nudge the mouse with a finger and the little rat will sail off over the pad. I have to be careful not to nudge the mouse when letting go of it to keep the little rodent from booking. Fortunately, there are barriers around the pad ( the laptop, some cables, and the TV remote) that will keep the critter corralled. I'm also quickly learning to release the mouse without nudging it.

It will be a while before I know how well the ceramic feet will resist wear and how well the hard plastic pad will hold up. Even the PTFE tape I've been using will eventually wear down the texture on the pad, creating more friction between the pad and the mouse. I may have to resort to using a more durable hard pad made of metal or glass (which then may introduce more wear on the ceramic feet). This is an experiment that will take as much as a year or so. If the ceramic feet work out like I hope they will, I'll remove the stock feet and the wells they mount in on all my mice and stick the ceramic feet in the original locations of the feet.

[Moem]

None.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Curious. There have been two responses but I'm the only one to have voted.

[antikythera]

I have huge rubber backed cloth mouse pads on all of my systems that are large enough for the keyboard and mouse. It makes the mice track better than straight on the desk but also the keyboards a tiny bit quieter. They can be shoved in the washing machine on a cold cycle when they get a bit grubby with dust and skin oils.

[antikythera]

Curious. There have been two responses but I'm the only one to have voted.

It takes a while for the poll to refresh, I found the same with my /swap topic

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Curious. There have been two responses but I'm the only one to have voted.

It takes a while for the poll to refresh, I found the same with my /swap topic

Thanks for the feedback!

[RollyShed]

Same as Moem NONE. A standard off the shelf mouse gets moved on the varnished wooden (MDF) desk.
Sometimes if using a mouse elsewhere, a mouse pad which is a square of floppy material with "acer" (lower case) written on it.

[BenTrabetere]

I use a MicroAge mouse pad with a foam backing that dates back to the later years of the last century. It sits atop a hard mouse pad to keep the foam from sticking to my desk. I have other rat mats, but this one has seen me break in many a mouse. As for mouse feet ... I did not know that was a thing until this post.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I use a MicroAge mouse pad with a foam backing that dates back to the later years of the last century. It sits atop a hard mouse pad to keep the foam from sticking to my desk. I have other rat mats, but this one has seen me break in many a mouse. As for mouse feet ... I did not know that was a thing until this post.

Rat mat. Snort! I love that! Pardon me if I steal it.

...As for mouse feet ... I did not know that was a thing until this post.

Attention to mouse feet and "rat mats" is more of a gamer thing. I just can't stand a dragging mouse, especially when I have to make really fine movements.

[Portreve]

My mouse pad is a hard shell-type with this classic scene printed on it:




On my work computer, I also have an old-school circular-shaped, fabric top RedHat mousepad. (Image below is someone else's)...



I think these are my favorite two mouse pads.


My mice are all Logitech units, the M500 on the work computer and the MX Master 3 on my own desktop. These are definitely two of my all-time favorite mice of those I've ever owned, and over the last 36 years I've owned quite a few.

[Portreve]

On a separate note, one of the more interesting keyboards I've owned over the years was the Datadesk Switchboard:

[Moem]

Same as Moem NONE. A standard off the shelf mouse gets moved on the varnished wooden (MDF) desk.

That's not really the same because I don't use a mouse. I use a trackpoint on my laptop and a trackball on my desktop. I don't like mice that have to be moved about.

[RollyShed]

Same as Moem NONE. A standard off the shelf mouse gets moved on the varnished wooden (MDF) desk.

That's not really the same because I don't use a mouse.

Sorry there yes the same (no pad) but different (no mouse)

My mice sometimes have tails, sometimes not (USB radio connection). They wander over what ever surface is handy.

[BenTrabetere]

I think this thread put a jinx on my trusty mouse pad. It has followed me to four states, eight jobs, and three computers. Sometime last night my cat grabbed it off my desk, flipped it foam-side up, and used it as a scratching pad. I do not know when I got it, but I know I have used it at least 25 years.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I think this thread put a jinx on my trusty mouse pad. It has followed me to four states, eight jobs, and three computers. Sometime last night my cat grabbed it off my desk, flipped it foam-side up, and used it as a scratching pad. I do not know when I got it, but I know I have used it at least 25 years.

Uh, sorry?

[antikythera]

Sometime last night my cat grabbed it off my desk, flipped it foam-side up, and used it as a scratching pad.

If the top surface is still okay it may be possible to resurrect the mouse pad with some of this stuck to it after trimming off the rough raised bits:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invero%C2%AE-U ... 71&sr=8-56

it says it is 1cm thick but actually is about 2mm thick so you may want to use a few layers of it to build a decent base back up. Since it's designed for a car boot there should be more than enough material to work with. There will be similar sold in any car accessory shop if you don't want to order from Amazon.

[rossdv8]

I used to do Dye Sublimation printing (T-Shirts, Drink Holders, Mice pads and lots of other stuff) using Linux Mint - just because people said Linux was not suited to Dye Sub stuff.
They were ALL wrong.

These days I mostly use a couple of old beat up neoprene mouse pads and various other items that I printed before I gave it all up in about 2014.
I find the neoprene is comfortable to use for wrist resting, and the moose glides across the cloth side.

[BenTrabetere]

Sometime last night my cat grabbed it off my desk, flipped it foam-side up, and used it as a scratching pad.

If the top surface is still okay it may be possible to resurrect the mouse pad with some of this stuck to it after trimming off the rough raised bits

Thanks, but the surface showed its age. Edges were frayed and there were pulls in the fabric. Replacing the backing sounded like too many of my Arts and Crafts projects involving glue and contact cement. I took the easy way out an bought a new rat mat.

I will have to get accustomed to the new mouse pad - the backing is 1/4 the thickness of the old one, and it just does not "feel" right. Feels as foreign as when I replaced my mouse with a Logi MX Master 3.