I Switched to a Glass Mousepad for 30 days

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Glass mousepads are becoming increasing popular, but are they actually good? I forced myself to use one for a month straight to find out.

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[vSirKev]

"I thought the sleeve might be too much" says bro as he's holding a battery attached to a scroll wheel and 2 switches instead of a mouse 💀

[manny]

The OG glass pad is actually the SteelSeries IceMat that came out almost 20 years ago. I used one for years and loved it. The disadvantage is that if any small bit of hard dust gets between the mouse feet and the glass, it feels really bad until you clean the mouse and the glass pad thoroughly.

[ChrisBa]

Subtile flex with the Deadlift and Squats weight 😂 Got to love Optimum for that

[darkySp]

To me, the idea of "registering every small movement" is closer to "registering every small imperfection/jitter"
I think it's a really cool idea and it might suit some people, but sensitivity in 3D games is not just software settings.
The friction between the mouse and arm against the mousepad is important and it's all part in how the aiming feels.
The more of that friction you take away, the more of the stability you take away from it and thus, every little thing will ultimately affect your in-game aim.
I think there's definitely a sweet spot with friction and if you have too much you lose control, if you have too little, you lose stability.
I think this kind of mousepad would definitely not be a positive for me, but then again I've spent years playing mostly FPS games on a cloth pad and I'm used with the feel of it. My muscle memory has developed side by side with friction, so it's all just natural to me. I don't think that trade-off is worth it to get less friction.

Who's to say some people that have gotten used to glass pads will be the same or better, though ?

[vincentzhou]

I can’t wait to try all these products just to still be silver

[torontowill]

I got Razer's glass mouse pad (the "Atlas") a couple months ago, and it is the best gaming peripheral upgrade I've made in... maybe ever. I think the implementation of different glass mats may give a very different experience, but the Razer mat totally works for me.

It is so smooth and consistent (totally agree with the video, way better than using glass skates), basically infinitely durable (some of my cloth mouse pads were ruined almost instantly by a cat claw puncture), and impossibly easy to clean with a simple wipe (again the cat, hair is a problem). I find I can easily adjust how fast it is by how much of my hand I let spill over the mouse and touch the pad. I do use a sleeve from the wrist up, but I don't find that it's a problem to have some of my palm touching the glass. I tend to actually prefer it, it slows movement down enough to give control comparable to a cloth mat, and gives me tactile feedback that I find comforting. My hands generally don't get sweaty, so it's still plenty fast, just not as slippery. In a situation where I need to make bigger and faster movements, I can just lift my hand up a bit to reduce the amount of contact with the pad, and movement is blazing fast. And again I can't emphasize enough how much better it is versus glass skates on the mouse, a totally different (and much better) experience.

[norcobick]

Sometimes I forget how buff this man is

[TheVoiTube]

That arm sleeve would remove one issue. Dirt on mousepad from skin grease. No more constant spots where tracking is weaker than other spots.

[zertbrown]

I like that optimum is actually taking the time to try out niche products like this

[jackzheng]

I got myself a Superglide pad after watching this video, and suprisingly my experience is a bit different to Ali's. I immediately feel that I can track better and flick more accurately in games like Apex because of the low static friction. Also, the high friction between skin and glass pads cause little to no issue to me. Since I am using wrist aiming, playing without a sleeve is doable as most of the time there is no need to move my arm across the pad.

[_yet_]

'I used to do power lifting' no wonder Ali is so buff

[VaderHater]

Would have been neat to see a before and after comparison with an aim program: cloth vs. glass pads

[vrrdragon]

Glass Mousepads he used (4:06):
*Cerapad KIN* - Highest friction, most stopping power
*Pulsar Superglide Pad* - In the middle, some stopping power, but still extremely smooth
*Skypad 3.0 XL* - Lowest friction, least stopping power

[techoutlet]

Holy shit like I can see you are working out in your videos (big biceps, traps, and chest) but I didn't expect you to be a fellow powerlifter! with a decent 500+ deadlift too

[Brownboy]

Even this dude’s hair dryer is aesthetically pleasing

[Trevorlv]

I'm a bit late to this, just found your channel tonight and have been binging through a lot of your old vids, but the discussion about the sleeve REALLY spoke to me.

I'm also a powerlifter and I think that comparison is perfect. I started playing with a sleeve about a month ago and it's seriously made a massive difference for me. My room in my house doesn't have any airflow due to it being part of an original bigger room that was later made into 2, it's on the side of the house that gets sunlight all day, and most of my gaming comes between 2-8PM. All these factors basically make my room feel like a sauna while I'm playing and I'm already someone who sweats more than the average person. The struggles on playing and constantly sticking to my mouse pad and frequently having my inputs messed up because of that were beyond irritating.

For me specifically with all that context, putting a sleeve on seriously may have been a bigger buff to my gameplay than going from 60hz to 244hz, it was that extreme. Obviously this is probably a more extreme case, but for anyone who has regular issues or even just annoyance with sweaty wrists or arms, I think trying out playing with a sleeve is someone you should heavily consider. Having the friction between your arm and mousepad always be constant is big and consistency is something we look for in other areas. I mean imagine playing with your chair 6 inches higher or lower or playing a foot further back from your desk. Maybe you think you'll feel cringe doing it, but that feeling will go away quickly if you feel improvements. I felt the same about knee sleeves in powerlifting until I tried them and started loving them.

Really love that you spoke about sleeves and I related big time since my gaming experience has gotten so much better recently since I started using one.

[Its-Just-Zip]

Im hyped for the ultralight mouse to be available. Being able to get something so light hopefully without shelling out absurd prices will be nice.

[Clbyte]

2 extremes in the complete opposite direction. Day and night guy should be his name.
Literally doing the heaviest strength sport and then go out of your way to do the lightest possible way to play another sport :D

[rcarter]

Definitely earned the like for those lifts alone! 220kg deadlift is impressive! 💪

[xWrder]

Just casually squatting 180kg and deadlifting 230kg to show wrist sleeve might be useful when gaming 😂 Dude you're a beast!