This mousepad was exactly what I was looking for when I bought it back in mid-2018. Thick enough to be comfortable on a hard surface, while also not being so thick that it strains your wrist. I do prefer my mousepads to be roughly twice as thick as this one, but as detailed below that's one of the reasons I chose this thin mousepad due to some other circumstances of my particular computer use area.
Aside from my unusual setup which required me to make some small modifications to the mousepad, this mousepad has been performing flawlessly for a little less than 5 1/2 years now, but I am now in need of a new one, and I'll be buying the same exact one I bought in 2018, the "standard 8"x9" mousepad".
The modifications I made include fabricating a stiff backing out of 1/4" plywood, and then affixing the mousepad to the backing at the corners by using some screws I had lying around from when I was much younger and disassembled appliances to figure out how they work (I'm sure you could find screws that would work at a hardware store, probably some sort of screw designed for attaching handles to cabinet doors and things like that).
The reason I needed this stiff backing is because I use my computer while laying on my bed bed most of the time, and my mouse ends up beside me on the bed instead of on a desk. My bed is pushed right up against my desk, the monitor is mounted up high to the wall behind the desk, and I lay on my bed cross-wise with a pile of pillows to prop me up so I can see my monitor, you might think it's weird, but it's extremely comfortable for very long sessions of using the computer, every day, and I don't even have any back or neck problems which surprised my mother.
That brings me to the one tiny little problem I have with this mousepad. It's the rubber backing.
If you are going to use this mousepad in the repair bay of an auto shop, it might not last as long as mine has, and that's because the rubber backing material they use is not oil resistant.
I discovered this because I accidentally dripped some sub sauce on this mousepad, and I thought I cleaned it up rather well, but I didn't put it in the washing machine because I didn't want the stitching on the edges to unravel.
Sub sauce is basically Italian "oil and vinegar" dressing, but used on a sub sandwich, and I thought I had cleaned it off well enough that I didn't have to put it in the washing machine, but I guess it turns out that's where the problems began.
I will say that it did take a rather long time for the rubber backing to degrade to the point that I'm starting to have issues with the mousepad not providing good tracking in certain spots for my mouse anymore, but the point remains that you should keep oil as far away from this mousepad as possible, and if you DO get oil on it, you should machine wash it promptly to prevent the rubber backing from degrading. As for washing instructions, I don't know if it came with those or not, but I'm going to guess that you should probably only use cold water and no bleach, unsure about using podded detergents, and as for the cycle my gut feeling says you probably want to go as gentle as possible on a mousepad and do NOT put it in the dryer at all, instead hang it up outside if the weather is suitable (or hang it up inside in the shower or tub so it can drip-dry and air dry if the weather's bad or it's winter like it is for me right now).
To be perfectly honest, I blame myself for being lazy when taking care of this mousepad, rather than blaming the product for not being oil resistant. If I had to guess, oil-resistant foam rubber that would provide otherwise similar material properties to the material currently used on the backing of this mousepad is probably more expensive than whatever kind of rubber it is already using, and that's reason enough to not use it, because really most people wouldn't expect oil to be near a mousepad in the first place. Additionally, an oil-resistant mousepad would probably be an extremely niche product at best, and therefore not worth producing.
Like I said, I hold myself at fault for the failure of this mousepad. I'll be taking better care of the 2nd one.
| Brand | Reflex Lab |
|---|---|
| Item model number | 36B |
| Item Weight | 1.76 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 36 x 12 x 0.21 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 36 x 12 x 0.21 inches |
| Color | Black |
| Manufacturer | Reflex Lab |
| ASIN | B00WY1BDZE |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | July 11, 2015 |
