Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2005
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- 3,267
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- Manchester
REVIEW: Nova Killer mouse mat
- Thread starter R B Customs
- Start date
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 3,267
- Location
- Manchester
After ‘humming and harring’ about buying this mat I decided to go for it.
and after about a week of gaming / editing / photoshopping with it I thought id throw a little review out since there’s no English reviews I can find ( except that one in custom PC magazine)
Mouse used: MX1000 with latest drivers and a full battery
First impressions
well this mat was totally different from what I expected it to be. In the pictures it seems quite thick and bulky, maybe bulbous is the word to use? But in reality its very stream line an/d quite thin (3mm)
over view
the mat I ordered is the killer. It’s over sized for my uses in gaming, but its just right for Photoshop and video editing etc.
The mat has an orange edge to it which is separated from thee main mousing surface by a small shallow channel ( aprox less than 1mm deep) according to nova this is to alert you when you have reached the edge of the pad, and it does so very subtly, if your mouse runs over the channel you can just feel it but it doesn’t make the muse jump, or skip in any way.
A close up of the orange boarder / channel
This mouse mat also comes with a 2 year warrantee, although I’m not entirely sure what this covers
Main Surface
The mousing surface its self is composed of a metallic looking composite which with a hard press you can feel that it is soft and flexible, but not so that your mouse or hand will ever sink into it.
there seems to be clear surface layer on top of the metallic ‘micro mirrors’ which is made up of thousands of rows of little pyramids, in each row I have counted 25 pyramids, and they are spaced equally in each direction ( 1cm² = 25x25 pyramids )
Close up of the pyramids on the mouse mat (the height of this letter is aprox 8mm)
I’m not sure if these little pyramids have anything to do with how the light from the mice is reflected back or not. Btu they give the mouse a great element of glide. The only downside I can find is that there’s a slight noise when using this mat, nothing to worry about but its not as silent as say a cloth mouse mat.
I think with proper mouse skates the glide would be even better.
The underside:
The underside of the mat is very weird, its not sticky, but it is ! - its some kind of soft foam material that I’ve never seen before but it keeps the mat firmly stuck down in place yet it peels off very easily. I could compare it to the same kind of sticking as tax disc holders, but it is a different material.
*edit* lol wrong pic ^^
Styling and design
although the shape of the mat is very innovative, being able to sit next to a keyboard flush, and having a cut away for your palm, I’m afraid it’s the styling that really lets it down. I don’t believe that features should be printed onto products, you need to know about its ‘fast and precise optical surface’ before you buy it. But it doesn’t need to be printed onto the mat its self in a garish orange font, although the subtle pin stripe around the boarder works. I think that the ‘NOVA’ could have been done with a better font / style, but I suppose that’s just my artistic side coming into play.
Gaming:
I have tested this mat with a few games, but mainly Counter Strike Source.
the smoothness of cursor combined with the glide of the mouse is just brilliant, but something strange seems to have happened.
I use the sensitivity of 5.5 in CS:S, yet with this mat it feels more like the sensitivity is set a little lower than that.
maybe this is because the mat has all of those tiny little metal flakes, making every slight movement more precise thus kind of slowing the movement down a little, or maybe its just all in my head. Either way it took about a night or two to get used to it again.
Video and phot editing:
I think that the main element that comes into play here is comfort, often video and photo editing is all about making tiny little movements which is sometimes a case of trying to move your mouse that tiniest little bit, the mouse sticking and then over shooting the mark. With this mouse mat it seems to have eradicated this problem, and the tiniest of movements seem effortless.
Conclusion:
Besides the styling issues I have really struggled to find any flaws with this mouse mat.
At a push id say it takes a couple gaming sessions to get used to the new found sensitivity, but I went straight from using my desk to this mat, so maybe that was the real problem. I just don’t know why this mouse mat hasn’t got the recognition it should have !
Pros:
size
superior surface
glide
2 year warranty
Cons:
styling
cost ( £20 )
****EDIT**** should this be moved to PC gaming section ?
and after about a week of gaming / editing / photoshopping with it I thought id throw a little review out since there’s no English reviews I can find ( except that one in custom PC magazine)
Mouse used: MX1000 with latest drivers and a full battery
First impressions
well this mat was totally different from what I expected it to be. In the pictures it seems quite thick and bulky, maybe bulbous is the word to use? But in reality its very stream line an/d quite thin (3mm)
over view
the mat I ordered is the killer. It’s over sized for my uses in gaming, but its just right for Photoshop and video editing etc.
The mat has an orange edge to it which is separated from thee main mousing surface by a small shallow channel ( aprox less than 1mm deep) according to nova this is to alert you when you have reached the edge of the pad, and it does so very subtly, if your mouse runs over the channel you can just feel it but it doesn’t make the muse jump, or skip in any way.
A close up of the orange boarder / channel
This mouse mat also comes with a 2 year warrantee, although I’m not entirely sure what this covers
Main Surface
The mousing surface its self is composed of a metallic looking composite which with a hard press you can feel that it is soft and flexible, but not so that your mouse or hand will ever sink into it.
there seems to be clear surface layer on top of the metallic ‘micro mirrors’ which is made up of thousands of rows of little pyramids, in each row I have counted 25 pyramids, and they are spaced equally in each direction ( 1cm² = 25x25 pyramids )
Close up of the pyramids on the mouse mat (the height of this letter is aprox 8mm)
I’m not sure if these little pyramids have anything to do with how the light from the mice is reflected back or not. Btu they give the mouse a great element of glide. The only downside I can find is that there’s a slight noise when using this mat, nothing to worry about but its not as silent as say a cloth mouse mat.
I think with proper mouse skates the glide would be even better.
The underside:
The underside of the mat is very weird, its not sticky, but it is ! - its some kind of soft foam material that I’ve never seen before but it keeps the mat firmly stuck down in place yet it peels off very easily. I could compare it to the same kind of sticking as tax disc holders, but it is a different material.
*edit* lol wrong pic ^^
Styling and design
although the shape of the mat is very innovative, being able to sit next to a keyboard flush, and having a cut away for your palm, I’m afraid it’s the styling that really lets it down. I don’t believe that features should be printed onto products, you need to know about its ‘fast and precise optical surface’ before you buy it. But it doesn’t need to be printed onto the mat its self in a garish orange font, although the subtle pin stripe around the boarder works. I think that the ‘NOVA’ could have been done with a better font / style, but I suppose that’s just my artistic side coming into play.
Gaming:
I have tested this mat with a few games, but mainly Counter Strike Source.
the smoothness of cursor combined with the glide of the mouse is just brilliant, but something strange seems to have happened.
I use the sensitivity of 5.5 in CS:S, yet with this mat it feels more like the sensitivity is set a little lower than that.
maybe this is because the mat has all of those tiny little metal flakes, making every slight movement more precise thus kind of slowing the movement down a little, or maybe its just all in my head. Either way it took about a night or two to get used to it again.
Video and phot editing:
I think that the main element that comes into play here is comfort, often video and photo editing is all about making tiny little movements which is sometimes a case of trying to move your mouse that tiniest little bit, the mouse sticking and then over shooting the mark. With this mouse mat it seems to have eradicated this problem, and the tiniest of movements seem effortless.
Conclusion:
Besides the styling issues I have really struggled to find any flaws with this mouse mat.
At a push id say it takes a couple gaming sessions to get used to the new found sensitivity, but I went straight from using my desk to this mat, so maybe that was the real problem. I just don’t know why this mouse mat hasn’t got the recognition it should have !
Pros:
size
superior surface
glide
2 year warranty
Cons:
styling
cost ( £20 )
****EDIT**** should this be moved to PC gaming section ?
Last edited:
Associate
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2006
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- 2,003
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- West Mids
Yes, great review and great pics, but I dont think I could ever justify the price, but the 2 year warrenty raised an eye brow lol
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2005
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- 3,267
- Location
- Manchester
heh thanks guys, my first shot at writing a review
i donwee it becuase i was olookign for one to read for my self but just couldnt find one
OcUK you should really have a look at getting these mats in !
i donwee it becuase i was olookign for one to read for my self but just couldnt find one
OcUK you should really have a look at getting these mats in !
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Apr 2006
- Posts
- 6,437
- Location
- SE England
nice review .. personally im not so sure on the styling aswell of it, for the money id expect it to be my maid aswell.... hmm hehe 2yrs warranty!? ..what can happen to a mouse mat!
.. personally im not so sure on the styling aswell of it, for the money id expect it to be my maid aswell.... hmm hehe 2yrs warranty!? ..what can happen to a mouse mat! 
Associate
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
- Posts
- 295
thanks for the review
I have an Icemat but my hands get a bit sweaty especially when I play a fast paced FPS, and the damp spots makes the mouse skip or not trace 
Is this surface a little bit moist absorbant? (sorry for the bad sentence structure, but dunno how else to describe it)
Is this surface a little bit moist absorbant? (sorry for the bad sentence structure, but dunno how else to describe it)
Permabanned
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- 19 Jun 2007
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No its fine
1) The Orange does not look as bad in real life as in pics (others say this too in review)
2) The mouse top surface is waterproof, you aint going to get sweat or soft drinks soaking into it.
3) Remove the sticker on bottom, check nothing is stuck to it (it aint sticky anyhow) then put on your "DRY just cleaned desktop surface" and smooth it flat out, THE PAD WILL NEVER EVER MOVE unless you move it.
Ive had mines like 6weeks and its moved 3x now, that was ME removing it to clean the desktop and give it a wipe and then refit.
1) The Orange does not look as bad in real life as in pics (others say this too in review)
2) The mouse top surface is waterproof, you aint going to get sweat or soft drinks soaking into it.
3) Remove the sticker on bottom, check nothing is stuck to it (it aint sticky anyhow) then put on your "DRY just cleaned desktop surface" and smooth it flat out, THE PAD WILL NEVER EVER MOVE unless you move it.
Ive had mines like 6weeks and its moved 3x now, that was ME removing it to clean the desktop and give it a wipe and then refit.