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I have reviewed gaming mice and mouse pads on YouTube for a number of years, and have been hands on with all pads, with video evidence here.

Mousepads are a fundamental part of your gaming setup.

Using a mouse pad provides your mouse with the right environment for operation. And the type of mouse pad you use can also differ depending on the type of game you play and the sensitivity you use.

We set ourselves the challenge to find the best gaming mouse pad you can get on the market today.

We started by conducting community research to identify what gamers look for in a mouse pad, depending on the type of game they play. That information helped us to filter through hundreds of products and pick out a shortlist of pads to buy, test and review.

The best gaming mouse pad for value, in our opinion, is the Steelseries QcK Heavy. If you have a bit more money to spend, we’re huge fans of the Endgame Gear MPC450 Cordura pad, which we believe is the best mousepad for FPS games.

Below are all of our picks for the best gaming mouse pads in 2023, ranked based on our opinions as gamers and product testers.

You should definitely be able to find at least one option that best fits your needs and budget.

Trusting This Review

This review was completed by former competitive Team Fortress 2 player Chris Parker, also known as Warhuryeah. He’s a Master-ranked Apex Legends player with incredible skill in most games, he has video proof of his mouse pad usage, and there are links to individual in-depth reviews included within this article.

How We Picked

If you search in Google for the best gaming mousepads, you’ll come across thousands of recommendations. As you can imagine, without some sort of structure, we could spend days looking at products and still not know whether or not our recommendations are truly the best.

So, we researched what users were looking for, created a 5-point checklist for shortlisting products, then bought and reviewed a large number of mouse pads with weeks of in-game testing.

Here’s what we considered when looking at pads:

Design

Whilst it’s important to get a good looking pad for your setup, our priority was finding a practical design. We prioritized looking at designs that would stand the test of time as it’s no secret that we all have different tastes when it comes to a good looking design.

Size

Mousepads come in all shapes and sizes. However, most gamers prefer larger rectangular mouse pads, or occasionally square pads, in order to get the most space for a mouse to move around on.

We prioritized pads that were available in a decent size.

Material

What your mouse pad is made out of will have a pretty big impact on your in-game performance. Using a poor-quality mouse pad may even perform worse than simply using your mouse flat on your desk.

On the opposite side, having a mouse pad that is made out of the finest of materials will be beneficial in terms of improving your in-game precision and stability on your desk.

We ensured that we would only include mouse pads that are made from high-quality and durable materials for a long-lasting, positive impact on your in-game performance.

Thickness

The thickness of your mouse pad will not affect your in-game performance as long as it isn’t either too thin or far too thick. This tends to be personal preference.

To ensure that there is something for everyone, we have made sure to include a range of thicker and thinner gaming mouse pads.

Stability

The stability of your mouse pad will be of huge importance to your in-game performance. If the bottom of your mouse pad is made out of slippery material that causes your mouse pad to move around during intense mouse movements, then that pad quite simply belongs in the bin.

Besides the bottom of the mouse pad, you should also pay attention to the top side of the product, as it too is of vital importance to your performance.

If you decide to use one of the mouse pads that we are recommending to you today, you will have nothing to worry about in terms of stability. Else, we would highly recommend you to do your own research.

Budget Pick: SteelSeries QcK Heavy

Steelseries QcK Heavy
Photo credit: DiamondLobby

In case you don’t want to spend a whole lot of money on a mouse pad but would still like to get your hands on a decent product, we’d highly recommend you to consider the Steelseries Qck Heavy.

You can check out our hands-on review of the Steelseries QcK Heavy here.

This thick Steelseries mousepad gives you plenty of real estate to move your mouse around on. The ‘heavy’ material of the pad is durable and resistant to scraping on the desk when pressure is applied in the grip of the mouse.

The dimensions of the pad vary depending on the specific size that you buy, but I would personally recommend the ‘large’ version that measures 17.7″ x 15.7″ x 0.2″, or 450mm x 400mm x 6mm.

The large gaming mouse pad is the sweet spot because the amount of real estate is good, and the 6mm thickness is a better option than the 3mm that the XL and XXL versions of the mousepad give you. The ‘large’ is also flat packaged, whereas the XL and XXL mousepad come rolled – it can take a bit of time to flatten them out.

The extra thickness does mean that you have to wait a while for the mousepad to dry when you wash it, but this is hardly a deal breaker.

The Qck Heavy is a highly selected option in professional esports, with a large number of Valorant and CSGO players playing on it.

One drawback with the Qck Heavy mousepad is the lack of stitched edging. It raises questions about the durability of the mousepad, particularly in terms of fraying on the sides after a while, though we didn’t see any issues with fraying during testing.

In terms of performance, there’s a nice blend of speed and control when using a mouse on the Qck Heavy mousepad, so you should be able to enjoy a vast variety of games without worrying about your mousepad throwing your aim off or slowing you down. This would be our number one pick if you’re looking for the best mouse pad for low DPI gaming.

You can pick up the QcK Heavy on Amazon or the Steelseries website.

Best Overall: Endgame Gear MPC450

Endgame Gear MPC450
Photo credit: DiamondLobby

After concluding our extensive research, we came to the conclusion that the EndGame Gear MPC450 is the best mousepad for gaming on the market today.

We have a full review of the Endgame Gear MPC450 if you want a more detailed breakdown.

It comes in a variety of sizes, but I’ve gone with the one that measures 17.7″ (L) x 15.7″ (W). The size here also hits the sweet spot in terms of real estate, but you have the option of a larger desk pad if you’d rather have that.

If you decide to go for a bigger size, you should know that they tend to have some lumps in them, most likely as a result of the fact that they come rolled up in their packaging. The size of the unit used for this review came in a flat package, so zero lumps.

The biggest selling point of the Endgame Gear MPC450 mousepad is its durability. The Cordura material that is used to build it is military-grade stuff. This means you don’t have to worry about liquid spills, or in fact any of the other elements.

Performance-wise, this is a fast mousepad – make no mistake. If you play more games that require steady control like Valorant or CS:GO, you may want to look at alternatives. However, if you have another mousepad with more control, then the MPC450 is still worth buying.

You can get the Endgame Gear MPC450 on Amazon or on the Endgame Gear website.

Runner-Up: Xtrfy GP4

Xtrfy GP4
Photo credit: DiamondLobby

The Xtrfy GP4 is another truly fantastic gaming mouse pad, and it really gives the MPC450 a run for its money.

It comes in a single size with dimensions of 18.1″ (L) x 15.7″ (W) x 0.16″ (H), and you also get a variety of colors to pick from.

The best price at the time of writing was $64.99. We have a separate full review of the Xtrfy GP4 on YouTube.

A common factor about most of the mousepads on this list is the balance between speed and control. When recommending a mousepad to a general audience, it is best to present these types of options because they’re the most versatile for playing various types of games.

However, it is understandable if one needs a mouse pad that leans toward more speed or more control – it all depends on the types of games you’re playing.

Anyway, the Xtrfy GP4 has a nice fast glide, but a lot of control as well. It’s pretty consistent with different types of mice and desk surfaces, so it should be a safe option regardless of what the rest of your setup looks like.

If you’re the type that shies away from washing with your hands, you’ll be glad to know that you can throw this in the wash without ruining it.

Obviously, the price of the Xtrfy GP4 mousepad varies according to the specific size you’re getting, but you can follow the link attached above and go from there.

You can buy the Xtrfy GP4 on Amazon or on Xtrfy’s website.

Other Great Mouse Pads

In case you didn’t quite find what you were looking for from our recommendations above, below, you can find 5 other great mouse pads that can seriously improve your in-game performance.

Fnatic Dash

The Fnatic Dash comes in different sizes, but we recommend the medium size with dimensions of 19.2″ (L) x 14.6″ (W) x 0.1″ (H).

The best price at the time of writing was $34.99. You can check out our full review of the Fnatic Dash here.

Fnatic Dash mousepad
Photo credit: DiamondLobby

Immediately you take this thing out of the package, it is clear that it was built with quality material. The stitched edging is really tight, and a water-resistant coating with a textured rubber base all come together very nicely to form a very durable mousepad.

The textured rubber base helps with the pad’s grip on various types of surfaces, and the water resistance ensures that spillages are rarely something to be bothered about. It’s not officially dust resistant, but it does a solid job of reducing the gathering of dirt and dust too.

In terms of performance, the Fnatic Dash is even faster than the next mousepad on this list – the Zowie G-SR.

However, it’s not so fast that stopping power is completely gone, so you still have a decent level of control especially when you’re playing games that require precise aiming.

You can find the Fnatic Dash on Amazon, or on the official Fnatic website.

Zowie G-SR

Zowie G SR
Photo credit: DiamondLobby

The Zowie G-SR is pretty popular among esports professionals, and it has also been around for a while. Its measurements are 18.5″ (L) x 15.4″ (W) x 0.1″ (H).

The best price at the time of writing was $29.99. We have a hands-on review of the Zowie G-SR here.

For all the grievances about Zowie not addressing a key weakness in their approach to mice production (see our Zowie S1-C review for more information), they’ve managed to avoid any serious weaknesses here.

In terms of the build quality of the mousepad itself, everything looks solid. But there’s a familiar issue here too before you even get to use the product.

The package comes rolled up, so you may notice some flaring on either end as the sides remain slightly curled up. It would’ve been fine if straightening it was easy, but it isn’t.

In fact, you may need to put a heavy object on either side to hold it down, which is an annoying inconvenience.

However, where Steelseries faltered with the absence of stitched edging, Zowie stole a march by using it on the G-SR. It’s tight and allays any fears of fraying in the future.

In terms of performance, the Zowie G-SR titles toward speed more than control, but it still has a pretty decent amount of control in it.

Maintenance is easy. You can get rid of pretty much any dirt and have it as good as new with a simple wash, and it doesn’t take too long to dry.

You can get the Zowie G-SR on Amazon or on the official Zowie website.

What to Look For

Thickness

Like we said in our “How We Picked” section at the beginning of this guide and review, the thickness of the mouse pad is completely up to you. As a rule of thumb, don’t go too far in either direction.

Ideally, your mouse pad should be around 0.1″ to 0.2″ in thickness.

Softness

Your mouse pad is meant to not only improve your in-game performance but also keep things comfortable for your wrist while gaming.

While softness is directly linked with comfort, one thing that you should avoid is super soft mousepads. Ideally, your pad shouldn’t dip more than 1/20th of an inch.

Having this kind of dip range will increase your in-game precision to a great extent, especially if your mouse pad is made of high-quality premium materials.

The problem with super soft pads is that the mouse can literally sink into the pad so much that you will struggle with moving it sideways.

Sliding the mouse itself won’t make it dip to that extent, but during those intense gaming moments when you apply extra pressure, you are most likely to experience this.

The verdict? Don’t buy mouse pads that are far too soft. Luckily, in our final selection above, there are no super-soft mouse pads so you have nothing to worry about from that perspective.

Stability

When shopping for a pad for your mouse, ensure that the product is made out of adequate materials on both sides. You don’t want to spend a bunch of money and end up having a mouse pad that slides around your wooden desk when you flick your mouse or move it a little too quickly (if you are playing on low DPI).

Before you click the buy button, you should first make sure that the pad that you are considering is made out of suitable for your desk material. Typically speaking, if it’s made out of rubber at the base, you shouldn’t have a problem, regardless of your desks’ surface.

Reflectiveness

As a general rule of thumb, the less glossy your pad is, the better it will work and connect with your mouse. So, if you want your mouse to be pixel-precise, you should not even look at any reflective or glossy mouse pads.

On the positive side of things, if the reaction time is more important to you than precision, a glossy and reflective pad might be the better option.

Final Thoughts

Typically speaking, the more expensive a mouse pad is, the better it is in terms of build quality, which will directly impact your in-game performance.

Mousepads that are either too thin or too thick and soft aren’t recommended, especially if you are a high-tier FPS player.

At the end of the day, having a mouse pad, even if it is our most affordable pick, would be much better as compared to not using a pad for your mouse at all.