So you went and bought yourself a nice new laser mouse or expensive optical mouse, why then are you  still using that cheapie mousepad? Don’t you think your new mouse would be happier on a nice professional quality pad? Even if you don’t game, pretty much everyone can benefit from a quality mousepad. Your mouse will react better, it will track better, it will be an overall more enjoyable experience using a high quality mousepad., even older mice can be brought back to life with a quality pad. I know, you don’t think you need to spend lots of money on a ‘Professional’ mousepad, well you don’t, how about spending about $10 for an excellent cloth pad that will allow you mouse to perform to it’s fullest? Today for review I have one such pad, the Aqua2 from X-Ray Technology, read on to check it out…

X-Raypad Aqua2 (A2A) Professional Fabric Mousepad

Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos

Sponsor: X-Raypad / X-Ray Technology

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

Features:

Unique fabric surface improves mouse control

Fine-woven fabric surface enhances optical mouse accuracy

Messaline with suitable thickness protects your wrist

Slip-free rubber base grips your table firmly

Washable, anti-static, durable, stylish design

Dimensions:

280*230*3 (Unit:mm) 11.0*9.0*0.12 (Unit:mm)

Find X-Ray Technology products at ShopZilla!

A Better Look at Things

:

The Aqua2s packaging is rather cool, it is essentially an un-foldable box. There is a large window on the front so you can see the actual pattern on the mousepad and a bit of info as well.

The back of package lists the features, specs and a little recommendation as well, that you use Zerofriction Mouseskates, X-Ray Technologys mousefeet.

The Aqua2s pattern is really cool, it looks like crumpled up cloth, the effect is an almost 3-dimensional look and is very cool.

The Aqua2 itself is not that large, so it won’t take up much room on your desk, here is a picture of my MX1000 on it for comparison.

The top right corner is where you will find the X-Ray Technology / Aqua2 logo. The material that the pad is made of is very finely woven, if you look closely you can’t see it, what you see is the background pictures material weaving.

Flipping the Aqua2 over we find it is a non-slip rubber base that adheres to most any surface to make the pad stay put where you put it. The Aqua2 is also very thin so there will be no wrist strain that you have with other pads that are thicker.

The Aqua2 is a very well made pad, it is firm but yet very flexible. The cloth surface is woven very closely to make an almost perfectly smooth surface, something that many cloth mousepads lack.

Installation and Testing:

Well there’s not much to the installation part of this, just find a place on your desk for it and lie it down. It shouldn’t be hard at all finding room for the Aqua2 as it is a small pad.

You can see my Logitech G5 mouse that I use for gaming in the above picture on the Aqua2 mousepad.

For testing I used my G5, MX1000, a generic optical mouse and the old fashioned ball mouse as well.

I found tracking to be excellent with the Aqua2 with all the mice and it actually seemed to improve the performance of the ball mouse.

Using the Aqua2 with my G5 for doing some gaming was great, I play BF2, BF2142, Doom3, Quake4 and a few other games, the Aqua2 had no problems keeping my mouse tracking fine in all of the G5’s DPI settings.

Using the Aqua2 for everyday general use I found that it was perfectly suited for it, again the Aqua2 had no problems with tracking.

For all uses the mouse moved very easily over the Aqua2, being a cloth pad there was a little resistance but not as much as other cloth pads I have used.

I had some X-Ray Technology Zerofriction mouseskates here, so I decided to throw them on my G5 and see if there was any difference. There was a marked improvement over the standard G5’s mouse feet. I found that using the Zerofriction skates, my mouse almost glided over the Aqua2, it is almost like using a hard surface mousepad. Overall I found the Aqua2 to be an excellent replacement and major improvement over other cloth pads.

The Aqua2 is also washable, this is a nice plus for the Aqua2 as well. The edges of the pad seem well finished and appear to resist fraying.

Summary:

While it is just a mousepad, there is something to be said for having a quality mousepad. Having a quality mousepad will greatly enhance your mouses’ performance and make your life a lot easier in the end. The Aqua2 is an excellent low priced replacement for those looking for a better cloth mousepad.

DragonSteelMods gives the Aqua2 a 5 out of 5 score.

Pros:

-Smooth

-Looks great

-Great tracking

-Low price

Cons:

-none

I would like to thank X-Ray Technology for the chance to review the Aqua2.