First of all, let me just say that for a skinny guy, I am sweaty as hell. Because of this fact, stuff that I rest my hands on seems to corrode and wear away. Case in point is my G9:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
So my G9 and I suffered with this Razer eXactmat for many years until I eventually heard about Artisan on this Geekhack thread. I was lured in by the OP’s post about durability and quality and got myself a g2. My initial impressions of the mouse pad were good, but there were still some problems. The first was that the corners would lift up over time, and the second was the dreaded peel issue at the front which really was a letdown for me. Other than that though, performance wise it was the best mouse pad I’d ever used so overall it was a bitter-sweet purchase for me and I really longed for another Artisan pad that addressed my issues.
My prayers were answered in what is my current daily mouse pad, the Artisan Hien Soft (Medium) (HI-SF-JB-M). I got this beast in December 2011, just in time for a ruthless Australian summer – the ultimate mouse pad sweat test. I expected it to falter early like the g2 did but it’s still going strong…today I received a new contender for the title, the Artisan Zero X Soft (Medium). Obviously I won’t be able to test its durability over the course of a few hours, but if the durability of the Hien is anything to go by, this pad should get some good mileage.
Presentation:
Pretty simple packaging, but it does the job. It comes sealed in a cardboard envelope with typical branding and descriptions adorning it. There is nothing wrapped around the pad itself but the packaging was the same for the Hien and it wasn’t a problem for me. Nothing much to say for the appearance of the mouse pad itself other than it’s black (although other colours will be available) and has the branding in the bottom right corner.
Description and Performance:
The Zero, like the Hien, is comprised of three layers.
The bottom layer is a rubberised mat and it sticks very well to everything I tried it on; wood, vinyl, plastic and glass. My desk is wood and I’ve never had problems with the mouse pad moving, but I think overall, a glass surface is probably going to hold this pad still the best.
The middle layer is foam and I guess that the level of hardness for each of Artisan’s mouse pads is probably determined by the hardness of the foam. In my case, I have the Hien and the Zero which are both rated as ‘Soft’ pads. I think this foam has some sort of memory retention too because I sometimes rest my elbow on the pad while supporting my head and it leaves a nice divot in the pad which slowly disappears. This doesn’t seem to happen just wresting my wrist on the pad though, so no problems there.
The top layer is obviously the most important, and it hasn’t let me down so far. The mouse seems to glide across the pad nicely and I certainly noticed a difference in pointer speed between my Hien and the Zero, the Zero requiring much less effort to move the pointer.
Here are my setpoint settings for those interested:
I use setting 3 (1000dpi) almost exclusively and only change it if I’m playing a game that has stupid mouse sensitivity values. I’ve given it a quick run with Diablo 3 and Borderlands 2 and had no trouble adjusting to it, although I’m not exactly coming from a vastly different mouse pad.
Conclusion:
The Artisan Zero is a high quality cloth mouse pad and you can tell from just picking it up that it’s well made. Their Hien mouse pad has proven itself to me and I am confident that the Zero will be a great pad as well.
Pros / Cons:
I don’t believe that there is a perfect product. Perfection is unattainable really, especially when you’re trying to cater for such a wide audience. With that said, here are my pros and cons:
+ Excellent quality
+ Excellent performance
+ Simple elegance – looks great
- If you don’t like cloth pads, you probably won’t like this mouse pad
- Cleaning a cloth pad is not as simple as a hard surface pad
Pictures:
Parcel:
Love your work, Customs Australia:
Packaging Front:
Packaging Back:
Details:
Closeup:
Hien (Top) vs Zero (Bottom):
Hien (Left) vs Zero (Right):
Ready for Action:
