Introduction

The mouse mat – a long forgotten utility of the general computer user – is still very much alive for the gamer. The precision offered by a mouse mat is revered by gamers because it offers much more control; the Roccat Sense is a new pad which offers high precision and a large surface area for your mouse to move in. Endorsed by professional gamers, lets see if this pad can live up to its reputation.

About Roccat

Roccat are a relatively new company based in Finland that has a team of professional gamers working with them to produce high end gaming products. Their first product is the Roccat sense.

Specifications

• Minimized friction thanks to the microcrystalline coating bonded to a particularly soft cloth base
• Optimum gliding area and pointer positioning
• Rubberized backing featuring a nano-sized pattern for the perfect amount of grip on any surface
• Optimized for gaming and professional design applications
• Dimensions: 400 x 280mm
• Ultra low height: 1.35mm

The Package

The Roccat sense comes rolled up in a tube which is slightly bigger than a Pringles tub. On the “front” of the tube is a picture of the Roccat sense adrenaline blue version – there is also a style that comes with a Roccat logo.

The back of the tube has the features of the mat written in 9 languages plus a bigger column of features written in English. At the top of the tube there is a picture of the mouse mat split into its three layers and lines coming off it describing the Sense.

The packaging also entails a few endorsements by professional gamers and Roccat scientists. The gamer featured on this version also happens to be Finnish and probably works for Roccat so you may want to take his claim of excellence with a pinch of salt.

Roccat Sense

When taken out of the packet you can see just how thin the Roccat is; at 1.35mm its one of the thinnest pads around. This slim line design means that the mat can be rolled up incredibly easily – for taking to LAN parties and such – and when unrolled it doesn’t try to roll back up.

First impressions of the pad’s looks are very good, the adrenaline blue looks like veins pulsing blue or a close up blue-died leaf. This pattern also helps with precision as it allows the mouse to pick up what its scanning over – a very plain desk or single colour surface might be hard to detect changes in.

When taken out of the packaging you also notice how grippy the backing is. It has a very small chevron pattern on it which provides ultimate grip.

In the corner of the Roccat is their logo. This logo looks very similar to the one found on BeastComputers.

Testing

To test this mouse mat I played a game that frustrated me so much I gave up and haven’t played it in about 6 months, ‘Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter’. I’m not sure how much this pad can really help my performance in this game – my aggressive playing style of running head on into enemies and hoping they die first usually fails – but I’ll give it a go. The mouse I am going to use is the Speed link Styx gaming mouse.

I decided to start again and was doing ok until the 3rd level – VIP2 is down. This level involves getting inserted by helicopters and making your way through Mexican militia infested streets until you reach some anti-aircraft artillery which you have to order air strikes on. You then make your way up a very crowded street with lots of Mexicans again, until you reach the US embassy which promptly explodes throwing you into a defensive fight in which you have to fend off 2 armoured personnel carriers, 3 tanks and countless Mexicans before extracting the VIP and yourself – your team might be with you if you’re lucky.

This level is so incredibly hard I gave up on it 6 months ago and haven’t been back however with the Sense I managed to complete this level to get stuck on the next one. The added accuracy meant that I could respond quickly to ambushes and get headshots consistently. It also helped when calling air strikes and apache barrages on distant vehicles. The large surface area means that I could game uninhibited by the boundaries of my mouse pad. I am very used to using the Nova Winner 3 which is also a fantastic pad but is fairly small, this usually means I am using my mouse on a very high dpi which impairs my accuracy a lot. With the sense, no such problem, and no wiggling cursor that comes with using the winner 3 sometimes.

The test showed an increased performance from just a desk or no mouse mat; however it showed little improvement from the nova winner 3 or other high end gaming pads. The added size is a blessing or a curse depending on the space you have really, the big area is useful to give an uninterrupted scanning surface but I choose to use the winner 3 because of its high performance and small size – I just don’t have enough room on my desk.

Conclusion

The Roccat Sense is an exceptional pad with a slim line profile and good tracking, its looks are fantastic and it can be easily transported. It’s a little expensive at £13.99 but the performance just about makes up for it.

The only fault for me is the size and that’s because of my desk set up not the pad.

So I am going to award the Roccat Sence the hardcore award – a good start for Roccat.

Pros

• Large scanning area
• Looks pretty cool
• Rolls up well

Cons

• Expensive
• Too big for some desks