[dippa]

It’s surprising how memorable pieces of equipment can be. Before I packed up my gear to head off to the University of New South Wales for the Australian Cyber League’s tour stop in Sydney, I was looking at the items I’d accumulated over the years, including one of Razer’s newest mousemats, the hybrid Megasoma.

Not having had enough time to acclimatise to the Megasoma, I instead went with a mousepad that a friend gave me after he returned from the United States - nine years ago. It’s an original version of a cloth pad that is pretty much for sale everywhere; its designer was a famous American Counter-Strike player who now helps develop gaming mice and keyboards of his own.

But I’ve never shown much interest in that. It’s hard to change over to newer gear when the older stuff is essentially a part of you. My weathered, dirty-dish rag of a cloth pad has travelled by road, rail and air around the country and abroad: it’s more or less an old friend whose quirks and flaws I’ve become very familiar with over the majority of the last decade.

I admit, however: I’ve been unfaithful. Several times. Repeatedly, in fact - I’m more of the polygamous type when it comes to computer equipment. But even though it’s comforting to go back, the mists of time in the hourglass are continually trickling down on cloth pads - eventually the rubber will wear out and the powers that be will force you to move on.

One of the things I find so intriguing about the Megasoma is its similarity to a pad I was using a few months before Old Yeller came along. It was the first hybrid pad to hit the market, but its rectangular nature and unusual surface, which tended to absorb moisture a little too efficiently, failed to gain many fans down under.

The version I had was purchased from a fellow gamer at a LAN on short notice; it wasn’t widely stocked at the time and hasn’t been since then. But its my experiences from the early 2000s came rushing back as soon as I had some more time with the Megasoma, which is built from one the most natural and yet durable surfaces I’ve seen in a hybrid.

It’s quite a thin surface, only marginally thicker than the new slimline versions of the Razer Goliathus. That’s good for people used to harder mouse pads, although it might be disappointing to gamers used to resting their wrist on a tablecloth. I’ve placed the Megasoma on top of my Goliathus that lovely cushion effect, but there are other benefits too. You tend to forget just how cold and uncomfortable pivoting your hand on the desk itself is, and this is a nice little compromise that gets around that issue.

If you’re brave enough to go for the full monty, you won’t be disappointed: the underside of the Megasoma is akin to your average bathmat, meaning that the chances of it accidentally sliding across your desk is basically zero. The surface itself feels like soft leather or textured plastic and is quite nice to the touch, although the standard gamut of movements with a variety of gaming mice felt and sounded like I was scraping the mouse across the pad.

I’ve owned a couple of the old-school hard mouse pads back in the day, so it’s not like the sound was completely alien, but gamers with headsets on might find the sound a little unnerving. You will wear out the teflon feet on the bottom of your mouse faster using the Megasoma, which could be more of a deal-breaker for some. I remember having to buy replacement teflon feet every six months, an experience most gamers today have never had. It’s impossible to say exactly how long the feet would last - I feel a year is a decent estimate - but naturally things will differ from person to person.

I couldn’t find any production flaws with the Megasoma I received, save for what appeared to be some unusual tracking when using mice other than my Razer Deathadder, so it could have just been a dirty sensor or something else unrelated to the Megasoma.

The only main fault I found wasn’t with the Megasoma, but myself: after almost a decade of mousing on mansion-sized real estate, I couldn’t go back to anything smaller. Its rectangular shape was also a bone of contention, especially if you regularly make wide, sweeping motions in all directions (as many Starcraft gamers do).

What will probably be the biggest sticking point for many though is price. Using the StaticICE comparison website, the Megasoma sells from anywhere between $50 to $75. That in itself isn’t too bad, especially if you’re used to ordering mousing surfaces from overseas back in the day, but it’s quite expensive when the smaller versions of the Goliathus are being sold around the country for under $20 or even $15 at some stores.

That said, hard pads are naturally more costly than their cloth-woven brethren, although the Megasoma is still rather expensive in comparison, being the second most expensive pad available on the Razerzone website at $70. One can’t help but wonder if the overly elaborate packaging - the Megasoma comes in a rectangular box with a perspex lid - contributed to that, and whether it was worth it. Regardless of the motivation behind the decision, it’s a very classy touch, as is the bright green Razer logo that lights up in the dark.

I quite enjoyed my experience with the Megasoma, especially considering all the memories the surface evoked. But given the cost and smaller frame, this is really a pad you need to test before splurging out on. Razer’s hybrid surface has some excellent features, but it doesn’t come cheap and it won’t suit everyone.

(All images taken from www.razerzone.com)

Quick Comments

	SanG:
	Fenner:
	Fourby:	cR rep train?
	TARane:	dat writing
	Dox:	chooo choooo
	VoxMSI.Rogue:
	syfChadMann:	chooo chooooo
	xGKingdelete:
	AxSGRiM:	2g
	NOM:	chugga chugga