[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

People invest a lot of money on their gaming setup – fast Internet connection, quick response monitor, high fidelity headset, gaming grade keyboard and mouse – but often overlook a prosaic peripheral: the mouse pad. Sure, top of the line gaming mice will work even on top of your leg but their performance will lack without the proper surface. Razer, a company known for their gaming peripherals like the Piranha headset (that we already tested), released the Destructor, their new gaming grade mouse pad model. He was our trusty brother in arms on the digital battlefields for the last weeks. Let’s proceed to our test.

Figure 1: The Desctructor mouse pad.

[nextpage title=”The Destructor Mouse Pad”]

We had a promising start once we opened the package. Sorry, package is such a pedestrian word: the Destructor comes inside a notebook-like zippered travel case. Everyone will eat their hearts out once you arrived at a LAN party sporting a case like that just for the mouse pad. Our opponents will tremble in fear imagining the level you are playing. Of course, as in any sport, the fancy apparel will not make a difference if you suck at it…

Figure 2: The travel case.

The mouse pad is bigger than a normal sized model (you know, those with pictures, company logos etc), measuring 14 x 10.2 x 0.1 inches, with no padded wrist rest (sold separately for their eXactMat model). The back side of the Destructor features a rubber grip to ensure it won’t slip even during the wildest hand moves. It stays put no matter what. After days of intense gaming (and work, after all the site won’t update itself), the Destructor didn’t move an inch.

Figure 3: The back side.

The dark grey surface features the Razer Fractal proprietary smooth texture. Their tests guarantee that it makes gaming-grade laser mice track up to 37% faster (and 25% faster for optical mice) than other gaming-mouse surfaces. Well, we’re not NASA, and a mouse pad isn’t a graphic card that we can measure its performance mathematically, so we did things the hard (and fun) way: we put the Destructor to test by playing non-stop.

Figure 4: the surface.

[nextpage title=”Playing with the Destructor”]

We already talked about the rubber back side ensuring that the mouse pad stays put no matter how hard we move the mouse over it. But what did it do in terms of our performance? Well, at first, its size allowed for plenty maneuvering room for the hand and mouse. Both were kept on the mouse pad even when we performed wild hand moves. The surface is smooth as an egg. It allows for an easy slide but you can also do a firm stop with the mouse. But since it’s a highly precise surface we had to alter our Logitech G9 sensitivity to compensate the difference of response between the Destructor and our common mouse pad. While playing a game of TeamFortress 2 we noted an increase in performance when choosing the quick Scout class. The action was so intense and chaotic that we thanked the Destructor for being there.

The only gripe we had – and a minor one – concerned the rough finish of the mouse pad rim. It scratched your fist when our hand got too much close to the border. You should reserve some table room for the Destructor so you can appreciate its size and move the mouse in its center area, away from the rim. It was just a small issue that can be solved by having good table space for the mousepad or acquiring a wrist rest. Besides that we can give thumbs up to the Destructor.

[nextpage title=”Specifications”]

Razer Desctructor mouse pad main specifications are:

• Dark grey coating with engraved black logos
• Razer Fractal surface for high-precision gameplay
• Optimized for both optical and laser gaming-grade mice
• Dimensions: 14" x 10.2" x 0.1" (350 mm x 280 mm x 2.3 mm)
• Non-slip rubber base
• More information: https://www.razerzone.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 34

* Researched at Shopping.com on the day we published this review

[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]

Strong Points

• Neat protective case
• Nonslip base
• Enhances performance of gaming-grade laser mice
• Great mouse maneuvering room

Weak Point

• Mouse pad rim can scratch the user’s wrist