THE STEELSERIES 9HD  

SteelSeries just couldn't be absent from this comparison and so they send two of their best pads to date, the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad and the QcK Diablo III Barbarian Edition.

The 9HD Pro Gaming Pad features a textured hard plastic surface measuring 320x270x2mm and as you can see it also comes with a cleaning cloth (only pad in this comparison with such an extra).

Size-wise the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad wouldn't hurt being just a tad larger but it offers sufficient surface for all your gaming needs (excluding multi-monitor use).

From the above image you can easily see the textured surface of the 9HD so it really comes as little surprise that this pad offers a semi-rough glide for the mouse.

The rear non-slip rubber base of the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad is without doubt one of the best in this comparison since the pad seemed to be glued onto my desk when using it.

CONCLUSION

    The 9 days i spend testing the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad were amongst the best ones of this comparison cause simply put i don't think there are many mousepads out there that can match it's tracking precision largely thanks to the medium friction between it and the mouse. However although sufficient the surface area offered is not as large as i would like it to be. Still the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad secured (with ease i might add) a placed in the top 5 of this comparison.
 

THE STEELSERIES QCK DIABLO III BARBARIAN EDITION

The QcK Barbarian Edition is a medium sized cloth mousepad released just prior to the launch of Diablo III right next to several others peripherals by SteelSeries.

It features a size of 320mm in length, 270mm in width and 2mm in height which is basically the same as the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad.

Unfortunately unlike the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad the QcK features a cloth surface which as you can see is not cut very well at the corners.

The non-slip rubber base is also nothing like the one of the 9HD Pro Gaming Pad and although it doesn't feel as stable i didn't find anything wrong with it.

CONCLUSION

   The QcK Barbarian Edition pad is by far the best looking pad of this comparison (just like with the rest of the game branded QcK line) but because of its rather plain cloth surface it lacks the tracking precision required for it to be in the top 5 pads of this comparison. Personally during all days of testing i felt that It would be best if it was placed on my wall and not my desk.