I sometimes sit at my desk and think to myself, “I have way too much space here”. But what can I do about it? I guess I could stick a Tiki doll there for a little good luck. Set up a shrine to Carmen Electra? And then it came to me. A mousepad. But not just any mousepad, a gigantic mousepad that would ensure I would never have extra room on my desk again. And that mousepad is non other than the Nova Killer 2. It’s big, bad, made for lasers, and can be doubled as a car port in case of bad weather.
This is the third review I have done for the good folks at Nova, and each time it seems the pads just get bigger and bigger. I am told that this is so you don’t run out of room while gaming. How much would it suck to run your mouse right off the edge of the pad while trying to frag someone? Every second counts, and Nova is making sure you don’t lose any of them. But if you do get killed, they also making sure that when you throw your mouse you never make it past the edge of the mousepad. Seriously, this thing is measured in fathoms. But don’t take my word for it. Check out the official Nova hype:
Featuring NOVA’s new colors and new logo, KILLER-II offers various new innovations developed especially for the gamers.
New shape: With an awesome design, definitely more attractive, KILLER-2 features a new shape, more aggressive. Also, that shape will make it easier to stick the mouse pad on your desk thanks to the straight bottom edge.
New colors: Matching the new NOVA identity, the new colors are really attractive. Black, red and white are the 3 main tendencies from now. The KILLER 2 will be available in three different color scales.
One of the main reason of NOVA KILLER success was the unique material developed by NOVA for this mouse pad. A bi-material structure with micro-mirrors spread out in the inner material. We decided to keep that major evolution on KILLER-2.
Specifications:
- Bi-material: That new pad keeps the NOVA unique material. The best ever made for the mouse gliding and the signal accuracy.
- The inner material is now available in two colors, Black or White.
- The outer material (centering frame) is now available in three colors, Red, Black or Silver, determined upon the product chosen.
- 8000 DPI, 0 Latency: This is one of NOVA’s main commitments. 0 mouse delay, 0 loss of signal. Our 8000 DPI materials guarantee a perfect response of the mouse signal, Laser or Optical.
- Centering Frame – built of smoother by touch material bordered by a fillet, helps the intuitive mouse re-centering still keeping concentration on the game.
- Underside – non-skid base perfectly adheres to any desk surface thanks to micro-cellular foam layer.
- Size 337x307mm
- Thickness: 3mm
A mousepad that is 337x307mm covered with ungodly tiny mirrors designed specifically to reflect the beam of a laser from a mouse so we can game at an uparalled rate. I get the feeling that the Nova guys really love us. They want us to be happy, and I want to oblige. So let’s test this dandy monster and see what she has to offer.
I am going to be using my wireless Verbatim laser mouse (review here) to test today. The game of choice, and it’s always a game, is going to be Gears of War for Windows. Yeah, that crapback Windows port of a great game. But I needed a game that required massively small response time to stay alive. Every second counts, remember? I am going to be comparing the Nova Killer 2 to the Nova Raider (review here) and the Razer Mantis. The test is going to be based on response time and the ease of movement. Also, the whole “slide” factor, where you can’t keep your mousepad from sliding off the desk onto the floor.
I plan on playing the first portion of the game three times, so I can see the exact differences between the pads. The Killer 2, like other Nova products, has a special silicone gel backing that enables it to stick to just about anything. I have never had my Raider slide on me even once. In fact, I have a hell of a time moving it when I need to. And the highly reflective mirrored surface of the Killer 2 has been specifically designed for use with a laser mouse. With a laser’s more focused beam, the movement is extremely precise. So let’s begin the test, starting with my usual gamer, the Raider.
I didn’t expect to see a massive amount of difference between the Raider and the Killer, but taking into account the Raider’s 6000dpi precision and the Killer 2’s 8000dpi, there might be a slight variance. So I load the game and start playing. I ran a test run with my Raider just to make the feeling fresh, then I moved on to the Killer 2. I was actually impressed with the improvement over the Raider. I know the dpi rating of the mousepad is a gimmick and can’t replace the actual dpi of the mouse; but that extra 2000dpi seemed to improve my response and accuracy by a good 25%, and took away the small amount of lag that I hadn’t really payed attention to before. But now that I know it’s there it’s going to drive me nuts. Next comes the Razer Mantis. The Mantis has a rubber grip bottom for non-slip action, but it’s much less porous than the Nova pads. While it held on fairly decent to my wooden desk, it didn’t even come close to the slide resistance that the Nova brand has.
On a test run of GOW, the Mantis appeared much less responsive than the Killer 2, or even the Raider for that matter. And with a 2000dpi rating for the Mantis, it’s really no wonder. I noticed much more choppiness in the gameplay, and a much slower response time on 180 degree turns. Also, the Mantis actually slid on me only halfway out of the prison. It was no comparison, the Killer 2 killed the Mantis. With a fly swat. That’s what you get for naming your mousepad after a bug, Razer.
In conclusion, the Killer 2 is a nice improvement over their Raider pad, and offers the highest concentration of particles that Nova has without going the absolute biggest. Response time was awesome, and the non-slip backing is something I have grown increasingly fond of since I reviewed my first Nova mousepad. My only complaint is the size. I know some people like to move around a lot while gaming, jerking their arms all around the table/desk, but this size is almost ridiculous. You honestly don’t need this much room unless you have your mouse set to move obscenely slow. And if you do, then you aren’t gaming.
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