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.
