Reviewed: June 11, 2006
Reviewed by: Mongoose

Manufacturer
Razer

Type: Mouse Pad
System: PC

Rating: 8.5

System Requirements

Your first challenge will be to find the space to accommodate this oversized mouse pad. At 17”x14” you will either need a super-sized desk or your keyboard is going to rest on a good portion of this mat. Until the Mantis arrived I had been using a Steelpad 5L, which I thought was “big”, but this is even larger.

The Fibertek cloth surface is nice and smooth and allows your mouse to glide across the surface with optimum tracking and minimal resistance. While I’ve only been using the mat for a few weeks now I am going to predict that there will be some fraying issues along the edges. Even brand new right out of the tube, my left edge of the mat was showing visible threads starting to separate from the rubber base. Fortunately, this is the edge that is under my keyboard.

I tested the Mantis with my new Razer Krait, which offered an interesting contrast of glowing yellow mouse on a neon-green mat. There is no denying that the Mantis looks very cool with its rippling green patterns and Razer snake logo. The Krait performed exceptionally well on the Mantis, but truth be told I really couldn’t tell any difference over my 5L. I’m guessing the tech behind these two pads are so similar that most gamers won’t, so the only reason to go with the Mantis is if you need an abnormally large mouse pad or you just want to keep the Razer theme going.

For me, the only reason I am probably going back to my Steelpad 5L is that the Mantis is just too big to fit on my desk, and with my keyboard only resting on half the mat, it has started to wobble. I’m guessing this mat is targeted more toward the gamer who is going to a LAN party and setting up their system on a folding table.

At $25, the Mantis seems a bit pricey, but in checking, that seems to be the going rate for these super-sized mats. The Mantis does everything it claims to do and looks good doing it. The fraying on the edges out of the box gives me a bit of a concern, but that could have just been my review mat – the package was opened when I got it.

I continually find it interesting that the only thing that drives technology forward more than the military is gaming, and there is so much research and tech going into mice and mouse pads you almost have to wonder if any of it matters. If it matters to you and you are already a loyal Razer customer then you won’t find a better, larger surface for whichever mouse you are using, at least without going to a full-sized desk mat.