One piece of gear that no PC user goes without is the mousepad. This simple product is meant to do two things: give the user precise control over their mouse and protect it from surfaces that could damage the sensor. Yet, there is so much more to think about now with the boom of eSports. Players are looking for different materials, different thicknesses, different sizes, and now they will even have to consider if RGB lighting should be added to enrich their gameplay experience. While SteelSeries is no amateur in this field and is widely known for the quality of their mice and pads, $90 CAD for the all-new QCK Prism is quite a hard sell for even the most loyal of their Canadian consumers.
RGB mousepads like the QCK Prism are nothing new in the industry, with Razer and Logitech being the pioneers of the product and launching their pads at a similar price range. What SteelSeries has accomplished with the QCK Prism, however, is the providing of more value to the consumer by giving them more customization options and better-designed functionality.
To start off the QCK Prism comes with two interchangeable surfaces that the user places into the RGB base. One side of the pad is made out of traditional micro-cloth for precise control, while the other side is made out of hard polymer for quick gliding and movement. While I personally prefer micro-cloth pads, it was an interesting experiment trying out the polymer textured surface. The glide was noticeably smoother despite the surface being rougher and unlike cloth pads, this one should never fray at the corners no matter the level of abuse.
The RGB base features a total of 12 illuminated zones to keep the illumination consistent and bright. The QCK Prism can even take advantage of SteelSeries’ GameSense software, allowing the pad to reactively illuminate to the game you’re playing along with other products in SteelSeries’ lineup. As with all RGB products, the QCK Prism wouldn’t be complete without a suite of effects, including pulses, breaths and waves.
While $90 is steep for what is, at the end of the day, only a mousepad with an LED base, it’s undeniable that SteelSeries is offering the best bang for buck in this product range with the QCK Prism.
