Cyber Snipa Tracer Mouse Pad Review

Others/Mice & Keyboards by geoffrey @ 2007-12-28

The development in the gaming market has brought many new companies last few years; it is a booming business which brought us a total new range of products that are not solely aimed for performance. With the TRACER mouse pad, Cyber Snipa is amongst many companies trying to get food in the gaming industry via cool looking gadgets. We had a few months experience with this product, find out how well we appreciated Cyber Snipa TRACER mouse pad.

  • prev
  • next

Product test

Product test

Features are what separate products from the basis unit, for mouse pads this is no different. At first my thoughts went "how possible could this product increase my way of enjoying my current pc setup".

I was using a soft square mouse mat with the AMD brand all over it, nothing special but still cool enough to please the PC nerd that I am. Well, before I let you know how the TRACER changed my life for few months; let's have a look at what makes this product so special, here are the features this product has to offer.

Madshrimps (c)


The size of this board is big enough to most of you, for me it was a bit bigger then my AMD mouse mat and so I had to change the way my desk was (over)loaded with stuff. I must confess that I have in fact used this mouse pad for two mice last few months. No not together, I'm not that great in multi-tasking, but I do have them both placed on the mouse pad while using one of them separately. Occasionally, when playing FPS games, things get a bit intense and then one of them had to leave the surface, for single mice this pad is near perfect size even in hectic moments.

The board self is made out of high quality acrylic glass, a self adhesive layer is placed on top of it to insure good contact with pointing devices. The product is very stiff and will not bend or break, unless you use it as bullet shield off course. The top layer did not give problems with the two Logitech mice I currently have in use, but after few months they both have left their mark: small scratches can be noticed when closely observing the pad. Except in good lighted areas, you will not ever notice those scratches, you can't 'feel' them either so as far as usage goes you won't be penalized.

Madshrimps (c)


The underside of the pad covers a center leave formed black strip which holds four light emitting diodes (LEDs). Besides that, 5 other round feet are added to keep the board in place. Those feed or soft and seem to be made of some kind of synthetically rubber. I'm not really sure though, but what I can tell you is that they're good at keeping the board in place whatever it is you're doing. I never found the pad losing its grip over the past few months, much different than the AMD mouse mat I previously owned.

Also notice the well manufactured soft edges, no sharp residues left and no danger in damaging your precious skin.

Madshrimps (c)


The above picture is taking just minutes ago, at 10 PM to be correct, it gives you a good idea how the TRACER looks like in the average lighted living room. The glow does look a bit better on this picture, but in real life you can expect pretty much the same amount of illumination from the 4-way LED matrix. The pad is so designed that the linear light produced by the LEDs is being broken at the rounded edges, that way you can easily hide the light sources while creating an overall well spread light intensity at the same time.

Madshrimps (c)


Turning of the room lights really made this product 'shine'. I'm not talking about the emitted light; I'm talking about how well this unit will stand on many people's desk. The logos came out well too, although not everybody agrees with this way of creating attractive products.

Madshrimps (c)


The LEDs are being feed with a 5V DC power source which is drain from any available USB port, either being USB 1 or 2.0. The cable measures easily over 1,5m (+60 inch) and did not form any problem installed on my desk, although that I did not really like the extra cable on my desk (which can occasionally be a real mess).

Madshrimps (c)


Located 10cm away from the pad a dimmer is placed in line with the USB cable. Too much light? Just trim it down... a handy wheel lets you control the light brightness and is both compact and good functioning. For daily use I did not often utilize the illuminating LEDs, I could alter brightness by using the dimmer instead of having to pull out the USB cable at the back of my pc case. Not that bad, the only downside is that the USB power is always available on my systems, the LEDs did not power down whenever my system was.

That's about it, what else can you expect from a mouse pad? Let's wrap it up ->
  • prev
  • next
Comment from Shogun @ 2007/12/28
Man, I wish I was able to give the Cyber Snipa Tracer a test drive!

I've written about a lot of gaming stuff over the years, and it seems like each new product finds a way to trump an earlier product I've tested.

I'm not really sure if I need a mouse pad that is illuminated, but it sure as heck looks pretty cool! However, I don't like how big a lot of these mouse pads are becoming these days! I am lucky that I built my own desk and have lots of space for monstrous mouse pads, but I do know most people don't have a lot of mousing space.

 

reply