SteelSeries QcK Small Review
My mum needed a mousepad for work, and so I found the SteelSeries QcK Small on sale for £5.59 on Amazon, which would be a perfect size for a crowded space in an office, but I would be a fool to not try it for myself! ;)
The box for the mousepad only contains the mousepad itself, and the box was so small that it fit inside an envelope package! You can’t say that often with how big mousepads are getting nowadays!
The QcK Small measures 250mm x 210mm. This makes it a perfect size for working in a crowded office, gaming on the go at a LAN event or when travelling, or just want a tiny mousepad (you might want to increase your sensitivity!)
It’s 2mm thick, and I can certainly see the difference when it comes next to my MM800 Polaris, which comes in at 5mm thick. The thinness will be noticeable if your desk is wobbly or unstable, and if that is the case, you might be better off going with a thicker pad like the QcK Heavy, which is 6mm thick.
The thinness also means that the QcK will also be sloped up (I don’t know the proper term) when you unroll it for the first time. You will need to roll it the opposite direction a few time to ensure it stays flat on your desk, but it doesn’t take more than a minute.
The design of the mousepad is a simple black colour with a small SteelSeries logo in the bottom left of the QcK. It’s small enough to not become the single focus, and big enough for anyone familiar with gaming to know that you mean business.
The material is very similar to the one on my Polaris, albeit slightly smoother, with the more tightly-packed stitching on the QcK noticeable when looking at the mousepads closely with a torch. Other than the small size, I had no problem with the QcK when aiming and moving my mouse, but it did seem to have a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of increased speed and less stopping power compared to the Polaris, which could be attributed to the thinner size by 3mm. I feel as if this mousepad would be better suited towards DPS players, rather than a tank main like myself, but with time I could probably fully adjust to it without changing my sensitivity.
The only disappointing aspect of the QcK in my opinion was the rubber base. Whilst it looks cool with it’s SteelSeries logos underneath, I found it to move very easily when applying a lot of force down on the mousepad and making larger swipes. I have a feeling that with the mousepad being so small and light, it could lead to this, but I am not sure if it is a problem on larger sizes, or the QcK Edge.
Talking about edges, the QcK does not have any anti-fraying or peeling protection. I have used this mousepad for only one day and obviously have not seen anything, but my first mousepad, the HP Omen 100, started to peel on one of its corners after about 2 weeks of usage. I do not know how long it would take for the QcK to experience this issue, but it can be prevented if buying the QcK Edge, which has stitching around the edges to reduce fraying and peeling.
My final thoughts:
The QcK Small is a fantastic budget mousepad for those looking for a small, great-quality mousepad to take on-the-go or for a smaller more compact setup for a smaller desk, for example. If you are gentle on your swipes, the rubber base will keep but will start to move if you become too aggressive when pushing down your mouse.
Pros:
Fantastic price, you can’t beat £5 for this quality!
Great material, SteelSeries didn’t test over 700 materials for the QcK for nothing!
Cons:
Rubber base doesn’t stick well enough to the desk, especially when making hard swipes.
