Every PC or laptop user uses a mouse pad. In general, office people are not conscious about mouse pads, but gamers are more conscious about their PC setups, including the PC, mouse, chair, keyboard, monitor, mouse pads, headphones, etc. Now, let’s talk about mouse pads. I mostly like animated mouse pads and natural drawing mouse pads, but in this post, I will discuss some budget gaming mouse pads.
01. BenQ Zowie G-SR-SE Rogue
The number one spot is the BenQ Zowie G-SR-SE Rogue, coming in at a price tag of $34.99 for the large size, which is the only size available. This comes packaged rolled up but smooths out pretty easily.
This is just a great middle-ground mouse pad and not middle-ground in a bad way. It encompasses everything I’d want for the price, and it’s the easiest mouse pad to recommend to anyone.
This is a cloth pad, and the texture here is very smooth. It has a smooth glide that is on the faster side of medium, and overall, I think it is a great middle-ground in terms of speed. As for stopping power, this is also great. When you want to end a fast whipping movement, it stops and feels as though it locks into place immediately.
When you want to start moving the mouse again, it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to get the mouse going again, making the whole gaming experience feel very fluid.
I remember I used this a ton with Battlefield 2042 back before they nerfed all the snipers, and I was just getting headshot after headshot after headshot. This mouse pad just made me feel like an absolute legend; it’s really that good.
This is probably my favorite mouse pad to recommend if you don’t understand mouse pads a whole lot yet or if you have a vast array of games that you play that are going to change your play style a lot. This pretty much does everything well because it’s so balanced. I love my Artisan Zero, but this thing is hard to beat for the price.
Now for control, this has a great amount of it for the medium-fast speed of this pad. It’s not a dedicated control pad by any means, like the Fanatic, which is more on the control side.
But it still gives you plenty of precision with smaller movements when you’re tracking an enemy or sniping in-game and have to make those micro-adjustments. It’s very easy to get back on target, and this is really the reason it’s in the number one spot. During gameplay, you don’t ever feel like there are parts of this that are lacking.
It just does everything well. While my Artisan Zero does everything that it does but better, for the price, I don’t know of another mouse pad that does everything that well. Now for the large size, mine comes in at 18.5 in x 15 in and is 3.5 mm thick. That’s the size that you’re going to get because there are no other sizes.
It is fairly large for the build. As I said, this is a cloth surface with red color printing and a black BenQ logo in the bottom right. I think it looks great, very soft to the touch, and isn’t abrasive on your wrist or arms like some of the hybrid pads can be.
It has a high-density rubber base with medium stiffness, and it stays firmly in place on the desk while gaming, so no problem with that.
02. Fanatic Focus 3
The Fanatic Focus 3 comes in at a price tag of $19.99 for a large size, making this a very budget-friendly mouse pad. We have the medium size, which came in at $14.99. For what you’re getting in this pad, I am insanely impressed.
This came packaged rolled up, but since my size was smaller and this is so dense, it rolled flat easily, almost immediately. I was impressed with that. As for the texture, it is buttery smooth.
That’s initially what drew me to this mouse pad, and it has just continued to impress me. It feels so plush on your wrist as well.
Immediately, it’s a little bit slower than the previous mouse pad, being much more of a control pad. However, it’s much faster than something like a SteelSeries QcK Heavy, which is a true slow control pad. Honestly, while that pad is very good for control, it’s just a little bit too slow for me. Stopping power here is great; it locks you in very well. It doesn’t exactly feel sluggish with the slower speed.
However, you do have to work a little bit harder to get the mouse moving again after those fast whips to stop. You have to use a little bit more effort, but for sure it’s worth it for all the other characteristics of this pad.
If you want a pad that has everything, you do have to go up to Artisan price points because that’s where you don’t have to put in the effort but still get the stopping power and control. But not for $15. For $15 or $20, this is a crazy good mouse pad.
As you’d expect, control here is fantastic. It’s very accurate with tracking a target and making those small precise movements for long-distance targets, like sniping.
It’s really good for that. I found myself always being right on target, tracking them, sniping, and leading targets far away. Really, really good. It’s a very enjoyable mouse pad to game on, and honestly, when gaming on it, it feels significantly more expensive than it is.
03. X-raypad Aqua Control Plus
Number three is another pad from X-rapid, the Aqua Control Plus. This comes in at a price tag of $39.99 for the large size.
Again, remember the number two spot is much more budget-friendly if that’s what you’re looking for, but X-raypad does a phenomenal job, especially at this price point. They do a great job. This comes packaged rolled up, but it’s extremely easy to lay flat out of the box.
This is a very balanced middle-ground mouse pad, like a less refined budget Artisan Zero. It has a slight texture to it, but it’s still really smooth. As for the glide, this is pretty much right in the middle. It’s a little bit slower than Control 2, which I think is just right. The stopping power here is also great.
It’s nowhere near as intense as the Control 2, but it’s still really good. Fast whips lock into place very easily, making precision in faster FPS games very easy. Now, talking control, even though this isn’t a control pad, it is easy to make small corrections and precise movements. It’s not as precise as the next mouse pad on the list;
however, it’s more controlled than the previous two. Sniping with this mouse pad is enjoyable. It handles both fast-paced gaming as well as sniping well. Just a perfect middle-ground mouse pad. Honestly, I stand by what I said almost a year ago, or maybe over a year ago now: this is a budget Artisan Zero.
The Artisan Zero is not budget-friendly, but it’s one of the best at doing everything well and nothing bad. Really good mouse pad. It’s still my daily driver. For the size, my pad is 35.43 in by 15.75 in and is 3 mm thick.
I have the XL, but the $39.99 is for the large size. So all of the mouse pads, except the one that you can only get in XXL, will have prices for the large mouse pad to better understand how much each of these mouse pads cost compared to each other.
But you can also get this in small, medium, and large sizes. I have the XL, which is like the longer XXL, but I guess they just called it XL.
Now, for the build, this is one of my favorite parts of this mouse pad, and I love that X-raypad does this. This has a really cool multicolor cloth top surface, a single bubble rubber foam middle, and then a non-slip bottom. This also has stitched edges. It’s medium stiffness and is also available in gray.
04. Asus ROG Sheath Mouse Pad
The Asus ROG Sheath comes in at a price tag of $29.99 for the XXL size, as this is the only way to get this mouse pad. If you don’t want an XXL size, skip to the number three spot.
For packaging, this does come packaged rolled up, but it isn’t hard to roll flat since it’s a thinner mouse pad. For the glide, this has a very smooth glide. This mouse pad has almost dual personalities.
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When you don’t put a lot of pressure on the mouse, it glides faster and allows you to move quickly without a lot of friction or stopping power. This can cause you to overshoot targets in certain situations, but if speed is your thing, it could also be a massive pro.
However, the stopping power dramatically increases when applying more pressure to the mouse, giving you a lot more control and precision. This dual personality allows you to play a more controlled play style as well as faster, whipping play styles.
For me, I enjoyed it because subconsciously, I typically press a little bit harder when it gets into really intense firefights or situations. This mouse pad worked well for me. For $30 for an XXL, that’s a very good price for the quality of this pad.
As for control, this lacks some control. It has enough for a fast-paced play style when I’m pressing down on the mouse. However, when testing with sniping, this lacked the precision of small movements, making it more speed-focused.
As for the size, again, only XXL. This comes in at 35.4 in by 17.3 in and has a 3 mm thickness. This is a cloth surface with pink accents and the Asus logo in the bottom right corner for the build.
It has a rubber non-slip base and pink stitched edges that are quite soft to the touch. As for stiffness, this is on the harder side of the medium since it’s a thinner pad.
