First off, I would like to thank everglide for providing these for us to review, go check them out at www.everglide.com or www.everglide.co.uk, they ship internationally. There is a sale on at time of writing, and all their products are now offered at a lower cost, don't miss the opportunity to get some quality stuff cheap. Now onto the review.

Ok, this is essentially like its smaller brother, the optical smoke attack mouse pad, but with three major differences, one, its much larger, two, its transparent instead of opaque, and three, there are five rubber feet instead of six. With closer inspection, the top did not feel as rough as its smaller sibling, it was smoother. My first impression was different also, mine was "it's BIG." Even with these differences, will it perform better, worse, or the same?

Images: The pad It takes 5 cds to cover the pad Doing its transparent thing The rubber feet

Testing:

Normal Use - Ball Mouse
After a couple minutes of normal mouse movements, I already noticed a couple of differences. The groove where your wrist rest is not as well positioned or as a good a feeling as the optical smoke attack pad, it might be a bit wider. It was still smooth to move however. These maybe just a bit of an inconvience, but lets put the pad to the test, which it was meant for, gaming.

(The game used will be Counter-Strike ver 1.5)

Gaming - Ball Mouse
Ok, I'll use my original surface and the giganta pad. I played on my original surface then onto the giganta pad. It was smoother, but it felt different. Like I said earlier, the wrist rest does not seem to be in the best position. I still have plenty of room to game on, never once did I go off the pad, even doing 180 degree turns.

Normal Use - Optical Mouse
Ok, I used my friends optical mouse again, with the messed up feet, barely any rubber. Man was it a task just to do normal things. So then I went onto the giganta pad, and it made the motions smoother. It was very nice. I let my friend have a go with it, and he was just as impressed compared to the Optical smoke attack mouse pad. He did not, however, like that my keyboard had to be moved, due to the limited space. Now onto gaming.

Gaming - Optical Mouse
Gaming was better with the optical, I was very precise and I did not have to move as much to do my turns. I cannot rate if I was a more efficient counter-terrorist, but I know I was moving smoothly with a mouse that had bad rubber feet. My friend even got a couple of kills, even though he sucks at ct. Never once did I leave the mat, I always had plenty of room. It was very impressive in gaming, especially with an optical mouse.

Conclusion
This is a very solid mouse pad, it has a very large surface, it performs very well, and it looks good. The difference between this and its smaller sibling is not that great, and they are mostly personal preferences. It also depends on your situation, if you have room, then it's good, if you're low, that's a different story.

Images: I had to move the keybaord... ... not enough room on the tray

I however prefer its smaller brother and that is what I will be keeping on my desk. This mouse pad is mainly on a person's personal preference. For $18.95 (£17.99 here in the UK, how unfair is that? -Ed), it is a good value, it is a good buy if it fits your situation, but this mouse pad won't be ideal for everyone, they do have an alternate that you can go with and I give Everglide a plus for that. I would still give this a 9 out of 10.

Pros:
Large
Solid Construction
Very smooth

Cons:
Large
Position of the wrist rest
Price increased

If you have any questions on a review I have done, I am a real person, not some drone or corporate tool, and you can contact me, I am frequently browsing the forums, my user name is rayz00 and all you have to do is post if you would like to know more on an item I have reviewed, I will give you the best information I can. The main thing I do on the computer is game and read online websites, so you can see why I review the way I review.
Thanks.
rayz00

Related:
Everglide homepage
Giganta Optical Smoke @ everglide

Review series:
Attack Pad Optical Smoke
Giganta Optical Smoke
Everglide Wrist Rest
Mouse Skatez
PC Tote