Hard vs soft mouse pad? and why?

[Pavilion]

which one do you prefer the hard mousepad or the soft mousepad? and why?

[xXCapAwesomeXx]

I would say personal preference, I like soft.

[ARikozuM]

I prefer soft extended mousepads like my current Glorious XXL. 

[flibberdipper]

I like soft pads a bit more since it's a smidge easier on the wrist, and my mouse seems to track ever so slightly better on them as well.

[Enderman]

Soft because I rest my hand on it.

[TARS]

Soft:

 

More comfortable

Doesn't wear out mouse feet

[ArchGamer]

I prefer hard ones with alot of glide. I like it because I don't have to pick up the mouse as much when gaming and surfing the web which is easier on my wrist

[geo3]

In my experience all mouse pads degrade over time and expensive ones are no better than cheep ones. Soft can be had for much cheaper so I go with soft.

[semmel sandwich bread]

Im on both sides, I had a hard roccat mouse pad that served me well until it mysteriously chipped? I now have a very very big soft mouse pad for my keyboard and mouse, the sharkoon 1337, It was €15 and it feels superior to any other mouse mat ive owned. 

[kelvinhall05]

Soft because it's easy to clean and easier to throw in a backpack and go somewhere.

[Aleks NE]

11 hours ago, Pavilion said:

which one do you prefer the hard mousepad or the soft mousepad? and why?

I prefer soft, it's more comfortable, doesn't wear out the mouse and having it in any position bending it when you don't have any space on the desk or travelling is also a big advantage.

[ethebigd]

12 hours ago, Pavilion said:

which one do you prefer the hard mousepad or the soft mousepad? and why?

soft ... hard can dammage your mouse feet ... also most soft are much more easy to wash 

[Ominous]

Soft.  Always have been and always will be.  The reasons have already been stated: You can rest your hand on it, it is easy to wash, it doesn't grate your skin when you drag your mouse across it, it won't destroy your mouse feet, it doesn't make a scratching noise (some that I have tried have done so).  It just seems much more practical.

[xGGAx]

a soft,  thick mouse pad will help to alleviate the carpal tunnel syndrome. I've been using a memory foam mouse pad for 10 years. I have not had a single issue since then.
 

[EyeLikeBud]

I know this is an old thread but I had to say something about these people saying soft is easier to clean cause it's not. I own a hard pad and I literally have had to clean it maybe like 2 3 times? and it's like 4 years old I spilled some beer but all I had to do was dry it off with a cloth. If that had been a soft pad it would have absorbed the liquid and I'd be fucked. Hard pads don't get dust or hairs stuck all over them and if there is some you blow it off your pad or wipe it away. I haven't had any issues with hard pads besides noise. The pad i have is completely smooth and is not grating my skin like one person said but maybe that's just my pad. though if you did buy a pad that's rough like a cheese grater I have questions about your sanity.  It probably varies from person to person but I never had a problem resting my wrist on a hard pad and a milimetre of softpad wont do shit lol. It's probably just too much unnecessary pressure and you should ease up on how hard you press down.

 

My opinion though is that hard pads are superior and if they can make a silent one that would be even better. I did see one person mention travel and I could understand that reasoning for soft pads but unless you own a laptop which I don't that shouldn't really matter at all. So i guess hardpads for regular use and softpads for travel sums up my opinion on this topic.

 

Not really sure why I'm replying to this ancient thread but maybe someone will see this lol 

[Ominous]

1 hour ago, EyeLikeBud said:

-snip-

They are easy to clean, just give them a bath.  Some can just be chucked into a washing machine.

 

There is no such thing as a superior pad.  Some people are more comfortable on hard and others prefer soft.

[EyeLikeBud]

1 hour ago, Haas_ said:

They are easy to clean, just give them a bath.  Some can just be chucked into a washing machine.

 

There is no such thing as a superior pad.  Some people are more comfortable on hard and others prefer soft.

My main reason for posting was to state hard pads are 100% easier to clean, all it takes is some paper towel and 2 minutes to clean and dry plus it won't absorb your hand sweat. I'm not really sure where this notion came from that hard pads are more difficult to clean so i wanted to add my 2 cents in-case someone comes to this thread and gets mislead. Soft pads just seem like a big inconvenience to clean compared to hard ones.   At least imo  

[alyen]

I switched to a hard mouse pad about 5 years ago and am finding they actually last longer than any of the soft ones I have ever had. I only bought 2 hard mouse pads in my life and they are both used to this day.

 

Every soft pad I've used started to peel away from the rubber mat and cleaning it just made it worst. It seems more likely the mouse will break down before the mouse feet ever get worn out from a hard pad for me so far.

[Doobeedoo]

Hard pad for me, feels more consistent, feels so smooth, it's literally way easier to clean than cloth pads. Which is one of the reasons also I switched. I have very sweety hands so you can imagine how cloth absorbs that and changes friction. Can't see how it can damage your hands, like what. As for wearing mouse skates faster, yeah also depends on pad and skates. Also it's kinda better to replace skates than a pad cause cloth worn out and changed friction. 

Also I like more speed pads than control ones. 

[TommyTwoPockets]

I used a hard mouse pad for a while. As much as I liked it, the pad got worn out very quickly. Have been using soft again for a couple of years and it just feels better on my hands. All personal preference. Next thing to try is the full extended mousepads. 

[RecyclopsReveng3]

SteelSeries (the bigger the better) soft pad. I've been using them for about 10 years now. They're by far the best pads I've ever used. Hard mouse pads (at least the ones I've used, Razer's, Logitech's, multiple glass pads) tend to have almost no resistance and I hate that. 

[Psittac]

I have both and have always defaulted to soft.  The biggest difference I find is in tracking, while I love the crisp and fast movement of a hard pad I find that once I get to my target.... I overshoot and wobble back to the target while the soft isn't as crisp in the initial action it's far more accurate in the last moment's.  But everyone is going to be different as periph's are by far the most subjective part of this hobby.

 

Now that I have a coolermaster mm710 I'm going to revisit my surface options and give some time on each.  I just need to clean the pad's I have to get a real feel for it and I need to try a couple different ones.  I've found that every mouse I have is fully explained by the youtuber rocket jump ninja to the best degree it can be.  So I'm going to use his video's to research my next endeavor which is a proper surface.

[MousTea]

I have the hyperx large gaming mousepad, I like it very much I have enough room for my keyboard, mouse and some other things