The stitching on my unit shows no errors and isn’t raised above the playing surface in a noticeable way, so there were no comfort issues during my testing period. The surface is on the rougher side (as you’d expect from a control pad) but it feels very consistent, and the same can be said for the foam underneath the playing surface, though more on that later. As mentioned, there have been a few changes to the surface of this new G-SR-SE. If you’re wondering how this feels in comparison to earlier versions, I can be short: it’s a touch faster. Not by a lot, but you do notice it.

Increased humidity resistance when compared to earlier versions, though it’s still not flawless at handling oils and sweat I play on a rather low sensitivity, so I’m often doing big and fast sweeps and what I found was that the G-SRfelt rather controlling . That is not an issue at all, since the speed of a mousepad is mostly personal preference, but it’s something to note regardless. The G-SRhas a remarkable amount of stopping power, so if you tend to overshoot your targets or want to get a bit more control you should definitely take a look at the G-SR.If you want a very fast and speedy glide this one should probably be a hard pass though. A logical alternative to this pad would be the original ZOWIE G-SR, which I feel is just a bit slower than this one but offers around the same glide experience overall. Other contenders are the recently released Endgame Gear EM-C and the Lethal Gaming Gear Saturn Pro. ZOWIE G-SR II vs Saturn ProThanks to u/ZOWIE_Support for sending me a sample of this mousepad. The sample was free, but that will not influence my review of the product & all opinions are my own. Don’t get me wrong, though: this is a very consistent control surface, and there’s pretty much no speed to it at all. There’s always going to be resistance when using the G-SR II, both when swiping as well as when you’re doing very small micro-level mouse movements. I live in an area of the US with VERY inconsistent weather, and I can confirm: Zowie delivers on the humidity improvements. Of course, really bad humidity still debilitates this pad, but to that, I say two things. One, it's a cloth pad, so some level of humidity debilitation will always exist. Two, Zowie claimed the humidity resistance would get better, not go away. Mousepads come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and it’s mainly up to you to figure out which one is going to be right for you. All of the pads in this article are going to be doing exactly what they need to do when it comes to sensor performance and what not so it’s mainly a job of figuring out what suits you. If you’re completely unsure we would recommend you to go for a nice middle-of-the-road cloth pad to start out with.

A gaming mousepad can be compared to the tires of a race car if you’re asking us. You can have the fastest car on the circuit with the best driver behind the wheel, but if you slap a pair of old and worn out tires underneath the car you won’t be seeing a lot of wins. The mousepad is a piece of kit that’s often ignored by the more casual gaming audience, but that really shouldn’t be the case. There are many different pads out there, all with different specifications and characteristics, so it’s definitely a good idea to find one that matches your preferences and playing style. You’ll not only increase your personal playing comfort but you’ll also increase your performance. There isn't stitched edging. In the 3 weeks or so I've been using the pad, I've noticed that there seems to be some very light fraying, but the pad itself does not seem to be coming apart; I did try to pull on it a bit and the string that was already fraying did start to unwrap, but it seems that if you don't intentionally try to mess with the edges, you'll have no issues. Just something I have to point out nonetheless. Definitely one of the more reliable unstitched pads. This list is, as we mentioned before, based on what the professionals are using. What you’ll see here is that most pros are using fairly large mouse pads, at least when compared to regular office mats. That’s because the overall sensitivity/ eDPIof pro (shooter) players is way lower than that of most casual gamers. This gives them way more control over their aim and overall just makes for a more consistent and reliable aiming experience when compared to extremely high sensitivities where it’s nearly impossible to make any micro adjustments to the aiming reticle. Even if you feel like you don’t need a large mousepad we would recommend getting one if you have the space for it; it’s always better to have some spare space for your mouse movements than to have to run into the edge of your playing surface in the heat of battle. When designing this new iteration, ZOWIE also made changes to the durability and humidity resistance. To test this, I made parts of the pad a bit moist with a cloth and found that the glide remained pretty similar. I also did this test with an older G-SR-SE and there I felt like the difference between the moist spots and the dry spots was a lot more pronounced. It’s perhaps not the most scientific of tests, but it should give you an idea. It’s still not perfect at handling humidity, but it does perform better than its predecessors.At first glance, the G-SR-SE Rouge looks just like any other recent G-SR-SE release, but once you place it down on your pad you almost immediately feel the first difference: the foam feels softer. It’s still very uniform across the surface, but it’s quite a lot easier to sink your fingers into the Rouge than into an earlier version. Aside from that, this feels just like your regular ZOWIE G-SR-SE at first glance: same size, same box design, no stitched edges. Both pads have a glide that’s extremely similar, but the G-SR II is noticeably better at handling humidity and has increased durability over the G-SR I. If you’re considering a G-SR mousepad, I would always recommend the G-SR II over the G-SR I. Conclusion Professional shooter gamers might gravitate towards (more controlling) cloth pads, but there are droves of people out there who have a need for speed. If you’re one of those people then you should look at the SkyPAD 3.0. Its smooth surface is just about the fastest you can find out there, and while we certainly wouldn’t recommend this to people who are just finding their footing in the world of gaming mousepads it’s undoubtedly a pad that’s great at what it sets out to do. Do note that here seems to be a bit of a break-in period with the G-SR II. When I first got it, it seemed to be faster than what it is now. The ‘slowdown’ appeared after a couple of heavy gaming sessions, and it hasn’t slowed down any further after weeks of usage beyond that, so I’m inclined to say that ZOWIE’s claims about the improved durability ring true. Definitely do give it a couple of ‘breaking-in sessions’ though. It needs to be said that the materials and the finishing on the Zowie G-SRare top notch.I’ve been using this pad for the past couple of months and it doesn’t look a day older compared to when I first got it.