all are good, but they are so fucking expensive that i dunno who has tried them all. just remember that soft/medium/hard refers not to the feeling on top of the mousepad, but how squishy the foam is, so artisan hien soft = same as artisan hien hard except the foam that supports the top layer is hard is not bendable

i'd go with hien or shidenkai or shiden and get medium size, small is fucking small, medium is what i'd call small

and get it from amazon.com if you're in USA, theres no way to get them if you are in canada, cuz amazon.com doesn't ship, fucking faggots.

The VE-versions are not THAT expensive; however, the rubber grip's quality is clearly inferior compared to the non-VE versions.

Many people like the Hayate, but I love my Hien

i also prefer hien over hayate, mainly cause it doesnt get dirty that fast(those dirty spots are really slow and annoying with lots of static friction)
hien is more rough comparing to hayate = less static friction, but more dynamic and kinda rough to your hand, but I'm fine with that. It's also cheaper, I find hayate overpriced, though it's rubberbase is better and more quality than hien. Also don't order the hard version, mid/soft are nicer.

I've tried two versions:

1. Artisan Shiden Mid (http://www.artisan-jp.com/item_shiden_mid_eng.html)

Quality is near perfect, but I couldn't get used to it. It's smooth as fuck. Almost no friction at all. I think icepad-users will love this mousepad..

2. Artisan Hien Hard (http://www.artisan-jp.com/item_hien_hard_eng.html)

Just perfect for me. Rough surface with decent friction. Unlike with Puretrak Talent and other softmousepads the Hien Hard is consistent all over the mousepad. With the Talent pousepad I could push my mouse into the mousepad and that would slow it down (which is fucking annoying).

So depends really what sort of mousepad you want.

confirming shiden mid is baller as fuck