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When I first saw the Corepad Magna box, as I ripped open the jiffy bag, the name evoked some sort of magnificent geological wonder deep within the centre of the Earth. Like that film 'The Core' where Aaron Eckhart uses a crazy ultrasonic digging machine to fly straight down to the inner core of the planet. Then I realised the word I was thinking was Magma, and Magna usually means a miniature painting. Such a shame. I had some cool volcano pictures lined up for this article.
It's been such a long time since I've reviewed anything so I decided to use one of original XSR-style techniques where we get different viewpoints on the hardware by several people all giving their own opinions. Unfortunately it turns out that all the other people here at the office are totally useless at reviewing hardware and thought the Corepad was a kitchen chopping board. So instead I'll be taking on the different personas myself as Good Suj and Evil Suj.
The box
Some people argue that the packaging is the most important part of a product. Since the Corepad will probably see most sales online, however, the box is unlikely to be the major buying factor. What it will do is make people happy about the whole thing, if it's done right.
Inside, you find the main pad made from toughened Safetyglass. Apparently it's much stronger than regular glass and so, we assume, won't break through normal use and transport. Also if it does break, the glass won't end up with sharp splinters. Instead it shatters into smaller, less-dangerous, pieces. The glass is in a rectangular shape 12 inches long and 10 inches high, with edges that are slightly rounded to avoid cutting into your palms. The thickness of the glass is 0.2 inches, or 5mm.
Along with the glass pad, you get a foam-rubber sheet to place beneath the glass pad. This stops the surface from sliding around on a smooth desk surface. There's also a length of standard Teflon tape included if you want to replace the original Teflon on your mouse.
Unlike Icemat, who use frosting to finish off the glass surface, Corepad have opted for something a little different. Apparently they use a branding technique to create the raised pattern of fencing that makes up most of the surface, and also the rounded stylings on the corners and the Corepad logo at the base. The result is a raised pattern on the glass, which has been colourised blue to match the style of the whole pad. The pattern is totally solid, even with a sharp knife I couldn't lift or damage the surface.
The branding pattern has small circles of clear glass in a hexagonal pattern. The circles are roughly 1mm in diameter, and 3mm apart.
When it comes down to business, performance is what counts for most hardware. Sure it might look cool at a LAN party, but most people will be more impressed by your game results than the hardware you use. I put the Corepad through some gaming action to see how it handled some frenetic mouse action.
The combination of Corepad with both Microsoft and Logitech optical mice was, as you would expect, pretty much perfect. Modern optical sensors and a patterned mouse surface create the ideal tracking combination.
Due to popular demand I took a close-up photo of the Corepad surface. It's a hexagonal honeycomb structure of clear glass bubbles in the branded blue colour.
It's been such a long time since I've reviewed anything so I decided to use one of original XSR-style techniques where we get different viewpoints on the hardware by several people all giving their own opinions. Unfortunately it turns out that all the other people here at the office are totally useless at reviewing hardware and thought the Corepad was a kitchen chopping board. So instead I'll be taking on the different personas myself as Good Suj and Evil Suj.
The box
Some people argue that the packaging is the most important part of a product. Since the Corepad will probably see most sales online, however, the box is unlikely to be the major buying factor. What it will do is make people happy about the whole thing, if it's done right.
Good Suj: The CorePad Magna comes in a folded cardboard box and feels pretty substantial for those of you that want to wave it in people's faces at a LAN. The colours on our blue version are bold and there is enough info and testimonials scattered across to make you happy you bought the thing. There's no plastic to be seen, and it actually makes a nice change. All-in-all, good job.What you get
Evil Suj: It's just a box, get a grip. All I care about is whether I can get my lightning gun percentage up.
Inside, you find the main pad made from toughened Safetyglass. Apparently it's much stronger than regular glass and so, we assume, won't break through normal use and transport. Also if it does break, the glass won't end up with sharp splinters. Instead it shatters into smaller, less-dangerous, pieces. The glass is in a rectangular shape 12 inches long and 10 inches high, with edges that are slightly rounded to avoid cutting into your palms. The thickness of the glass is 0.2 inches, or 5mm.
Along with the glass pad, you get a foam-rubber sheet to place beneath the glass pad. This stops the surface from sliding around on a smooth desk surface. There's also a length of standard Teflon tape included if you want to replace the original Teflon on your mouse.
Good Suj: The pad feels comfortable on your hands and doesn't cut into them as you might imagine glass would. The non-slip sheet does it's job perfectly well and the whole thing sits pretty solidly together even when you put it through some violent mouse movements.The surface
Evil Suj: Don't think about using the Corepad without the non-slip sheet underneath, the whole thing just slides around otherwise on any kind of desk surface. When you factor in the sheet, the whole thing comes to about 5mm of height and that starts to become quite a lot. If you're used to very thin surfaces, this one might feel like it's too high from the desk.
Unlike Icemat, who use frosting to finish off the glass surface, Corepad have opted for something a little different. Apparently they use a branding technique to create the raised pattern of fencing that makes up most of the surface, and also the rounded stylings on the corners and the Corepad logo at the base. The result is a raised pattern on the glass, which has been colourised blue to match the style of the whole pad. The pattern is totally solid, even with a sharp knife I couldn't lift or damage the surface.
The branding pattern has small circles of clear glass in a hexagonal pattern. The circles are roughly 1mm in diameter, and 3mm apart.
Good Suj: The Corepad looks great and if the strength of the branding is any indication, it wont wear out in a lifetime of use. Since the whole thing is made of glass, it'll never become distorted and will still be flat even if used on uneven desk surfaces.Performance
Evil Suj: Surely the pattern is just a gimmick? Anyone buying this pad is likely to be a serious gamer and they'll have a high-tech optical mouse to go with it. Today's optical mice can track on pretty much any surface, even a wooden desk. I've always prefered cloth pads, so this is quite a radical departure. It's solid and the result is that lifting and replacing the mouse onto the Corepad is a noisy business. The constant tap-tap-tapping of mouse on pad might drive me insane.
When it comes down to business, performance is what counts for most hardware. Sure it might look cool at a LAN party, but most people will be more impressed by your game results than the hardware you use. I put the Corepad through some gaming action to see how it handled some frenetic mouse action.
The combination of Corepad with both Microsoft and Logitech optical mice was, as you would expect, pretty much perfect. Modern optical sensors and a patterned mouse surface create the ideal tracking combination.
Good Suj: Unlike a regular desk surface where you can sometimes hit dead spots where the sensor can't find anything to track with, the Corepad surface always has something for the sensor to lock onto. I was initially worried about some of the edge styling, but as it turned out the sensor on most mice will never actually be directly over the logo or the edge curves so it's not an issue.Conclusion
Evil Suj: Yes the pad works well, but it's not any better than any other gaming surface I've tried on the market. They all do the job for tracking perfectly well, just like the Corepad. The days of mice skipping, slipping and generally messing up are long gone.
Good Suj: The Corepad Magna is a well-built, high performance mousing surface that combines well with the latest optical mouse technology to create the perfect gaming setup. The product is well-packaged and more substantial than some other mouse surfaces, it feels luxurious to touch and hold and appears to be sturdy enough to last a lifetime. While it's made of glass, the pad is not going to break unless you really, really try to smash it. If you want a mouse surface to brag about, this is it.Links
Evil Suj: The Corepad total height with the non-slip pad will be on the verge of uncomfortable for some people. It's also one of the most noisy surfaces out there, along with the Icemat, so the constant tapping and scraping could eventually drive you and the people around you mad. Yes, the tracking is pretty much perfect on this surface, but the same can be said of many other gaming pads, and also some kitchen cutting surfaces that can be bought for much less.
Corepad WebsiteUpdate
Due to popular demand I took a close-up photo of the Corepad surface. It's a hexagonal honeycomb structure of clear glass bubbles in the branded blue colour.
