Get the hard one, i own value edition shiden kai and 2 hard pads, i like the hard ones best ( that's what she said :p )

Don't worry about shipping, I live in greece, SAL takes 3 weeks tops, EMS is very reliable too, 8-10 days max :)

Hope you like it, if's very different from smooth pads like mantis speed.

I was going to go for the soft one because I like cloth pads better than hard ones. I've tried the Steelseries S&S and I didn't like it.

Is the hard version anything like a normal hard mat? (glass, plastic, metal) or is it just a harder version of the cloth?

It's just the middle layer is harder, its not really "hard"

It's just a more firm cloth pad I suppose
I have the hard mat and LG 45+ every game. Highly recommend it :)

Rofl, you do know that "and LG 45+ every game." is a retardedly useless piece of information right? How can we know if 45% is any good when we don't know which mode you play, who you play vs, how much you spam and what your LG acc used to be before you changed pad.

You know I just added that last piece as a joke right? The "45 LG" part..

Edit: Sarcasm doesn't translate well over the net.

Oh I feel dumb now. Just that I've seen so many use that "LG x%"-argument so many times and now I fianlly had to say something to it.

Just forget it then :D

Don't feel dumb, there was absolutely no indication that there was any sarcasm there. It -almost- looks like a save... just saying.

http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=2148669#pid2148669

it was a save

The repetition indicates sarcasm, if anything

Would be great if someone described all the artisan pads variety with closest analogues from other companies, website is informative but quite a mess

I have here at the moment to compare with from:

*Razer Goliathus Control
*Puretrak Talent
*Puretrak LLL edition (New version of the Talent)
*Steekseries Qck

The Qck and the Talent are a bit worn out

And from Artisan:

*Hien Mokkei Samurai
*Hien Hard
*Shiden XSoft

The Hien Mokkei Samurai:
A tiny bit softer than the Qck (Which is softer than the other 3) and a little bit faster than the Goliathus Control (Faster than the talent and the Qck). About as fast as the Puretrak LLL edition. Has a little bit of texture, less of than that of the Goliathus Control but more so than the Qck and the Puretraks.

The Hien Hard:
Harder than the other pads. I would say in between a regular cloth pad and a regular plastic pad when it comes to hardiness. Almost as fast as a plastic pad. Same texture as the Hien Mokkei, but a little bit more noticeable as the pad is harder (feels quite good if you ask me).

The Shiden Xsoft:
Way softer than a Qck, but almost as fast as a plastic pad. The pad is completely smooth like the Qck and the talent (albeit that it has no friction and therefore could feel smoother).

The Mokkei Samurai is my personal favourite. But it might be, when looking at the chart on the website, that it is the same as the Hien Soft, if interested, ask them by mail.

Cooller(!!1!) uses the Hien Hard from what I could feel at Qcon.

have you tried shiden-kai ones? prolly gonna get a 2nd one with hien, wondering if any of those shiden/shiden-kai ones are worth it or i should get 2nd hien and not bother trying those
coming from puretrak talent which I'm totally satisfied with and gonna order it again if I dont like artisan, I liked it's feeling when it was new, but now it's 2yo old and extremely slow in the middle

Sorry, I don't have any info about the shiden-kai. There were so many pads @ Qcon that I might actually tried it, but it wasn't quite clear which specific ones I was trying.

The wear is the greatest issue of the puretrak pads. The pad is faster than the Qck when new, but gets slower than the Qck over time. The new LLL edition feels different than the talent I got 2 years ago, though it's a tad too small for me so I can't test if it wears like the old version.

Yeah the website is a little confusing, took me a while to find out which version was even the kai.g3, I only found out it was the "HIEN Standard" by adding it to shopping cart, where it then says kai.g3

I'll probably go with hard version then, thanks

Coming from a steelseries Qck+, I bought a Hien Hard version at about the same time that the earthquakes were in Japan. I tried to play with it when I received it but it was just too hard and fast for my liking which resulted in that I had to lower my sens, which is already quite low (30cm/360). After a week or two I switched back the Qck+.

At Quakecon, there was a stand of artisan where they had a lot of mousepads stalled out so you could try them. After trying them I really like two of them, the Shiden XSoft and the Hien Mokkei Samurai. The Shiden feels like a soft pad like the Qck+ except that it's super fast and the Hien Mokkei feels like softer version of the Hien Hard.

At home after extensively playing with both, I find the Shiden a little bit too fast and am currently playing with the Hien Mokkei, which feels perfect to me.

Edit:
To be more specific on your questions: Yes, it works fine with a WMO. Delivery took about 2-3 weeks (might have been due to the earthquakes though). I think what happens when you're not home is out of the reach of Artisan. Here in the Netherlands three things can happen 1. It gets delivered at your neighbour's and you get a card in your mailbox stating that it is. 2. They try again next day. 3. It gets delivered to a nearby post office so that you can obtain it there, and like (1) you'll get a card in your mailbox stating that it's there.

Btw there's a chart and description at this page: http://www.gup.co.jp/artisan/cloth_ov.html
I think these descriptions are fairly accurate.

Thanks for the clarification on the delivery. Like you I am coming from a soft cloth pad, so actually I think I will go with the HIEN soft, according to the website it's identical to the Mokkei besides the picture.

I'm using 45cm/360 currently with the Mantis speed mat, so I don't really want to go any lower. Also what put me off a bit with the hard one is it has less "Stopping", I like a little bit of friction.

Get the value edition, even softer and cheaper, very balanced feel imo. I'm a speed freak so i prefer hien hard, shiden kai xsoft didn't provide any kind of feedback, was unusable with coolermaster spawn (FW32) and felt a bit sticky against my skin, very dissapointed.

Nah, I'll stick with the HIEN Soft, I don't mind if it's a little hard, doesn't have to be extra soft. I only mind if it's very hard :p
(Oh god, sounds like I'm talking about something other than mouse mats...)

Just placed an order and like an idiot I didn't change the delivery address on paypal, it was my old address. How can I get in contact with them to cancel the order / change delivery address?

just remembered about zeroql's review, quite laughable due to the latest news \o/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuukzjCi0j0

Why? Is he cheating in it?

artisan kai/artisan shiden > icemat? i would like to know from someone who has used both extensively

As someone on the market for a hard pad (I'm currently using Goliathus Speed), I would also like to know how these compare.

yes pretty much, still uncomfortable for me because it feels sticky to the touch, like there's spilled cola on the pad :S

On a second thought, you might wanna hold out for artisan hayate, i'm planning to buy one from their online shop on 13/9, maybe my abyssus will track jitter free on it like some others pads, so f*cking picky sensor :S

This OCN post got me intrigued, can't wait to test it :D

http://www.overclock.net/mice/1112164-artisan...st14876403

interesting, thanks for the heads up