1) Rarely
2) Whenever it's dirty (or every 4-5 months)
3) I hand wash it with laundry detergent and warm water
4) I then step on it and dry it outside.

I would advise against drying it in the dryer with other clothes because it'll make all your other clothes smell like rubber.

x2 on the drying it with other cloths lol. I air dry it if I can or use a hair dryer if I'm too impatient.

I tried to wash one before and it was a disaster, I followed instructions I found online and in theory it seemed fine, but in practicality it was not good.

I did mine by hand wash, I rubbed a bar of soap over the pad and cleaned it with running sink water. Regardless of anything else, don't do that. Putting a lot of soap in the pad means it gets absorbed into the pad, and it doesn't really come out. I washed that thing a ton and there was always soap still in there.

I dried it by handing it, took a day or so. It felt way to different. It was slow and felt gross.

I'd recommend any instructions that don't involve hand washing.

I only ever needed to wash it once because I use hyperglides and it didn't really get dirty at all, and it was smooth so I was fine for a long time.

So nobody machine washes theirs?

A) I don't need to, it's perfect! :o Had it for 2-3 months now.
B) N/A
C) N/A
D) N/A

Oh boy I'm useless! That's nothing new! :]

this

From overclock.net:

Below you will find our washing instructions:

Cleaning Chemicals which should NOT be used:
• Vinegar
• Cleaners containing bleach or solvents
• Acidic based cleaners (Including orange-based cleaning agents)
• Cleaners containing Ammonia

What We Recommend
Over our 60 wash cycle test, the only detergent we used was the 2xULTRE Tide with COLORCLEAN™ Bleach Alternative. We’re certain any brand detergent will work for this; however we’ve found that this product not only gets the job done, but prevents the surface of the pad from fading.

The Wash
Cleaning your PureTrak cloth mouse pad is fairly straight forward. If you can wash cloths, you can wash your mouse pad. Following these simple steps will ensure your PureTrak cloth mouse pad will come out looking brand spanking new.

1. Set your washing machine’s water temperature to Warm/Cold, with a wash mode of “Normal” or similar.
2. If you have other DARK colored cloths needing to be washed, feel free to bundle your mouse pad with them. It saves water and won’t affect the outcome.
3. Presoak the entire mouse pad in warm water prior to putting it in the wash. This will cause a “pre-wash” effect to start loosening any unwanted dirt.
4. Place the pre-soaked mouse pad inside the wash with the other articles of clothing. Start the wash cycle.
5. After the wash cycle is complete, remove the mouse pad and GENTLY ring out any extra water contained in the pours of the rubber base.
6. Place the mouse pad inside the dryer on a “NORMAL/COTTON” setting for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Make sure the dryer isn’t set to a high-heat setting as the rubber base may become soft and gummy. Once you remove the mouse pad from the dryer, squeeze or pinch the rubber base to see if water is still retained in it. If yes, place the mouse pad back in the dryer on the same “NORMAL/COTTON” setting for an additional 25-35 minutes. Repeat until rubber base is completely dry.

That should do it. At this point your PureTrak mouse pad should be as good as new and smelling great.

I do all that minus the dryer part. Air dry 4 me =)

Thanks.
How long does it take to air dry for you?

Washing machine here, already 4 or 5 times.
I use the wool program (cold water, no spinning -or very slow one- etc...). I let the pad drying by itself, horizontally to avoid any deformation. Don't use too much washing powder/liquid detergent to avoid the Gillz problem (happened once with a quick+).
You also can use a cloth bag to protect the pad in the washing machine, it allows to use a faster spinning program if you don't want to wait 2 or 3 days for it to dry completely.

been using mine for almost 2 years now, hardly any signs of use (besides the cloth slightly teared in the corner) and absolustely no need to wash it. people should stop using their's as cumrags

We just don't have the same feel of what dirtiness is, you viking!

Riposte you should have used: For you a small handkerchief might suffice me however, needs a _bigger_ cumrag.

1. Washed it a couple of months ago after using it for over 2 years.
2. Every 2 years ;)
3. I just lightly poured water onto it, then rubbed out all the dead skin with my palm. This was the only thing affecting it (it was slower in the most used spot). Not being a disgusting savage the pad didn't need any food/drink/spunk washed out from it.
4. Lightly pressed a towel on top to draw out what little water there was, then left it to dry on a flat surface; took less than a day to dry.

Pad was uniform friction afterwards.