Is It Worth Buying More Than One Glass Mousepad?
I think this is a question that both people with glass pads and people without them have – is it worth having more than one glass mousepad? We are talking about mousepads that do not change their surface feel and to ruin one you need to use a material harder than tempered glass (ceramic, sapphire).
Why would you buy multiple glass pads then if the only way to ruin one is to take a hammer to the pad? I have researched this topic a bit and here are the conclusions I have come to.
Is It Worth Buying a Glass Mousepad?
If we are talking about buying a glass pad then I would wholeheartedly encourage it. I have been using the SkyPad 3.0 and The Empress as my main mousepads for the longest time. I play everything on a glass pad – even tac-shooters and I do not regret it.
It does take time to get used to a speed surface like glass, and the investment makes a lot more sense if you play tracking-heavy games, but trying out a glass surface at least once is an experience you will never forget.
As mentioned before you get a mousepad that does not wear, and can be used forever (you might want to clean it from time to time though) meaning that a one-time investment can get you a lot of bang for your buck. Glass pads used to be pretty expensive too, but now with the introduction of multiple options for the market, the prices have been coming down quite a lot making the purchase easier to justify.
Is It Worth Buying Multiple Glass Pads?
Here is where things get weird – I have noticed even with myself that buying a single glass pad is never the end. You got your first one but the question of whether you can get a better, more optimized surface remains. People end up spending multiple hundreds of $ on a product that essentially maxed its value out on the very first purchase.
After talking to different people in the aiming community/peripheral community the conclusion here was quite simple – if you are someone who can make use of a 10-15% surface difference between glass pads then the investment might be worth it. This category of people is however a very small percentage and for most people the obvious answer is no.
Get the cheapest reputable glass mousepad you can, learn to use it properly, and max out your aim on the respective mousepad. If you are a normal gamer, buying a different glass mousepad because the surface is a bit more controlled, or a bit more speed-oriented is just a waste of money. You adjust to the surface in a couple of minutes and while there might be a difference in the way you aim, dropping 80-90$ of a product that is only better by a very limited margin is a bad investment.
As an example, here are some surfaces of glass pads on the market. Some are faster/slower than others but in the end glass speed pads are all part of the same category (I am aware of the Wraith control pad made out of glass but I guess that is a different category that needs to be explored).
Empress:
SkyPad 3.0:
Provided by Killuminati
SkyPad 2.0:
Provided by Killuminati
La Onda Glaze:
Provided by Mortex
Mouse Skates Matter More
Ironically I have found that mouse skates matter more on a glass pad and the differences between different types of skates are bigger than those between glass pads. You can change how the same pad feels by using controlled feet, or faster feet and this investment is in the single digits compared to buying a brand-new mousepad.
TL;DR
Unless you have a load of cash, want to min-max every surface possible, or get the pads for free, one glass mousepad is good enough. For the normal gamer buying the cheapest glass pad and trying different types of skates on it is probably the only sane investment in this hobby.