If the last few months had been a personal quest to find the best mousemat in the world then my searching would today have come to a triumphant end. If, however, my goal had rather been to test out as many of the mousemats out there to bring you, our readers, the low-down on such items then I would be able to give you the most definite answer at this point in time. So it is with mixed feeling that I today bring you the Steelpad 4D, the finest mousemat I have yet to experience.

Incongruously the Steelpad 4D is made not out of steel, nor the aluminium that it's stable mates are constructed from but good old plastic. Each of these plastic sides has a different texture to it, very much like the last mat I reviewed, the Ricochet 2.52. Unlike Everglide's effort the Steelpad's designers have done a good job. Rather than plump for the first thought that enters their minds and attach a party of little rubber feet to both of the surfaces like the Everglide 'boffins', these chaps have gone for an altogether more elegant solution. You know those grippy things you get to open stubborn jars in the kitchen, the ones that look like mats of seaweed? Well a Steelpad shaped one of those comes within the smartly designed cardboard wallet that makes up the packaging. Stick this on yer desk/table/yellow pages and then place which ever surface you want to use sunny-side up on top of it. That's it. Nice and simple, and that table will move before the mat slips off of the base. Want to change sides? Bet you can guess how to do it; and this time there's only the memory of those annoyingly obstructive feet. Oh, and the logo is the right way up as well.

The rougher of the two sides is ostensibly for ball-mice but can obviously be used by opticals wanting a little more purchase. I leaned towards this matt black side at first, until I came round to sticking on the tape, (more on this later on) as the glossy side did seem a little prone to scratching, so smooth and fine was its surface. Once I'd made the swap that was it though. Although the sheer glide that you get when combing this plane with the tape takes some getting used to it provided by far the smoothest and most accurate surface I've yet to encounter. If you are looking for the best surface for your mouse then this is it, simple as that.

The rest of the product is just as compellingly well done. While the plastic is ultimately going to degrade quicker than metal it sheds the troublesome properties of the aluminium that I mentioned in my review of the Steelpad 3S. So no more condensation and no more cold hands, a good thing as the weather takes its seasonal turn for the worse. The pad is also very thin, giving the wrist respite from any digging-in those other pads with more presence can inflict. In fact it comes in at 2mm, 0.52 less than the Ricochet which bragged about its thickness while neglecting to include the extra height those bloody feet brought to the equation. This pad is also no slouch in the size department. While it may not be up to the gargantuan proportions of the DKT pad it still has plenty of room for those intense battles coming in at 290 by 257mm. For my own desires it could be a little larger still, but I'm just greedy.

The strip of sticky Teflon tape has been markedly improved. The last encounter I had with this theoretically beneficial stuff involved much swearing and fiddling about. The backing was next to impossible to separate from the nanometre thick tape, made worse by the fact this was in the days before I managed to knock my lifelong nail-biting habit on the head. Employing a razor blade was my only option yet the whole business remained so tricky that when the applied tape eventually began to peel away I yanked it all off and left it at that. This time round the backing tape is all bumpy, meaning far less contact between the two tapes and hence a far easier time of getting the damn stuff off and headed in the direction of your mouse's feet. The whole process was consequently less aggravating and more successful, and once more when finally applied the tape makes a big difference to the frictional relationship betwixt yer mouse and the mat. In fact so slippery is the resulting combination that some time is required to learn the new behaviour of your rodent friend. You'll soon find yourself enjoying the spectacular precision that the 4D has to offer, and it's very unlikely you'll ever consider going back to your previous solution and to the age-old problem of wringing that last drop of performance from your stretched capabilities.

For twenty euros (£14) and P&P I feel everyone should invest in one of these babies if they like to think of themselves as a gamer. Everything it tries to do it nails. I could not find one fault with it. And if you ever find yourself struggling with UT2003 and a jar of pickles at the same time then the Steelpad 4D will be your friend.

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By Sam Gibson