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Finally got around to testing out these pads and taking some pictures for everyone. I want to thank Artisan for providing me the pad's free of charge, allowing me to do a proper review.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24081793@N07/sets/72157625339901415/
First off Artisan is a gaming peripherals brand of a Japanese company called "GrowUp Japan" aka "GUP" which from what I can tell are only recently breaking into the mousepad market. They showed up at Quakecon 2010 with a booth and mousepads, along with Cooller picking one up and having his pictures taken with reps.
What Artisan markets the KAI.g3 in is Large, Med, Small sizes in either navy blue or wine red and either as Hard or Soft version. When I received both pad's I actually could not see a difference in the surface material, and Artisan confirmed this. The difference between the HARD and the SOFT is just the middle layer of material, which is more dense on the HARD pad, giving it a slightly more firm feel versus a more spongy feel on the soft. The material itself is unlike any other mouse pad I have tried and I can only best describe it as a cloth fabric similar to a canvas material, but certainly of it's own kind. Artisan describes it as a "2 way tricot knit".
What sets this mouse-pad apart from all others in my testing is it's consistency and feedback. And in fact this is part of Artisans secret sauce, which is in the supporting layer beneath the surface which uses a "special structure foam". You can see comparison pictures from typical "open cell rubber" on their site here ( http://www.gup.co.jp/eng_kai01.html ) on the right side.
Artisan's description: "Micro air bubble is lined evenly. It achieves even bounce pressure of mouse pad layer. All performances will be the same at any part of gaming mouse pad. Therefore, same reaction, same stopping, and same aiming with this special structure foam."
Now I own several mouse pads, notably the Puretrak Talent that everyone has started to use so I will compare it to that. When I used the KAI.g3 and switched back and forth from the Talent, I actually noticed how much more stable my aim felt in particular with flick shots. If any of you own a Talent, doing a full flick shot across the pad you should notice that it actually has small ripples to it, especially if you have a bit of downforce. I believe this is a small form of instability that may hinder your performance. It may not be much, but it is a nuance you may not really be aware of until you've tried something better. So I really want to praise Artisan for creating a mouse pad which strives towards uniformity and purity of quality in a product. Secondly, although the KAI.g3 is listed as a cloth pad, it feels like something between a hard pad and a cloth pad, like a hybrid pad that is not plastic, but a tight nit patterned weave that doesn't feel like it will ever wear down or begin to loosen fibers like most cloth pads do over time. Additionally Artisan claims by not using Polyester, the mouse pad does not absorb moisture, therefore not affecting the response of the mouse pad, which I can concur with. However, the mouse really does glide across the pad with ease and small precision shots are also with just the right amount of resistance, less so than the Talent. It has a denier which is between 100-200 like fine yarn, versus 80-100 like most other cloth pads. Better yet the bottom material does a perfect job of holding the pad in place as the material is different kind than typical rubber found in every other mouse pad. My verdict is that performance-wise, this pad is a new leader amongst mouse-pads that sits in a class of it's own, however small that lead may be.
Now on to nit-picking. The Large pad is actually not as big as some people might hope. I took a photo comparing to the Talent and it is clearly a few inches less wide and deep. My hope is that Artisan my offer an XL size in the future to fill this gap for players with a lower sens. But on that note, that pad itself is a rough texture weave. I question if low sens players might irritate the skin below their wrist if they have a tendency to drag their arm across the pad (which is a habit I have). It really depends on how you position your arm and aim "ergonomically" without dragging your arm along the front edge of the pad. My last nit-pick is that for portable use, this pad may be fragile and susceptible to bending which could deform the mouse pad due to the density of the inner foam material not really making it flexible. You can see this bending in one of the photo's I took. It happens more easily on the SOFT version than the HARD version, which I was able to bend significantly and it just formed an arc, whereas the SOFT pad started to crease. Although there are some small fibers protruding out from the edges of the pad, feeling with my finger along the edge convinces me the top layer will not peel back as has happened with my Talent after 6 months of use, and this is simply from the cutting machine for the pad. The way I see it with my one month of experience using this pad is that if you take care of it, it will take care of you, as it has done for me. I say it's worth every penny if you want to invest in a quality product that I believe has finally raised the bar in mouse pads.
Verdict: 9.8/10
Pro's:
-Uniform surface glide
-More than one color choice unlike most pads
-Doesn't absorb moisture as to maintain performance
-Durable surface for longevity
-Clean surface (no loose fibers to get in your lens)
-Absolutely sticks in place
-Hybrid pad resistance (perfectly balanced amount of friction vs glide for not too fast or too slow)
-Made in Japan
-Wide enough for almost all users
Con's:
-Shipping costs depending on where you live
-No XL size very very low sens users
-Could ruin if bent or mishandled
-Rubbing your arm along the front edge could feel abrasive depending on how you position and move your arm for your mouse
-Marketing is limited and mostly word of mouth
Currently this pad is available for order from Amazon.com or via directly from their site - http://www.gup.co.jp/artisan/cloth_ov.html
PS- Just a little note, I did compare the new KAI.g3 to a new Puretrak Talent so that testing was objective. Caveat Emptor, this is what the difference between my 6 month used Talent and a new one looks like..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24081793@N07/sets/72157625465825562/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24081793@N07/sets/72157625339901415/
First off Artisan is a gaming peripherals brand of a Japanese company called "GrowUp Japan" aka "GUP" which from what I can tell are only recently breaking into the mousepad market. They showed up at Quakecon 2010 with a booth and mousepads, along with Cooller picking one up and having his pictures taken with reps.
What Artisan markets the KAI.g3 in is Large, Med, Small sizes in either navy blue or wine red and either as Hard or Soft version. When I received both pad's I actually could not see a difference in the surface material, and Artisan confirmed this. The difference between the HARD and the SOFT is just the middle layer of material, which is more dense on the HARD pad, giving it a slightly more firm feel versus a more spongy feel on the soft. The material itself is unlike any other mouse pad I have tried and I can only best describe it as a cloth fabric similar to a canvas material, but certainly of it's own kind. Artisan describes it as a "2 way tricot knit".
What sets this mouse-pad apart from all others in my testing is it's consistency and feedback. And in fact this is part of Artisans secret sauce, which is in the supporting layer beneath the surface which uses a "special structure foam". You can see comparison pictures from typical "open cell rubber" on their site here ( http://www.gup.co.jp/eng_kai01.html ) on the right side.
Artisan's description: "Micro air bubble is lined evenly. It achieves even bounce pressure of mouse pad layer. All performances will be the same at any part of gaming mouse pad. Therefore, same reaction, same stopping, and same aiming with this special structure foam."
Now I own several mouse pads, notably the Puretrak Talent that everyone has started to use so I will compare it to that. When I used the KAI.g3 and switched back and forth from the Talent, I actually noticed how much more stable my aim felt in particular with flick shots. If any of you own a Talent, doing a full flick shot across the pad you should notice that it actually has small ripples to it, especially if you have a bit of downforce. I believe this is a small form of instability that may hinder your performance. It may not be much, but it is a nuance you may not really be aware of until you've tried something better. So I really want to praise Artisan for creating a mouse pad which strives towards uniformity and purity of quality in a product. Secondly, although the KAI.g3 is listed as a cloth pad, it feels like something between a hard pad and a cloth pad, like a hybrid pad that is not plastic, but a tight nit patterned weave that doesn't feel like it will ever wear down or begin to loosen fibers like most cloth pads do over time. Additionally Artisan claims by not using Polyester, the mouse pad does not absorb moisture, therefore not affecting the response of the mouse pad, which I can concur with. However, the mouse really does glide across the pad with ease and small precision shots are also with just the right amount of resistance, less so than the Talent. It has a denier which is between 100-200 like fine yarn, versus 80-100 like most other cloth pads. Better yet the bottom material does a perfect job of holding the pad in place as the material is different kind than typical rubber found in every other mouse pad. My verdict is that performance-wise, this pad is a new leader amongst mouse-pads that sits in a class of it's own, however small that lead may be.
Now on to nit-picking. The Large pad is actually not as big as some people might hope. I took a photo comparing to the Talent and it is clearly a few inches less wide and deep. My hope is that Artisan my offer an XL size in the future to fill this gap for players with a lower sens. But on that note, that pad itself is a rough texture weave. I question if low sens players might irritate the skin below their wrist if they have a tendency to drag their arm across the pad (which is a habit I have). It really depends on how you position your arm and aim "ergonomically" without dragging your arm along the front edge of the pad. My last nit-pick is that for portable use, this pad may be fragile and susceptible to bending which could deform the mouse pad due to the density of the inner foam material not really making it flexible. You can see this bending in one of the photo's I took. It happens more easily on the SOFT version than the HARD version, which I was able to bend significantly and it just formed an arc, whereas the SOFT pad started to crease. Although there are some small fibers protruding out from the edges of the pad, feeling with my finger along the edge convinces me the top layer will not peel back as has happened with my Talent after 6 months of use, and this is simply from the cutting machine for the pad. The way I see it with my one month of experience using this pad is that if you take care of it, it will take care of you, as it has done for me. I say it's worth every penny if you want to invest in a quality product that I believe has finally raised the bar in mouse pads.
Verdict: 9.8/10
Pro's:
-Uniform surface glide
-More than one color choice unlike most pads
-Doesn't absorb moisture as to maintain performance
-Durable surface for longevity
-Clean surface (no loose fibers to get in your lens)
-Absolutely sticks in place
-Hybrid pad resistance (perfectly balanced amount of friction vs glide for not too fast or too slow)
-Made in Japan
-Wide enough for almost all users
Con's:
-Shipping costs depending on where you live
-No XL size very very low sens users
-Could ruin if bent or mishandled
-Rubbing your arm along the front edge could feel abrasive depending on how you position and move your arm for your mouse
-Marketing is limited and mostly word of mouth
Currently this pad is available for order from Amazon.com or via directly from their site - http://www.gup.co.jp/artisan/cloth_ov.html
PS- Just a little note, I did compare the new KAI.g3 to a new Puretrak Talent so that testing was objective. Caveat Emptor, this is what the difference between my 6 month used Talent and a new one looks like..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24081793@N07/sets/72157625465825562/
Edited by flowrush at 21:04 CST, 28 January 2011 - 49670 Hits
