SteelSeries QcK Prism Mousepad Review – RGB Lighting? Love or Hate?

An RGB Mousepad, a bit overkill, or are we just following the craze of having everything light up like Christmas all year round? Well, I am, with my Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2 Keyboard, My Razer Nega Hex or Naga Mouse, SteelSeries Sensei Mouse, My main pc which is lite up all RED and before this mouse mat, I was using a Razer Firefly.

So why a new mouse mat, well one of the main benefits over the firefly is this mouse pad offers a dual-sided mouse mat surface, one side being cloth the other side offering a hard surface. This gives SteelSeries the upper edge of the Razer Firefly.

For this mousepad, I popped to my local retail store and checked out all the mouse mats on offer, there was the Razer Firefly with the black and green design keeping to the core colours, a number of standard mouse mats and then there was the Prism from SteelSeries.

This Mouse Pad stands out miles ahead of its competition when it comes to style, design or even the price £66.99, but before we move on to why I think this, let’s roll on to packaging and unboxing.

From the first time you see this product in your local retail shop, it will stand out, the mousepad is showcased perfectly on the front and in small text you find out this mouse pad has RGB lighting thanks to the use of Prism Lighting (gamesense), you also find out that this is a duel surface gaming pad, offering a hard surface and cloth surface.

Hard Surface =  Speed and Cloth Surface = Control

SteelSeries also class this mouse pad as the world’s first, which is true when it comes to being duel sided but not having RGB lighting. If you are a fan of SteelSeries then you already know about Gamesense, thanks to its 12 zones of lighting on the mousepad you can use Gamesense to set and create your own light creations.

Moving to the back of the packaging, there are a number of features SteelSeries choose to show off.

• World’s first Duel-Surface RGB Gaming Mousepad
• One Mousepad, Two Surfaces: Hard Polymer and Soft Cloth
• Never-Slip Base
• Intuitive Cable Design
• Micro-Textured Cloth Surface
• Premium Hard Polymer Surface
• Unmatched Customization – Seamless Full Range RGB Illumination Across 12 Independent Zones
• Prism Sync – Sync Dynamic Effects between your SteelSeries Prism Gear
• Gamesense Lighting – Reactive Illumination responds to -in-game events like low ammo, health, kills, money, and cooldown timers.

Unboxing, rip along the back, remove the sleeve, open up the box and peek inside, does it looks nice?

The answer, yes it does look good, nicely sealed away behind the SteelSeries packaging, protected by plastic and sponge padding. But where are the SteelSeries stickers? still nowhere to be found, I rather enjoy showcasing what I am using for all to see.

Moving past the unboxing and sales, to getting to know the actual product, weighing in at a solid 2lbs, one of the heaviest mousepads I own, differently heavier than the Razer Firefly. Just under 12″ wide with a depth of just over 14″ and a cable length of 1.8m. The underside is rubber, so this mouse mat will not go anywhere, under any type of use.

SteelSeries has opted to put the cable connection on the side of the mouse pad instead of the top, which is a change, as both the Razer Firefly and Corsair Polaris both have the cabling on top. I feel this is a good design decision, as it stops any interference with the mouse cabling, however, I use a mouse bungee, so this is not much of an issue, though I know many people do not use one. By having the cable on the side, make it more convenient for attaching the mouse pad to your keyboard, if you have a USB pass-through connection, this is only suitable for right-hand mouse users, from what I know there is no left-hand version of the QcK Prism.

This mouse pad is dual-sided, which is great for cloth or hard mouse mat users. I tend to use both, for gaming I tend to use the hard side which is a hard polymer which offers great speed and accuracy and for working on the internet, word documents and photoshop I tend to use the cloth side for better control. To shift between hard and soft is as simple as flipping a coin, pick the mat up, flip over, done. Cleaning is just as simple, damp cloth, rub, wipe clean, done, if you need to give it a deep clean, I tend to use Lynx Body Wash or Fairy Washing up liquid, a light rub, and rinse under a tap, then leave to drip dry.

Now since I have the Razer Firefly, it is only suitable that I show you the difference, and thanks to SteelSeries, they have done it for me.

Features Dual Surfaces Included 360° RGB Illumination Independent Lighting Zones Reactive Illumination w/ Standard Software Intuitive Cable Placement

Razer Firefly × × × × ×

So there we have it, you get more for your money when you purchase the new QcK Prism. The RGB lighting on the Razer Firefly is under the Mat, which Razer claim to be better, so they see no need to change, maybe they say this due to them being one of the first to release an RGB Mouse Pad and do not see the point in making any changes just yet.

The RGB lighting on the Prism is all around the pad and on top and viewable for all to see, gives it a more of the bling effect and with the use of Gamesense, you can do a lot more.

Talking about Gamesense from SteelSeries, here is a screenshot above of the software in operation, in which you can see that the software allows you to control a total of 12 zones all independently, have custom effects and create your own, templates (control the lighting pattern when activated), illumination (brightness) and create your own configurations. The RGB Lighting is in your face, bright and wonderful and is much better than the Firefly.

One major benefit of purchasing this mousepad over the firefly is the dual-sided mouse mat, something Razer does offer, but you would need to purchase two versions of the Razer Firefly to have cloth and hard available, you would also be messing around with connecting and cabling all the time, just to swap them over, a total pain and a waste of money.

Almost forgot to mention, setting this mouse mat up? its easy, plug ‘n’ play, well sort of you will need to download SteelSeries Gamesense to take full advantage of everything this mouse pad has to offer.

So final thoughts? maybe I like this mouse too much, I love the bling effects of late and anything that offers sweet RGB lighting of late, I tend to go for now. Having the cabling on the side is perfect for use with my Razer Blackwidow Choma V2 and its USB Pass-Through. The option of having cloth and hard is perfect for what I do, gaming and photoshop/web/word usage. The idea of just flipping a mouse mat over, instead of having the purchase another pad just to have a different surface is great, though I do wish they used the SteelSeries Dex Surface as the cloth side.

The rubber underside makes sure this mouse will not move under any pressure, from those intense firefights to macro intense MMO’s, or those intricate photoshop alterations.

There is differently a difference when using cloth or the hard surface, I found the mouse would be more controlled when using a cloth surface and felt faster when using the hard surface, maybe due to less friction on the hard compared to the cloth.

For the asking price of £66.99RRP, cheaper options are available, is a great price considering the Razer Firefly and the Corsair Polaris Mouse Pads cost £59.99 and only offer you one surface and would cost you around £199.98 to own both surfaces, which in my honest option is a crazy price to ask anyone to ask for.