This is a consideration considering the asking price of $39.99 on the pad isn't exactly in budget territory. There's definetly a chance that your pad will eventually develop some slow spots in commonly used areas and will require replacement. It really shows fingerpints and scuffs easily so I can imagine that durability may not be as good as promised. My other main concern with this mousepad is that it slows down over use. You can get it to shift around if you bump into the edges but in terms of just moving your mouse on the pad it felt quite stable. The rubber base also was quite good in my use. That being said unless you are a really low sens player, you’ll be able to use this pad comfortably without taking up a ton of desk space so it offers a really good tradeoff for most users especially given the speed. There are rare instances when gaming where I wish it was a bit larger. In terms of size, this is pretty standard and I'm happy with it in 90% of situations. There's not too much sponginess in the midlayer so you won't feel the mouse sink into the pad at all if you press down into it. Don't expect to stop on a dime with the Ice pad but you can press down the mouse into the pad to slow it down faster. In terms of stopping power, this mouse does not have a lot of it. If you don't like pads that make you change your muscle memory, you might want to avoid this pad. Its also hard to do 180s for me in-game with this pad and eventually I got better at handling the differential by spending a week with it in game. I compensated for this by lowering my sens. It almost feels like you're playing with mouse accell on these diagonal movements. This differential makes it really difficult to flick upwards accurately and I find myself over or undershooting targets in game. I'd say it's 25-35% faster horizontally that vertically which took a long time to get used to. This can be tested by gliding your mouse on the surface and you'll notice it comes to a fast stop vertically compared to the horizontal glide. Despite advertising X/Y axis being uniform, it definetly feels much slower vertically than horizontally. This seems to be a common issue but I don't know if it is present on pad they produced. Now onto the main issue I've had with the pad which is the how much slower the vertical glide feels compared to the horizontal glide. While the pad is advertised as a glass-infused surface it wasn't something I could feel from using the mouse as the laminated-type surface gave off an air-hockey table feel to the glide.
I can see this pad slowing down in hot humid environments so that should be a consideration for some gamers. When my room was cold the pad just felt faster and it felt very cool to the touch. What's a bit confusing about the pad is that it seems to be impacted by your environment. From what I've seen and heard about the pad its not as fast as the Shidenkai but it's still plenty fast out the box. It doesn't feel like a hard pad but instead of a normal cloth pad with a thin laminated layer over top. The word ice is definetly a good descriptor as it's fast with very little initial friction. In terms of the feel of the pad, it's hard to describe. Overall the build quality feels premium out the box and the pad gives off a feeling of quality.
It reminded me a bit of the mid-hardness pads that Artisan puts out. With the height of 4mm the thickness of the pad is very standard but it still has a low profile feel due to the low height of the edge stitching. When you're using the pad itself you'll mostly feel the flat laminated layer that's laid over top the pad.
The surface looks and feel very smooth with barely and bumpiness or texture. Rubber base is nicely textured and it barely shifts with normal use but it can shift if you bump your wrist or hand directly against the edges. Not as attractive or as well made as Artisan but it gets the job done. Stitching is clean around the edges and not too raised compared to other pads. Out the box build quality feels really good to begin with. The Glorious Elements Ice Pad comes packaged in a flat box, which means you won't need to unroll it and wait for the edges to settle down flat. What resulted was a unique pad with its own feeling and personality. As soon as it was announced, the mousepad was hailed as a direct competitor to the Artisan Shidenkai. The Glorious Elements Ice pad attempts to fill an undeserved niche in the mousepad market, a fast smooth cloth pad that doesn't sacrifice speed for control.