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Seven Color LED Mousepad
VL writes "If you're into LED mousepads, but one color isn't enough... how about one that has seven that you can choose from with a press of a button?
" Gotta admit, it looks pretty nifty.
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Must be a very slow news day...
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Bareback is the only way to go.
Thinkgeek for a mere $26.99. Coincidence? *wink wink*
Slow newsday at slashdot..... This adds insult to injury when my submissions get denied.
slashdotted before the first post. google cache
With optical mice why would anyone need a mouse pad? Back in the day with the old-style mice, I would occasionally move my mouse off the pad thus resulting my Rocket Launcher pointing in some odd direction. Once I switched to an optical mouse, that .99c IKEA mouse pad was thrown out the window.
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
The review said it has a small mousing surface, but that 'cons' were easy to get used to. BAH. Who wants to sacrafice usability for blinkenlights?
If I wanted style of substance I'd buy a k-rad black & grey Compaq. Or Windows XP.
7 colors is useless to me! 16 colors, NOW we're talking.
Damn html formatting...
lexiglow FX GamePad: Blue LED mousepads don't do it for you? Red neither? How about one which gives you seven choices?
Date:
April 19, 2004
Manufacturer:
Flexiglow
Written By:
Scott Harness
If you were to ask the question "how do you control your PC?" pretty much the majority of answers will be along the lines of "with my mouse". As such, mice have been designed and redesigned for changing markets, new features and of course to try and appeal to the individual in all of us. It's the fascination to have something a little different from the rest that has extended to mouse surfacing as well. It may be a simple image imprinted onto the mousemat, differing shapes, textures and materials, or as has been seen in both the modding community and now retail companies, differing designs featuring some kind of illumination.
However I think that this review item certainly tries to appeal to more than just one user base with its differing colour cycling which is a little different, especially from a manufacturer. What am I talking about? The Flexiglow FX GamePad.
Features
7 Colours options in one pad choices
Eight function is automatic cycle through the seven colours
Incredible lit up bubble effect
Gaming enthusiast approved mousing surface
Terrific night time illumination - ideal for LAN parties
Specifications
Low power consumption LED lights
USB Cable 1.8m
Slick mousing surface that works well with both Ball and Optical Mice
The FlexiGlow FX GamePad comes in a clear plastic shell type package with all the usual PR info displayed, and partially the pad itself. Opening the package you are presented with the pad itself and attached 1.8m USB lead for power, as well as a small packet with two spare feet which I thought was a great touch by Flexiglow. Sure, the chances of losing a foot are minimal but the thought was their and it could happen.
The surface of the pad itself is a textured black plastic which works well for both ball and optical mice so a good choice their. Bottom right of the face of the pad we have an FX Game Pad logo and top middle is a FlexiGlow logo. Next to this is the button for cycling the colour options.
The rear of the pad shows off where the colours come from. The base of the pad is a clear, bubbled plastic with the center area housing the LEDs for colour; three LEDs in each of the four corners of the black circle aiming to the four corners of the pad. Despite the fact there are only those tiny 3mm LEDs, three of each in each corner, they do a terrific job of lighting up the base, even in broad daylight. I've had to (unfortunately) colour edit some of the photos below because my camera wouldn't pick up the colours to well, but the colours are very good in real life.
You can get 7 colours from the pad ranging from Green, Red, Blue, Yellow (red and green), Purple (red and blue), Aqua (blue and green), and finally RGB/All/White. All of these are cycled through by pressing the button. When you power the pad (plug it in) the pad will go through a light show testing all of the colours smoothly, and then one after the other quickly before finally stopping all lighting. You can then press the button to go to green, again for off, again for red, again for off... wash rinse repeat. This will get you through the 7 colour options, although there is an 8th option which will slowly and smoothly cycle from one colour to the next in about 4 seconds continuously.
In Use
This is a very subjective part of the review but hopefully I'll be able to include enough information to help you make your own minds up. To test the pad I've been using it in both every day normal tasks such as web browsing or just clicking icons etc., as well as an intense few days of nonstop gaming (woe is me). Games of choice have ranged from Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy to Call of Duty (specifically the last level). What I've been looking for here is to see the difference in the feel of
...I sat next to a guy with that thing at The Gathering... CONSTANTLY PULSATING and annoying the hell out of me, and also achieving amazing amounts of screen glare. The guy lit up the entire isle with lights.
It gets annoying.
toresbe
... Slashdot was availble in 7 colours.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
"... when Americans decide to change english words to better suit their educational needs, ie to save money."
History lesson: Noah Webster (of Merrian-Webster, the big American dictionary maker) took it upon himself to revise the language. He removed superfluous letters (such as the 'u' in armour or colour), among other things. His revisions are the basis of modern American English, and he died nearly 200 years ago. Americans aren't choosing new spellings, they're sticking with their history.
G
Won't blinking LEDs make an optical mouse go crazy? And on a related note, why is the article on a mousepad SO FREAKING LONG.
I hate grammar Nazi's.
I'll trade my password for one of those mouse pads
The master walks by and observes the student playing with a blue glowing device. "May I?", asks the master. He takes the device into his hand.
"This mousepad is interesting. The manufacturer offers seven different selections of colors. Yet there is another color which is inherent in all devices, which is directly available as a color selection."
"Any what, pray tell, is this mysterious color, Master?"
The master drops the mouse pad to the floor and smashes it under foot. The student is enlightened.
Since the pad draws power from a USB connection, it would be cool if the colours could be controlled via the USB port as well.
With a simple API, it should be easy to change the colours on the fly, going from blue to red (or whatever) depending on different 'threat' conditions.
What would be cool would be to computer control it to switch up a notch as you progress through Double Kill, Multi Kill, Monster Kill, GOOOOOODLIKE...etc.
Green for normal state, progressing through Green/Amber to ultra-bright, pulsating Red. Shit, you could just get so pumped, even without a mod for your headphones to jack up the volume in sync with the light...
After the 'furry mouse', the 'gel mousepad', the
:)
'arm rests in front of keyboard' and so on now the LED mousepad...
Nonsense with blinking lights does very well judging by the sight of cars in the city at night (biggest consumers of blue leds), so this will probably be a hot seller
MP3 Search Engine
I still use my old Sun optical mousepad. Works great, and sure is pretty. Besides, it's the only Sun hardware I have that is still good for production use.
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Watch as you indicators and useage graphs go from green to yellow to red.
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
Cos I don't.
Mousemats were needed with a ball mouse, but with an optical one you don't need one, and I actually find it easier without one. They're inexpensive too, mine cos 6 GBP (~$10) for a three button scroll wheel optical mouse.
It's stories like these where I try to click on the link to go see this new nifty gadget. Of course, the server is slashdotted to hell and back by the time I try and go there, and I keep telling myself I'll just wait a couple of days. I never remember, then a friend of mine points out the device to me like months later, and even though I never got the chance to see it, I'm here trying to outgeek the other guy and pretend like I saw it way back when.
why do I need a mouse pad for my optical mouse?
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Now we are just waiting to see what company patents the "idea" first. Something in the lines of Antec and Led Fans. Too bad that I didn't have enough money for patent when I invented these lighted mousepads (GlowPad) back in 2001. Now I'm holding my breath and waiting when the first BreezePad comes out. ;)