by theygamesOur Verdict
Offering three choices of surface, the SteelSeries QcK Performance range makes it easy to tailor the movement feel for your mouse. Whether you’re after peak speed or superb stopping power, there’s a choice for you at a reasonable price.
- Welcome choice of surface
- Quality construction
- Reasonable prices
- Less grippy backing than some other options
- No smaller sizes available
The SteelSeries QcK Performance lineup is a new mousepad range that comes in two sizes and three different surface types: Speed, Balance, and Control. Each is pitched as ideal for slightly different gaming styles, letting you maximize the fluidity of your mousing, or focus on a slower, more controlled movement style.
With SteelSeries no stranger to making some of the best gaming mouse options as well as producing some of the best gaming mousepad options, it has plenty of pedigree in the space. Does that make the SteelSeries QcK Performance range an essential upgrade for most gamers? Potentially.
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Specs
| SteelSeries QcK Performance specs | |
| Dimensions | L (500 x 420mm), XL (900 x 400mm) |
| Surface/Speed | Speed (fast), Balance (medium), Control (slow) |
| Thickness | 3.5mm |
Design and features
The SteelSeries QcK Performance range is available in two sizes: L and XL. The large version that we’re testing is a conventional mousepad – as opposed to a desk mat mousepad that goes under your keyboard – but a truly huge one measuring 500 x 420mm. Meanwhile, the XL has a desk mat style, with the area measuring 900 x 400mm.
For my part, I find the dimensions of this large pad far too big. I’m a convert to the desk pad style of mousepad as it gives you so much freedom of where to place your mouse and keyboard. This massive mousepad, though, requires you to have a huge amount of completely clear space to the side of your keyboard, plus it’s excessively deep. I ended up mostly using it in a portrait orientation with a quarter of the mat just hanging off the front edge of my desk.
That said, this size of pad is popular and SteelSeries says that these two sizes are its biggest sellers, so each to their own. I’d just have preferred there to be a slightly smaller option as a main alternative to the desk pad XL option.
The pad is 3.5mm thick, which is fairly typical for a quality soft mousepad with a foam backing and fabric top. This offers a reasonable balance between being low profile enough to not rise awkwardly above your desk, while still being thick enough to have some cushioning and weight, to the point where it sits flat.
That said, I found the foam backing to be slightly less dense than on some pads, and it doesn’t have a textured, grippy underside surface that can aid grip on rougher surfaces. I calculated the weight of the QcK Performance to be around 0.12g/cm², which compares to 0.24g/cm² for the Corsair MM350 Pro and 0.2g/cm² for another mousepad I had to hand. Both those pads are slightly thicker, at 4mm, so I’d expect them to be a bit heavier, but the difference is in fact huge.
Meanwhile, those other pads also have a textured grippy underside shown in the image below (QcK performance on top, Corsair below), rather than the plain foam of the QcK Performance, which feels tougher and should grip slightly uneven surfaces better.
That said, the QcK Performance does still have enough density to sit flat, and its foam backing is actually considerably grippier than the other two pads I had to hand, when placed on a very smooth surface such as you find on the best gaming desks. However, I can envisage a future scenario where a bit of dust and desk grime getting under the mat could cause the QcK Performance to lose that initial grip on your desk quicker than those other denser, grippier-texture mats. Akin to how slick tyres on race cars don’t work well on gravel or in the rain.
In terms of other main features, the QcK Performance comes with a stitched edge, which I’ve generally found does improve the time it takes for the edges of a mousepad to start to fray or degrade, compared to an unstitched edge.
Otherwise, the main feature here is that this mousepad is available in three different surface textures. Speed does what it says, providing as smooth a gliding surface as possible. Control, on the other hand, has a much more textured surface that provides a bit of grip on your mouse for slower movement and faster stopping. Balance then sits in the middle, with a bit of texture but not quite as much as the Control pad.
The idea is that Speed is for gamers wanting totally uninhibited fast movement – ideal for fast-paced and movement-oriented competitive games, such as Apex Legends and Fortnite. Meanwhile, Control is potentially preferred by those that want a little bit less of a jittery, your-hand-could-slide-anywhere feel, which is supposed to be good for precision shooters such as Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant. It’s also envisaged that this would be useful for precise desktop work such as tracing objects in image editing apps. Balance then sits in the middle, looking to offer the best of both worlds.
Performance
In terms of overall performance, all three versions of the QcK Performance feel very good. They’re comfortable, smooth, and have accurate mouse tracking; they nail the basics of a mousepad.
The difference in feel between the three surfaces is immediately obvious though. Speed feels very slippery to the touch and to your mouse, while Control has a distinctly rough feel. Balance feels closer to the smoothness of Speed but with just a touch more texture.
This difference is immediately noticeable in the change in friction between the surfaces and your mouse too. SteelSeries has made a little video demonstrating the speed variance that you can see below, and this is entirely reflected in how your mouse feels on the surfaces.
The net effect of these differences is fairly subtle. All three offer identical overall accuracy – the texture doesn’t make a difference to the optical tracking ability, just the feel of the surface – but Control does feel like it has an extra little bit of resistance against your movements, particularly when starting and stopping your movement, which can help to counteract your hand’s twitches.
When tracing lines in Photoshop, I found Control made it just a touch easier to keep tight to the line. In contrast, Speed offers far less softening of your movements, accounting for every slight twitch of your hand and fingers. In practice, I found this meant that I did indeed waver back and forth more while tracing lines. It’s a subtle difference, and just lowering your DPI, going slower, and taking breaks all make more of a difference, but the slight change was perceptible, as demonstrated in the image below.
This image shows Control (yellow), Balance (blue), and Speed (red) pads being used to trace the outline of a head, with four runs of each. The yellow lines are generally slightly more tightly packed and more accurate, while the red lines waver a little more, with again the blue lines of the Balance pad sitting somewhere in-between, though closer to the lower accuracy of the Speed pad.
As for gaming, I tested each mousepad in Kovaak’s aim trainer, performing six runs with each pad, spread across two days, swapping each pad in between each run, to try and even out any natural improvement from practice or decline from eye strain.
The results were surprising, with the Speed pad consistently coming out on top for overall score and accuracy, though followed closely by Balance. The Control pad I found performed worse, with a markedly lower average score and accuracy. Of course, this isn’t a scientific test, but it does give you an idea of the differences.
| SteelSeries QcK Performance – Kovaak’s | Speed | Balance | Control |
| Score | 2,846 | 2,804 | 2,607 |
| Accuracy | 57.8% | 57.1% | 54.7% |
At least a part of the reason for this lower Control score seemed to be that the flick shot tests in Kovaak’s, where you snap to randomly appearing targets, felt just a little slower and required more effort on the Control pad than the Speed pad. The high performance of the Balance pad again reflected how it feels and performs more on par with the Speed pad than the Control pad.
In general gaming, these subtle differences weren’t borne out in my scores, given there are so many other variables to competitive games. However, I did feel a certain amount more of a sense of precision and smooth flow using the Control pad in certain games.
In Counter Strike 2, I found this wasn’t necessarily beneficial for flick shots, but I found it easier to precisely track aim points while peaking or moving slowly, using the Control pad. Taking split-second sniper shots when covering narrow openings felt a little steadier too. When just the merest flinch can knock off your aim, the slightly higher resistance of the Control pad made it a little easier to ensure I didn’t nudge the mouse when hitting the fire button.
For titles such as Apex Legends, though, where speed is everything, the extra resistance of the Control pad did indeed feel like it impacted my speed, not least because the grippy surface slightly catches on clothes. Even if you’re wearing a smooth gaming sleeve, it still clings more than a smoother pad.
Price
The SteelSeries QcK Performance mousepads have a premium price for their sizes, with them being around $10 more expensive than more typical pad options. This isn’t too much of a concern in and of itself, but the slightly lighter foam weight is a bit disappointing considering the extra cost. The L version is priced at $39.99 while the XL mat costs $49.99.
Verdict
The SteelSeries QcK Performance mousepad lineup is an interesting addition to the world of mousing surfaces. Having a very clear choice of surfaces matched to a consistent set of sizes and other features from a big-name manufacturer makes it easy to pick your peripheral poison. I could definitely see some gamers getting multiple surfaces and swapping them depending on which game they’re playing.
On balance, the Speed surface that is most like most other mousepads is still likely to have the broadest appeal, and is the one I’d pick for most daily use. That’s because, when it comes to wanting more accuracy, simply dropping to a lower DPI is far more impactful than the extra sense of control with the Control surface.
Still, if you’re craving a mousepad that offers just a little more resistance and helps your mousing maneuvers feel more planted and steady, then the Control or Balance pads are there as affordable options to try.
Having chosen the perfect pad for your needs, why not check out other ways to revolutionize your mousing by switching to a wireless gaming mouse? Our best wireless gaming mouse guide has a range of options for all budgets.