There is a reason why QcK mouse pad series keep coming back again, again and again….. after so many years. For me it just simple, they’re good mouse pads, of course they aren’t the best out there but they certainly do their best on their own and became the iconic of SteelSeries since the begining. This time, come along with Rival CS:Go Howl edition, SteelSeries just release QcK+ CS:Go Howl Limited Edition, a new member of QcK family. Wait a minute, is it just another QcK+ with some colors on it, you may ask? Hold on folks, don’t let the look of it fools you, I don’t know what SteelSeries have done to this one but they surely make a different compare to other previous QcK.
Overview
At the first glance, QcK+ CS:Go Howl still have the same dimension like other previous QcK+ Limited versions 450mm(W) x 400mm(H) x 4mm(D), a perfect size for typical FPS gamer who use low mouse sensitivity.
But if we look closely at it, we can see that SteelSeries has made a really well though when designing QcK+ Howl, with a stitched edge around make sure the surface doesn’t get spray easily. Speaking of the design, QcK+ Howl still keep up with the tradition of QcK+ family like NAVI, SK Gaming, Invictus Gaming, Fnatic, MYM…. edition. With a beautiful design and excellent color reproduction, all blend together to create a good mouse pad with unique looking.
One of the biggest draw back of QcK series in the past is their rubber base, I don’t want to be a nit pick here but those rubber base is pretty bad back then. Luckily, SteelSeries has noticed this issue and fixed it this time, with a thicker, dense and solid rubber base on QcK+ Howl, they surely impress me this time. Everything just feel solid and secure when I put it on the table.
Feeling the beast
Taking the different path from it’s other brothers in QcK+ Limited series which have a very smooth surface, not everyone like it when compared to the regular QcK (QcK mini, QcK, QcK Mass… you name it). QcK+ Howl has a better surface that can actually give you the feeling of texture right beneath your hands, this can increase friction between you mouse feet and the surface of the pad to improve abitity to control the movement of the mouse in intense game play.
Not just that, the fabric of QcK+ Howl has a really nice “wave form” which balance uniformity between vertical and horizon movement across the surface, something not many mouse pad can archive.
Tracking performance
I have use this mouse pad with Rival 310 in the past few week to see if it has any issue, but it work flawlessly, the TrueMove sensor 3 (a customize version of PMW3360) hasn’t any problem when using with QcK+ Howl from LOD (lift of distance) to tracking capable.
One thing to keep in mind is if you’re using a gaming mouse use a really old Optical LED sensor like A3090, A3080… then you may experience acceleration sometimes but it’s not a deal breaker to be honest.
Bottom line, if you’re a die hard fan of CS:Go, this is a really nice piece of collection you definitely want to check it out and even if you don’t, QcK+ Howl still a good choice with better surface uniformity and rubber base compare to previous versions of QcK series.
