A double-sided mat offers both varied performance and comfort in Razer style. We flip it for some serious testing.
A good gaming environment is just like the mis en scene that any good chef tries to have in place before they cook. Everything is just so, whether your gear is top notch, high-end stuff or just an old beige MS mouse on a manila folder. If you hark to the former school, though, and like the best of everything, then the right mouse mat is just as important as the right mouse and keyboard.
Razer's new Vespula (a species of social wasps, according to Wikipedia) is a dual-sided affair with a neat non-slip surface and padded wrist rest. It's a two-part design that splits the rubbery base and actual mousing surface, and then takes advantage of having a separate surface by making it double-sided.
One side is very grippy, for a precision mousing - sniping, pin-point graphics work, etc - while the other is a smoother more slippery surface for sheer mousing speed. The theory is you can turn the mat over depending on your gaming situation.
In practice... well, it's not going to work. You need to pick your surface before you play, because flipping the thing in a live game is a lesson in frustration. You could wait until you're dead and waiting to spawn, but it's still not an ideal solution. However, sticking with the surface that suits a game most can work. In games where you snipe more than run-n-gun, go with the grippy precision surface. If you're up close and dodging flashbangs in CS, perhaps the faster one is for you. Neither really adds to true game performance, though - we were no more or less accurate or fast with either side, though we did feel more in control with the grippy side in our CoD4 testing.
The rubbery portion of the Vespula is certainly good at keeping the mat in place on your desktop, and the wrist-wrest will certainly make gaming a little more comfortable. It takes some getting used to, but if you want to avoid Gamer's Callous, this is a good option.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012