SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad review: It's really big

SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad review Surface Pro, SteelSeries Rival 100, and Lumia 1520

High-end PC gaming involves a variety of peripherals, including a mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse, and hopefully a controller. That's in addition to your fancy computer or tablet that probably cost a million jillion dollars (or maybe less). If you have any money left over after all that, you should probably get a quality gaming mousepad too. We've already reviewed the Razer Firefly, a mousepad that lights up.

Danish accessory manufacturer SteelSeries has a popular line of mousepads dubbed "QcK." I think that's pronounced "Quick." Towering above this line is the QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad. The QcK XXL measures nearly three feet in width, making it large enough to hold a mouse, keyboard, and whatever else you might want to put on it.

What's it like to use a gigantic mousepad like the QcK XXL? Read our review with video to find out!

Look out, the QcK XXL is attacking!

The SteelSeries QcK XXL comes in a very tall rectangular box. Inside you'll find the mousepad curled up tightly, as well as a sheet with three SteelSeries stickers. My sticker sheet unfortunately came a bit bent up, damaging the stickers.

Unwrap the QcK XXL and you'll notice a strong "new rubber" smell. This scent is common to all extra-large mousepads (as I understand it), presumably due to the sheer volume of rubber coating applied to their undersides. It fades after a day or so of use.

The QcK XXL measures 900mm x 400mm x 4mm – that's 35.4 x 15.7 x 0.16 inches. It is truly huge. Compared to Razer's Goliathus Extended mouse mats, the SteelSeries comes up ever so slightly smaller in width (35.5 versus 36.2 inches) but a fair bit greater in length (15.7 versus 11.6 inches). Absolutely huge any way you slice it.

SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad review Lumia 1520 and SteelSeries Rival 100

Construction

Gaming mousepads are intended to enhance the experience of using a mouse, and the QcK XXL certainly comes prepared for the job. The top surface is made of a super-soft cloth material with a mild texture to it. The surface lends itself to precision over speed, but I'd call the level of speed it provides just right.

The downside to the QcK XXL's cloth surface is its tendency to attract hairs and particles. All cloth mousepads attract such things, really – and they can be annoyingly hard to clean. But the QcK XXL is even more of a hair magnet due to its sheer size. Not a huge deal, but something you'd want to be prepared for.

The underside of the QcK XXL features a textured rubber coating adorned with SteelSeries logos. Your Brobdingnagian mousepad certainly won't be slipping around anywhere, especially with a mouse and keyboard on top.

SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad review underside and Rival 100

Reason for living

Make no mistake, the QcK XXL is intended to hold your full-sized keyboard or gaming laptop on its surface, in addition to a mouse. Mine comfortably fits my 17-inch notebook (not pictured) and SteelSeries Rival 100 mouse (pictured, review coming soon) with plenty of room to spare. You could put a controller on there, your phone, and probably more stuff too.

I have to admit that the purpose of a planet-sized mousepad was not immediately apparent to me. The SteelSeries website and product descriptions don't bother to justify the extreme size either. They seem to assume that everyone knows why you'd need a mousepad that stretches as far as the eye can see.

After using the QcK XXL for a while though, I actually do see some benefits to it. First, some users might want their keyboards and mice to be at the same height instead of a different one. Normally a mousepad raises the mouse up a few millimeters while the keyboard remains situated on the desk. The QcK XXL covers your desk so that your keyboard and mouse sit at the same level, as if you weren't even using a mousepad.

The other plus to using a mousepad that spans the horizon and beyond is that it actually feels good to have so much soft padded surface area on the desk. When you're not typing, you can rest your arm on the QcK XXL and it'll actually feel comfier than plopping it down on a bare desk or table. Heck, you could probably lay your head down on it without bumping into the mouse or keyboard. Maybe even curl right up and take a nap, why not.

SteelSeries QcK XXL Gaming Mousepad review Surface Pro, SteelSeries Rival 100, and Lumia 1520

A mousepad fit for the Beastie Boys

Make no mistake, the SteelSeries QcK XXL essentially transcends traditional definitions of space, existing almost as a parallel reality to our own. Smaller desks might not even be able to accommodate the thing, to say nothing of its effects on planetary rotation and oceanic tides.

Still, this intergalactic thing provides a great mouse surface for both work and gaming. It feels great to touch, and can actually make your desk more comfortable to boot. I wouldn't have guessed at such strengths from a mousepad that allows no light or matter to escape from its orbit, but here you go. The QcK XXL might be impractical for some people, but it's a truly fine mousepad.

If the pan-dimensional volume of the QcK XXL is too large for you, consider the SteelSeries QcK+. It measures half the width at 450 x 400 x 2mm and costs a fair bit less, to boot.

Paul Acevedo

Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!

39 Comments
  • I prefer hard mouse pad. Better glide, always.
  • Didn't know there were mouse pads that big. Would consider buying if I didn't have a bunch of cats and dogs
  • Eew, dogs! Ha, but I know whatcha mean about the fur not mixing well with big cloth mousepads.
  • I keep my rig in the basement (lol yes I'm a basement dweller), it doubles as my office so my dog isn't allowed down there. It's nice to have a santuary where it's nice and cool and pet free. Other option is to keep a rool of tape nearby to pick up the hair, I used to do that. Also, big mouse pads like this are great, I used to have to move my small one around as I changed positions. now i can just move the mouse as I please.
  • Another ACE review! ;p
  • I would never VEDO that suggestion! ;0
  • I find it so cool that an editor at WC actually replied to a comment. Is it just me or does that happen quite rarely?
  • Glad you liked my reply. :) We all vary in how busy we are and comment volume. I see Dan reply to comments fairly often, but some of his stories get hundreds of comments so he just can't reply to all of them. I try to reply to most comments that call for it... Unless multiple people say the same thing, in which case I'll usually just answer one of them. But yeah, I do it because that's what I enjoy as a reader at other sites. And interacting with you guys (the nice ones, anyway) is fun!
  • I have one and its fantastic. The smell does subside afetr a few days and it was strong that is for sure. My Steelseries RAW mouse works perfectly with it and has a nice glide to it. My KB looks great on it and slides so much more less than it used to on bare wood.
  • That is one impressive pad!
  • All I need is about 5" x 8" space for mouse travel. I have the regular (medium size?) pad that is still more than twice the size I need. It's definitely a great mat though.
  • Why even bother at that size? I don't ever use a mouse-pad at work, and never used one at home until recently (as my mouse has a steel-base and was scratching my desk)
  • They really are important for comfort. I think some people just learn to tough things out, such as using a touchpad and not even considering buying a mouse. But if you start at the most comfortable scenario, then taking away the comforts feels pretty unpleasant. Imagine having to play games on an N64 controller when all you had used were Xbox One and PS4 controllers before that!
  • I've toyed around without the mat and found that even after tuning the mouse (it's a razer) to the new surface, it's far more reliable in its travel with the mouse pad. Plus, as Paul said, there is a bit of a comfort to them too for resting your hand on. Not to mention the versatility if I ever get a desk which has more room for the mouse to roam. It's definitely not a required purchase by any means.
  • Holy crap. That's more like a deskpad.
  • You are not wrong there. But I love it. And if you need something this big i would recommend it. 10/10 in my books. 
  • I wouldn't mind actually! Especially if it's a good one. It can be a hard to find a good mouse pad
  • The pad is so big it was rejected from Smash Bros.
  • Nice humor :) enjoyed the article
  • Thank you! That makes my day. :)
  • That's one big mouse pad you have there...very big indeed..
  • Big enough for a rat or ferret even. I'm here all night folks.
  • I actually have a rat. Use it every day. Wonderful little thing. Customizable out the wazoo. Tell more jokes, while you're at it.
  • I wish someone would make one that's 20in x 18in x 5mm thick. Stitched edges and not over blown with a large ugly logo or design.
  • Qck+ is 17.72 x 15.70 x 0.08 inches, with a small logo in the corner. There are literally dozens of blank mousepads available at almost any retailer that deals with computers or office supplies. There are plenty of options available online too, such as http://www.amazon.com/Glorious-XXL-Extended-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B00NOCZTTI - click on the XL (16" x 18") or XL Heavy (18" x 18")
  • Guess in jpn its qck LLL
  • is it just ordoes that 1520 look huge
  • Nah, it's just "ordoes"
  • Too small. I need one that can cover my whole room so I can use my laptop on the floor. LOL just kidding.
  • i have those jigsaw type pieces of rubber you find in daycares...those are wonderful. :)  
  • Now this is a kind of mousepad I wouldn't mind having.  One of my biggest quarrels with my current pad is that it is always sliding around on my desk.  I'm not sure that would even be possible with how much surface area this one has.  This is definitely something I will be keeping my eye on.
  • For the rest of the World (non-US) this measures 40 x 90 cm. Do you guys even metric? :P
  • I dunno - it's listed in mm on Amazon UK too. I guess they do that because the height looks better as 4mm than .4cm, but who knows?
  • Yeah, I forgot the height :) I always find it weird to talk in mm when it's over say 2cm. It's actually a perfect size for my desk... I wonder how it compares to traditional desk-pads? e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Lorell-Desk-Pad-Inches-Clear/dp/B00B1MOP0C
  • The Lorell Desk Pad would definitely be better for writing with a pen or whatever. Soft surfaces aren't appropriate for that. But the soft surface is great for comfort, so it's a balancing act. Also, gaming mousepads do have a (usually minor) impact on mouse performance.
  • Curl up and take a nap? Who would do such a thing, even on a mousepad the size of a small moon? I mean, you'd just roll off the desk if you're not careful.
  • That's no moon!
  • ^Nailed it, dangit! hehe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVekNsgUqn4
  • Great article Paul, and WHOA! I wish they sold this on custom cuts, so I could cover my entire desk on the mousepad material!