Flexiglow Fx Game Pad

Is this the “ultimate” game pad? – Brian

SUMMARY: Is this the “ultimate” game pad?

The good folks at Directron
have sent us a new item to have a look at; Flexiglow’s Fx Game Pad.

Package

Directron states in their product page;

“This is the ultimate game pad. The surrounding bubble light not only gives it an exotic look but also guides your hands when you are playing your favorite game.”

I don’t know about you, but when something gets the adjective “ultimate” attached to it’s description, I wonder how accurate it really is. Here’s this reviewer’s opinion on this:

Product

The mousing area is 9.5″ x 7.5″. The cord is 6 feet long.

The mousing surface is set into a large clear plastic material. Bubbles in the plastic help to reflect/refract the light, further illuminating the visible edge
around the mouse pad. Flipping the pad over, we find;

Bottom

Three LEDs in each corner provide all the lighting.

Included with the Fx Game Pad is a pair of extra clear “feet”, which can be used for additional support, or if replacing one of the originals ever becomes
necessary. I found that with just the four pre-installed feet, occasionally the pad would tilt up, if too much downward pressure was applied on the front edge.
I put the additional two feet along this edge for extra support. I tried one centered first, but two worked better.

The little “reddish” item near the wire at the top is the bottom of the embedded lighting power button. It’s hard to see it in the rest of the pictures, so I’ll note
it’s location here.

LEDs

Those LEDs, close up. Green, red, and blue.

When you first plug this item in, it runs through a brief “self test” mode. It cycles through all of the lights and then turns itself off.

Using these three colors, and combinations thereof, allows seven different color choices, with an additional automatic “cycling” mode, through all the colors.
Pushing the button once changes to the next color, a second time shuts the lights off (there’s an “off” setting between each color selection).

Light colors/modes; Green, Red, Blue, Yellow [red/green], Purple [red/blue], Aqua [blue/green], Whitish (all three on), auto cycle (flashing). A look at a few of
those (the object visible on the mouse pad is my Logitech Mx700 mouse);

Green

Green

Red

Red

{mospagebreak}

Blue

Blue

Purple

Purple

Clear

Clear/whitish

I didn’t include a picture of two colors, those being yellow and aqua. Aqua is very close to the blue color visually. Yellow is very similar to the clear.

The auto cycling feature flashes in a repetitive sequence.

The mousing surface itself

As nice as all those lights are, in my opinion, they aren’t even the best feature of this item. This is.

As briefly mentioned earlier, I use a Logitech Mx700 mouse. I’ve lost count of all the different things I’ve tried, looking for that “perfect” surface. I finally
just sanded the keyboard shelf of my computer desk smooth on the right side, using up to 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. It wasn’t very “pretty”, but it worked pretty well.

When I put this product under my Mx700, I had to go in and turn down the mouse speed/sensitivity in every game I play frequently. Check that…in every
game, period. Ok…not MS Solitaire and Hearts, but everything else. =)

Some excerpts from the packaging;

  • Gaming enthusiast approved mousing surface
  • Smooth wrist action on non wearing easy glide surface
  • Works with optical or ball mice

I’m not one of the “enthusiasts” they consulted, but they must have spoken with some good ones. This mouse pad is far and away the best I’ve ever used.

Unplugged.

Plugging it in and firing up some lights is just the “icing on the cake”. I’d buy one of these even if it didn’t light up, that’s how impressed I am with the
mousing surface itself.

Every once in a while I’ll drift over and the lighting button will get under the mouse. It’s a bit annoying the first few times this might happen, but you soon
realize what’s going on, and start instinctively recentering the mouse on the pad when it happens.

I read another review of this item, and that reviewer took a razor blade and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y cut off the top of the light button (it’s made of rubber) making
it flush with the mousing surface. I suppose this is one option, if this really is an issue with you. I don’t think it will be. Cutting the button will void any
warranty, so consider that point if you consider this.

I also noticed that I hit the button with the mouse less (and the pad fits better on my keyboard shelf) if I turn it 90 degrees, so the cord exits on the right side,
rather than the top.

CONCLUSIONS

Everything is “lighting up’ these days…

As more product designers tap into that +5v line supplied by every USB port, it’s enabling all kinds of peripherals to be “illuminated” in one way or another.

By implementing the three major color LEDs, this item is able to change to seven different colors, and has an eighth “cycling” mode. Using the “bubble plastic” was brilliant, as it
reflects more light than regular clear plastic would. The four LEDs used by the main three colors (red, green, blue) light this pad up very well, and each of the
“combinations” are slightly brighter still.

While this product is “targeted” at the gaming community, it certainly could be used anywhere, attracting a good deal of attention in the process. You could really
mess with people’s heads for a few days at the office, by using a different color each day. (“Wasn’t that green yesterday?”….”Yes. This is a different one.” =) )

The full six foot long USB cable is easily long enough to reach under any desk to an available USB port. It a lot easier to take a “twist tie” and make a cable shorter
if necessary than make a cable longer, so it’s good to see the cable here is more than sufficiently long enough.

It’s a bit on the “pricey” side, but the quality, function, and features definitely make this an item worth considering.

For me, I still think the mousing surface is the best feature. If Flexiglow were to send me one of these with the lights inoperative, I’d still be happy using it. My search
for the “ultimate mouse pad” might finally be over.

I’d like to thank Directron for sending
this item out for us to review.

Email Brian

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