A great mousepad, especially if you like hard mouse surfaces. It's got a slightly textured, granular surface that feels and looks like very fine sandpaper; put simply, it's a matte surface. When buying it I was slightly apprehensive after hearing about the problems associated with hardpads; they wear out mouse feet, their textured surface wears out, any dust particles on the mousepad will drive you crazy, bad for high sensitivity, etc.After having used it for nearly two years, my mouse feet are no more worn out than when I bought my mouse, the surface has remained as textured as when I received the mousepad. It's easy to keep clean and the mouse glides across it pretty well. My MX-518 hasn't had any trouble with tracking on the Sota, although dust particles may be a bit of an annoyance, so wiping the mousepad with a damp cloth occasionally is recommended. In a nutshell, I love the surface.Now, the issues with this mousepad. One of the key issues with this mousepad is that after 6 or more months of use, based on room temperature fluctuations, I imagine, the mousepad may start to bulge/curl/warp very slightly in places. This bulging was never a very significant functional issue to me because usually just the weight of the mouse will be enough to keep the bulge down; it does feel slightly annoying though. Another thing to note is that this pad absolutely DOES NOT like hot objects. Someone foolishly put a hot coffee mug on mine, close to the top, and the heat caused it to warp and bulge where the mug sat. It also made the surface of that area glossy and smooth, while the rest is all slightly rough and matte. The last issue, and probably the worst one is that the top plastic layer may start peeling off(started happening to mine at around 18 months of use) which basically means your mousepad is coming to the end of its life.Pros:Smooth, glidy surfaceGood trackingSurface does not wear out with normal useDoes not eat mouse feet like other hard padsEasy to keep cleanMousepad is flexible which means it will pretty much never crackBacking is nice and grippyCons:Surface tends to bulge/curl/warp slightly in places after about half a year of useMousepad does not react well to having hot objects placed on itLayers of the pad may end up peelingIf newer releases have addressed these issues, I will whole-heartedly recommend this mousepad to anyone looking for a hard pad, but I haven't heard of people's more recent experiences. If you're planning to buy this, I recommend keeping it away from heat or from temperature fluctuations.

ok..this is a semi hard mousepad. the upper surface is a hard surface n lower part is a rubber layer.After using it for maybe 1 month the upper hard surface contracts which causes it to form a bump or small elevation making it impossible to use. If this occurs only to me then im unlucky cos this mousepad surface may be the best surface. I use it with my roccat Kone+. Very dissapointed at bump that occurs.

I currently have a dummy Logitech mouse with my improper left click. I never used a mouse pad earlier. Now Sota has made my mouse MOVE FASTER and has GREAT CONTROL. The Bottom Layer has nice grip and you can move it forward or backward with some pressure on it. Top Layer i.e., The Granular Layer will not allow dirt to stick into it which is soooper cool. Earlier decided to buy from Razer but thought of give Roccat a try & its damn worth it.