You’ve been gaming a lot recently and you’re wondering why the control over the cursor is getting sloppy. Even the slightest delay of cursor while handling your mouse causes irritation and frustration.
You might question your skills or a bad network connection but the answer is your dirty mousepad.
The following text is all about the approved method of ‘How to clean your mousepad’ and giving it a new-like smoothness by keeping it clean from dust and grime.
But Why Clean Mousepad in the first place?
Mousepads are a great way to help your mouse move more smoothly.
Some of them even come with extra cushioning for support. It enhances the usability of the mouse compared to using a mouse directly on a table by providing a surface to allow it to measure movement accurately and without jitter.
Some mousepads increase ergonomics by providing a padded wrist rest, although the benefits of this are debatable.
Having a less than clean mousepad can really affect the precision of your mouse. Make a habit of cleaning your mousepad properly and regularly to avoid dirt build-up.
A good rule of thumb is to try to clean your mouse pad at least three or four times a year, especially when you’re working in an office.
DIY Cleaning of Mousepads:
The clean mouse pad affects the accuracy of cursor positioning, ease of mouse control, and, as a result, its performance. The cleaning mousepad process depends on the material and surface.
This is not an easy deal even for plastic and metal mousepads. Mousepads sometimes also differ in many ways i.e.
- control (for accurate cursor movement)
- speed
A clean mousepad ensures these both factors by keeping the flow of your mouse as smooth as a knife cuts butter.
Your mousepad puts up with a lot, from marathon sessions to the odd, post-loss gamer flip-out (you always take it out on the ones you love), the least you can do is take care of it and give it a good clean once in a while.
It’s all too easy to ignore the pizza crumbs on your mousepad and the sticky fingerprints left on your mouse from a sandwich or an energy drink spillage during an all-nighter. One part of your gaming setup that’s often overlooked is your mousepad.
This unsung hero of gaming gear is surprisingly important to your setup. We’ve made it easy for you guys to get your mousepads cleaned by following these 6 easy DIY-steps:
Determine the Material of your Mousepad:
You need to know the material of your mousepad before giving it a wash or cleaning it.
There are three main components of a mousepad: THE SURFACE, THE BASE, and THE EDGE. Each component is important in its regard.
Currently, mousepads are available in four types of material: cloth, plastic with rubber bottoms, aluminum, and glass.
If you’re after comfort and portability, cloth pads are your best option since they are made of soft foam and fabric, can easily be rolled up for transport, and are easy to clean.
Sometimes, however, they get dirty and need to be cleaned.
The fabric of your mousepad will determine how deeply you need to clean it, maybe it’s a neoprene mousepad, it can be a metallic surface mousepad or perhaps rubberized.
Some mousepads are machine washable depending on the fabric, whereas some of them need to be hand-washed, so we recommend following our guide instead, as it’s the safest and best way of cleaning your mousepad without any risk of damaging it.
This guide will work for all fabric mousepads if you follow the steps to the letter, but all plastic mousepads really require is a wipe over with a damp cloth and a mild cleaner.
2. Fill a bowl with Water & soap:
Grab yourself a bowl or just use your kitchen sink, and fill it with hot water. Add a little hand soap and give it a swirl so it’s fully mixed in with the water.
You could also substitute hand soap for dish soap – but hand soap is preferable since it’s softer and kinder to fabrics.
3. Soak the Mousepad:
Put your pad into the bowl or sink, and make sure to push it down so the water covers it and it’s fully submerged.
Let it sit there in the water for a little while so the grease and dirt particles that have been absorbed into the mousepad have time to dissolve.
4. Give Your Mousepad a Gentle Rub:
Time to get your hands wet. Once your mousepad has been soaking for a while, go ahead and give it a rub with your hands.
Remember to remain gentle with it so as not to damage the surface fabric, especially if you have a soft and sensitive mousepad.
Be extra careful too if you have a mousepad with an illustration or graphic on it since rubbing it can damage the design.
5. Give It a good Rinse:
When you’re happy that you’ve given the mousepad enough of a deep massage to get all of the dirt and stains out of the layers of fabric, rinse it under the hot water tap until all traces of soap are gone and the water runs fully clear.
6. Dry your Mousepad (Air It Out):
The best way to dry your mouse pad after it’s been washed is to just let it air dry inside or if possible, hang it out in the sun.
If you really are in a hurry to get back to gaming and don’t have time to let it air dry, you can use a hairdryer. But make sure to use the lowest heat setting and don’t get the hairdryer too close to your mousepad.
Blasting your mousepad with too much heat can really damage the surface, so proceed with caution.
Some Trusted Products:
MagicFiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloths
PREMIUM MATERIALS: Extremely high-quality, soft, microfiber material absorbs and removes dust, oil, smudges, fingerprints, and dirt. Leaves no scratches, streaks, marks, or lint.
SAFE TO USE ANYWHERE: Can be used on any delicate surface like LCD (Monitor) screens, smartphones and other touch screens, Teach Gear, RGB mousepads, camera lenses and filters, etc.
It fits perfectly flat in your tablet case without adding any bulk.
OTHER FEATURES:
- Wash and reusable over 500 times
- Lint proof
- Long-lasting
- Safe on Delicate and sensitive surfaces
Blow Off Ke1-312-220 Electronics Cleaning Kit:
This top of the line Electronic-Tech gear cleaning kit is one of its kind. It comes with 2 Products to ensure that your tech gear remains brand new.
Blow Off Duster:
You get an anti-static liquid cleaner with foaming action in two different containers.
The way it works is that you spray it on your tech gadgets, say your Mousepad (it works for all kinds of mousepads), let it do the magic for almost ten seconds, it absorbs all the dust, grime, crumps of your leftover fast foods etc.
Finally, wipe the foam away with some smooth microfiber or silky cloth and voila, your mousepad is as good as new.
Blow Off Electronic Cleaning Wipes:
These extra soft specially made wipes come-in handy when you accidentally drop or spill something on your Mousepad, you can easily wipe it off the surface with these cleaning wipes.
It leaves no marks behind as the advanced microfiber technology soaks all the unnecessary materials and gives your mousepad the same smooth surface as you want.
The contents in the containers are contained under high pressure. The wipes are Flammable. Keep them out of reach of children. Store them in cool dry places.
SteelSeries QcK Gaming Surface:
The SteelSeries gaming mousepads are one of the most loved and best seller mousepads out there.
These are made up of medium cloth, optimized for ultimate gaming experience providing maximum control with guaranteed smoothness
- The top choice of esports pros for nearly 20 years
- Exclusive Qck micro woven cloth optimized for low and high dpi tracking movements
- Non-slip rubber base eliminates unwanted movement
- Easy to wash and clean
- Recommended for most users with average desk space and mid to low dpi settings
NOTE: These mousepads are the easiest to wash and clean with minimum risk of getting damaged or losing their smoothness.
Also, they are more reliable and made to give their best performance under harsh conditions, such as, in a moist atmosphere, resist dirt for a longer period of time without affecting the performance of mouse.
P.S The mousepads are rated on the basis of their durability, smoothness, condition of surface after 3-4 washes, and especially how long they can withstand dirt and dust particles without lacking in their performance.
RGB Gaming Mousepad Mat:
The RGB Hard Gaming Mousepad is a vibrant, durable mousepad built for pro-level gaming. It features a low-friction surface optimized for optical and laser mice sensors.
Five large rubber pads on the bottom prevent slippage during those crazy matches.
Set your desk aflame with nine vibrant presets and effects so you can proudly display your colors – all at the press of a touch-sensitive button.
RGB Mousepads also guarantee the best results without being able to clean them for a long while, they’re very close to Steelseries mousepads in terms of results, anyone is free to disagree with the ratings.
Insten Premium Leather Mousepad:
This state-of-the-art variant is one of the best gaming mousepads available out there in the market. Some of the highlighted features are:
- Anti-slip backing prevents the mouse pad from sliding.
- The water-proof coating helps your mouse get accurate tracking and click.
- Precise mouse movement
- Stitched edges to avoid wear & tear
Leather mousepads have their separate fanbase, though many users dislike it too due to its somewhat rugged feel. In terms of cleaning, it requires a little care, i.e. cleaning it with hot water or throwing it in the washing machine may damage its surface.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
- Approximately how long does it take to dry?
5 minutes should be fine or if it is really wet, let it dry for 15 to 20 minutes. The humidity in your house might affect how long it takes to dry too, as it’ll take longer the more humid the air.
If you’re wanting to dry faster, run a paper towel back and forth over it to speed up drying.
- How to clean the Steelseries mousepad?
Steelseries mousepad is classical rubberized rugs, sturdy, with no stitched edges. They normally deal with ordinary hand wash.
A bunch of experts says that after 5–7 neat washes, they retained their properties.
Some of these mousepads contain a thin layer of aluminum between rubber and topcoat for durability and this is better for mouse optics.
Although metal does not like water much, such mousepads should be washed with care. It is forbidden to crush or bend a freshly cleaned Steelseries mousepad.
The best thing to clean this type of mouse pad is running water and mild soap.
- Can you put a mouse pad in the washing machine?
If you think how to clean a mousepad properly and look at your washing machine, don’t just do it. Often friends ask us, are mouse pads machine washable, sorry but all of them aren’t.
Mousepads made form materials like Polyester, Nylon, Microfiber, Foam, Rubber are machine-washable.
On the contrary, metal mousepads are totally a no-go.
- How to clean a mousepad made of plastic or gel-filled?
Often it is enough to wipe them with a damp cloth with liquid cleaners.
These detergents are harmless, hypoallergenic, and at the same time, perfectly cope with stains and clean hard surfaces. If the mouse pad is very dirty, you can wash it with warm water as a usual mousepad.
- Does hot water help in removing the stains?
There are no special considerations for the wash cycle, though it is not recommended to use hot water on every mousepad.
While most of the mousepads have ‘cloth’ as the material for their top surface, the inner pads still contain rubber and rubber under hot water is most likely to melt, thus damaging your mousepad permanently.
Instead using mildly warm water with a good liquid soap helps in getting rid of the tough stains like oil and grease.
Ending Thoughts:
When working on your expensive setup dealing with graphic editing, or in the process of video games, users expect an instant reaction. Otherwise, errors or inaccuracies may appear that are difficult to correct.
It annoys and irritates the user when he/she has to click a dozen times to execute the same command. The speed of reaction to your commands from the mouse depends on how clean the surface of this accessory will be.
Since dust and small particles from the surface of the mat easily get inside this computer accessory.
Therefore, even the most accurate users need to clean such a rug from time to time.
if you choose to use sprays, wipes, or any other cleaning and disinfecting products on your equipment, please carefully read all labels to ensure safe and correct use for both your belongings and your own health.
Also, be extremely careful (in case you’re dealing with an RGB mousepad) getting any moisture near the electronics box where the wire exits your mousepad!