Most mice I've used already have low friction feet and work just fine on any sufficiently smooth surface that isn't glass (excepting in the case of old school ball roller mice which would work on glass). I haven't used a mouse pad in decades since my desk is smooth enough.
You can even buy low friction spray on stuff to spray directly onto the surface you plan on using the mouse to make it even smoother.
My main concern is reducing the rubbing noise from the mouse on the desk surface and regaining even a remotely close feel to a mousepad. I've got half a mind to glue some felt to the bottom of a cheap mouse I have to see if that gets close to the desired result at this point.
So naturally a mouse pad, as you may be aware, are useful to minimize friction and improve accuracy depending on the type of mouse you use. If you remove the mouse pad entirely, make sure you have a non-reflective and even surfaced desk.
What you are looking for, for lack of a better way to put it, is "mouse feet". My first link that came up appears to have replacement ones for popular mice: https://feetglide.com/product-category/glides/
I found this web site that sells them, but this should help point you in the correct direction. I suspect you can find similar ones at other online retailers.
This looks promising but from what I can see these feet are made with PTFE which is the same material as what is on the bottom of my mouse right now. What I'm looking for would hopefully be something similar to mouse pad material which would both dampen noise and provide that smoother feel.
FWIW my desk is perfectly smooth on top. It's a vintage office desk with a laminate veneer cap which is both level and smooth. I've used my mouse on this top for years with no mouse pad but recently bought one of those oversized LTT-style desk pads (which is great in terms of feel). Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for it to get dirty and it also just isn't super practical to have the elevated edges of the pad on my desk at the moment.
If I could get a similar feel without a mouse pad by using special feet for the mouse, I'd be very happy.
So, mouse pads wear out. They get dirty, they get scuffed, and they eventually need to be replaced. What you're looking for is specialty mouse glides that would likely need to be replaced more frequently than a mouse pad, due to the fact that you'd be moving it around on a surface that isn't as smooth or frictionless as PTFE or glass.
I used to be a part of r/Mouse, and I don't remember anyone talking about cloth glides. You might be better off cutting your own from a mouse pad and using double sided tape, or just cover the entire bottom with a piece that's the same profile as the bottom.
You know that's a really cool idea. I wonder if OP can try this out as a test and see how effective it is. My concern is nailing the fitmet properly while reducing the ability for the "mouse glides" to get snagged on the desk while sliding it around. Seems like a tall order - you can't exactly cut it into strips as you'll need to sew the edges or introduce something that would keep it level and prevent snagging. But that would increase friction.
Wonder if cutting a mousepad into the profile of the mouse and adhering it to the bottom would achieve the effect. If it's a traditional optical or laser mouse is used, would it register motion if the taped surface never moves?
I kind of want to test this out myself lol. But I have a Corsair big mouse mat with RGB that I really like, so I'm not looking to have this as a permanent solution for me - just something I want to play with because I'm very curious.
I think it could work, but you'd definitely need to find a pad that is thick enough to fit the cups that hold the glides (if any) without compressing down to the plastic but is also thin enough not to affect functionality.
It seems like a lot of effort for minimal payback, since you'd have to eventually replace the pads and do all the cutting and finishing probably on a shorter cycle than replacing a traditional mouse pad. But then, I'm not OP, and maybe they prefer the look of no mousepad more.
Yeah, the simplicity of no mouse pad is appealing. The functionality of the entire right side of my desk being useable mouse space is appealing as well. I really should have just bought a mousepad that had a little more height to it to get around this, but I didn't want to literally cover the whole surface of my desk with a pad either.
If you manage to do it, please report back!
I'm 100% going to see if I can facilitate a test like this. I have a cheap amazon mouse and a very thin old mousepad available to cut up.
That's actually what I'm considering trying. I think that might be my best chance at offloading this massive mousepad from my desk at this point. haha
Seems you found a solution already. But my recommendation was going to be those little felt stickers they put on cabinets to keep them from banging shut. You can easily add or remove stickers to adjust resistance.
Ooooh, damn that's a good idea. I'm gonna look into that. Thanks for the suggestion!
For sure. They're super cheap at any hardware store, and you'll likely get way more than you need so you'll have extra to replace them as they wear out or just use them as intended around the house.
The table in my front room is slightly off balanced, I removed the short leg and put some of those pads in between the leg and the table and it's perfect now.
I'm assuming you must have an optical mouse, not a ball mouse. If it's a ball mouse, you can't really add because it would reduce contact between the ball and the surface.
With an optical mouse, I don't think you're going to quite duplicate the feel of using a plastic mouse on a neoprene pad. You might come close if the surface you're using is close to being as smooth as plastic, and you put the same kind of fabric on the bottom of the mouse as is typically on a mouse pad.
Broadly, it sounds like you want to feel the same amount of resistance between mouse and surface as you're used to, but I think you're saying that the surface you have now is a little less smooth than the mouse pad you're used to, so to get a similar experience with it, you'd need the bottom of your mouse to be smoother than it is now.
Yeah, if the resistance can be close to mousepad feel and the noise dampened then I'd be happy. It's not so much the smoothness of the mousepad that I'm after, rather the resistance. My desk without the pad has much less resistance than the pad does.
I think your best bet is going to be too take a piece of the new desk cover to a fabric store and rub it on different fabrics to find one that has the right resistance, then buy a piece and glue it to the bottom of the mouse.
Or you could try a trackball and avoid the whole issue completely. I've used one of these for years very happily.
So, very rudimentary and preliminary test result here; I grabbed that thin mousepad that I have, simply flipped it upside down so the grip side was up, placed my mouse on it and glided it around on the desktop... It's literally perfect; quiet and smooth with the exact same feel as the mouse on the pad normally. I'm gonna cut some strips off it today and glue them to the bottom of the mouse and see if that bit of extra height off the table top interferes with the laser's accuracy.
[EDIT] The mouse works 100% fine with the cut mousepad underneath. I cut a hole for the laser to shine through and then trimmed the sides to conform to the general footprint of the mouse and its working great. Once I trim the excess pad from the edges and from the underside of the mouse (the current default skates protrude a bit from the bottom of the mouse), the pad will only be in contact with the desk surface where the skates are, further reducing friction and inertia. At the moment with all the excess pad material, I'd say it's off from my ideal resistance and weight by maybe 20%. I think once all that is cleaned up, it's gonna be pretty ideal.
Here's a pair of pics that show the desk with and without the pad. Obviously it's not the worst thing ever to have the pad, but I'm just at the point where I'd rather not have it if I can figure out how to make the mouse quiet on the desk surface and achieve a remotely similar resistance to the pad. (Mac peripherals are for work; not a factor in this particular situation thanks to the trackpad.)
Buy this. Cut it to go on the bottom of your mouse, minus the laser area and where the current skates are. If the skates are still contacting the table afterwards, peel off the skates.
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