Our Verdict
76%
How big is too big for mouse mats? Apparently we haven’t reached the limits yet.
It’s not often we deem a mouse mat worthy of a full review, but the Corsair MM500 piqued our interest. With a colossal area of 1220 x 610mm, this ‘3XL’ mat is large enough to cover an entire desk with plush, squishy loveliness.
Having such an enormous mouse mat may sound like a gimmick, but having recently been won over by extra-wide mouse mats that run all the way under your keyboard and mouse, we were intrigued to know if there was any merit to stretching a mat even further.
In theory, there are several benefits to these extended mats. The first is that you have the ability to truly go to town on your mouse placement and movements, flinging your mouse all over your desk without the risk of it falling off your mat.
Moreover, by having the mat fully extend under your keyboard, you avoid the annoying situation that can occur on small desks, where you don’t have room for a large mouse mat without it encroaching on where you want your keyboard to sit.
The extra space can also be useful for multi-monitor setups. You may have one monitor mainly for work and another alongside it mainly for gaming, and you slide the keyboard and mouse over to one or the other depending on what you’re doing. A larger mat means you don’t have to move the mouse mat as well.
Then there’s the fact that having one large surface on which you rest both your keyboard and mouse ensures that both the keyboard and mouse mat are more stable. The keyboard helps to hold down the mat, while the latter provides a non-slip surface for your keyboard.
You also get a soft, warm-to-the-touch surface for your arms and hands wherever they rest on your desk. It’s like having a built-in, squishy wrist rest for your whole desk.
But is it worth moving from just an extra-wide mat, such as the Corsair MM300, to a 3XL mouse mat? We found that the back 20-30cm of the MM500 added very little in terms of practical benefits. Very occasionally, we would push the mouse beyond the depth limits of a mat such as the MM300, but otherwise, the MM500 just looked good and gave a pleasant soft landing for our speakers and monitor.
However, the width did come in handy for our multi-monitor setup. With the likes of the MM300, we still had to shift along the mat a little to get right in front of the gaming display.
With the MM500, though, we didn’t have to move it at all. As such, we were largely won over. Aside from the hassle of completely clearing your desk to lay down the mat for the first time, it’s a surprisingly worthwhile upgrade, even if it does make coffee spills considerably more of a pain to clean up.
The MM500 is just as well made as any other decent soft mouse mat. You get a braided edge, which can interfere with your mouse movements towards the edges of smaller mouse mats, but this mat is so large that the braiding is always well out of the way. In terms of value, the sheer amount of material you get for the price also means it’s considerably cheaper per unit area than smaller mats. You can get slightly cheaper 3XL mats, but there’s not much in it.
Corsair MM500 Extended 3XL pros and cons
Pros
- Transforms entire desk into a mouse mat
- Well made
- Good value compared with smaller mats
- Ideal for multi-monitor setups
Cons
- Extra depth of limited benefit
- Not the cheapest 3XL mouse mat
- Too large for most people
Corsair MM500 Extended 3XL specs
- Construction: Foam rubber with cloth top and stitched edges
- Dimensions (mm): 1,220 x 610 x 3 (W x D x H)
Corsair MM500 Extended 3XL price
Mousemats generally aren’t very expensive and despite its 3XL size, neither is the MM500 Extended 3XL. It’s readily available for $40 or less.
Price: Expect to pay $40 USD / £35 GBP
Corsair MM500 Extended 3XL conclusion
Believe the hype, it’s worth getting an extra-large mouse mat. If you haven’t tried one before, we recommend giving one a try. Whether you really need to go all the way to 3XL is another matter though. There’s little practical benefit to the extra depth of this mat for most users as compared to the extra width of regular extended versions, but it’s great if you have a multi-monitor setup. This Corsair mat is good quality and affordable too.