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Mad Wax

Mad Wax

Written by Charles Husemann on 10/7/2004 for PC  
More On: Mad Wax
Friction…it can be the enemy of gamers. It’s friction that can prevent you from getting your target reticule over to that last terrorist before they plant the bomb. It’s friction that helps prevent you from re-deploying your troops to attack the Nod attacking your left flank. Even if you already have a high quality gaming mouse pad (such as the the Xtrac Pro HS), you are still going to have to deal with friction on your mouse pad. This is where Xtrac’s Mad Wax comes in.

Mad Wax is another in the line of great gaming products from the folks over at Xtrac and while it doesn’t completely eliminate friction it does reduce the friction on your mouse pad, making it easier to get your mouse from point A to point B. Like a lot of car waxes Mad Wax contains a carnauba wax base but unlike most car waxes Mad Wax contains Teflon (the stuff that coats no-stick pots and pans). This combination is engineered to create a nice slick surface for your mouse. If you don’t have a hard plastic mouse pad, you’ll also want to skip Max Wax as all it will do to a cloth one is make a mess.

I wish I could say this was the first computer product I’ve ever waxed but I did apply a bit of car wax to the Aspire Dreamer II. If you’ve ever waxed a car, you’re familiar with how to apply Mad Wax to your mouse pad. Once you’ve snipped open the bottle, you simply apply a bit of the wax to your mouse pad and rub it into the pad with a clean cloth. Once you’ve applied the product to the entire pad you wait for about five minutes to let the product set in. When the wax sets, you buff the excess off with another clean cloth and you’re ready to game. Each application of Mad Wax will last about two to three days depending on how much you use your mouse so you’ll quickly become familiar with the process.

I tried out the Max Wax on my Pro HS and I did notice some difference with the wax versus without the wax. I admit I was a bit skeptical before I applied it and thought I would not see a significant difference but my skepticism was misplaced. It did feel a slicker and it was a easier to get the mouse from A to B. It wasn’t a major difference but I could feel a decrease

The big question is if this is something you really need or not. This is probably overkill for your general gamer but if you’re really hard core this is something you might want to check out. There’s also a weird psychological advantage of seeing someone actually wax and buff their mouse. So if you’re really hard core you probably won’t mind plunking down $5 for a bottle of mouse pad wax.
It does exactly what it says it’s going to do. Your level of l33tness will determine if you really need this or not.

Rating: 8.5 Very Good

* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.


About Author

Hi, my name is Charles Husemann and I've been gaming for longer than I care to admit. For me it's always been about competing and a burning off stress. It started off simply enough with Choplifter and Lode Runner on the Apple //e, then it was the curse of Tank and Yars Revenge on the 2600. The addiction subsided somewhat until I went to college where dramatic decreases in my GPA could be traced to the release of X:Com and Doom. I was a Microsoft Xbox MVP from 2009 to 2014.  I currently own stock in Microsoft, AMD, and nVidia.
 

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