I use a 5mm thick sheet of black felt (well two actually) - right colour, firm, and the miniatures "grip" on the surface.

I use tiles in my war room still, but have ordered a 3x3 GF9 for mobility. will order a 6x3 eventually for the war room too, for when tiles eventually piss me off.... Largely because i'll probably be switching to and from space/ground so often that tiles will lose their practicality.

I like Deep-Cut Studio playmats:

http://www.deepcutstudio.com/category/mats-size-3-x3
I have a pair of mats from them and our 2 local stores, which are organizing tournaments have bought from them enough to organise local tournaments.
They have nice design, quite a big variety and you can choose from 3 materials.

Thumbs up for these guys!

I have the FFG starfield mat...love it.

But I have a 4x4 two-piece portable tabletop that is painted flat black. The wood is particle press board so after painting, it offers great grip but still allows easy movement (without the mat). I just tape off the borders for tournament style play or play to the edges for bigger casual battles.

For epic, I have two 3x3 felt sheets bought at Michael's for $4 each. But I don't have a table big enough so I really haven't used em much.

We make custom 3'x4' playing boards that have a 6 inch card and template area on each side. Here is a video of me making a nebula themed board. We are going to be giving one of our boards away as a prize for our Youtube channel's subscribers.

Does anyone have the link to the gaming mats that had a MC30 on one side and a Star destroyer on the other? It was a 4x6 mat if I remember correctly

I find mousepad-style mats, including the official FFG mats, to be awfully slippery, making for imprecise movement. Vinyl mats are even more slippery and scratch easily.

Yoga mats are the best material I've found for playing the game as I think it was intended. They're not very pretty to look at, but they provide the best amount of grip. They're also very durable and affordable.

Glue a square of mousepad material inside the bottom of your bases. No more problem with slipping on a vinyl or mousepad surface.

I've finally decided to get a 3 feet x 3 feet playmat for x-wing but I noticed after playing on a few different ones in the last few months, that some tend to get paint scratches on the mat from the ship bases (I think they were Galeforce Nine mats which especially had that particular issue, but I'm not sure). The FFG ones seemed like they would be fairly durable.

What do you all recommend?

I would go with the official playmat. Roll out and play! It won't keep the shape so you don't have to wait it to get leveled out like others made out of vinyl or something similar substrate do. It has nice texture and dice roll nice on it and the surface has very little friction so your ships will slide just perfectly on it, but it has enough friciton so they won't slide accidently that easy.

Glue a square of mousepad material inside the bottom of your bases. No more problem with slipping on a vinyl or mousepad surface.

I like the official playmats friciton actually, those ships slide just perfectly on them, not too much like in vinyl and vinyl is also holding the shape after you roll it so you have to wait for some time to get it leveled.

I have been playing outside on a 6' hexboard which has been great, but set-up takes so long. And X-wing isn't played too much because of the effort factor.

I am about to purchase an FFG 3'x3' playmat so we can play in the game room with comfy chairs and air-con. Looking forward to kick starting this game again!

I like Deep-Cut Studio playmats:

http://www.deepcutstudio.com/category/mats-size-3-x3

I have a pair of mats from them and our 2 local stores, which are organizing tournaments have bought from them enough to organise local tournaments.

They have nice design, quite a big variety and you can choose from 3 materials.

Thumbs up for these guys!

Another recommendation for Deep Cut Studios from me, awesome mat!

My local store had their own mats done up. I bought one of those, it's a red nebula. The Death Star one hurts my eyes.

I've been happy with my "grip mats" from break from reality games. I have two 36" that I use together for larger games. They haven't scratched and one handled with aplomb a beer spilled on it last night.

How much are those "grip mats"?