found another cheap mat today at Micheal's its a craft store..

the mat is made by "Creatology" "Foam Roll" 36"x60" black. cost 8 bucks!!

http://www.michaels.com/Creatology™-Foam-Roll/gc1324,default,pd.html

Pros- its cheap! grippy surface, solid black, smooth texture, will take paint, maybe even print, doesn't bunch up or slide around and is very light weight!! rolls up

Cons was tightly rolled up and has some "memory". (meaning it wants to slightly roll back up) easy fix was to place two trim pieces of scrap wood on each end. (trim wood is cheap and you can get it in many different configurations/sizes) I trimmed mine to 36"x48" so i could have a staging area at each end. I am planning on painting the trim wood on each end black and affixing some kind of Rebel design/decal on it and doing an Imperial one on the other side. will post pics when i am done messing with it.. Currently have a bigger more important project!! Building a cabinet for an Xbox one to fit under the TV!!! (Surprise Christmas present for my Daughter)... Not like i am going to use it..lol

So far this is my favorite cheap mat.. still waiting for somebody to make basically a giant 36"x48" mouse pad to play on!!

Don't know if you already found a solution for your rebel and imperial emblem issue.. but surf ebay looking for those and there is a california company that does them.. I ordered 4 inch decals from them.. they are easy to use and look awesome.

Ataraxianj, how do you like that GF9 map?

That's the one I've been eyeballing, and also with the Frozen Planet art.

The kickstarter is closed now, and I don't know if they are taking regular orders yet, but my friend started producing Grip-Mats. They can sync up the art over two sheets but unfortunately their printing limitations make it impossible to get a single sheet:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bfrgames/gripmat-get-a-grip-on-your-game

Just ordered one from mini market, it's prints on. 3 x3 mouse pad. They are pretty nice. Sale right now for 22$

I like my GF9 mat, but it's as slick (as in the surface) as all of the other vinyl mats I've had printed up on signage material. I just cycle through them for some variety, but my favorite is a simple dark starfield with staging areas.

I provided a bunch of artwork for that GripMat Kickstarter and I'll be getting a bunch of free mats out of it. I'm really interested to see the difference.

I like my GF9 mat, but it's as slick (as in the surface) as all of the other vinyl mats I've had printed up on signage material. I just cycle through them for some variety, but my favorite is a simple dark starfield with staging areas.

I provided a bunch of artwork for that Gripmat Kickstarter and I'll be getting a bunch of free mats out of it. I'm really interested to see the difference.

Just ordered one from mini market, it's prints on. 3 x3 mouse pad. They are pretty nice. Sale right now for 22$

I just got one of these too, based on your review. I have to be honest; I don't care too much for the design, but if it's like a 3x3 mouse pad: I like that. About how long did that take to ship?

Just ordered one from mini market, it's prints on. 3 x3 mouse pad. They are pretty nice. Sale right now for 22$

Link to the product? Or is it just the GF9 products?

Another guy I play with got it about 2 weeks ago. I ordered mine on tuesday. I hope it's here soon. The mat is a slimmer mouse pad, so it's not as thick. It's easier to lean on. The bump factor is still there, but I feel it moves less.

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/hcd96669.html#.UuHm6n9OKSM

Right on! I'm excited about it. I've been using pond liner that we've had sitting in the basement for a play surface. It's felt and seems to work well enough, but I can't seem to get a straight enough cut, and my painting skills are awful. The neoprene fabric appeals to me in terms of durability even in spite of the design. I hope they will just do a simple star field on the same material.

If could have found just black, I would have been happy.

Personley i play on a 36x36 hardboard board, very nice and very smooth, plus it was only $12 for enough to make 3!

in my never ending quest for the perfect mat i recently used some EBAY bucks and ordered a rubber mat, its basically like the bottom part of your mouse pad. it lays flat, rolls up, and it doesn't slide, and its got a bit of weight to it as well... the ONLY problem is that it is slightly textured, but i have a piece of craft foam that i got earlier that i may glue on to the rubber mat.the craft foam is lightweight and smooth, but its problem is that it wanted to roll back up all the time... so if i combine the two i MAY have the best of both worlds.. basically a giant mouse pad!!! No wrinkles, no edges rolling up, no skidding around for the mat AND for the minis, AND if you roll your dice on the mat it doesn't vibrate everything else.paint a few stars on it and presto perfect mat!!

Sounds like a great plan Swedge, but remember it may not roll up as easy as it did with the single mat. The mat on the outside will try and compress the inner mat because the circumference of the outer mat will be larger than the inner mat. It may not be an issue, but it may. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Got my mat from mini market, but not too happy with them. They sent it folded in half in a smaller box. It says in the description that it comes in the box meant for it. Sent off a support note. Mi didn't pay shipping to have it not come complete.

I used a printable WorldWorks starmap to make mine, it's backed on a foamcore display board, reinforced with cross braces to keep it sturdy and flat. Worked for about three months then the glue failed. I plan on redoing it in a more permanent hinged wood board as well as doing more when I can. Also going to upgrade the print quality to laser I think.

Got my mat from mini market, but not too happy with them. They sent it folded in half in a smaller box. It says in the description that it comes in the box meant for it. Sent off a support note. Mi didn't pay shipping to have it not come complete.

****, it didn't even ship in the retail box? That's pretty lame. Now I'm a little concerned....

The mat is fine, it's the fact they didn't do as they said.

Got my mat from mini market, but not too happy with them. They sent it folded in half in a smaller box. It says in the description that it comes in the box meant for it. Sent off a support note. Mi didn't pay shipping to have it not come complete.

****, it didn't even ship in the retail box? That's pretty lame. Now I'm a little concerned....

Well my mat just showed up and this is how it shipped:

They had it packed on top and under with those air pillows pictured next to the box. Shipped in the retail box inside another box. I was expecting something like what LukesFather experienced with it being shoved into a box it wasn't meant to fit. Kind of bums me out to know that's what they've done to other's orders.

I'm going to do a setup and post another pic later today.

Well my mat just showed up and this is how it shipped:

They had it packed on top and under with those air pillows pictured next to the box. Shipped in the retail box inside another box. I was expecting something like what LukesFather experienced with it being shoved into a box it wasn't meant to fit. Kind of bums me out to know that's what they've done to other's orders.

I'm going to do a setup and post another pic later today.

Can you take a measuring tape to it? I've heard it's actually only 35.5"x35.5".

just measured mine and its 36" x35.5" love the playing surface, as it is just like a giant mouse and i couldn't pass up the discount price, however as with others it didn't come with its packing tube, just folded up in another box with some of those airpuff things to protect it.. mat was fine it actually looks a bit better in person, but i still hate the design, wish i could remove the big planet somehow or paint it all black and add a few of my own stars etc.. however my Corsec mat that looked really really good on line, looked all faded when i got it, have used it, probably never will, not impressed with felt mats..

just measured mine and its 36" x35.5" love the playing surface, as it is just like a giant mouse and i couldn't pass up the discount price, however as with others it didn't come with its packing tube, just folded up in another box with some of those airpuff things to protect it.. mat was fine it actually looks a bit better in person, but i still hate the design, wish i could remove the big planet somehow or paint it all black and add a few of my own stars etc.. however my Corsec mat that looked really really good on line, looked all faded when i got it, have used it, probably never will, not impressed with felt mats..

maybe fabric paint? I wanted an all black mat. I think that would look just nice. I dont need the stars or planets, just give a good playing surface that is solid and wont move.

I will be posting results after I get done talking to the company. Submitted the service request. I will give the proper review at that time. I want to see what actions they take with it first.

Well my mat just showed up and this is how it shipped:

They had it packed on top and under with those air pillows pictured next to the box. Shipped in the retail box inside another box. I was expecting something like what LukesFather experienced with it being shoved into a box it wasn't meant to fit. Kind of bums me out to know that's what they've done to other's orders.

I'm going to do a setup and post another pic later today.

which shipping option did you take?

I took the USPS option - it was like $11.97 vs. $11.40 for UPS.

So here it is in my old playing space (tape lines) 36" x 36"

Here's a measurement detail.

have to say the overall quality is excellent! It is exactly as you all have said - a thin mouse pad. It's very hearty and will not move on any type of solid surface. I concur that I don't really care much for the plant design, but that's a small price for a quality mat. I just hope they will produce a few more of these mats with a few other designs, like just a plain star field. The storage box is pretty heavy duty, and will probably last quite a long while. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with this purchase. Thank you LukesFather for bringing this mat to my attention, and I hope you get your issues sorted out with MiniMarket.

Final Thoughts:

Played once today to test surface and it's a little slick. Of course, the table that this mat is sitting on is like an ice rink, but the mat surface is like that of thin, tight mouse pad with the full textured rubber backing on it so it will not move. I also love the damping that this mat provides for dice rolling. My table was like a 'dice trampoline', so adding the mat was an obvious upgrade, and the dice stay on the table now.

I think depending on the shag depth on some felt tops, the felt may be a better choice in terms of holding the ships in place. I didn't have a lot of trouble today moving stuff and bumping other stuff, but I think that's just going to happen during the course of a game. I think unless it's a magnetic surface, you're going to get unintentional ship movement from bumps and whatnot.

I like it well enough and I would recommend to anybody who's in the market for a gaming mat. Despite it's length/width issue, I think it will last a good long time. I figure it has to last at least as long as a mouse pad, and I'm working on almost 10 years on my current mouse pad.