The NP+ is packaged as other pad’s that SteelSeries have delivered to the market and there is nothing unusual – the pad is encased in a clear tube letting you see the thickness and texture.



On the box are various details such as the material and size of this pad, which I can confirm is absolutely massive so you will need a rather large desk to host such a pad. Inside the packaging you just the pad itself, a product range guide and a sticker. It’s fairly absent from any exciting bundle we’ve dealt with in the past.



Moving on to the NP+ pad, as I’ve already said the pad is huge. If you plan on taking this to a LAN event you might be expected to participate in some early morning Yoga class.



If you take the pad out of the tube it does take a while for it to settle and creases to disappear – just place some heavy books on top! The texture of the material used is quite rough – perhaps different from other pads you may have used. Personally I have always preferred hard, plastic type pads rather than cloth, nevertheless the quality of the material used feels good. Compared with other cloth pads, the NP+ is quite thin in thickness.



As far as design goes, the NP+ is minimalistic. There are no design impressions except for the printed logo in the bottom left hand corner. I do like my pads to have a bit of character the NP+ doesn’t seem to have anything dramatically exciting about it. Perhaps SteelSeries will develop coloured options going forward? We have to remember though the intention behind the NP+ is to predominantly provide functionality by way of water and stain resistance.