Make mousing your own — Toast Leather Mouse Pad review

There’s no doubt that I love the goodies Toast makes. I reviewed the cool leather cuffs for my pilsner glasses and picked up an entire set of them — they are perfect for game nights. Bryan wrapped his PS4 in a nice soft grain wood tone, as you can see in his review. As I contemplate a nice wood grain cover for my Razer Phone 2, I spotted that the team has taken to creating laser-etched mouse pads. Time to let my Gaming Trend fandom fly — let’s take a look at Toast’s newest line of bespoke awesomeness.

Heading over to the site, the configuration begins. Much like the cuff I reviewed, you’ll get your choice of ten leather colors including Scotch, Dark and Stormy, Cosmo (think bright pink), Stout, and my selected color, Syrah. From there, you can add one of five pre-built graphics, as well as a deeper design choice for custom graphics and text. If you are interested in custom text you have four font choices and an option of small, medium, and large text. Moving beyond that, you can also opt for a completely unique mousepad by uploading your own graphic. Vector graphics work best, and the laser etching is built to last:

Pricing for the mousepad is largely dependent on how fancy you decide to make it. The mousepad without any customization is $39 for the medium size, and $49 for the large. If you add one of the premade designs, that adds $10 to the price. $10 more gets you custom text of any size. Going all in with another $30 lets you upload your own design. All that adds up to real money, and before long you have a $89 mouse pad. There’s no doubt, however, that it’ll be entirely unique, and that’s gotta count for something.

Going with the same motif as I did for my cuffs, I went with just the text “Gaming Trend”. That said, it’s not in a font Toast provides, so I had to upload my own graphic. With the mouse pad all customized, it was off to the laser-etch machine.

The first thing I noticed when the mousepad arrived was how it arrived. Enclosed in a reinforced envelope (made from recyclable materials) and suspended in plastic to keep it safe from scratches or folds, the mousepad shows up without being rolled into a tube or folded, meaning it’s ready for use right away.

You’d imagine that having large chunks cut out of the leather surface would begin to fray at the edges, but after nearly a month of use, there isn’t a grain out of place. Better still, unlike most mouse pads that can pick up whatever oils and dirt may have gotten onto your palm, the leather surface of the Toast mousepad wipes clean easily. I’d encourage a little mink oil occasionally to keep the leather supple and free of any salts that might accumulate from your skin.

Toast makes mouse pads in two sizes, cleverly named “Medium” and “Large” (try to keep up with me here…). The medium pad measures 7.25” by 9.25”, whereas the large comes in at 9” and 11”. In terms of thickness, however, that’s measured in millimeters. It keeps the natural break of your wrist straight, not adding any additional height that could add additional pressure to your wrist and forearm.

Given that there isn’t a huge cork center or a heavy rubberized material, the mousepad is extremely light. To keep it in place, there is a natural suede on the opposite side. No matter how much high-intensity run and gun action I threw at it, or my wife’s ever-erratic work on her music, the Toast mousepad stayed steadfastly right where it was put.

One of the things I appreciate most about Toast is their steadfast commitment to their Eco policy. First and foremost, they donate 1% of their net sales to environmental non-profit organizations. These include the Native Fish Society, 350.org, Trees for the Future, Heifer International, Charity Water and more. Beyond this, they also use sustainable materials, run on 100% renewable energy, and generate only a single can of trash each month. They aren’t simply throwing money at charities and trying to be green, though — they actively participate.

 

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