Unusual Way Fox-Gaze red + collated skates review.
Noticed that there is zero info on the Fox-Gaze synthetic-ruby skates, and that they were on sale for a justifiable price. So here is a review comparing them to all the other skates I have (and have tried previously) along with an overall ranking of all my skates, so anyone else who is curious about these skates can get an idea on what they're like without making a blind purchase.
List of skates in the picture (left to right):
West-Lab Orange, West-Lab Big-Orange, West-Lab Yellow, Artisan POM, Fox-Gaze Red, Errennir Maya X POM skates, Xraypad Jade.
Note: the Errennir Maya X POM skates feel identical to the dot skates, sans the dot skates digging into cloth pads with soft rubber backing, as all small dot skates do. When it comes to skates, I've found it's rather counter-intuitive, but more surface-area = less friction on soft rubber pads (some high density memory-foam pads have no such weakness, but some will also slow down with less surface area). On hard pads, more or less surface area doesn't seem to make any difference at all. My best guess is that the most important aspects of a skates behaviour are it's material, surface finish, and curvature. The size or surface area of the skate only affects certain soft pads, in which case more surface area = more consistent = more better. So if you have a choice between a small version, and a larger version of the same skate (assuming either will fit on the bottom of your mouse) I'd recommend to always go with the bigger option whenever possible.
Skates not in the picture include: Pulsar superglide V1/type S and V2/type C, Lamzu Maya X glass skates.
All the skates in the picture are skates I would genuinely recommend, and have enjoyed using (even if they're not entirely to my own personal taste). I would not recommend any glass skates over the skates in the picture.
ASUS has released Zuperfest (gorilla-glass) skates with their gold-plated Harpe 2 ace extreme. Since Zuperfest is a sulphur-annealed hardened glass, it has a completely different crystalline structure and hardness when compared to traditional silica-glass. Zuperfest skates may be just as terrible as other glass skates, or it may be the exception to the rule that all glass skates suck. Until long-term review drop we simply won't know unfortunately, but it's the last hope for glass skates.
Sapphire/ruby skates are good however. Haven't tried ceramic or Zircon skates however, but it would appear from what I've researched that they're also good. Albeit all ceramic and gemstone skates are turbo expensive, at least they're not turbo-expensive while also sucking horribly like glass skates do.
Note: If you're using a fingertip grip, I would be wary of the Errennir POM skates and the Fox-Gaze skates as they both have just enough static friction to make it difficult to get/keep the mouse moving smoothly and slowly during micro-adjustments without requiring more grip-tension than usual in order to fight/overcome said static friction. These skates are still perfectly usable with fingertip grip don't get me wrong, hell they may even be your fingertip endgame, however they will require some extra grip-tension in order to make slow and small micro-adjustments just so you're aware. This doesn't apply to claw grip as the palm/mcp of your hand acts as a lever which makes "breaking" the static friction automatic, meaning you don't need to use extra grip-tension to get the mouse moving, and most people probably won't even notice that these skates have a decent amount of static friction (other than saying these skates have insane "stopping power" since that's when their increased static friction will be most noticeable for most people).
The shape of the Fox-Gaze is basically identical to the shape of the Errennir POM dot skates, and they both share some glide characteristics:
No break-in
Higher static friction in comparison to their sliding friction.
The transition between static friction and sliding friction is extremely consistent and predictable, and also incredibly sharp (functioning as a sort of on-off switch regardless if you're getting going or stopping).
The static friction is low enough to control, but due to how sharp the step-up from sliding to static friction is, you will need to use some extra grip-tension to control these skates during slow small movements. These skates are still extremely smooth even when making those small and slow movements, but only when using some extra grip tension.
These two skates are totally different when it comes to speed, mouse-pad-texture feedback, and pressure-sensitivity.
The Fox-Gaze is easily the fastest skate I've ever used, whereas the Errennir POM skates are the same speed as the West-Lab Big-Oranges.
The Fox-Gaze is also pressure-sensitive just like the Artisan skates, they're about equal in terms of how pressure sensitive they are (Errennir POM skates aren't pressure sensitive at all). The friction increase is very consistent and not super extreme, so the mouse doesn't come to a screeching halt every time you press both main buttons on your mouse, but you can still intentionally vary and control your friction by pressing down on the mouse. Or just be thankful that when you're in a high-intensity aim-heavy situation, that the extra bit of friction will help steady your aim instead of stopping your mouse from moving entirely.
The Fox-Gaze has that same butter-smooth zero-texture glide that the Superglide V1 has. Whereas the Errennir POM skates have the same textured feedback that the Artisan skates have.
Overall The Fox-Gaze is an incredibly unique skate, and one of my favourites for claw-grip thanks to it's incredible speed, smooth glide, and nice static friction that allows me to double-click folders without accidentally drag-clicking them accidentally like with the Superglide V1.
As for the rest of the skates:
The Artisan skates have the same sliding friction as the Xraypad Jades, but with a textured glide.
The Xraypad Jades have a gradual increase in friction the slower you move them, followed by a decrease in friction right before they stop. The Artisan skates however are completely consistent with zero changes in their friction from start to stop.
You get to control the amount of friction you get through how much pressure you use with the Artisan skates, whereas the Xraypad Jades aren't pressure sensitive at all and give you that same friction profile every-time unless you stand on the mouse.
Note: the Artisan skates are slightly temperature sensitive, you will get a slight increase in static friction when these skates get warm, they're the only skate I've used that does this, it's not enough to throw off your aim or anything, but just barely enough to notice.
If you're a Superglide V1 (post break-in) refugee and want to have a skate that doesn't misbehave depending on humidity (and how much sweat you leave on your mousepad), the West-Lab Yellow skates have identical friction dynamics to the Superglide V1. I will note that the West-Lab Yellow has a deep-grooved textured surface box-fresh, and has a break-in period where the static friction slowly dissapears along with the isometric friction those grooves create, but once they break in they do become omni-directional in terms of friction. The West-Lab Yellow does have more mouse-pad feedback than the Superglide V1, but that's a small price to pay for having the same friction dynamics without any of the inconsistency of glass-skates. Same practically zero pressure sensitivity as Superglide V1 too. These are my second favourite skate of all time.
For those who haven't tried Superglide V1, the West-Lab Yellow skates (after breaking in) have effectively zero static friction, and ALL the sliding friction (with an incredibly smooth and linear transition between the two), while having little to no pressure sensitivity. Equal static friction to the Big-Oranges. The same textured feedback as the Artisan skates
If you're a Superglide V1 (pre break-in) refugee and want a skate which has zero break-in and just feels exactly like that 24/7, the West-Lab Big-Orange is exactly that (and my new favourite skate for obvious reasons). Equal texture feedback to the Xraypad Jades (slightly more texture than the glass skates).
For those who haven't tried Superglide V1, the West-Lab Big-Orange skates have a completely flat friction curve, no increase or decrease in static or sliding friction whatsoever. With incredibly low friction (not quite as insanely fast sliding friction at the Fox-Gaze, but not too far behind) overall, faster than the Xraypad Jades. They're closer to the Fox-Gaze than they are to the Xraypad Jades in terms of speed.
For those who are looking into the Superglide V2, don't, the Errennir POM skates are a direct upgrade. Don't buy the Superglide V2 skates they're a waste of money (especially with the Errennir POM skates on the market, especially since they also happen to be cheaper too).
For those who are looking into the Lamzu glass skates: no, they suck. Worn down black PTFE skates with sharp corners, from 2014, that are actively scraping on your mousepad, are better than these. These glass skates feel like chewing gum that got stuck on the underside of your shoe with how they randomly stick to your mousepad, completely stopping your mouse, for no apparent rhyme or reason. Just no.
Same goes for Superglides when they expire. The only reason Superglides stand out from the glass-skate crowd is because they're coated in a very thin layer of sapphire. Unfortunately, that thin layer of sapphire has been laid onto glass, which for some reason that a chemist would probably be able to understand and explain, makes the sapphire either rub off entirely after 2 years of use, or does something else magical that makes the sapphire stop working all the same regardless after 2 years of use.
Don't buy glass skates, ok maybe those ASUS Zuperfest ones cause they might just be actually good, but like that's it.
The West-Lab orange is just the same as the Big-Orange, except they dig into soft cloth pads and have more friction on those pads specifically. Just get the Big-Oranges unless they won't fit on the bottom of your mouse.
A quick ranking of all these skates in terms of sliding friction (fastest top, slowest bottom):
Unusual Way Fox-Gaze.
West-Lab Big-Orange = Errennir POM.
Artisan.
Xraypad Jade.
West-Lab Yellow.
Ranking in terms of static friction:
West-Lab Big-Orange = West-Lab Yellow.
Artisan.
Xraypad Jade.
Unusual Way Fox-Gaze.
Errennir POM.
These are all great skates, and with how many skates there are I'm glad we're spoiled with choice.
At the very least, hopefully this helps some people discover whether the Fox-Gaze (which has basically flown completely under the radar) is something they'd be interested in or not. While also hopefully shedding some light onto a more in-depth comparison between all of these infamous but otherwise uncompared skates.