For starters, I'm assuming the Optical's are the ones with the red light of some sort at the bottom, correct? Technology is just not my thing, hehe. If so, we have the Logitech brand and it works fine, sometimes it has a mind of its own; the only thing that bugs me is the scrolling thing, I like it but I hate it when it goes down or up further than I command it to.:p Our mousepad obviously seems to play no roll of its mindgames, however, our mousepad seems to be made of some type of fabric.

Have a great day,

-Joshua