I have now had this perfectly flat larger-than-most mouse pads at my fingertips for several days.  Strangely enough, for something so simple and design so intuitive, I am mousing better with it than the Fellowes that I wore out several mice over quite a few years.  The old pad was much smaller and the end towards me had a sack of rubbery gel used a wrist rest.  It may have wrested my rist or whatever, but I was always running out of real estate when I worked.  This far larger pad speeds up my work and minimizes errors.