G-TF and G-RF is no more.
October 24th, 2011, Huntington Beach, California
When we founded ZOWIE GEAR in late 2008, it was with the innovative G-RF mousepad as our first product. The G-RF was a cloth mousepad which was very rough to the touch, but it featured an innovative water-resistant surface, which allowed the users a higher versatility in front of their computers, as they no longer had to be afraid of spilling water, coffee or other liquid substances on their mousepads. The G-RF quickly became a big success in USA and Asia due to its special features and unique texture. Later it was launched in Europe and quickly became a success bundled together with the also very popular IO1.1ZG mice. Not long after the G-RF was released as an individual product and was quickly followed by the P-RF, a smaller version of the popular mousepad.
We have come a long way since the release of the G-RF mousepad, and we have been able to stay true to our concept of developing innovative products of high quality. Following the RF-series was the best-selling mousepads G-TF and P-TF, which was developed by Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed in an effort to combine the best of both cloth and plastic - a mission accomplished. The G-TF quickly became one of the most popular and preferred mousepads for competitive gaming, as it provided a unique combination of speed, comfort and control. With the development of the G-TF we had done what many would have thought to be impossible on a saturated market - we had reinvented the wheel.
We are now standing at a crossroad. The quality of the materials (natural rubber) we need for the development of the G-RF and P-RF as well as the G-TF and P-TF has been on a constant decrease for the past years, meaning that it has become impossible for us to continue the production of these mousepads while maintaining our competitive gaming grade standard. The poor quality of natural rubber causes small irregularities in the rubberbase beneath the cloth which are not visible to the eye, but can be felt by the touch of a finger gently stroking the surface.
We feel obligated to follow a certain standard of quality in order to stay true to our brand and be able to satisfy our customers, so compromising on quality has never been an option for us. Our mentality is, that if we can do something to make our products just 1% better, we will do it. As a manufacturer of competitive gaming gear, we simply can’t accept the current quality of natural rubber, but rest assured knowing that we have already developed a solution to overcome this problem.
We know that some of you will ask why we are forced to take these measures, when other manufacturers don’t, and the reason is quite simple: ZOWIE GEAR was created with the sole purpose of never compromising on the quality of our products. We develop products for the highest level of competitive gaming; hence we feel that the products need to reflect this at all times. Where others may satisfy with inferior quality products, we look towards developing innovative features to keep the quality of our products while also maintaining a stable price.
On the 6th of April 2011 we announced the G-TF speed, an improved and faster version of the regular G-TF, featuring a new and unique base, which not only optimized the grip on the table, it also required much less rubber to produce. We originally announced that the G-TF speed would not be replacing the G-TF, but the G-TF speed has now proven to be a worthy replacement and we feel confident that we can discontinue the original TF-series without disappointing our loyal customers.
We hope that you will understand our decision, as we strive for perfection without compromising on the quality of any of our products. We will continue to look forward and do what we do best; develop products that we can be proud of.
With that said, stay tuned for news in the coming months as we will be releasing a few new products with innovative features.
