Floortex 48"x53" Clear Polycarbonate Chair Mat with Lip for Low to Medium Pile Carpets - Protects Hardwood Floors & Office Carpeting, Perfect for Home Office & Rolling Chairs

I really hesitated to make this purchase...[...](with free shipping at Amazon) for a mat sounded like a lot of money so I used Google and could not find the same mat for less money elsewhere. I have no regrets making the purchase. The mat looks great, stays in position, allows my chair to both move and stay where I want, has not cracked or broken.The details:The mat arrived flat and in excellent condition between sheets of cardboard.The mat is laid on a Berber carpet with no padding between the carpet and floor. The carpet is firm and does not collapse when being walked on.The chair used on the mat has 5 individual rollers spaced evenly from one another. Each of the 5 rollers are about 1 ½ inches wide. I weight about 200 pounds. The mat flexes very slightly under the wheels of the chair. The textured surface and amount of flexing allows the chair to move around easily when I want the chair to move... and keeps the chair from rolling around when I want the chair to remain still. (There are no ball bearings in the wheels of my chair...each wheel is on a shaft).The material of the mat is clear without any tinting and would be transparent except for the rough texture on the upper side which causes a slight diffusing of light. Although it is obvious there is a mat on the floor, the mat and carpet under the mat blends very well with the rest of the carpet in the room.On the bottom, the mat is smooth with numerous individual "spikes" that cover the entire bottom and are located about 1 ¼ inch from one another. The lengths of the spikes are about 1/8 inch. The mat holds firmly in place and does not "float"... the mat is in the same location now as when I first laid it on the carpet. The edge of the mat lays down flat and I do not see any tripping hazard.I hope you will find this review helpful.After reading prior reviews I was concerned that my mat may come rolled and be inferior. Don't worry. Yes, it cam rolled, but also with cautions about its spring back and to be careful when "unleashing" it. I was careful removing the strapping (shrinkwrapping) and it flattened immediately without curl. It is (good and) stiff on the carpet and the chair does not deflect it or create caster pockets - the chair rolls easily.I have Buber carpet with .13" nap and no pad, works well except every 3 days I have to reposition it back to where I had it, will not stay in place. Kind of a pain in that respect since it has grippers that are suppose to hold it in place.This chair mat works great. I just moved and switched from wood to carpet so I had to change chair mats. My previous mat was fine on wood but on carpet it would slide and wheels would sink into mat and make it hard to roll back. I'm 6' and 300 lbs. With this new 'Floortex Ultimat Polycarbonate Chair Mat for Low/Medium Pile Carpets 48x53' my chair slides around nicely on it. I didn't realize how discolored my old one was (I had it for many years) and this new one is clear. My statements are from the perspective of switching from really old wood mat to new carpet one and responding to reviews I've read before purchasing this one.Even at 300 lbs my wheels are not sinking into the mat (at least not that I've noticed). I think some who have sinking wheels it may be that the underlying carpet is too plush or carpet is older, not sure. My carpet is less three years old, tight weave, and well padded, and not too think. I also have not noticed the mat sliding around at all. I also didn't sense strong odor (probably because its polycarbonate). And lastly, it came in a big box, rolled up, via UPS, and completely undamaged. It actually unrolled and flattened out in one night. The ONLY reason I didn't give it five stars is that I think the carpet teeth could be a touch longer, and it could be a touch thicker for this price. Yet, I'm happy with it and I didn't want to spend any more on a chair mat.OkTo start off, I was looking for a really durable chair mat, given that I'm 6'-4" 250 lbs. and I have to use a special chair to hold my weight to begin with, and with my computer chair weighing in itself at almost 75 lbs. I needed something that could really stand up. So far I've had zero issues with cracking or even dents forming in the material from the wheels, the material is super durable and my computer chair slides across it so easily. Considering I'm at my computer 8+ hours a day, I'm impressed that there isn't the slightest bit of wear and tear with the mat so far.Now to the only real drawback of the mat so far, it loves to "walk" across the room and doesn't really stay in one place very well. Even on thinner carpet, the pegs on the bottom to hold it in place are pretty short, so I have to move my chair out of the way and adjust the mat back to its center place about twice a week. It's a minor annoyance, but it prevents me from giving the product a full 5 star rating.Bought it in September 14th 2021. First crack appeared March 4th 2022. Second crack appeared June 23rd 2022. The wheals on my chair do get stuck in the cracks from time to time. Duck taping them helped for now. Looks like crap tho. The mat also will not stay in place on a low pile carpet. I had to adjust it every couple of days.I had to order this chair mat from Amazon in the USA and pay the cost of import and shipping, although I am subscribed to Amazon Prime, because none of those available from Amazon in Europe were suitable in the size, shape and material. This mat has this shape to go between the legs of my desk, and wide enough elsewhere to accommodate the movements of my office chair. It is made out of polycarbonate which in my experience of these chair mats over many years is essential to avoid premature cracking. The old mat that it replaced after more than 20 years of daily use, had beveled edges when this one does not, but it is large enough for this not to be a problem as the chair rarely goes off the mat. It has long enough spikes on the underside to grip a medium pile carpet; beware of mats that have rounded bumps which do not work and allow the mat to move around over the carpet. It would have been good to have a slightly thicker mat with bevelled edges, but would I buy this mat again: yes.I have a home office (even pre-covid) so my mat gets a good workout 5 days/week. These polycarb mats are more expensive than the regular ones, but last much longer. I'd be lucky to get 6 months out of a cheaper mat, however I got 2 1/2 years out of my last polycarb mat before it started to crack. And I likely could have pushed it another 6 months, but I did an office reno so a new mat was part of that.I have low-pile carpet and had been researching for a quality polycarbonate floor mat. This is it!The delivery was easy, came rolled up, easy to unroll, and laid flat. The size is large enough for me to push my chair back without it rolling onto the carpet. My chair is heavy, and so far it hasn't dented, mind you, it's only been a week, but I'm VERY satisfied with the chair mat! highly recommend. Worth the price especially since we'll be working from home for a long time.It does what it suppose to do but way annoyance of sliding on mid to short length carpet.Need to reajust about every 3 days.Plus it was pricey...So far this chair mat has met my expectations. Unbelievable how stiff and rigid this item is being so thin in thickness.I does move around on the carpet but for the most part it's good. The thicker the carpet I think the more it will move but it is well made.