Very sturdy but soft enough for comfort. The length is perfect for my laptop desk and keeps everything from sliding off when the desk is tilted. I expect it to last for years.

I've used the cloth gel rests in the past, but the last 2 sets I ordered both started leaking where the cloth was supposed to be sealed to the base. The last cloth set started leaking even before the first year was over. Not knowing how this "leatherette" cover was going to feel after the smooth microfiber cloth, I was reluctant to try it, but could not justify spending any more money on the failing cloth. I am very glad I did, as I find these have a very cool-to-the-touch feeling that is soothing to my skin. No signs of leakage or deformity after 3 months, and I am very happy with the purchase, so much so that I won't go back to the cloth type even if these do eventually fail. (By the way, the cloth cover types ***must*** also have an anti-bacterial treatment from the factory, as otherwise they would give me a case of contact dermatitis on my wrists and forearms, but the "leatherette" cover has no such issue.)

I have an older sliding keyboard tray from 3M, model AKT200SL. It had a built-in wrist rest that was gel with a soft cover. Over time, the cover wore out and the gel was exposed and my hands would get slightly sticky where they contacted the gel bits. I could not get a real replacement for the wrist rest, so I took a chance and bought this.

I had to take out the little plastic tray the old wrist rest was attached to (which was easy, it simply sits in a depression in the keyboard tray). This new wrist rest is too small to simply pop into the keyboard tray where the old one was. Instead, I needed to put this new one into the plastic tray where the old gel was.

To remove the old cover and gel from the plastic holder, I used a putty knife to pry up the cover and pull it off and scrape the gel out. That worked fairly well, and some mineral spirits on a rag worked very well to remove the gel residue.

This new wrist rest fits OK in the plastic tray--it sticks up a bit, not seating all the way down into the tray but when it is wedged in, it seems to stay just fine. The whole thing pops back into my keyboard tray perfectly. The new wrist rest is at a good height over my keyboard even though it sits up a bit higher, and I've had no problems with it falling out or shifting around. It is very comfortable and the leather-like covering is good and seems like it might hold up better than my old one.

My only other choice would have been to replace the whole keyboard tray, so I am very happy that this wrist rest is working as a replacement.

If you spend time on a laptop everyday, do your wrists a favor and buy this. They are perfect height for a laptop or desktop user. I've been using this for over a month now and the support has not degraded, made permanent dents or soft spot (like head pillow do).

Pros:
Heavy enough that it doesn't move around when you type
Sticks to your desk
not a glued bottom so it leaves no residue and is easily movable
Ample width. It even covers extra room for where my gel mouse pad falls short

Cons: n.a.

This wrist pad will elevate your wrists to the proper support level to help minimize you developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

I know you're technically not supposed to use wrist rests, they are considered a "crutch" and really should be typing with your arms off the desk. But like many people here, I work with less than idea desks, keyboards and not a fan of keyboard trays. For many years, I type with my keyboard on the desk rather than on a lower keyboard tray. I just personally like the up front feeling instead of having my keyboard hidden below the desk. In this typing method, I find that there's more angle between my wrists and the keyboard, especially thicker keyboards.

My first experience in a decent keyboard wrist rest was a attached rest in the Dell keyboards, these were the curve style keyboards they packed in a few years ago. The wrist rest was very well built and just slightly raised the base of my hands enough to keep my arms level with the keyboard. Later I bought a Logitech G15 keyboard and again, had a similar wrist rest, keep in mind both of these are made out of hard plastic, but still comfortable.

A few years later, I started to explore mechanical keyboards, buying a Unicomp keyboard that is a remake of the classic IBM Model M. The keyboard was noticeably taller, and could feel more tension in my wrists from typing but switching to and from the G15 made it a lesser issue. Finally after moving away from the Logitech G15 to save desk space, I bought another mechanical keyboard as my main keyboard, I was looking some a nice wrist rest.

Searching around there were some nice examples, found a few leather wrist rests but the prices were over $70. I just happened to search here on Amazon and found that the 3M wrist rest, looked like the perfect size but wasn't sure about the leatherette material. I decided to buy the wrist rest and test this out with my current setup.

From receiving the wrist rest, the first thing I noticed was the weight, it's more than I expected, which is a good thing, keeps it from moving. Another plus is once you remove the protective shipping plastic film on the bottom, the base is very tacky and grips my desk with no movement. In fact, to adjust the wrist rest, I need to physically pick it up, I can't just slide it back and forth.

The material on the top is actually decently nice, now it's not leather, there's no way it would fool someone, but it's comfortable, easy to wipe off. Also the material doesn't show finger prints or grease as bad as some other materials. Considering some of the leather items I have, this is a plus as your oils and sweat would be difficult to clean off a real leather wrist rest.

The wrist rest is decently firm but you can feel the gel inside with a little push, I would say this is similar to arm chair rest. I personally find it's enough to be comfortable but not so soft that you sink into it, or it's constantly moving. If you have ever used those bean filled rests, you may find them too loose, and this might be a better more stable rest.

From the photos above, you can see that with either a full sized keyboard, or a smaller ten keyless (full sized keyboard with out the number pad on the right), fits well. With the narrower ten keyless keyboard, there's not enough room to use the wrist rest on the keyboard and the for the mouse, but if you were using a "laptop" sized keyboard it might work. I could see this especially with a Netbook, or smaller format laptops.

Overall, I think this is one of the great bargains for making your computer an easier experience. From switching to this wrist rest, I find that typing is much easier and just from gaming, I don't have any issues where my wrist is sore from staying in the same position over longer periods.

As a side note, since I was so happy with this wrist rest I bought the longer version, intending to use this as one piece with the mouse. Personally I like this shorter version as it's the same shape across the entire length, and it's nice to have a second mouse wrist rest that you can adjust differently from the keyboard wrist rest.