Targus Lap Chill mat

This is the second of two cooling pads that I bought from Amazon to try and solve the problem of my lap top over- heating and just deciding to switch itself off.

This lap top cool pad is a pretty solid table like plastic structure that is about the same size as a standard laptop. My smaller 13" laptop easily fits on the top with space all around. The top part of the chill mat is slightly sloping upwards towards the back. The top is slightly rubberised so the laptop doesn't slip. In the gap in between there are two fans and the bottom level is covered with a soft spongy fabric so that when it is on your lap it feels comfortable as well as cool.

The chill mat works by connecting to your laptop through a USB port. You can either put the chill mat on a table or other flat surface or put it on your lap. Position your laptop on top of the chill mat and then connect the USB cable of the chill mat to any USB port on your laptop. I leave mine permanently attached to my laptop so I don't have to go through this each time I use mine.

On the top of the mat are little rubber grips which you can move so that they fit your lap top and stop it sliding around. In the tiny little instruction booklet that came with this chill mat it does say to be aware that these little grips do come off and could be swallowed by a child so keep them away from young children.

The fans of this chill mat are well hidden in between the top and bottom layer but even so it is a good idea to ensure that no long hair or light loose clothing get near the fans as they could get caught and cause some serious damage not only to the fans but also to the person the hair or clothes are attached to.

I bought a second laptop cooling mat at the same time as this and it was total rubbish. This however was not that much more expensive but it is so amazingly much better quality. It is stronger and a better simpler design, the fans are well hidden and more to the point this one actually works.

The pad is slightly padded around the edges and underneath and when the lap top is connected I can have this on my lap and feel absolutely no warmth at all coming through. In fact it feels pretty damn cold at times. It is sturdy and doesn't rock at all so provides a desk like top to work on. It looks good too in a back matt colour with air holes all through it top and bottom. It is slightly raised at the back so slopes towards the front and as my laptop screen can be twisted and set to a position that suits my vision this works well for my hands on the keyboard.

Prior to buying this cooling mat my laptop work cut out after about an hour with no warning at all. Since I have been using this mat the laptop can be on for the entire day without any problem. The fans are pretty quiet and certainly don't offend me. I can still hear my music and watch videos without being aware of any fan noise.

There is a small hum from the fans but compared to the annoyance of having the laptop turning off when over- heating this background hum is a pleasure to hear.

As I said when I have this on my lap I can feel absolutely no heat at all coming through from the laptop. In fact it feels very cool, rather too cool after a while so that I find I cannot cope with the cooling feeling and have to use the laptop on a table. It feels like you have a cool bag on your lap which is okay when it is hot but not that pleasant when it is cold weather.

All in all I am very happy with this cool pad and it cost me around £20 I think which was a bit more that the other laptop pad I bought but this is ina different class altogether. This is strong and looks like a quality product while the other looked like a cheap bit of plastic rubbish if I am honest.

My advice is spend a bit more and buy this as I have had it around two years now with no problem so it has been well worth the money in my opinion.

Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.
©Catsholiday