Frequently Asked Questions

• What is SAPPHIRESKATES?
• Premium gaming mouse skates that are made of pure sapphire.
• What's the point of them? 
• To deliver the most consistent glide that doesn't degrade over time.
• Which mouses are compatible with SAPPHIRESKATES?
• Just about any gaming mouse will work. The diameter is 7mm, which is the same diameter of the rear channel of the Logitech G Pro Superlight. You can check your own mouse to see if the 7mm diameter can fit within your mouse's recessed channel. 
• Some mice do not have a recessed channel. They still have a channel, but it's the same height as the rest of the mouse bottom, such as with the final mouse ultralight 2. In this case, you can put them anywhere on the mouse bottom. 
• Why are SAPPHIRESKATES so expensive?
• This is a premium gaming product. The goal in developing it was to utilize the best possible material. Sapphire has very unique properties but is also very expensive. The cost of the material is extremely high for a product in the computer peripherals industry. Comparatively, ceramic, glass, or PTFE are virtually free (if you only consider material cost.) More importantly, the difficulty of working sapphire adds to the cost: PTFE, glass, and ceramic can be cast using a mold. With sapphire, it must be cut by a skilled gemcutter and then polished to reach its intended shape. 
• Can you get scratches on SAPPHIRESKATES?
• They are virtually unscratchable. What this means: if two surfaces come in contact, the softer material yields to the harder one. If enough force is applied, permanent deformation occurs (scratches). Sapphire is an extremely hard material and it's highly unlikely that you will encounter anything (except a diamond) that will scratch them. 
• Are they unbreakable?
• Unscratchable != Unbreakable. With enough force, sapphire can crack beyond repair. If you are the type of gamer that is prone to slamming their mouse when raging AND you use a hard mousepad, then you risk breaking the skates. That being said, in all of our testing, we have yet to break any SAPPHIRESKATES, not even a crack. 
• Are there cracks in my skates? 
• As mentioned before, we haven't encountered cracks. We know it's possible , but unlikely. However, it can sometimes appear as if there are cracks. More than likely, it's because of the adhesive below not being evenly distributed, or there is debris that is stuck to the skates.
• What type of sapphire do you use specifically?
• We use extremely pure synthetic sapphire crystal. You may be wondering "why not natural sapphire". But the reality is that synthetic sapphire is far from fake sapphire. It has the exact same structure is natural crystal but without imperfections. That is why synthetic sapphire crystal is almost always used in mechanical and optical applications. Natural sapphire is only used for the flex, as with jewelry. High-end watches like Rolex or Patek use synthetic sapphire crystal to protect the watch itself and use synthetic ruby-sapphire for the watch internal bearings. 
• What's the difference between Ruby and Sapphire? 
• Ruby and sapphire are the same mineral (Al2O3, crystalline aluminum oxide). Whether produced in nature or in a lab, the ruby red color comes from a process called doping. A dopant is another element that gives sapphire (and other Al2o3 crystals) their different colors. In the case of ruby, the dopant is trace amounts of chromium. The reason why watchmakers use dopants for sapphire bearings is because it's extremely easy to lose sight of a clear crystal. Whether it's called a ruby or a sapphire somewhat depends on purpose and industry.
• What type of mousepad works best with SAPPHIRESKATES? 
• Soft and medium hardness mousepads work best. Since the skates themselves are rigid, these surfaces naturally flex elastically, and complement the rigidity of SAPPHIRESKATES. However, in terms of reducing friction, SAPPHIRESKATES perform quite well on any surface, even hard mousepads. We've even tried them on glass: if the glass is kept clean, it works great as the skates can glide nearly silently across the glass (just avoid slamming the mouse).