Originally Posted by Sewnoma

I have an Alvin mat that I love. It's my 2nd one - I still have my first one but I got a bigger cutting table so I bought a larger mat! The Alvin mats are black on one side, green on the other, so you can decide which works best for you. I like that it also has a zero-out line about halfway across the mat, with numbers counting outwards from both sides of that line - great for helping center blocks before trimming. I bought both of mine from Amazon and they shipped them flat, not rolled up.

I definitely recommend the biggest mat you can fit...you'll always want just a couple inches more mat than you have!

My very first mat was an Olfa and I think the Alvin mats are softer and are lasting longer...but I have to admit I did abuse my Olfa mat by cutting things with an exacto blade on it. I think those mats are really only for rotary blades, not straight blades!