Prism99

Tiggersmom, you are fine staying with your Olfa mats.

So far, comparing the 3 different mats I have, Olfa is actually my favorite for the cutting surface. I wanted a large mat, and I would have gone with the 3-part Olfa if the Martelli hadn't gone on sale. My reasons for going with Martelli were (1) I would have one continuous mat, (2) there were never any reviews that mentioned an offgassing odor whereas some people complained about that with Olfa, and (3) I was concerned about reviewers mentioning that the newer Olfa mats don't seem to last the way the old ones did.

I had actually purchased the 3-part Olfa mat online when it was on sale at JoAnn's and had brought it home. It sat in its package in the kitchen for several days while I decided to take a chance on the Martelli. After 3 days, there was a slight solvent odor in its area that both my dh and I could detect. However, it wasn't the "skunk" type stink others had complained about and likely would have gone away if I had left it out on the porch for awhile.

Onebyone, thanks for mentioning the QS rulers. I have one here (6.5" square) that I bought along with the small mat to try out. I pulled the QS ruler out to try on the 3 mats. I didn't cut with it, but just put all 5 fingers of one hand on top of the ruler and then tried to wiggle it. It was the most stable on the Olfa mat; required the least pressure to remain stable. It was the least stable on the Martelli mat; no amount of pressure applied by my fingers was sufficient to keep it from moving when I wiggled my hand. It was stable on the QS mat, but only when I increased the pressure -- about double what was needed for the Olfa mat.

I pulled out another 6.5" square (Quilt in a Day) that has grip strips on all 4 edges to try out. This one was the most stable on the QS mat, least stable on the Martelli, with the Olfa in-between. It could be rendered stable on all of them, just like the QS ruler, but with differing levels of pressure.

So far, for me there is no *perfect* cutting mat. I like the Martelli mat, but why on earth did they think it a good idea to run lines at all the 1/2" marks as well as the 1" marks? Both Olfa and QS have lines only at the 1" with marks at the smaller increments which, in my opinion, is much better. The extra lines on the Martelli mat make it more visually confusing for no good reason. I also am not in love with the yellow side of the mat. I'm holding off on a decision about the large squaring-off logo in case I find a use for it in the future.

I tried my Slidelock on all 3 mats, and it works well on all the mats. Again, it does seem slightly better on the Olfa surface; about the same on the other two.