I've never had one, and was thinking of heading to Joannes with a coupon this week, but in my search there were two replies to a post somewhere that made that comment.

I have Olfa mats and love them.

I find that some others - Dritz, Omnigrid and Fiskars - feel stiff and more rigid. I wonder if they would be more susceptible to breaking on the corners if dropped. I can't tell you how many times my 18 x 24 Olfa has fallen from its hanging spot and has been fine.

It hangs from a pants hanger on the back of the door and has slipped when I'm trying to rehang it.

I have loved my 30 x 36 Dritz's for over 20 years. They are 1/8" thick and I use them on my dining room table for all of my cutting. Put me on the list of those who think the Olfa is too thin. It's less than 1/16" while the Dritz are a generous 1/8". I use the Olfa only to take to classes and I always think I'm going to cut right through it when I put a lot of pressure on the cutter.

I have always been happy enough with my Olfa mat...not really aware of other mats except I not really liked the June Tailor mat...felt the surface was too "slippery".

I like the mat but I don't like the line marks at all...i have a hard time seeing the hash marks, backwards to other mats I think. Small hash for the line or something.

I love my Olfa mat. Just make sure that your mat is self healing. I have been using my mat for probably 20 years. I would still be using it but I accidentally ironed it and now one side is warped. I still use it only just use the left half. I finally bought a new one with a coupon (of course) at JA. I have a June Taylor mat but don't like it as much--it seems too hard, if that make sense.
Sue

I've had mine since they first came out & it's seen plenty of use & is still going strong... it takes a licking & keeping on ticking... LOL! My only suggestion would be to avoid a no-name mat. I got one as a freebie a while back & it was a disaster. I think there was a thread here not long about this. You might try looking it up. It has some good ideas.

I've got two Fiskars mats and I personally love them. They have different types available. Both of mine - 24x36 and 18x24 are self healing and I haven't dropped them but I doubt that they'd break if they did. I got the smaller one at Joann's when they had their cutting stuff 55% off plus I had a 10% off purchase coupon. The larger one I have had for several years and it is holding up really good - especially since it used to be the one I'd take with me to my sewing groups so it gets a lot of use from me and from others as well. I liked it so much that I got the smaller one.

I've got an Olfa spinny mat, about 12" square and it is not holding up nearly as nice as my Fiskars and it is much younger than my older one. I keep it by my sewing machine for when I'm doing paper piecing and whatnot. It has been a disappointing purchase I hate to say it. I didn't even look at Olfa ones when I wanted to get the smaller mat to take with me to quilting group instead.

Just ordered it
I've had my large Olfa for more than 20 years and it's still fine.
It's got magic marker stains from when my grandson was a toddler; it'll be nice to work on a clean one.
The deal you posted was too good to pass up.

Don't know anything about the Martelli mats, but I do know their cutter and blades can't be beat.
The rotary cutter is so much easier on one's wrist and the blade is sharper than others I've used.

Love, love, love, my Martelli matt. It was a bit pricey but well worth it as my blades last so much longer that with any other matt I have had. I do cut almost every day so consider it an investment.