ESD High Temperature Mat Kit | 16" x 24" | Emerald Green | with (1) ESD Wrist Strap, (1) ESD Grounding Cord, (1) Bottle of Mat Cleaner

I haven't had a chance to work with this on my desk yet, but there are a few things that I thought I'd share right away.Some reviews have said that it comes rolled up and doesn't lie flat. Mine came rolled up, but lied flat right away. No problem there. I had planned on it rolling up, so I bought some carpet tape, and covered my work area with it, then laid this down on it. It's not moving.Some reviews have said something about an odor. There's s small odor to it, but nothing really bad, and I don't really notice it unless I'm smelling for it.It was bigger than my work surface, which I knew going in, and it cut down to size very nicely with just a retractable razor or some scissors.I cranked my heat gun up to 375C, and held it right next to a piece of scrap after I cut it. There was no noticeable difference, although the underside was very hot to the touch.I cranked up my soldering iron to 370C, touched it to the scrap for a few seconds and there was a small mark. Lowering it down to 300C (my normal temp) and trying again left no mark.

After reading reviews, and seeing one that said there is no "continuity" on the wrist strap, I did some checking of my own using a Fluke 75 and a Fluke 87 DMM. I discovered that there is 1 Megohm of resistance from the alligator clip to the wrist strap. This is EXACTLY what it is supposed to read! If it didn't have this resistance built in, and was straight copper wire with little resistance, anyone working on a live circuit that touches a hot component would receive a potentially lethal shock!!! YOU become the path to ground! Using a DMM and simply checking for "continuity" using the usual "beep" method, will indeed see what appears to be an open circuit. Worse yet, would be that the person decides to use a copper wire in place of the wrist strap provided by the manufacturer thinking he/she is now "improving" something that has been well thought out by electrical engineers not just for the protection of the device you're working on, but for the ultimate safety of the person involved. If you don't understand how it works, ask someone that does! SAFETY FIRST!!!

I think the mat and strap are fairly standard but I would disagree with the instructions which basically creates a ground loop with the target device and the wrist strap wearer. The person connected to the wrist strap then becomes the "earth ground." The mat should be connected to earth ground and the wrist strap connected to the mat. The device is then placed on the mat. At least that is how it is done in all the various industries I have worked in.

I used this to help my grandson build his first PC. It did the job nicely - no complaints at all.

One con, the grounding wire has an alligator clip on the end to connect to a ground source(usually wall socket ground pin) and the end that snaps to the mat does not expose any metal to clip to.

Good mat, anti-slippery on both sides. You want a twice bigger, and a few of these for all your desks and tables.

Seems like a good product so far

Nice, quality product as advertised. Don't really understand why the cord from the mat to the PC board is so long (keeping it out of the way is a nuisance), but maybe I'll just shorten it.