Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We just purchased a formal dining room table with beautiful inlay. I really didn't want to buy an expensive, custom pad, though. (Ninety percent of the time, I want to see that wood!) But meals mean hot, heavy serving dishes, dropped folks and knives, and overturned glasses--don't they? So we needed a pad...but an inexpensive one that would work. This one does. It has a very thin, vinyl top-coat in a matte finish that is textured to resemble woven cloth. The underside is a thick, felt-like layer. (The felt on mine measures just over 1/16" and seems extremely dense and "solid.") This pad cushions with its density--not with quilting, etc. That means a heavy, slip-resistant, even, thick layer of protection that won't encourage stemware to topple, etc. After reading a lot of reviews for other pads on Amazon, this seemed to be the type of pad people had seen in the past and were trying to buy. In the size I ordered, it weighs almost five pounds--compared to three pounds or less for a number of similarly price pads in the same size on the site. The pad came folded neatly, which meant some creases and minor folds when I put it on our table. But a low-setting iron on the felt side of the pad removed those enough to be invisible under my tablecloth.(I think I'll keep it stored "rolled" in the future, though.) For an off-the-shelf pad at a fair price, this is a great choice.