A good mouse and a smooth desk is really all you need. A high quality gaming mouse will have a nice laser sensor that can read off anything. I have a Razer Destructor but only because when I bought it the desk I was using was made out of 2x4s.
Same here. I've got a glass top on my desk and I just use a circular Apple mouse pad (I'm anti-Apple but this mouse pad is great). It's just like these except mine is purple.
I would get a nice one but I have very limited space on my desk and I can slide this one under my monitor stand(it's really thin) to keep it from moving around.
Some kind of shroud fell off of the sensor (was kind of an o-ring seal around the lens) on my Orochi, I have to use soft pads or a pretty dark surface now or else it gets sketchy at best.