The odor from most cutting mats, especially the green and pink ones, give me headaches. I use the Uchida translucent cutting mat. It's whitish and has great marking lines. I sometimes take masking tap over it to pick up the threads and other litter off the mat.

I use fiskars. I have a rotating martelli mat and it took forever for the stink to go away so I don't know if I'll be trying their regular mats like I wanted to do. Part of the smell was whatever adhesive they use but the actual cutting mat part stunk pretty badly too. One thing I like about fiskars is that it's available anywhere and bought unwrapped so it's already aired out at the store.

I have the Sullivan's 36" x 59" mat that covers all of my cutting table. It has taken everything cut, marked, hot glued, stamped and spilled on it over the years. I like being able to cut anywhere in my sewing room so all flat surfaces have a mat. I even have them under my sewing machine. I doubt I ever have to buy another mat of any kind.

I have the Martelli. The lines are accurate, I checked them with a good quilting ruler. I like the two colors so if you can't see the fabric well on one side, you can flip it.

I stopped by their booth at a show, and you do have to question some of the demonstrators. I was told to use Windex to clean the mat by the males there, but you use soap and water.
One of the female demonstrators also mentioned you could do quick ironing on the board - I was pressing down glue for binding and forgot the ironing mat. I'd ask Martelli customer service before doing anything.

I'm waiting for a mat sale. I'd like a smaller one.

I've kept the large Olfas as I also cut mats for photographs.

I prefer Omnigrid mat over the Olfa. It is much thicker.

I just got an Alvin mat. It's heavier and it's self-healing. It's green on one side and black on the other. It's a dream to cut on. I got it on Amazon.

Alvin is a very good mat, made for draft cutting.

I love my Olfa mats. They are both in the 15- 20 year old range and still going strong. I had a Fiskar mat a few years ago and it warped terribly the first year I had it even though it was not subjected to hot sun and it was laid flat. I would not recommend a Fiskar mat. I can't speak to the other brands as I have no experience with them.

My fav is Elan Miracle Mat, sold by United Notions. Learned about it at a LQS and use it all the time. I also have a Olfa thats a little wonky from being left in the hot car. I just bought a big Fiskar that goes on my big cutting table. I have seven mats in all.

Wow...I never heard of some of these mats....thought I had researched enough!