This product effectively protects my medium pile carpet. It dents easily but springs back at night I’m sure there are stiffer and maybe more adequatr for short pile carpet but this will do for the proce.
This mat is nominated for 3/8" carpet pile. I use it in a workplace organized in a bedroom with the usual soft wall to wall carpet. I measured the pile using a paper clip -- the technique suggested everywhere where the mats are sold. It was difficult to tell exactly because carpet hairs are uneven and bend easily. I eventually decided that they are 3/8" or less so I ordered this mat. Apparently my measurements were off. I got the mat with the cleats shorter than necessary so it tends to drift slowly over the carpet to one side with the rate of about an inch per day. When you buy the mat to use on a home-style carpet (as opposed to a firm office style) choose cleats longer than it would be required per measurement. Otherwise the mat is good and works very well.
I am using the chair mat on low pile carpet and the chair wheels tend to make indentations in the flexible plastic. My other chair mat that finally wore out didn’t do that.