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If the pad is large enough to cover most of your brooder, it's not your solution, unless it has a thermostat on it that allows you to control the tepmperature. Even that will not be ideal, especialy if you have chicks of different breeeds or sexes coming. If it covers most of the brooder area, there is limited (or no) space for those chick that need less heat than the others to get away from it.
It might be okay for the first few days while you evaluate the advice here for the alternative that will work best in your setup.
The advantage of a light (placed centrally or at one end) is that it provides more heat at its focal point(s). Properly adjusted the chicks will settle in loosely but generally under it at the beginning. When they start to snooze in more of a circle away from that focus -- that's your sign that it's time to move the light up to generally reduce the temperature to where they again can stay warm without piling onto each other. And so on until, after several adjustments, they won't need the light at all for warmth.
The drawback of a large mat of a single temperature is that those that mature/feather out faster won't have a choice of a cooler, more comfortable (read "healthier") spot.
