DDR Dance Pad - Resolved

JAEF

I may be looking to get one of these to rock some Stepmania with and I'd prefer a USB mat over a PS2 mat+adapter if possible. Where's the best place to get a decent one? Not one of those slippery plastic shits, but a halfway decent mat?

EDIT - Ghetto modding a soft pad seems like a reasonable way to go. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

Shogun

I had a red octane afterburner that I bought when they first launched. I used that pad extensively and did not take care of it at all. It worked great for about a year and a half and its whole life probably lasted 2.5 years. The last nine months were a bit sketchy and then it eventually stopped sending a signal. Was a fantastic pad otherwise though. I hear the ignition pads aren't bad either.

flundra

Currently, the state-of-the-art pad is the Impact Arcade. It's the most arcade-like pad and from what I gather, really good - and the price reflects that (€700 in Finland, dunno about international availability/price). I myself have a Cobalt Flux. Arcade-modded or not, it's far from the arcade experience, but it's really sturdy and practically indestructable if taken good care of. I've never had any problems with mine, no pad misses etc. I don't know what it's currently priced at but I paid about €400 for it a couple of years back. Another worthy candidate is the Blueshark, which has both bar and no-bar models. I've never tried one of these, look up some reviews.

There's also a variety of cheaper metal pads. They are generally much less durable and need some tinkering every now and again.

DeathPrawn

If you like a challenge, it makes a great DIY project to build your own metal pad. There are detailed instructions online and it's fairly cheap (cost me about $150 a few years ago, including soldering tools).

Madpanda

As you are past the level where the cheapo $20 dance pads cut it, I suggest buying a slightly better dance pad and modding it via the instructions found at -

http://www.ddrfreak.com/library/contributor-article.php?postID=7890244



This will add some longevity to the pad and also get you more used to something that doesn't slip all over the place. DDrfreak.com in particular the forums and guides is a great resource for pretty much any arrow smashy type game.

I personally own a Cobalt flux v2 and love it, I have had it for about 2-3 years and it still works fine even though I only cleaned it once, it still has some movement issues but nowhere near that of a cheap pad, also putting it on a piece of plywood and sandwiching some non slip padding between the pad and wood help.

However the cost is a bit high unless you play a lot or light your cigars with $100 bills, when I purchased it I think it went for $330 shipped.

Valkun

I'm going to second the modifying a soft pad suggestion. After both of my plastic hard pads finally got too much wear and tear to properly repair, I went ahead and put some wood and floor covering around a cheap-o soft pad. Works pretty well, it actually slips less than the hard pads.