Metal pad advice

[sleek]

First I would like to say I’m a complete noob about DDR metal pads. What I’m looking for in a metal pad is most importantly for it to be very durable, along with being very responsive and long lasting. I’ve been hearing a lot about the Cobalt Flux pad and I’m starting to lean towards that metal pad. But before I purchase it I want to hear from the experts if I’m making the correct decision. I have been also reading about the Blueshark, RedOctane. TX-series and lots more pads and they seem like great metal pads as well. Like I stated before I’m no expert in this area and if someone can point me in the right direction I’ll gladly appreciate it.

Note: Please if you know any reliable websites to purchase these products please let me know.

Thank you
mike

[Cheerios]

http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=95103
I spent a good couple hours looking at every single discussion for each pad in there. Very helpful. Though I'm pretty much fed up at broken metal pads or broken control boxes that I have to replace.

I bought ones similar to the TX series, control box broke within 3 months. And, another one had an arrow sensors die within a few months. (I'm not heavy and I don't play much.) So, I basically don't trust eBay metal pads anymore. Plus, the people who ship the TX or similar series from eBay don't package very well and your pad arrives a bit...scratched and dented on the corners.

I don't own a CF, but! From what I read in the Colbat Flux discussions is that, it *can* malfunction if you don't clean them/take good care of them and you'll have to figure out how to fix it yourself if they do break. The Colbat Flux pad is not the closest to the arcade experience because the panels are close to being flat. But, a majority of the discussions are positive. Damn expensive though...

From what I read in the Blue Shark discussions is that it is the most arcade like experience you'll ever have with a metal pad. (Recessed arrows I believe.) Most of the posts in the BlueShark discussion are positive. Unfortunately, this company (MyMyBox) no longer produces Blue Sharks.

I read up RedOctane's metal pad discusion and visited the actual site myself to see. This is the most economical option if you are new to metal pads in my opinion. Currently, it is $139.99 for a metal pad. Some people in the RO metal pad discussion have complained the arrows are *TOO* recessed and had to mod it. If I had money, I'd probably get one of these to play around with.

You'll *never* get the whole arcade expensive with most store bought metal pads. To get the arcade feel, you either have to buy a machine or build the metal pad yourself. There is another thread dedicated to this. (Home build metal pad section.)

I highly recommend checking out the soft pad modding thread. It's not a metal pad, but you can play on it with shoes and slide around as if it was without worrying about control boxes breaking or arrows cracking. Soft pads are also decently cheap to replace if they start acting up.

Hope this helps. :)
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cheerios...mmm, yea. 100 calories and promotes a healthy lifestyle.

[DAVE101]

I just want to say the cobalt flux becomes a joke on upper level songs. I mean it's great for DDR but I find it quite frustrating with pad crap on ITG 12s and up.
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poop

[Shuma Gorath]

whoa, and I thought you could use CFs to play fast songs/runs/long streams just fine.