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Think about buying two DDR pads, and I was wondering what good deal are their? I'm looking at soft pads, but I'm really interested in the metal ones. Any advice will be appreciated.

I've owned and tried many different pads....wish I got cobalt fluxes to start with. Softpads, mods, official pads, generic, etc. There is no comparison (well, my home-made one is decent). Cobalt all the way man. Pricey, but worth it if you want a solid experience.

Originally Posted by suffah I've owned and tried many different pads....wish I got cobalt fluxes to start with. Softpads, mods, official pads, generic, etc. There is no comparison (well, my home-made one is decent). Cobalt all the way man. Pricey, but worth it if you want a solid experience.

Is 300 the lowest I can find them? That's alot. I was looking to spend about $75 per pad. Thanks though.

Good ol' Red Octane.

Yea, 300 is the cheapest you'll find a cobalt flux, unless you get it used, they're made to order. I wouldn't recommend any soft pad other than an ignition from red octane, those you can sometimes find on sale around $80, my friend found one at a TRU for $20, real thing too. And all other metals pale in comparison.

TRU was selling those Intec softpads for $10 during the holidays. They didn't look too bad, might want to check there.

If you get 2 soft pads, an extra $20 will go a long way in modding them.

$10 - 4'x8' sheet of particle board (found at Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, etc.) -- have 2 35"x38" cut from it (most stores will do at least 2 cuts for free, which is all you need to get the pieces you want)

$12 - 6 pack of 2'x2' interlocking anti-fatigue foam mats (Found at PepBoys -- other auto supply stores or alternately sports stores would likely have them, though maybe not as cheap). It should only take 3 pieces to cover one of the 35"x38" particle board sheets (pieced together, it should wind up 1 full piece, 2 half-ish strips, and 1 quarter-ish piece). The ones at PepBoys come with edge pieces, which means less cuts are needed to have straight edges all around. For an example of what these look like, see here: http://www.greatmats.com/exercise.html

My process for attaching everything together is as follows:
- Tape down the foam mat to the particle board (using heavy duty clear packaging tape -- I've found it works well to tape in a tic-tac-toe board type pattern including the edges. When taping across, make sure to have a significant overlap that goes underneath the board.)

- Tape the DDR pad down to the combination foam + board. (use the same technique as for the mat -- ideally the mat should be flat, spread out as much as possible, and shouldn't move when you jump around on it)

Just the particle board alone I know has been mentioned by a lot of people modding pads, but I haven't seen too many mention using cheap anti-fatigue mats. I know it's definitely made a difference in the comfort level for me playing. It's probably pretty close to (maybe slightly better than) the high density foam that comes with the Ignition-style pads.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-FF-NB&cat=JOY
In the spirit of cheapness, I bought a couple of those a couple weeks ago and have been pleased, if you mod em like Tim says then you end up with a fairly decent pad that cost you less than $30. These pads even have little LED's which light up when you hit a button. Though, if you really want metal then go with that, I'm just too cheap to go that route.

Just get a Flux man. I got my Cobalt Flux pad used for $220 shipped. Those things are made so solid, buying a used one isn't really going to be much different than getting a new one. All the electronics (except for a wire under each panel) are located inside of the control box, so they are built to last. Just make sure you clean the contacts every couple months.

If you're serious about DDR and think you'll play for a while, a Flux is the best way to go. I wasted more than $400 on about a half dozen crappy pads including a RedOctane Afterburner and an Ignition before I settled on the Flux. Sure, they are expensive but you won't have to worry about replacing it a few months after you buy it.

Anybody know where to get a cheap Konami brand pad?