yet another "what is the best metal pad" thread...

[T-Dog!]

alright, so ive been out the itg scene for a long while (used to weigh 190lbs last i seriously played ddr/itg and now weigh 270/80ish, currently 6'3'') and as you can imagine, i would like to get back into it. problem is that i would like to get a new home metal/cf/blueshark/etc. dance pad.

so far, it seems mymybox stopped selling their blueshark pads, and are now selling their nexen pads, which ive heard nothing really good or bad about them. ive tried contacting them via phone for more information and their numbers arent even in service. with that in mind, plus the fact they no longer ship their dance pads (which suggests that they arent durable enough to survive the postal service), plus a lot of complaints with their customer service in the past, i dont feel comfortable making an online purchase through them.

redoctane in no longer in business, so the afterburner, which ive heard good things about, is out of the question.

ive also read that the quality of the cobalt fluxes have diminished in the last couple of years. i have 2 old cfs i bought years past, but i would like to update to what todays home ddr/itg players are using. i would feel kinda dumb if i bought new fluxes that arent any better than the pads i currently have after 3/4 years of intense play...(i bought the pads in 2003, i think, stopped playing in 2007, and are now just collecting dust in the closet). i would prefer not getting the fluxes because i want to get a pad that doesnt use the metal to metal contact to register the button imputs, like what the fluxes do. plus, cleaning those pads are kind of a pain in the ass. i would like to get a more sensitive pad that rivals the blueshark in durability and sensivity, if something like that still exists.

also, ive heard that lots of 3rd party companies that sell metal dance pads arent even made by them, and they turn out to be crap products. i did buy a new ion pad from ddrgame.com (i think) before i got my first set of fluxes and it was a shit pad.

ive browsed through a lot of threads in the last couple of days, but it seems that most of the current threads are from 2007/2008 (or older), so i really am out of the loop of what the popular home pads are for 2010.

i am willing to spend from $200 to $350 (price includes shipping cost, if necessary) for a new pad.

any help is appreciated. thank you.

[Kyzentun]

I recently played on a new CF Arc1 and a new CF and they both seemed just as good as my old ones from 2007. I'm leery of the plastic mounting around the Arc1 because it seems likely to crack and break after a few months on a hard surface.
The Arc1 is currently $380, and the CF with modkit is $305, so both are probably out of your price range after shipping costs.

As for cleaning a CF, 8 hours every 6 months doesn't seem that bad to me. In my experience, you really only need to worry about things that are actually stuck on the metal. As long as it feels smooth when you run your fingers over it, you're fine.
Honestly, pull out your old ones, clean them, and try them out.

Disclaimer: I don't play anything above the occasional doubles 11. I only played a few rounds on the new Arc1 and new CF because they were a friend's and borrowed for an event.

[T-Dog!]

i was afraid that i would just have to just deal with my fluxes. honestly, i did clean them over a year ago, but after playing them once or twice, just put them back in the closet.

one issue im having is that the control boxes, although functional, have been smashed a couple of times by the pad falling on them (idk how, just happened i guess). also, these cf's only have a ps2 plug input, i have a ps2 to usb converter from smartjoy i got from a long time ago, but i felt like i wasnt getting as accurate of scores due to some, albeit, small lag (just enough to throw off any possibly of FA'ing). i thought about just getting new control boxes, because they have usb ports available, but idk if they are compatable with the old pads, and i dont want to get the legacy control boxes if they are just ps2 control ports as well.

[Kyzentun]

Ah, yeah, new control boxes is a good point. I've wanted new control boxes for a while so I can play Pump charts.

One thing that I forgot to mention (because it's not a problem for me) is that many people who are used to arcade pads have foot placement problems on CFs. I'm talking about situations where they accidentally hit two arrows with one foot and give themselves a wayoff or a miss. This causes a lot of grief for them, and I'm not sure whether the arcade mod fixes it (haven't observed or played enough on arcade modded CFs). I wasn't really aware of this until the tournament I ran a couple weeks ago, where I watched all the experienced arcade players get "pad crap" while I got zero pad crap.

[T-Dog!]

the arcade mods do help. i ordered my first set with my first flux probably less than a month after i received the pad. when i ordered my second pad, i ordered the arcade mod with it.

to avoid the problems with striking 2 arrows at once, use the arcade mods to help guide you physically from not striking 2 arrows at once, and second, only map out the arrows you only use (up,down,left,right for ddr/itg or the up/left, up/right,center,lower/left,lower/right for piu) and dont map the a/x or b/o for menu navigation, and just use the keyboard. thats what i did....