A word on flat softpads...

[zapman98]

[dragonsong_2003]

can't say soft pads suck, i got two from eb games, the cheap beat pad ones. i modded mine, and it's been over a years since i got them, they worth as good as they did when i first got them

[BobTheFish]

I've been doing various 9 footers on my soft pad for ages now and nothing has stopped working. But I have ordered a metal pad due to the fact that it slides (even with some carpet underlay attached) and it's not as sensitive as I'd like.
_________________

I've passed all ITG 11s! Woo!

[stcarnamedwant]

It may be too soon to tell, and I'm only a beginner, but I bought a pelican universal pad (my best friend has the PS2 games, I have Ultramix3 for XBOX) the other day and I'm pretty happy with its performance in my dorm room. I have tile floor. And it did a bit of a party the first night I had it on various difficulties with various weights of players. It still works. I do plan on saving up for a nicer pad, though.
_________________

Jess

[Joel Stud?!]

I have just learned a valuable lesson. If you let a soft pad sit neatly folded for a month or so (or more if you like) without using it after it starts to seem glitchy it will work again.

Worked for me 4 times now!

[adp10390]

I'm using the RedOctane official ITG softpad, and it works like a charm. I've taken it from California to Singapore and back, and I've been playing up to 11-foot songs on stepmania for several months now with no loss of performance. Sensitivity is great, sensors haven't shifted at all, it's just barely thick enough to make it real comfy to play in socks, and thin enough to be able to feel the floor and keep your balance real well. Almost never slips on most surfaces.

[NESCartFanatic]

I also have to give kudos to the ITG Official pads. Got these with the bundle and they work much much better than my old redoctane nonslips (2002 tourney prize)

Very good quality, the sensors are very accurate. I'm impressed!
_________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGiN2cKLRbQ

Reanimate your feet!

[Ko5]

Whoever started this thread is full of poopy. I do 7-9 footers atleast 3 hours a day, usually 5-9 hours a day. My pads hold up fine, I have 2 foam soft pads that costed $15 each and the stock one bundled with DDRExtreme 2.

imo anyone with intelligence would have locked the thread already for lack of intelligence and rich preppy boys bias because he sucks on any pad besides his own.

[Travelsonic]

[Miss Tsugaru]

I got a mad catz soft mat. It's last me basicly almost 2 years. It's starting to rip from 9 footers though. I really can't do 9 ft that well on soft mat.. >>

My Intek (or whatever brand of metal arcade platform mats they had at Toys-R-Us) broke in a month of purchace..
_________________

Paranoia~Respect~ DDRxTsugaru

[videoCWK!]

[Cutriss]

[Shinmizu]

[zaphod]

So lets' sum up everything so far.

1) ALL softpad makers create lemons sometimes. there's always the risk of getting a duff pad. Warranties are good things, and the plywood mod does NOT void them, as it does not damage the pad in any way.
2) They tend to slip. even with "non slip" surfaces on back. They slip less if they have one of those surfaces, but that makes the top bunch more.
3) using a soft pad on a carpet is a bad idea.
4) hardwood floor is good, but more prone to sliding/bunching of the top.
5) folding a pad wrong can kill it deader then a doornail.

SO, do the classic plywood/sheet/staples mod, and your pad will last. it does the following things.
a) places the pad on a hard surface, which makes it more durable.
b) keeps it form bunching which makes it more durable.
c) protects the top of the pad, enabling you to wear shoes, whic hhelps protect your ankles and legs from shock.
d) prevents the pad from getting folded.
e) stops sliding.
f) easy to make a double pad mod if you want, or jsut two singles, and put them next to each other and they wont' slide.

The "Gamestop" pads are all rebranded pelicans. that's who makes Gamestops stuff. if you read the fien print on the box, it wil say so. My current gamestop pad claimed to have "raised corners" on the box, but it was simply not true. It did, however ahv earcade sized button circuitry, as opposed to the little circle sensors.

There are four basic classes of softpad.

Circular sensors, normal bottom. (Konami original design)
Circular sensors, non slip bottom (I believe Konai's new design, but pioneered by Red Octane)
"Arcade size" pad, with larger sensor areas, non slip bottom.
"Arcade size" with normal bottom. My current Gamestop pad is one of these.

All of them need modding to last.
_________________

Stick Fighter Revolution Turbo Mega Alpha +4 Ned

[*Motoko*]

Hey, I'm just curious, but I have hard wood floors at my house, so if I just use scotch tape and tape my soft konami pads to the floor so they don't slip and slide everywhere, thats fine right?
_________________

My name used to be *Totoro* on these forums....

[Travelsonic]

[crushing the plains...v2]

Because the white less dense stuff is about as hard as packaging peanuts

[XMaxX]

[Travelsonic]

Cutriss, I am assuming and correct me if you are wrong, just as a clarification for those others who may be wondering, that this thread was targeting the thin flabby crap softpads, and not the hard/dense foam pads?

[eTom]