Cobalt Flux Arcade 1 Special Edition for sale

[Suko]

Cobalt Flux, the company known for making one of the best 4 panel hard pads available to consumers, has quietly released a new product into their consumer store.

The following is taken from the Cobalt Flux Arcade 1 Special Edition product description:

The Cobalt Flux Arc 1 Special Edition Platform is a limited production model for this 2009 holiday season. Designed for the most discriminating players, the Arc 1 SE combines arcade-quality construction and a 2-year warranty at a very special price. The platform is made of super-heavy duty expanded pvc and is encased in a suspended foam deck for shock absorption.

The Arc 1 Special Edition offers features you will never again find at this price. In fact, you won’t find these features in any platform at even double the price.

Cobalt Flux quality, durability, and playability

The Arc 1 Special Edition. Only for this 2009 holiday season.

Act today. Only 300 units are available.

**Comes ready to use with your Wii(R), Gamecube(R), Playstation(R), Playstation 2(R), Playstation 3(R) and PC! Does not include dance game software. Xbox(R) compatible control box available for purchase.**

Product Link:
https://www.cobaltflux.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16152&cat=249&page=1





The new Arcade 1 platform seems strikingly similar to the Cobalt Flux Arcade 2 Platform available to the commercial market:
http://www.cobaltflux.com/commercial/products/arcade2platform.html
I hope someone gets one of these soon and posts a review. It'd be interesting to know if CF was able to improve durability without loosing playability with this "new" Arcade 1 pad.
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"Arcades have gone away but the culture is not gone."

DDRecall | Groovestats | Beatspace | UI Bemani Club | Suko's Shirt Shack

[VilePickle]

here are some close up pictures. mind the nasty basement-carpet.

some impressions:
EDIT: 12/21
I got my initial problems solved with this pad. Essentially when I stood on the center panel the up arrow would activate. What was happening was the bottom sheet metal layer would raise up slightly under the up arrow when standing on the middle because it's all connected. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except the piece under the up arrow is arched slightly and not completely flat. It was making contact with the up arrow. The solution was for me to manually bow the up arrow and put a small insert at the very top of the up arrow preventing any sort of contact.
Should this have happened? No, it was poor production value/testing that resulted in this problem.

After this:
I haven't done a whole lot of testing but the pad is like a rock and it's very heavy, about 50lb. The materials are definitely NOT CHEAP. I'll edit my post more when I get more playtesting but it seems pretty good.

Contacts are pure sheet metal, no foil or anything like that.

Conclusion:
My only thoughts so far is that CF needs a better QA department to send out a $400 pad with a defect like I had so I had to fix it myself. Just poor in that regard.









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http://www.vilepickle.com

[maxhavoc]

REPOST FROM COBALT FLUX FORUMS

So I ended up buying one of the Cobalt Flux special editions and I just
had my first run in with it.

My overall impressions:
1) Not as stable as I'd like, I mainly wanted a hard pad because my soft pad (Red Octane v5) kept sliding around on my carpet and messing me up, I really wanted a nice, stable pad that wouldn't move around while I flailed about like an idiot (doing DDR). Despite being rather heavy, the Cobalt Flux slides around pretty easily, it moved an inch or so over the course of a few songs, obviously not as bad as the Red Octane, but still annoying. On the plus side, that does make it easier to slide under the bed for storage.

2) There is a clear, plastic or plexiglass (or something?) cover over the entire pad which flexes when you push or step on it. I'm not sure if this is normal for the Cobalt Flux (as I've never owned or used a "regular" one) or if it's unique to the special edition, or even if I'm supposed to remove it somehow. It's a bit distracting and feels rather strange when you step on it because it depresses the pad a bit (not the pad itself, but that's how it feels) and it feels wobbly as well.

3) The sensitivity of the arrows is a bit iffy. Sometimes when I tap nothing happens, other times there's a double tap, maybe I'm just not used to it yet or maybe it's a result of the plexiglass cover I mentioned earlier, not sure.

4) The control box seems cheap to me, the cable that attaches the 9-pin serial connector to the plastic case is a bit loose, but since the control box is external and thus doesn't move, maybe it's not a problem, just an observation.

5) Having an external control box is nice (for durability purposes) but rather annoying for playing purposes since the start and back buttons are on it, yes I know I can remap them, but if I use the left-front and right-front buttons like I did on the Red Octane I end up pressing them during the course of the song. I think this is the result of bad habits I picked up from using the Red Octane where I'd rest my feet with the toes on the front buttons because the sensors never quite aligned with the pads on the Red Octane, again, just an observation.

I have some pictures that I took of the un boxing and my setup.

The box:
Pad in the box:
Control box and sandpaper:
My setup:

Incidentally, what the hell is the sandpaper for?

If anyone lives in the Washington DC area and wants to check out the pad (especially if someone here is an expert on pads, Cobalt Fluxes and can tell me if I'm supposed to remove that plexiglass cover), email me at: bgreenberg *AT* maximumhavoc *DOT* com

[Norkusa]

So how do these Special Editions differ from the regular fluxes? Aside from the arrow overlays and baseboard, it looks just like the non-SE's. Is there any way you can get the arcade mod option with them?

My old flux is starting to die on me, so I've been thinking about replacing it soon. I was planning on just getting another flux + arcade mod since I already made a base mod for the old one. Or should I look into getting one of these SE's instead?

[Suko]

Thanks for the pictures and the reviews you guys. The info is appreciated.

MaxHavoc, the sandpaper is probably grip tape. You peel off the paper on the non-gritty side and you stick it to the bottom of the pad. It will help keep the pad from moving around while you play. Though if you're playing on a hardwood surface, I would consider some kind of alternative to the grip tape.
_________________

"Arcades have gone away but the culture is not gone."

DDRecall | Groovestats | Beatspace | UI Bemani Club | Suko's Shirt Shack

[PrayerWarrior35]

I'm a bit of a Dance Pad enthusiast, having owned some V1.5 Cobalt Fluxes, then modified them to PIU capable, refurbished them myself, then built my own CF style pads, also built my own pad enclosure with a bar.

These pads look about 2" bigger than a standard CF pad which is a good thing, some of the problems with normal CF pads are falling off the pad and slitting your feet on the corners of the pad or sheet metal. Having a bigger base makes falling and slitting on the sheet metal less likely since the sheet metal will no longer stick out on all sides. Normal CF pads are 33-1/4"x33-1/4" square, I bet yours are around 35"x35" square.

The Plexiglas cover is clearly there for durability since these pads are aiming for longevity rather than playability. I've considered doing the same thing but at the end I need a highly functional pad. See the problem with the original design is that the lexan cover on the arrows is 11x11 and exactally covers one arrow. They don't exactally align on the pad so there are holes. Food, dust, sweat, crap tends to accumulate in these holes and sliding under the pad or under the lexan, distorting the graphics and forcing you to clean the pads every once in awhile to remove this crap. If there was a cover over the whole pad then there would be no room for crap to enter the pad = maintenance free, BUT it also means if you step on an arrow it will depress more than just one arrow and can cause playability issues. It's obvious that the pad design is slightly larger to add four corner brackets that hold down this large Plexiglas sheet, also the Plexiglas is important since it's more flexible than the lexan panels which will hopefully allow you to hit an arrow without pushing more buttons, the lexan is hopefully underneath the plexiglas, it is also important since it's extremely durable. Another benefit of a plexiglas cover would be that the screws would not be an issue since you will no longer be stepping in between screws like a traditional CF pad.

IF you don't have lexan underneath the plexiglas then do not remove the plexiglas, otherwise go ahead and remove it to see how you enjoy playing.
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..Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind... It Does Not Envy, It Does Not Boast, It Is Not Proud... It Is Not Rude, It Is Not Self-Seeking... It Is Not Easily Angered...It Keeps No Record Of Wrongs... Love Does Not Delight In Evil But Rejoices With The Truth... It Always Protects...Always Trusts...Always Hopes...Always Presevers... Love Never Fails...
~1 Corinthians 13-4:8~