OFFICAL REVIEW OF OMEGA GX DANCE PAD

This will serve as a truthful, critical, and in-depth review of the OmegaGX by Prayerwarrior/HellRazor
This product was purchased via the main website but is also available on amazon.com

This review will be broken down into various categories in no particular order or precedence.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

First and foremost I feel the most important aspect of any business model is to adequately and effectively communicate with customers in a way that both makes them feel valued as well as sought after, PrayerWarrior (who i will now refer to as PW) is a professional and passionate individual. He was willing to answer my many questions and discuss ad nauseum his design implementations, materials used and other various characteristics of the Omega GX (now refereed to as the GX). His promptness in messages (the majority of which were via Facebook, which may or may not be his preferred method of communication) was very impressive as were is obvious dedication and enthusiasm regarding his product. First and foremost PR is a consumer of his product. He owns and plays every day on the ORIGINAL GX. The pad arrived in a Home Depot shipping box with a fair amount of box tape sealing the edges of the box. (the box was laid flat so the tape served as weather proofing as well as security. Shipping took about 4 days and arrived undamaged and ready to play.

PAD BUILD QUALITY:
This is certainly the most impressive aspect of the pad. The pad is constructed from a 35X35 inch piece of hardboard attached to a sheet of lexan. This material is optimal for a dance surface as it is highly impact resistant, flexible, and extremely durable with respects to abrasions and wear. A full surface image is under the lexan where the sensors rest sandwiched between the two main surfaces. The border of each pad is attached internally without screws and the pad is completely sealed from moisture and foreign debris entering the pad.
I honestly can not think of a way in which this pad would become damaged unless the user intentionally attempted to damage the pad in some way with either a sharp object or by putting the pad on its side and bending the pad until it snapped. The pad certainly has a homemade quality to it, but i am confident that it will stand up to the rigors of normal play and would experience no degradation from normal wear.

Aesthetics:
This is one aspect where the pad suffers slightly. This is partly a function of cost as well as not having access to a fabrication process for the pad. The images do not entirely line up, and the use of a home printer on what appears to be normal bond copy grade paper. There are instances of banding in the printed image especially in the black none arrow sections. The lexan is sealed around the edges which what appears to be black duct tape, but this only serves to seal the pad and is not the primary method of attachment and structure for the pad. This seal serves to eliminate the possibility of material becoming lodged inside the pad as well as maintaining a moisture barrier. Additionally where the image has been adhered to the lexan surface there are places where inconsistent amounts of spray adhesive was applied then appears to be wiped away. This in NO WAY affects the performance of the pad, and i believe can be fixed by raising the temperature of the adhesive (inside the can) by way of submersion in hot water (bath temp) before application. The overall different in appearance from the source images is best described as being less saturated and a bit inconsistent from the printing process. Again, these aspects are entirely cosmetic and will not have any material effect on game play


*The moment you have all been waiting for*

Performance.

For the sake of full disclosure, while I do play the majority of my songs on EXPERT, I am not an "expert" player. I am slowly AAing every song 9foot and below on ITG and working on my perfect attack (two aspects of my game that have increased since receiving this pad)

AMAZING!
I could simply end the review at this point and it would be entirely accurate, but this would not due the product justice. Some people are use to a raise or even recessed pad design and this pad is neither. The pad surface is entirely flat, but as opposed to a COBALT FLUX pad you can tell at ALL times where you are stepping due to the way the lexan is attached to the hardboard. Due to the full sized 11 inch sensors there are ZERO dead areas on the pad and only about 3.5 lbs of pressure are needed to activate the sensor. Passages where multiple steps occur in a row should pose no difficultly and the player should only be limited by his or her own skill level. I must say that at first the pad took a bit to get used to but the learning curve was almost nonexistent. I initially thought it would take a week to adjust, but within about 30 minutes i was passing songs i had not passed before, and scoring new personal bests. I struggled at first because using a soft pad i noticed that instead of a consistent pad surface there are places of extreme sensitivity and insensitivity. I felt as if it took a bit more to activate the sensors, but i later realized that this was only because i was not now playing with shoes and i was relying on the weight of the shoe rather than my own body weight and pressure to activate the sensors.

While my skill level is in no way representative of this pads ability i would like to however link to PW YouTube channel where you can find various videos featuring the GX as well as a bit of an insight to the style, and character of the creator.

http://www.youtube.com/user/hellrazor35?feature=watch

This is a test that i asked PW to perform on MY pad before it shipped. The pad shown is the first of the newly redesigned image.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRtzHr9eqv4

I will be starting an accomplishment thread so that if you want to track my progress as I develop my skill you can.

Also, if anyone has any questions that are not covered in this review, or if you reside in the Hampton Roads, VA area and would like to demo this pad i would be more than willing to allow you to try it out.

ATTENTION: In these pictures there are three layers visible. Only the top is the OMEGA GX PAD. If you are playing on carpet there needs to be something flat and solid under this pad as it is flexible enough to cause issues with steps registering correctly. Hard and heavy material is NOT included in purchase because the cost of shipping would exceed the cost for the customer to purchase the material locally. I have chosen to use 1/2inch MDF attached with Gorilla Tape. There is also a layer of dense foam that was taken from a foam dance pad that is used for grip. This review and all commentary was made without these modifications. That only thing i added was an additional piece of hardboard (peg board for tools i do not have) I had in the garage. I simply wanted a more solid base for my pad.

Nice review, seems like a solid pad overall, and aesthetically it looks well designed.
also,
Just use the one already existing
http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewthread.php?threadid=3573&page=1

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The pad is quite amazing. ever single aspect about the pad that i was leery about (thinness, flatness) have turned out to be absolutely impressive features. The flatness is because there are no screws or brackets, but due to the design you can still tell exactly where the arrows are. And as far as the thinness, at first i expected the product to be thicker, but that would hinder the lexans ability to rebound after your foot is removed, and would decrease the overall space in which you can activate a sensor

The part about this pad that i like the most is that once i got it I was able to pass a few songs from ITG that i could not pass before. This got me started on a mission to AA every ITG1 song 10s or below on HEAVY. After doing this i was able to go back to DDR and completely beast through some of the songs i use to struggle with back in my prime.

I am considering a second pad, but i dont think it will pass the "Wife Test"

Thank you for the detailed review! I see you can only buy these as either a usb OR PS2 model for the controller box. Slim chance (i know) but do you know if the usb model will work on the usb slots on a slim ps2?

Wow, may I ask how much is this?

The price is about $300. Here's the link on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Omega-GX-Single-Playstation-2/dp/B00C78CBFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367201839&sr=8-1&keywords=omega+gx

I will contact the pad designer and find out.

the pad is 300 shipped to the continental united states and 250 for local pick up in East Tennessee

East Tennessee? Around about where?

Oak Ridge.

Contact the vendor via http://precisiondancepads.webs.com/

I'm extremely interested in purchasing one of these, but I wanted to ask you a question beforehand. I know the guy making these has said in his thread on stepmania.com that if you play flat footed as opposed to on your toes and ball of your feet as he does, that there is a potential for misfire with arrows. Have you encountered this at all? I personally play flat-footed and tbh wouldnt be willing to change up my style for the sake of the pad because I feel that would be highly uncomfortable and possibly lead to a plantar fasciitis flare up.

Im sorry i didnt get back to you right away as i was on leave (vacation)

I play a bit in between flatfoot and toes and i have never had an issue. I think Prayerwarrior (designer of the pad) was simply making an assumption that the pad may not work as good in the flatfoot situation simply because he did not have a way to test this method.

I think what he is more concerned with is people that wobble if you dont bracket wobble you should be fine.

Very clever adding an extra layer with gorilla tape. Does that work with other heavy dance pads?

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what do you mean extra layer

I was referring to

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any pad with a wood substrate should use an additional wood base. That way player weight and energy is transferred into the second replaceable board instead of being focused on the core of the pad which often can not be replaced or repaired.

I will providing an update review and closing thoughts on the GX pad within the next few days. AS expected there are very few complaints with the pad, but i will go over a few aspects that i was less then thrilled about, my solutions, and how the lead designer has implemented my ideas.

Stay tuned