Looking to buy a Metal DDR pad

I have been through about 3 soft pads since I started DDR about 10 years ago....

The newest pad is still functional, but I have reached the point where I need to have a metal bar to start passing songs....

I would like to purchase a metal pad....

DDRgame (and a few other stores) only have Champion and Energy pads in stock for the PC....

I am 6 ft and around 220lbs if it matters....

Are either of them a good buy?

Are there other places to look? (other than E-bay, been burned by them too many times....

Keep in mind that building one is the very last option that I want to visit with modding the soft pad being right in front of it....


Thanks for the help!

The DDRGame Champion Pad is a good buy. It's cheap (when it's on sale, that is). The only problem I have is the bar being a little wobbly and having to unscrew the panels, but neither of these are game-changing issues. The pad is built with 4 screws. I've had the pad for a couple months if you've been wondering.

I've heard mixed things about DDRGame pads. I bought a foam insert pad from them ages ago and didn't really have any major problems with it. Only reason it ended up breaking is because my stupid nephew somehow managed to snap the cord in half... how, I don't know.

People seem to either be perfectly fine with their metal pads or they absolutely despise them. It probably just comes down to how picky you are. I haven't had a DDRGame metal pad, but I used to have a BNS metal pad which was very similar to DDRGame's "Tournament" pads. It lasted me a really long time, and the only reason I think it ended up breaking was because of prolonged exposure to low temperatures. I had my DDR stuff set up in a garage behind the house I was living in at the time, but the garage didn't have heating, and well, I didn't always exactly have the motivation to move a 40 pound metal pad, a PS2, and a TV out of there in the middle of January when it was about 20 degrees. I'd imagine that there was probably some frost build-up inside the pad which probably ruined the wires when it melted. So yeah.... as long as you're not incredibly hard on the pad, and you don't do idiotic things like putting it in a garage without heating in the middle of winter, you'll probably be fine with a DDRGame metal pad.

I've had absolutely horrible luck with pretty much every other metal pad company. Cobalt Flux was the least shitty, but even that didn't last as long as it was apparently supposed to, even though I cleaned the pad about twice every week and treated it like it was my own child. RedOctane's Afterburner probably wouldn't have been bad if I had replaced the control box (which was pretty much dead on arrival, apparently that's a somewhat common problem), but I never got around to replacing it. My MMB BlueShark was okay for about 3 or 4 months, but then it just completely shit the bed.

Thanks for the help guys!

Im not all that picky..... i just want a pad that will register the arrows that i hit when i hit them.... the only problem with pad that i have now (other than not having a bar) is that arrows will register as either different or multiple arrows....

Does anyone have pictures of the champion pad? all i can find is the thumbnail from the DDRGame site.... i am really hoping that the arrows are not recessed too much like arcade pads....

Any more help would be appreciated, but as of right now im probably going to get a Champion pad....

All the sensors on my Champion pad died today. Don't know if this is a problem you'll have after a couple months. Not sure if they can be fixed. They've been dying a lot lately, but usually only one and they can be fixed.

Not my picture, but it's the best I could find.



I don't think the arrows are terribly recessed, if they even are at all. I played ITG a few times on my old BNS metal pad and it seemed to register hands fine. Jumps on either DDR or ITG were not a problem.

Well that sucks....

anyone else have the problem?

I was looking at them because it was the first site that I found that sold pads with bars....

Are there other brands? Other sellers (besides e-bay)? Im trying to top out at $280 since shipping and tax will pop it up to about $350

Thanks for the picture!!! If the longevity is there im probably sold on the champion pad.

They're... well, they're kind of recessed. The screws also block your foot from hitting 2 panels at once (assuming that's how you do hands; I actually do them by bending down and hitting them with my hand... not the best option, but eh). Also: THE PANELS ARE BARELY SENSITIVE.

I hope the pad you end up getting/building is better than the Energy pad I purchased almost two years ago, or else the bar will probably break relatively easily unless you don't physically stress it as much as I did or something. I believe I mentioned the following in a previous thread, but I shall repeat the story here: the front connector of my Energy pad came dislodged from the pad FAR too easily. Wires that were supposed to be inside the pad ended up severing, and I unfortunately did not keep track of which wire went to which pin, so I am now stuck with a nonfunctional Energy pad with no immediate solution to fix it.

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