RedOctane's Afterburner

RedOctane Afterburner Metal Pad

The RedOctane Afterburner Metal Pad is a dancing pad for games like Dance Dance Revolution and In The Groove (both of which are owned by Konami). Hopefully this review will explain to some of the drawbacks I've ran across with these, as well as the fun I've had using them thus far.

As a side note, I've read numerous reviews on metal dancing pads. Most of them wind up being, "OMG!! THESE ROX! INSTEAD OF GETTING A'S WITH THE SOFT PADS I CAN NOW AAAA EVERY SONG!!!111" This will not be that review, as any pad that is more dense will be more sensitive (because you know, better electronics) and will move around on you less.

The Ugly
Now I'm going to mostly highlight the negatives, not because I don't like these pads, or because I thought I was ripped off. No. Just because I ran into some issues that I didn't see on any other reviews that were well thought out. At the end of the article, I will link you to some other reviews so you can do more research on these pads.

When I pulled these out of the box, I was, well, excited. I bought two of these things at approximately $480 (total) and they had better damn well work. When I pulled them out, I was expecting something just a little thicker. They sure felt heavy enough to be at least a quarter inch thicker. I think I was expecting something more arcade like. These sure aren't it. They do have the recessed pads which are fashioned after the arcade feel, but they aren't arcade like enough just by that alone.

I found the hookup instructions to be confusing. Well, not that confusing, just a little confusing. I was hooking this up to a custom built PC that I designed specifically for Stepmania and any future visual phenomenon they may do with it. It essentially is a low end gaming machine with a 27 inch LCD TV attached to it. I had this spare USB connector that I didn't know how to connect to the control box. The instructions weren't clear on how to connect it to that. They just stated, "connect to the control box".

Well duh! But how?

One of the console attachments does pull apart as seen here. Just pull that apart and connect your USB connector to that. Problem solved there.

Now connecting the control box to the pad itself via the serial cable wasn't difficult. The part that annoyed me the most about this is that the side of the serial cable that connects to the metal pad did not have any screws on it! Seriously now, there's going to be some major vibration going on; connectivity is optimal, and vibrating will cause that to loosen. The other side of the serial cable had the screws, so that's why I was confused. Luckily I had some spare parallel cables that I'll never use again. I removed the screws from those and used them as the replacement screws for screws I never received, which you can view by clicking here.

Here is a list of things that occurred after a week of use:

The screws on the top of the pad were never torqued down to a reasonable setting.
The foam on the bottom of the pad started to peel off.
The pad still moved around, albeit not nearly as much as the softer variety.

Issues 1 and 3 seemed easy enough to fix, and I thought I could potentially fix number 2 in the process of fixing number 3. My first goal was to manually screw in each screw by hand. I didn't put them as tight as I could have, but I did put them pretty tight. I'd guess at about 12 inch pounds or so (might be a little more, but I should be fairly close; I work with torque settings a lot at my day job). Just be careful not to tighten them too much. The pads themselves will start to bow up if you do. If this does occur, loosen the screws until there's less bowing, get some loctite or epoxy, and put a very small bead underneath the screw.

For number three, since I had my pads on a carpeted surface, I used velcro. The velcro I used has adhesive on the one side. You can probably find velcro at a place like Home Depot or Lowes, and if not there, probably some arts and crafts store. I initially put the velcro on each corner. That proved to be overkill. On the pad I used a lot, and had the issue of the foam peeling back, when I would go to lift up the pad after a session of playing, the foam would peel off more! There was too much velcro holding it down, and the cheap glue that was used didn't like that sort of stress. I peeled off the velcro and put new velcro on in the center. You can view what it looks like by clicking here and here.

However, I still have the issue of the foam still coming off on the one pad. How to fix it? Two part epoxy. I bought two things of this stuff and just smeared it all around. After I gave the epoxy time to dry and then cure, I found that it made a better adhesive than the glue that they had used originally.

Now I could have originally called them, or e-mailed them on problem 1 and 2, but for starters, they may not give out the torque setting. Secondly, they'd probably ask me to send the pad back, and I did not want to pay the shipping on something that weighed a lot. I also didn't want to wait for my pad as I wanted to have friends over to play.

The warranty is only a 90-day warranty. It's not that big of an issue, but the other metal pads made by those other guys give a six-month warranty. The last issue I have is the grippiness of the pads.

The first part to the grip issue is the plastic film on top of the pads. It tends to wear away very quickly. It makes the pads a little less grippy with the plastic on. Without it, it's super ultra grip action; not something that may initially seem like an issue. For those who like to play double-mode, you need a pad that is generally has less grip to it, making it easier to slide across from pad to pad. This is not the best pad for doubles! However, if you don't do doubles, this grip issue is only a boon. The grip allows you to keep your balance much more easily and it would allow you to freestyle better.

The Not So Ugly
There are two things I'm fairly neutral about. The first one happens to be the way you connect two pads together. Second is their customer cervix (service).

You use a bracket seen in this picture. There are screws on the very opposite side of each pad, and two screws on the very backside. I moved one of the brackets to the backside of the other pad. When the pads are connected together, they are a little close to one another. For doubles, I'm not sure how this will affect them. My friend, who plays doubles, never mentioned that, so it could be a non-issue, but if you're playing with someone, you are noticeably closer. The bracket could have been made a little longer so you could adjust the length, but for safety reasons I can understand why they didn't.

When I was confused about what is what, I emailed them with my questions. They'd just always respond, "you should have received this. If you didn't, send your pads back." To me that seems like poor customer service representation, but I'm used to customer service not working properly. So, eh.

The Oh So Pretty And Final Thoughts
So I guess it's time I start mentioning what I like about this pad, right?

I'm a fairly large guy, height and weight. I play a lot of songs on standard, some on heavy. After four months of moderate use, the pad has held up. The sensitivity has not decreased one bit. Yes, I can get good scores on songs that are difficult to me. I also like how the pads are easy to store. They're big, but not overly big, have no bars on them. I can just lay them up against a wall, hide them in the back of a closet, etc...

With durability, I weigh 240-ish and uh, well, these pads are going to last. They show no signs of wear, no cracks, no creaks, no bumps. After four months of moderate use (an hour or so a day), you'd notice some sort of failing. Perhaps slightly decreased sensitivity, or... noise, or cracking... something. Not here. The wood on the underside was a little alarming at first but it really hasn't degraded my experience. There have been no noticeable cracks, creaks, breaks, splitting, nothing. The foam pad thing was an issue, but a little DIY initiative fixed that.

The pads themselves feel a little springy, but once you adjust to it, it's actually a nice feature. It kind of makes it easier to tell if you've actually hit the pad or not. Also, due to the sensitivity just merely shifting your weight is often enough for the pad to register as a step instead of lifting your foot off entirely and stepping back down.

There are other pads out there and maybe they are better, but in my opinion these are worth the money you spend. You want to buy Cobalt Flux? Prepare to pay $80 more for pads that are not arcade like. You want the recessed arrows? Spend another $20! As far as the stories go about the Afterburners failing after a year, well, it's true. It's unfortunate, but it's true. If you want a quality metal pad (for DDR-type games) for a price that isn't super outrageous, buy the Afterburners. You won't regret it, hopefully.

External Links
DDR Freak Driver Heaven

Those were the only two that actually seemed worthy enough. The review from Driver Heaven is what made me decide on the Afterburners. It's not extensive, but it tells you what you need to know in a relatively short time.