PS3 Master Deluxe Non-Slip Dance Pad

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $46.75
Today's Bonus: 6% Off

This dance pad is of good quality with a nice 1-inch foam insert so you can use it without wearing shoes and hurting your legs. Pad is very responsive and works for hours without problems.

Giving it 4out5 stars because the pad does skid on carpet so it has to be readjusted every couple of songs. Its abit pricey so I wouldn't recommend this as a first dance pad. Try the cheaper ones first and upgrade to this if you like the DDR game genre.

A couple of things to know:

1. This pad is NOT Bluetooth or wireless. Sony prevents third-party manufacturers from using the PS3 native-Bluetooth technology. It is USB with a 6' cord and will use up one of the PS3 USB ports.

2. Pad will NOT work with PS3 80GB systems! This is listed in the item description but can be easily missed.

3. Pad does have the PS3 "PS" button (actually a tap-area on the pad). If you have a PS3 then I'm sure you know how important that is. Also has the "Select" and "Start" tap-area on front of the pad.

4. Instructions are really poor...as in "why even include them" poor. Nothing really to know except assemble the foam pad insert (comes in 3 interlocking puzzle-like pieces which fit very well into the pad cover), plug it in (has a red-light which comes on to let you know it is plugged in) and ready for use.

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The arrows feel just about the same as any pad I've used before. I use it on the PC and Stepmania works fine with it. I don't need to make any adjustments for lag. The raised inserts feel fine, and aren't too thin like some pads, and they haven't moved one inch in 2 total hours of heavy play.

Moving onto the USB connection, it works perfectly. Windows 7 picks it up as a gamepad instantly, and pressing the directional arrows results only in buttons being pressed. In other words, it doesn't send any directional (POV hat or X/Y axis) information. No special buttons need to be held. It just works.

There's a bright red LED that stays on while it's connected (doesn't blink or anything). No clue what it's significance is other than determining that the pad is working and not DOA.

For long-term DDR players, and even newbies, the same lies present in all third party pads are still here: The bottom isn't really "non-slip" by anyone's definition (is a thin rubber layer on the bottom really that expensive?). The "hard foam" is the same 5-layer crap everyone makes now. Incidentally, that latter lie is where the 1-star price came from in the review. If you're not going to actually include hard, dense foam, don't list it. First thing I did was throw that nonsense out and insert my old Ignition pad's foam. If anyone knows of any manufacturers that don't outright lie about this feature, please drop me a line.

In case you're wondering if it's worth spending twice as much on Amazon than it is on eBay, I'm only gonna say this: 1. Amazon's return policy is VERY friendly (they send you a shipping label to print and stick). 2. Due to that friendly policy, Amazon is probably a LOT less likely to ship you a bad pad.

All in all, this is a great pad. Keep in mind, I have no delusions about lastability. 150-180 pound user playing 9/10-foot songs daily for 1 hour will kill a pad in about 3 months. You WILL see a follow-up from me when this pad finally bites it. If it's in 1 month, the stars WILL drop. If it makes it more than 3, I might re-consider that foam penalty.

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Our dorm bought 2 of these pads to replace our old Red Octane pads. We put the high density foam inserts from the old Red Octane pads in these new pads. They are NOT as sensitive as the red octane pads and the buttons are different sized, but you can get used to this over time. The only downside is all of us have problems with hitting/getting the back button to respond. This could just be chance on our part or a flaw in the design. These pads also slip more than the old Red Octane pads, so we ended up putting an exercise mat underneath them to keep them from sliding. In terms of wear, the pads have held up 3 months so far and are still going strong. For comparison, Red Octane pads seemed to last about a year at our dorm.

UPDATE:

So, the back arrow on one of the pads finally broke. The pads lasted 9 months with 6 people playing 3 times a week at 9-10-11 feet for approximately 2 hours each session. The other pad is still working.

UPDATE 2:

The other pad broke about 2 months later. We bought two new pads. One pad is still working great months later. The other pad's hardware (not sensors, which normally break after wear and tear) stopped working about 2 months in. Since a bunch of us are electrical engineers, we are looking into taking the hardware from one of the old pads and attaching it to this new pad.

UPDATE 3:

The second round of pads died after about 6 months heavy use. We have now changed over to

PS2 USB Energy HD 1" Foam Deluxe Dance Pad 3 in 1

First of all, the Foam Deluxe pad comes with the one inch foam if you don't already have it.

Second, the arcade buttons are way better on the Foam Deluxe pads!

The Foam Deluxe pads also seem to be more responsive than these ps3 ones.

Bottom line...these pads are okay, but as heavy users we have moved on to different pads.

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This mat is indeed compatible with all ps3 systems but only the one with 4 USB ports. Those that have been discontinued basically. The newer ones with only 2 USB ports will not be able to use this mat. I went to the DDR site linked on Amazon to find that out. I have a backwards compatible 80GB system that has 4 USB ports so it will work with mine.

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I was surprised to see that there is no Bluetooth connection for this pad. The picture shows no wire and other pads are wireless.

The instructions were laughably horrible. Here is an actual quote:

"Please not will dancemat to put the place which expose to the sun in the solar storm."

The pad itself seems to be high quality, and no skid. But for the price I expected it to be wireless as well.