PS3 Master Deluxe Non-Slip Dance Pad

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 toPS2 USB Energy HD 1" Foam Deluxe Dance Pad 3 in 1First 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.

Ordered two of these, both connected and configured very easily in my PC. The buttons seem to work alright, expecting heavy use for the next few months and I will be disappointed if they don't last at least two months.Only real complaint is the default foam inserts. If you plan on playing on heavy, and if you like stiff foam, this foam is not good enough. To me, it felt like they were packed with bubblewrap compared to the last several pads I have used. I swapped the foam out with thicker foam from a previous pad and everything started working just fine - better timing and no pad movement during songs. I imagine these pads wouldn't move around much on carpet, but on a harder tile floor, they skid everywhere with the default foam.

Okay, so I am going to list a few pros and cons about my experience with the dance pad, so either take it to heart or with a grain of salt. I bought this product for use with the PS3 DDR, and Stepmania (Which it's compatibility alone with Stepmania earned it an extra star.)PROS:-The 1" foam is very nice for comfort, and even seems to give a better work out than the original floor rug style pads in my opinion due to having to push off of a softer surface. The surface material is good enough to be able to play barefoot with little to no sticking, but I do warn that socks may make it a bit slick. If you can play in socks and keep your balance though, I have found that it can work in my advantage when I need to slide my feet in a fluent motion. I had downloaded Stepmania some time ago, and never had much interest in playing it since I couldn't connect my original PS3 dance pad to my computer. Since the dance pad is compatible without any special hook-ups or extra needed hardware or software, this alone was a big plus in my book. The dance pad is maybe an inch smaller on all sides compared to the default pad that comes with the PS3 dance pad, helping to rule out adjusting to a different pad size. Since it is made specifically for the PS3, it includes a PS button on the dance pad stepping area itself, rather than a button next to a nice shiny red light that attracts young kids to continuously push the PS button (Big deal for me. I let my 2 1/2 year old play around on it, and my daughter likes to come up and push the button over and over, to the point that he usually quits the game, and messes with all my settings on my system. If you have young children, keep this in mind. No, I don't play DDR when my daughter is playing in the general area.)Though the pad is an inch thick, it is still small enough for easy storage. If you really need to store it better, there is the option of removing the foam padding, but I wouldn't think anyone would have much trouble finding a place to store the pad as is.CONS:-I know some reviews say the pad is very responsive, but the one I have seems to have a bit of difficulty at times. It may be me just adjusting to the pad, and the pad sliding to where I miss the steps, so don't think I am saying that without a doubt, there is just a bit of unresponsiveness. The pad is supposed to be non-slip, but it will skid against the floor. Not a huge deal in my opinion, but if I were providing the product, I would label it more like slip-resistant. It doesn't slide horribly unless you are doing songs like Max 300 on difficult which is ill-advised in the first place on a home pad. Since I am still getting used to the pad, I didn't let this take away from it's rating. However, there are some serious compatibility issues. If you are offering a product FOR the PS3, it should have ALL the functions of the default dance pad. For one, if you are hardcore into counting your calories (Which the calorie counter may be questionable in the first place, so something like a fitbit may actually be better for accuracy.) Forget about it with this dance pad. It reads as if you are using a PS3 controller, and WILL NOT count your calories. Also, the corner buttons are flipped. For example, on the default PS3 dance pad, the X button is on the right, where as on this pad, it is on the left. Not a big deal, unless you are one of those players good enough to play octo-mode, where you need the buttons to be consistent with the default dance pad's. The PS button of course will not turn on your system, but neither did the default pad's, so I didn't even consider this for part of my rating. One last thing (Which is bitter sweet.) Is the star power doesn't work with this dance pad. Since it is seen as a controller, you would need to hit the right joystick to the right to activate it. You have no real reason to have to hold a controller while playing, but if you want to use the star power, you need to have one in hand. To me it is bitter sweet because sometimes, the star power ruins me in a song, but on other songs I have a strong handle on, it gives me a much better score.OVERVIEW:-For the price of the product, it isn't a bad one. I know it seems that I ranted a lot on trivial things, but I feel if you are going to write a review, may as well include every little detail. People like to know EXACTLY what they are buying when dishing out money for quality products. If you don't care much for Octo-Mode, like to play Stepmania, and you are at an Intermediate level, maybe starting to approach expert, this pad will do fine for you. I wouldn't suggest it to a beginner or a hard core expert though, especially because an expert would need something consistent. Also, as I said, if you like to count calories and assume DDR's counter is accurate without an external counter, than you may want to try to find a pad that is compatible with it, or buy a trusted counter. I hope my review will help someone with their consideration to buy this product.

Great pad for those who miss the RedOctane Ignition series. The foam that comes with it isn't as good as the Ignition's was, but I solved that problem by just shoving my Ignition foam into it. They're almost exactly the same size, so it fit with no problems at all.The pad plays perfectly on my PC, but my PS3 sometimes fusses with it for some reason. It also registers as a controller on my PS3 rather than a pad, and I'm not sure if there's a way to make it register as a pad.

I was excited to get this dance pad as I had one similar to it that I used for the ps2. Unfortunately this one is absolute garbage! the foam is more like a soft sponge and it messes with the sensors. I couldn't use this pad with the insert provided. It worked ok with the foam removed, but what is the point? I took the good foam out of my old ps2 dance pad and it works ok now, but if I didn't have that good high density foam, this would have made its way to the garbage. don't buy it!