As "what metal pad should I buy" is a common question among DDR players, I thought I would share my personal experiences with what is easily the best metal pad ever designed - Beat Gear.
As people who have been around the scene for awhile may remember the original production and distribution of these pads was quite a mess, one that left many people with either nothing or pads with defective and/or fried electronics.
However, I recently found someone who had taken the time to repair the faulty electronics in them and even part with some for a relatively reasonable price. After getting these unpacked and playing with them I can honestly say that this is far and away the most accurate pad I have ever played on, leaving every arcade my feet have touched in the dust. I went from getting As on 8s and 9s in doubles to getting Bs on 7s and 8s on single, and that is purely because of the huge difference in accuracy between these and the foam pads I was using before. To use a crude analogy, it's like sex for your feet without the freakiness of a footjob.
Pictures are up at
indexddr and they hardly do these beauties justice.
What amazes me even more than the accuracy of the sensors is the engineering behind them. Since they do not operate on pressure being applied to the button they have no chance of ever wearing out, unlike arcade pads that will need maintenance when the sensors start to go bad. It is an amazing feat of engineering that someone needs to rip off. It's a shame that Bemani doesn't know/care about these, because if they copied the sensor design it would leave their own (nearly impossible to find) ASCs in the dust. Not to mention make for a much better arcade experience.
And unlike anything Bemani would release, they use Red Octane control boxes so these are not only Xbox/PS2/PC compatible out of the box, but they should theoretically be usable on all future systems as well.
I also purchased two Beat Gear trick bars with the pads. Not only are they great aesthetically with the pads, but they are nearly as sturdy as the arcade originals. Even though I haven't needed them yet, it feels so much better with them behind me while I'm playing.
I only wish that someone with more engineering ability than myself had the original blueprints and could not only produce more of these, but engineer something of equal greatness for Pump It Up.
For anyone else even remotely considering acquiring an awesome DDR setup I highly recommend that you shoot Dave an email at
h2ofun@h2ofun.net. He has 2 pads left that he is willing to sell, although I don't know if he has any trick bars. These are not for the cheap charlie, they're $1000 a piece and a steal at twice the price, with $200 each for trick bars if he has any more. As far as I know these the pads had a production run of 36, trick bars a run of 20, and some of those were destroyed during shipment due to poor packaging. It's probably safe to say that this is your last chance to own the greatest DDR pad that is likely to ever be manufactured. I plan on taking mine to the grave, and I'm sure most people who own them feel the same way. Remortgage the house, sell the kids, do whatever you have to do.
Dave is a great guy to deal with, who took time to answer all of my questions about the pads. He even managed to get me a 320lb freight from California to Ohio for $170! Don't hesitate to buy them if you can somehow make it happen financially. I'd also be curious if any other Beat Gear owners are as happy with their pads as I am with mine.
Hands Down, the World's Greatest Metal Pad! 
