The end of an era

Well, taking apart a pad is hardly like taking apart an engine. You unscrew a couple of screws, slap a piece of tape on, and screw the arrow back on - done.

But I don't need to take out the engine... that's my point.

I guess I just have higher expectations of consumer electronics products.

And if these pads were sold at Best Buy, I'd be annoyed. But when the only way to get an item is from an eBay seller, imported from Japan or China, you know there are certain risks you're gonna have to take.

But you're absolutely right, one *shouldn't* have to do these things. Just like you shouldn't have to jam another NES cartridge on top of the first one to hold it down properly so the game will play. ;)

Since the DDR forum is dead, I'll bring this back up.

After about six weeks of heavy play, my new eBay pad is doing awesome. Not even a hint of a crack on the arrows.

Not only that, but it's proving to be much more responsive than even my last metal pad. Since getting it, I've AA'ed almost every song on DDRMAX2... and I've started to get single-digit greats on songs, and even low greats on 9-footers.

Plus, it looks great. In my description above, I said the pad was dull gray plastic - well, I'm an idiot. It's shiny metal that was covered with a protective plastic wrap. Duh.