Hey r/DanceDanceRevolution friends.

MASSIVE EDIT: I ended up sending the pad back, the seller thankfully had a return policy, which is why I purchased from him, unfortunately after about 2 weeks I noticed the sensors weren't working right. I used the pad very lightly upon first use and kept it stored flat and unfolded through my use with it, the fates were not kind to me. Be very careful if you purchase a new old pad, make sure the user is nice enough to have a return policy, I was very sad to have to send it back but glad I got my money back. Be very careful buy New pads if they are generally old based on manufacture date

tl;dr, I got a Red Octane 3.0 Ignition foam pad brand new from an ebay seller and so far it's working perfectly and think it's a viable option for anyone desperate to play right now and not wanting to wait for Impulse or save up for StepmaniaX

I thought I'd share my experience with buying a Red Octane Ignition pad in 2018.

Everyone knows the struggle of finding a decent home pad these days. Whether it's to get better or improve or just get some general practice and workout to keep your weight in check. Konami doesn't support the home pad market anymore and there really aren't any top notch pad makers like there were 10 years ago, at least, not in the variety that there used to be and the closest A machine near me is a half hour drive, there's a Dave and Buster coming soon but even then, i don't want to drive there just to work out.

StepmaniaX Stage and Impulse seem to be the only to safe bets but even then, one is pretty much the price of an arcade cab and the other is respectful and well put together vaporware (imo no foul against them, I can understand wanting to put out the highest quality product you can but after seeing how things went with precision dance pads, id still wait to see confirmed positive reactions, aaanyways).

For years I'd played on Red Octane foam pads at home. Back in the day, for the price and quality, it was the perfect fusion. Pads that could take a beating and last but could still easily be used at home and across all necessary platforms (PS2, Xbox, PC and other USB compatible platforms). They don't last forever though and recently, my old 10 year old 3.0 Ignition Pad is pretty much busted, the sensors are old and worn and there's not really a good way to fix plastic pads at the end of the day. 10 years is an amazing run time for any peripheral meant to take a beating like that as well so I do feel like my moneys worth was gotten.

Anyways, a couple years ago I picked up another 3.0 pad for $4 at a thrift store. I couldn't say no for that price. Had all the foam. Unfortunately, it also had bum sensors. Just old and worn, probably not as well cared for as mine. So, the search continued.

Lately, I've just had the itch to play and after seeing the current scarce pad options I went to the last place I could think of and that was ebay. I saw several listing for Red Octane pads mostly used, but I saw a small handful of options that claimed to be new. So I messaged a seller who had pictures and he confirmed that only the top of the box had been opened and sent me pictures confirming everything insides was still unused/wrapped up. So I thought about it for couple days and made an offer and he took it and though I was excited, it was still a gamble.

Anyways, today, the pad arrived, I set it up and it works perfectly. I tried some PS2 games, both US and JP and I'm excited to get back to dancing again, I also need to make sure it synchs up with my stepmania set up but I mostly play on PS2.

I may do a follow up post in a few months to confirm its durability but in short, my gamble paid off and I know these pads will be scarce new but if anyone out there just wants to get back in and work up a sweat again, kick the dust out and pratice/get some kind of play in and you don't want to wait for Impulse/don't have the dough to blow on StepmaniaX I recommend trying to hunt down a new RedOctane Ignition pad. 3.0 is the best one because it has USB support but if you have a punch of PS1/2 DDR games that works too

Keep on dancing ya'll