from soft to hard

[orb]

I've raved about the ingition pads and was quite confused when people would mention how quickly theirs would die. My first one lasted quite some time and took quite a bit of abuse, but it eventually died on my this summer. That wasn't a problem because I had a spare pad that I used when someone would come over or when I wanted to experiment with doubles. After I switched to that as my primary pad, it died within a month or two of switching. Not knowing what to do, I got a third ignition, and it died within a month. I was fed up and switched to a hard pad trying to escape the lack of reliability of the soft pads. My CF arrived last week. It was a good chunk of money, but I'd rather spend the money once if it will last.

I'm impressed with the way the hard pads play, but I miss my ignition. I love the precision of the hard pad, but I hate the stomp stomp stomp feel. I love the feel of playing bare foot on the foam pads. They are very comfortable and fun to play on. After a week, I'm starting to get used to playing on the hard pads every day, but I'm eyeing my ignition in the corner with great longing.

What's the solution? Is there a reliable soft pad? I don't mind spending money for quality, but I am at a loss as to what that would be. Should I just buy cheap pads and not stress if they break from time to time?

For those who play daily on hard pads, do the sore feet go away? What's the best thing to wear on my feet? Going barefoot only lasted a few days, and socks don't seem to work well. Regular shoes work, but I feel like godzilla stomping on my pad. I'm thinking thin-souled shoes (like wrestling shoes) might a good option?

Any thoughts?

[xstatic]

Stick with the sneakers on the hard pad... you will get used to the clomping and the sore feet will go away... I did love my soft pads but they were just too unreliable. :/ I also miss bare foot ddr.

[sakura]

hard pads are fun
if you get use to hard pads you will be able to do well at the arcade

[legend of croft]

i play on my flux in those slipper socks with the grips on the bottom...works just fine

[orb]

Thanks. I'll keep at it. Surprisingly I haven't gotten any blisters, so I guess it can't be too bad on the feet.

[stillakidatheart]

I know this is an old post butttttttttttttttttttttttttt LOL I am gonna order the cobalt flux pad.

Also being an arcade manager at one point i have seen a lot of people do it barefoot. to me i think it would be better with shoes but in talking to people i got varied opinions about it. Some like shoes some dont. So i guess as far as shoes or not is all up to the person although we had to tell people to wear shoes as the company i worked for made it mandatory in the whole building as it was more then an arcade it had many other things to do

[orb]

The cobalt flux has screws that are raised above the surface, making it painful if you are not super-accurate. I don't know how the arcade ones are on bare feet, having only played a couple times. I'm comfortable with shoes, though I know use a pair of cheap sandles when I play. It seems like a reasonable compromise, though I really wish I didn't need them.

[stillakidatheart]

The metal pads in the arcade i ran the arrows were a little lower then the rest of the pad. The screws to it as i remember were very flat