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As a given, the Konami pad is one of the more reliable pads out on the market if not the most due to it being the sole thing that all of the other pads are created off of. The price on this pad puts it into the higher dollar category but it's really worth the money as it features nice padding, excellent response, and very durable sensors that put up to an assortment of abuse. Obviously if you have this the only other thing you can do with it to ensure its life is to mount it onto a hard surface so that it doesn't slide around as much. Pad bunching isn't really a problem either. PC compatabililty was very limited in my testing but the USB adapter had no problems with the pad registering the steps and each usage it managed to report a signal from the pad unlike the Topway PSX edition.

The only drawbacks are that the pad does tend to bunch and it needs a bit more padding for those playing on a hard surface. The response is excellent though for a soft pad you'll still have trouble pulling AA's on higher level songs or just passing them in general.

Topway Hard Platform:

Much can be said about this product. Mainly that the noise it creates can be very distracting over long periods of time. Others say that it's great for intermediate and freestyle routines. I tested this product a while back soley for the reason that many said its lifespan was extremely short. I made it to 5 months of usage with mine under heavy usage of intermediate songs and freestyle moves. Upon moving to maniac level songs, this pad started to show its flaws.

The higher level maniac songs require quick taps to do various patterns so that you stay on beat and keep your pace up. In many cases this pad will not register one of the needed arrows breaking your combo when you could very well need it most. Also despite the weight of the platform when freestyling this pad still slides quite a bit even on carpet.

The redeeming factors are the following. If you plan on taking it easy on your way up through DDR then this platform could very well work for you as it should be accurate enough all the way up to 6 - 7 foot levels where you'll start to notice some things possibly not registering on time. The noise isn't that big of a deal at lower levels either and really can't be complained about as many times in the arcade you'll be drowned out quite a bit from the song you're playing anyway. The noise is quite light though compared to how people make it out to be.

I really don't recommend the usage of this platform with the PC as I believe it was one of the key factors into my PCB getting fried on it. Although for the time that it was working I have to admit that the response was actually a bit better than the PSX it seemed.

Overall, if you're a beginner to the series and you're looking for something to take a beating without having to purchase plywood and duct tape, then this would be your platform. By the time this platform will most likely start acting up, you'll most likely be ready to move to a new level of gameplay anyway. Had the PCB not gone out I would have still used this quite a bit.