Dance mat reviews

The dance mat is at the very heart of the Dance Dance Revolution. But which one should you buy and where? I am going to present the dance mat offer at the best of my knowledge. Living in France, I focus on the European market but this can evolve if our US friends tip me off on the great mats they have there. Obviously I do not have the bucks to buy and test every single mat on the market, thus I urge you to share your experiments with your mat. Please write to the website mail.
First I make a listing of the different kinds of dance mats on the market, giving my feeling about which one is best suited for your play level. Then I go back in details on two mats I own and like.

Different kinds of mats

One can sort the dance mat market into three main categories:

• Cheap soft mats (10-20€)
• Improved soft mats with foam insert (25-60€)
• Metal mats, arcade style (100-600€)

Now if you are gifted in manual craftwork, just follow this guide to build a high end metal mat yourself: Guide de fabrication. You need these pictures for the arrows, too: fleches. Jean Marie, a reader of the site, was kind enough to write this for us after having build four mats like these. Right, this is french, and I understand too little in the world of manual work to do the translation... still this is full of self explanatory pictures so I guess it is OK for you!
Back to the commercial mats, let's check it out right now!

Soft mats

Quick view: These are the cheapest mats available. They are completely flat with a plastic surface as pictured below:

These mats suit every purse but become very quickly annoying for the player building his skill. They slide on the floor a lot, making it a challenge to keep in mind the position of the arrows. You end up missing the arrows by hitting where the arrow was, but where it is not anymore because of the displacement of the mat. Another downside is the fragility of these mats. They usually last only a few months.
Closing words, these soft mats are a great way to discover the DDR for almost no money investment, but a few more bucks would reward you with far superior options.

Offers for this category: Among the various embodiments of the soft dance mats you will mainly find the Topway I chose for the picture, with "Stay Cool" written in the center. It may exist slightly better models but nothing significantly better. You can have two mats for only 20€ there (this may be a temporary offer though). This is a good bargain to test the game without putting much money on it, for a start.

Foam inserted mats

Quick view: Intermediate price offer. They differenciate by foam elements you assemble inside the mat just like a puzzle. A zip on the side of the mat let it open for this operation. The (more or less) rigid foam is about 5 centimeters thick. Look below:

This foam insert brings several sweets: first, the mat is much heavier and slide a lot less compared to the cheaper soft mats. The comfort is greatly improved by the foam absorbing the shocks of your feet on the floor. This is also a little bit less noisy for your neighbours downstairs, but just a bit! These mats offer more durability , but it also depends on how you use your mat: keep in mind that these mats are very sensitive so there is no use smashing the arrows with your feet. This is something you should also tell your friends trying Stepmania at your home. And of course no shoes admitted on these mats!
This type of dance mat is ideal to begin DDR in good conditions, and the price is still affordable. In my view, the price premium is more than justified compared to the soft mats.

Mats offer, the Deluxe series: The choice is pretty large in this mat category. The brand Futuremax, from the netherlands, has no less than three distinct mats to propose: the famous 3in1 Deluxe Ignition Dance Mat series. There is a bargain if you buy two or four mats at a time, thus here are the prices for one mat/two mats/four mats.

• Deluxe v2: vanilla version, 40/30/25€
• Deluxe v2.5: just like the v2 except the foam insert are much stiffer. 50/40/35€
• Deluxe v3: totally different mat, superior to the two others. Stiff foam, raised arrows. 80/60/55€

The v3 was discontinued for six months, but is back in store since October 2011. Yippiyeah!
If you buy one mat, Futuremax is too pricey. Buy two, you will have fun with a friend! This way it is a good bargain.
All these mats come with connexions for PC and Mac (standard USB), Xbox 1 or 360, Playstation 2 or 3. If you wish to play with a Wii you have to look for a specific mat, thanks Nintendo! Anyway we are focused on Stepmania here at DDR PC Gamer.

Switching from a standard soft mat to a Futuremax Deluxe v2 is very nice for the reasons I gave above. Deluxe v2 is very comfortable, very nice to dance on and you will blow away your previous scores with it.
However, time lasting remains a problem. The plastic surface eventually shows up cracks, the mat become less responsive, you hit the mat but you still missed the arrow! On the contrary the mat can suffer "ghost arrows", arrows validated even if you did not touch the mat. Very frustrating!
I tested one from a friend, it did miss arrows sometimes (not often but it still breaks your score). It lasted a year and a half, so nothing outrageous and it remains a good first buy choice.

The v2.5 Deluxe Ignition mat brings the rigid foam inserts which will improve your in-game performance.
Indeed, it is easy to sink in the mats with standard soft foam insert, there is a little "quicksands effect". This slows down a bit the player trying to quickly chain up the arrows. The stiff foam insert, while remaining comfortable, allows you to gain responsiveness. It may sound a secondary detail, but I assure you it does help for the fast songs.
Still, I guess the v2.5 should suffer the same long-term reliability troubles as the v2 because it is the same construction. It's actually hard to be sure about this because the mat is recent and not yet widespread. If you own one please give me back your feelings about the durability of this mat via email.
The price of this v2.5 is interesting in respect to the v3. This is a comfortable and sensitive mat which will allow you to score even at the high difficulty levels.

I propose further on the page a complete review of the Deluxe v3 I own. Definitely my favorite mat, before it I was changing mats every 6 months or so. My game improved a lot with the rigid foam, and I have been using happily two mats for three years in Hard mode without trouble. That is why I think the v3 is tougher than the other mats from Futuremax.
Plus, the surface of the v3 mat is different and feels better under the feet to me. The arrows are a bit raised, thus you do not lose their locations even if you move a lot on the mat.
The Deluxe v3 is a bit expensive and is probably not the better choice if you just want to get some fun with Stepmania. If you are already hooked up to DDR however, and look for an excellent mat for the years to come, then this v3 is a no-brainer.

Positive Gaming offer: Swedish brand Positive Gaming offers a truly excellent quality/price deal with the PG Impact soft mat, for PC / Mac USB. I also own one and give an extensive review there. Long story short, this is a great value for only 30€ (one mat)/25€(two mats). It is a surprisingly thin mat, the inserts lying only under the arrows. This helps feeling the arrow under your foot. Despite its thinness the PG Impact does not slide on the floor and has a very good durability. I think this is the toughest mat you can find. This is a very very good choice unless you primarily care for dance comfort.

Where can you buy your foam inserted mat: In addition to build the Deluxe series, Futuremax is the major european dealer. On this page you will find every single mat listed above. As I explained above the prices for one mat are excessive, except the Positive Gaming. Buying two mats or four mats at the time is a good bargain.
Alternatively there is Mayflash website. Actually Futuremax is also behind this website. It used to be their european web platform before they launched a website with their own name. The offers are identical in these two websites, except only Futuremax has the PG Impact.
Sometimes the shipping fare can be more attractive in one site, or even free for limited time periods on Futuremax. You should also look for bargains at the ebay page of Futuremax. It usually costs 15€ to ship two mats.