Best mat for DDR players

This is the dance pad for the serious DDR player! I have been a fan of DDR for years. However, I've never had a good enough dance mat to support my habit. I've tried a bunch through all the years, and last year for Christmas I got one of the Holy Grails of DDR players - an Ignition pad. You may recognize RedOctane as the creators of the first Guitar Hero guitar peripheral.

This is not a cheap pad. My parents paid $80 or more for it, I'm not sure where they got it but it's available on the internet anywhere you want to look. It doesn't look like a regular Konami pad, but it has an orange and silver color palette. It isn't the most attractive-looking dance pad, but it most definitely is one of the most effective, short of buying a metal Ignition pad.
This dance mat comes unzipped and flat. It comes with foam blocks that fit together like puzzle pieces to fill the inside. This can be tedious, but since it gives you extra shock absorbency so you can dance longer, I think it's worth it. It also makes the pad heavier, so when you're dancing it doesn't slide around all over the place so you lose place in the song and forget where the arrows are because it's turned itself around so much.Performing dance steps is a dream on the pad. When you must do jumps, your feet hurt much less because of the tough padding inside.

The best part? Even with all the padding, you barely have to press down in order for your steps to register. This makes for a quieter play area, less sore legs, and less frustration. If you think you hit the note, then you probably did, because this is an extremely accurate pad. The only reason you will fail a song is if your skills just do not measure up. This pad is that great. It will always be user error.
If you're a heavy DDR player, I definitely recommend this mat, even though it's pricey. It's compatible with all gaming systems, as well as your PC! If you have the open source dancing program StepMania you can groove on your laptop or PC with this mat. That's more than I can say for those other mats out there.

Even though it's pricey, it's a great investment if you want to play DDR more than just casually. Just a few days with this mat and you'll up your game in no time!