ButtKicker BK-GR Gamer
by Buttkicker
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of ButtKicker BK-GR Gamer
Customer Review: Nice but plenty of room for improvement
Summary: 4 Stars
The Buttkicker Gamer is a nice addition to a gamer machine. I play only flight sim games and it really adds to the immersion. It is definitely worth $100.
The positives about the BK is it does not use any special drivers; just plugs into your sound card and you're off and flying. Since it makes no sound, you really feel the "sound" without bothering anybody. It does rattle the floor some though so you can't (and probably don't want to anyway) turn it up too much. It does require some fine tuning and in my case (I have a Sound Blaster Live! 24bit card), I had to enable CMSS 3D which was off by default in order to get any output from the BK at all. It took me two days to figure that out.
The negatives are certainly aggravating. There is this huge cable snaking all over the floor around your chair. No small wire there; this sucker is a CABLE! The instructions are quite poor and are written for musicians hooking this thing up to a stereo system and were just sort of re-written slightly toward a computer gamer as an obvious after thought. If you go to their web site seeking further help, you get basically online versions of the printed doc. Not a lot of help there. My unit came missing the straps that secure the monster cable to the legs of your chair but fortunately I have plenty of large tie straps so that didn't bother me that much. The legs that hold the unit up fit very loosly and fall right off if you move or pick up the unit. I ended up gluing mine in place.
If I had this to do again I would do it; especially since I've seen it for considerably less that $100 lately. It certainly complements 5.1 sound and force feedback sticks very nicely.
I recommend this product now that you are fully aware of the negatives.
Customer Review: Buttkicker Gamer 2
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought a new Gamer 2 directly from the manufacturer after enjoying the wireless butt kicking couch (ur, home theater) kit purchased from Amazon earlier. This gamer 2 was mainly used for my Playseat Evolution to enhance driving games. But I also used on my recumbent bicycle exerciser while watching movie. I'll give my feeling for both.
Gamer 2 attached to Playseat Evolution with Logitech G25: So far I only played one game: Gran Turismo 5. One word: OMG! The response under the seat while car driving is so close to the real thing! You can also feel the revving of the engine when depressing and releasing the accelerator. Driving car on race track shoulders truly gives that bumpy ride one expects. Different cars with different engines results in different feel also. Couple this bottom feedback with the force feedback of the steering wheel, it's really getting close to the real thing. Now just need some commercialization to simulate G-force!
Recumbent exercise bike: I attach it to the lower handle bar closest to the seat. Result is amazing! I get a more precise response for every big foot thumping, and environmental bass - more so than the wireless home theater kit attached to a couch. This just enhance exercising while watching movie, or as some people does - playing games on recumbent bikes!
Gamer 2 that I have is very quiet, as it should (improved from first Gamer). It comes with a wired remote. That's my only complaint as wireless remote would've mean lesser tangling of wires.
Customer Review: Warning
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had my buttkicker for about 5 months now. There is 1 big problem with it. There is a brand new theater just built in the town next to mine, and I hate going because the theater does not have a buttkicker on the chairs.
This thing is just amazing. I was looking at it for over a year contemplating about buying it. I finally gave in and it's great. I hooked it up to my Futon in my college apartment, and the result from everyone that's sat on it has been the same; they were in awe. The trick is to turn the sound up on the device so it's enough of an input for the buttkicker to work with.
The CONS!! Why 4 stars? Two big reasons.
First, the fan! It's loud and annoying, but if you put the buttkicker in the right place you can hear it, but only slightly.
Two, I had a little problem with the power cord. When I first got the buttkicker the power cable didn't want to sit right. Haven't had problems with it in a couple months though. Fixed itself I suppose.
When I get older I plan on getting the bigger one for my home theater system. There is no words for how great this device is.
Another story if you want more to go with, I took this to my friend's house where he has a 52" HDTV with a nice 6.1 surround sound system. We hooked it up to his stereo and started playing Guitar Hero II. My friends didn't believe it was so good. In fact, after just 1 song, my friend went to Amazon on made the purchase. Be prepared to get involved in games.
Customer Review: Rockin' out with my Buttkicker!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thanks to the deal I found on Amazon, I got this Buttkicker for a great price. I am not exactly a gamer, I mainly use my computer for music listening. After a rather painless setup I turned this thing on and did notice the van volume. My computer is really really loud by most standards so it was drowned out completely, and when playing music it's completely inaudible. I am the sort of guy who would love to sit on his subwoofer, I am a huge fan of bass guitar and double bass drums. And when I turned this sucker on a started up some good music... I got nothing. After a few minutes of panic, I found a setting inside my Creative Speaker Settings (Audigy 2 ZS) called Bass Redirection, in the Bass Management tab, I turned that up about 1/8 of the way up... and there we go! I am loving this Buttkicker for my rocking out, tried it with some FPS games, and was not so much impressed. I found that using this device for games requires a lot more tweaking than music. I watched a Lord of the Rings and man; With the DVD and its LFE (Low Frequency Effects) you can really feel it when big stuff is going on.
Pros:
-Great for a music lover
-Works with my 7.1 system (Audigy 2 ZS and Gigaworks S750) you just gotta put the splitter at the sub/amp instead of the soundcard :D.
-Great deal on Amazon
-Great for DVD Audio
Cons:
-Vague setup instructions (But easy none the less)
-To much tweaking for games
-Pricey without the Rebate
Customer Review: Works good...faulty design
Summary: 3 Stars
I use this on both a desk chair (FPS PC games) and on a Playseats/Fanatec racing sim. On the desk chair connected to my computer, tons of shaking while shooting...works great. On racing games, I just don't get enough feel....so what I did was download sound effects from inside a stock car, put it on an MP3 player looping, and connect that to the buttshaker. It works great....playing games like Forza, Dirt 2, NFS Hot Pursuit are great.....in fact I hardly notice the vibration of the Fanatec wheel anymore....the whole rig now shakes during racing....just like being in a real car.
As another reviewer pointed out...the dual banana plug misalignment has to be a design flaw that made it to manufacturing. There is no way it's supposed to be like that. Not only could you break a plug off....but since they don't go in all the way, it's easier to short out the whole amp if something comes in contact with the plugs. Not a good design at all...but I also plan to add an extension so that I can centralize the amp, so in the end shouldn't be a big deal. Also, the remote plug is a standard mouse/keyboard type plug...so an m/f extension on that should work as well.
Overall, even though questionable build/design quality..the product does work well, and at a good price.
Edit: I have added a 15ft mouse/keyboard extension cable to the remote and it works fine. Also added an extension for the buttkicker....partly to fix the design flaw.