My second Buttkicker BKA300 arrived last night, my first kit had what appears to be a bad transducer. I called Guitammer tech support for the first unit and they rushed me out a brand new kit first thing on Monday this week.
I have to admit I am completely floored at the performance of this unit and although I had an issue with the first kit, it was definetely worth the wait. It took me about 15min to setup the RF link, Amplifier, and transducer and begin enjoying what the Buttkicker had to offer.
I started off with a Blu-Ray version of Pearl Harbor and jumped to the First Strike scene where the bombing of Pearl Harbor starts. Truly amazing being able to "feel" every explosion, flying bullet, bomb, or torpedo. The anticipation of what will be felt next is awesome particularly the scenes of the torpedo hitting the side of the ship or the bomb that went through the deck of the Arizona. Its like "OH YEAH! Here is comes", just like that feeling before you go down the first hill on a roller coaster.
After playing with the movie I moved on to a couple of games and see how they perform. Keep in mind that the Buttkicker uses the LFE or Subwoofer out on your receiver so it will only reproduce low frequency effects.
1. GT5P: No response from the BK when hitting the walls or another car, I guess this is OK since this is BAD
However while driving if you hit the red/white curbs (rumble strips) you definetely feel those. Depending on your speed affects the frequency and feeling that is felt. I also learned (felt) that not all the red/white rumble strips are raised, some are completely flat. I did not try a cockpit view or adjust the sound volumes in the game to see how the BK responds, curious how it feels in cockpit view.
2. MC:LA Not much response from anything other than Nitro Boost or hitting a gas pump at the 7 eleven! Like GT5P I did not try any other view or adjust the sound settings. However due the soundtrack in MC:LA it feels like having to 15" subwoofers in the trunk while cruising the streets of LA
3. COD4: It looks like FPS games will be a riot, I went to ACT1 and did the "Death From Above" level. The 25mm, 40mm, and 105mm cannons are "WOW" and I dont mean world at war (which I will try next)! You can feel the actual shot when you pull the trigger and the explosion when it hits the ground from the C-130. I did not try adjusting any sound settings in the game and I did not try FPS yet. I think the bullets whizzing by will be spectacular, since I "felt" this in the Pearl Harbor movie.
If you are seriously considering one of these units, YOU will not be disappointed it adds feeling to both movies and gaming. I only played with the BKA300 for about 1.5hrs and did not move it to my couch. This unit is definetely more than enough for any game chair. The amplifier has a remote with preset EQ settings for movies, music, and games. You can also increase or decrease the intensity, I left it on either game or movie as that was enough already.
This is a picture of the BKA300 Wireless connected to my chair, (amp and RF link not pictured).
. I stayed cheap
