ButtKicker BK-GR Gamer
by Buttkicker
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of ButtKicker BK-GR Gamer
Customer Review: great gaming/home theater add on device
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best addition to my videogaming I have made in a number of years. It simply clamps to the center post of an office chair, and the included power amp receives the audio outs from virtually any audio source (receiver, pc soundcard, game console, even ipod) . Hookup is intuitive, and takes about 15 minutes total.
For racing games , especially racing sims like RfactorrFactor V. 1.255 or GTR2GTR 2: Realism Redefined, this bass shaker adds about as much sense of immersion as a Forcefeedback steering wheel does. It makes you feel the true roar of a throaty v8, the thud of the curbs when you roll over them, and numerous other sound effects that you never really paid attention to beforehand suddenly come to life. Used in conjunction with a forcefeedback steering wheel (Logitech PlayStation 3 Driving Force GT Racing Wheel you will fall in love with your racing games all over again, it's just awesome.
It also enhances other videogames as well.
I also like using it with headphones, for late night videogaming and movie watching. It lets you feel the bass sounds forcefully without disturbing anyone else. Additionally, I even tried wedging the device under the bottom of my couch, and found that it could shake the whole couch quite forcefully simulating huge special effects from movies.
Definately worth buying, and not very expensive compared to the higher end Buttkickers (ButtKicker BKA300 Wireless Home Theater Kit with ButtKicker Advance and Power Amplifier, with more bang for the buck, and a good sampling of what the more powerful versions might offer.
Customer Review: Well worth the after-rebate price
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd recommend this product highly to any friends who like the feeling of bass rumbling through their bones, but don't want to worry about excessive volume causing deafness.
The bad review here titled "Good for Inducing bowel movements" is a gross exaggeration; the author most likely set the amplifier volume to the max, which is unnecessary. I haven't had to set the included amp's volume higher than one third or half--it's more than enough to get good movement out of this thing without overkill move-when-someone-coughs.
I will agree with complaints that the fan volume is surprisingly loud. Quieter than my computer's case fans, but loud enough to remind me to shut it off when I shut down my computer. If you built your computer to be silent, or you plan on using this thing with a home stereo system instead, then you may want to invest in a non-gamer model of product from this company so you can use a different, quieter amp.
Other than amp volume, there's a couple buttons and knobs to customize which sound signals will result in movement from the device. The instruction manual has a chart of suggested high/low frequency cutoff settings for games, music, and movies.
That's the most user-friendly part of the manual, though. Some of the diagrams seem to be of older editions of this same product, so I was confused for about 5 minutes about whether I'd damage my product from improper wiring.
It turns out there was an extra cylindrical thing included, but not shown in the manual, called a "ground loop isolator." Apparently it's there to prevent damage to the device. After reading the red paper attatched to this thing, plugging everything in was easy.
So to repeat my overall impression of this thing, I'd strongly recommend it to any friends who like the feeling of bass, but don't want to worry about excessive volume causing deafness.
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: 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: Awesome (when working)
Summary: 5 Stars
Where has this product been all my life? I could never let a subwoofer rip without disturbing everyone around me. Now I can get the same effect without risk of hearing loss (and disturbing the peace). Excellent!
Pros:
* Movies
* Music
* FPS Games: Tried in Counter-Strike:Source, BF2142, and HL2:EmpiresMod
Cons:
* RTS Games: Supreme Commander and Earth2160 are better without it IMO
* Requires sound card with bass boost (such as X-Fi gamer) for best results (albeit it works surprisingly well off a crappy laptop headphone output)
UPDATE: Bought this less than a year ago, and it has now died. The "signal" and "clip" leds are not lighting up at all, although the power led and fan turn on. Prior to failure, I was getting erratic behavior from the unit (would rumble periodically with no input). I used this unit almost purely for gaming and turned it off when not using it.
UPDATE 2: I'm now on my third amplifier. I still really like the darn thing, but I'm scared of turning up the volume...