Customer Reviews

ButtKicker BK-GR Gamer

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I was a bit skeptical about this product even after reading the numerous positive reviews, but after a few hours of gameplay, I am a very happy customer. I really didn't understand how this product relayed the vibration, but after attaching it securely to an underside bar on my Playseat, it works perfectly by transferring vibrations throughout the entire seat. I am now encompassed by low-end rumble every time a certain amount of bass is detected by the unit. Probably the best effect so far is the awesome feel of firing a shotgun in a game... BOOM! The only drawback to the system is the amplifier/control unit itself, which is much larger than I expected. Don't let the out-of-scale pictures fool you, it's roughly the size of an Xbox.

I wanted to write this review for those drummers out there who want a little extra "kick" in their bass drum. I use a nice monitor when our band plays out but still don't get that deep "thump" from my bass drum to help keep me in the pocket.
I just received the buttkicker today and hooked it up to my computer just to feel the bass from my cd's. It really works. I was quite surprised at the power this thing puts out. I then hooked it up to my Roland digital drums I practice on. I have a direct out for my bass drum pad which I plugged into the Buttkicker. My throne was a rockin'. This really gave me that deep thump I was looking for. Kudos to the Guitammer company.
I haven't yet hooked this up to our band's P.A. system and used it with my real drums but I'm planning on doing the same thing - taking a direct out from my bass drum channel (on our mixer) and plugging it into the Buttkicker amp. Hopefully everything will work out well. If I encounter any problems I'll write another review to explain.
I wasn't able to find any reviews for drummers who have used this product so I wanted to write one myself to help my fellow drummers out.

It attaches to the post of the chair and reacts to the bass response from the game. Works very well with headphones (you can't feel the bass in headphones) Very good for first person shooters and sports games. Music with iPod is very enjoyable. Build quality is much better than most "gaming" electronics.

I bought this solely to attach to my Playseat Evolution for my XBOX360 and WOW is all I can say. What a difference this makes to the overall game play. I highly recommend this product because it does what is says and does it for not a lot of money.

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.

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.

The only thing i don't like about this product is the amplifier fan. Usually when I turn off my computer everything shuts down but with the amp I had to pull it out and turn it off manually.
This buttkicker product is overall 5 stars. It adds to the effect of movies, games, and music. This product is so effective I mounted it to one of the legs of my bed and it shook the bed with no distortion!

Easy to hook up and works as advertised, now I can feel the music and live the movies! Splitter is included so you can connect subwoofer/speakers. Well worth the money.

What a great product. I actually was thinking about a way I could do what this does when I came across this gadget. It is well-designed, well made, and it works great. The key seems to be to keep it subtle. You can get it to rattle loose you fillings if you want but that is not the point. Keep it subtle and it will help bring about that immersion we all look for in gaming.

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.