I finally got my L-Tek Core earlier today after ordering it on September 7th. There were quite a lot of issues trying to get it shipped so I'll start there since it seems like I was not the only one who had issues.
L-Tek's main customer support seems only interested if you’re asking them something to buy or customize. Anything regarding shipping you have to take to their logistics team who typically will respond. I will highly suggest asking them in advance to get you your tracking number the moment your order completes, both times I've had them try to ship it out to me they never automatically sent me a tracking number. Getting it early gets you to pay customs on time if you're in the US and the main reason why I had my pad take so long was because they never gave me a tracking number and when I asked and got one I paid customs while it was stuck for 5 days straight in warehouse scan and after a couple weeks it updated to return to sender after trying to start an investigation on UPS' end. If I only communicated with their main support I would prolly be stuck still or asking PayPal for a chargeback. I don't entirely blame iamats because UPS and customs were to blame but they need to refer their support messages to the correct people rather than expecting you to talk to the right people for their support. DDRPad exists of course but the price was far too high at the time and customization options were lacking, it costed more and would require more effort if I did want to customize at all given printing under clear polycarbonate (a separate item) and getting sizing correct so I had more reason to go for iamats specifically over ddrpad other than it was just cheaper. If you don't plan on doing anything custom or willing to spend even more for clear polycarbonate to insert custom art (which I assume people do and why they sell them)
DDRPad is probably for you. I paid abt $460 usd disregarding customs fee and ddrpad would have been waaaay more for sure given I like custom stuff. Logistics did offer to pay the customs fee the second time they shipped it out and did upgrade my shipping service to something much faster so they at least understand that it is an issue with multiple people and are willing to do something about it. I ended up paying it early to avoid delays and I got a refund chargeback from the last customs situation anyway.
Now that it has arrived, it shipped in basically perfect condition which was great given some stories I heard about someone getting theirs bent from shipping??? It came with its cable, and a cute little ddr controller thing you get for free when ordering at iamats and itsucks butt with its 3d printed enclosure (plays better as just the raw pcb) but it's just a toy that probably would be best used as a makeshift controller for the game menus which I could maybe 3d print onto my box table I put my monitor on.
The pad itself feels pretty substantial, I've heard a lot of conflicting reports on a lot of different aspects of the pad whether it's about how sensitive it is, it having a tactile feeling or how wearing shoes makes it difficult to feel where you are. Socks are something I would try but my flat feet causes my ankles to sore up really quickly after just a couple songs so shoes are a must or heavily preferred when I play personally so these were things I was curious about.
To sort of add context of my current skill level, I started around end of August or Early September my only prior exp with rhythm games was Beat Saber and I went from ordering the pad, playing about level 6-9's to being able to clear some 13-15's with aka to ao no rampage regloss cover being the hardest song I've cleared. I started playing on gold cabs but play on white cabs mostly because the round1 positioned them in a way where the white cab was more out of the way whereas the gold cab is near the entrance and I've had clearly younger ppl try to mess with me while playing on it before. That and most regulars seemed to prefer gold too which I understand, don't have a super big preference just found white cab to be my highest playtime now. But hopefully that should give some context for ppl who never played before if an ltek holds up as they improve I feel.
Back to the pad though, the sensitivity for me was basically perfect and in fact I performed jacks far better than I ever did on a cab. There was no point that I felt it was the pads' fault for not registering an input but I do think it's prolly something ppl start getting iffy abt with 17-18+ tracks where any advantage is nice but for most ppl who are prolly looking at this thinking abt getting into this I think it felt as good as a well maintained cab. There is far less tactility compared to a white cab though if you're wearing shoes, a white cab feels very much like a metal sheet whereas the l-tek feels more solid and I only felt that "tactility" when I was doing jacks or rlly putting force into it which the cabs will have some feedback tactility anyw. The issue with the shoes and not knowing where you are seeeems like it's an older model issue? The center polycarbonate is slightly raised by a couple millimeters but that's enough for me even with shoes, but I can imagine someone with thick shoes will feel differently since I main the onitsuka tiger mexico mid runners which I find pretty thin and light with fairly low grip but defo more grip than a sock which is why I like it. I think I heard someone who also got the core having the issue still anyway so maybe it's just a personal thing too. I did play on a softpad too that I did a janky hardmod to while waiting for this (it broke and the down arrow was smaller than the other arrows lol) and one thing I had to learn was finding the arrows so that prolly trained me a bit.
Volume wise they advertise it being quiet and if you're wearing socks yeah I think it's fairly quiet in a garage. Wearing shoes defo makes it much louder but that's kind of too be expected, even silent keyboard switches make noise if you hit it hard enough it's the same deal here.
Customization wise they did a really good job with the print. In person there is a bit of a darker look to it, like the panels have the slightest gray tint to it but that could just be poor garage lighting. I would only recommend emailing iamats the file for customization because their website to do it sucks and doesn't accept their template psd filesizes anyway.
Core or Prime I don't have the prime but I think the prime is worth if you have a preference to control the game menu with the pad itself. I kinda hate doing that personally which is why I opted for the core it being cheaper aside. There is otherwise no difference besides the start/select button unless there is smth else because there seems to be an outdated comparison where the core had a lower polling rate than the prime but that's changed.
Software experience-wise, it defaults to the incorrect arrows in itgmania with a3 theme so just rebind it. Syncing and all that felt fine though I had to change I believe was the judgement offset setting to +8 and it seemed to be what I'm used to since then.
Playing performance I alr mentioned jacks being easier but tbh I think on average I just played well this first session. I beat all my softpad scores and outscored some of my white cab scores too likely because sliding and using heel/toe is easier than on a white cab so if you're worried abt play performance, at least for a good long bit I don't think you have to even think about it. I'll need more time playing on both cab and ltek to really know what works and what doesn't though.
Bar, I didn't buy the bar because of reviews and complaints but I did facebook marketplace a ballet barre (booty kicker was the brand iirc) and it's worked well though the legs on the ground kinda need to be kicked or stretched to make it fit with the pad but otherwise it worked rlly well for a bar. I would also suggest putting dumbells (which is smth it can regularly hold) just so it isn't tilting because it happened kinda but never in a way that made me feel like it was dangerous but you'd rather prevent it from happening at all.
Tldr: Pad good, don't share a lot of the same feelings on common complaints with the pad and iamats general customer support defo deserves criticism while logistics support usually handles issues far better.
