Initial impressions... a great addition to the gaming PC. Assembly was pretty much a breeze and completed in about 5 minutes. I did get the impression that the instructions had been ported wholesale from the buttkicker systems for amps (their main business) but it was fairly easy to follow. Hey, youre a gamer, fiddling with PC bits holds no fear for you.
The experience itself was excellent. Starting up my fave flight sim (wwiiol) I jumped in a Spit IX and it was a whole new level of immersion. It operated on three levels, the constant engine vibration would shake your chair (and by default your whole body), firing the machine guns would give a judder on top of that and when I let rip with cannon I became convinced i'd woken up the house. When I jumped into a P38 the engines start up violently, something id never really noticed before but with buttkicker, it was crack! crack! crack! and then a steady rumble. Dont get me started on what happens when you fire the .50s and the centreline nose cannon simultaneously, just make sure the first time you try it youre not ****** and its 1:30 am on a workday.
As for FPS games, I wasnt expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. I played DoD and could feel the crack of my rifle and grenades and explosions nearby. In the map where you have to destroy the flak gun, tank and halftrack every time one of those brewed up it was a distant rumble of destruction, great stuff. As a comparison I played without it next game and you do immediately feel somethings missing. Those of you who have to fly with the hat switch because your trackir stopped working will understand what i mean.
That pretty much sums up the experience. if you havent tried it you wont know what youre missing. If thats the case the price deinfitely comes into play - is it worth it? Well, you can play happily without. I wouldnt compare it to trackir because trackir serves a useful purpose by increasing your Situational Awareness substantially, buttkicker is more of an immersive device. If the £109 is a big investment for you, id advise waiting until it isnt. For me personally, now ive tried it im hooked like crack.
There are two things that annoy me about buttkicker. Firstly, the price - there really is no justification for paying two to three times the price in the US. Shakercentre seem to see this as more of a cash cow to their range of amps for errr musicians, DJs and the like (is that really a big market?) but really, like trackir which I believe originally started out as device to aid the handicapped, it can tap into a huge gamer market and make lots of big bucks. A more reasonable price would still turn a profit and make this an essential piece of gaming kit rather than the novelty it is right now.
Secondly, the name. This is a cultural thing but whilst 'buttkicker' has manly connotations in the US, over here in blighty its a bit sad. Whose butt is getting kicked? err mine. Why am I paying to get my butt kicked? Who uses 'butt' anyway? Well, Americans so there we go. Changing the name should be a marketing decision. May I suggest the 'Man Vibrator'.
Verdict: 8/10
Pros - You thought you were immersed in your game? You dont know what immersion is soldier!
Cons - Shipping something from the US seems to triple its price and thats the last time I go into a shop in Brixton and ask for a buttkicker.
) it picks up low frequency sounds from your sound card and outputs them into vibrations. So you fire your shotgun and BOOM! your ass shakes to the aftershock.
I don't think I'd want my back side vibrating, maybe if the keyboard and mouse vibrated too... but seems a bit of a gimmik to me! 
