Another Gen mobile thread....

[hellraiser]

so.......

Im thinking about jumping on one of these... Ive read a ton of reviews and there mixed at best... but alot of the info /talk about them is almost a year old.

Has anyone picked up one lately? I did at a local retro game shop and while it felt a lil cheap, it showed no signs of the problems people talk about other then the sound being off. The two reasons i didint pick it up was-
1. They were askin for it used a dollar or two less then the new ones online.
2. It was blue and i wanted a black one...:-/

So has anyone noticed a change in build quality? Anyone who got one awhile back got anything new to say? Is there anything you said right from the get go that you want to reconfirm...?

It seems that most of what people complained about were right out of the box problems. Im really curious for thoes who got good ones how they hold up??? Are they worth the risk or complete turds?


ANY opinions are very welcome!!!! Thanks ahead of time guys!!!

[Kaboomer]

I sold about 30 of them on GameGavel and ended up refunding half of them as they all quit working. I quit selling them :( If you get one, be sure the place you buy from has a warranty on them.

[StoneAgeGamer]

so.......

Im thinking about jumping on one of these... Ive read a ton of reviews and there mixed at best... but alot of the info /talk about them is almost a year old.

Has anyone picked up one lately? I did at a local retro game shop and while it felt a lil cheap, it showed no signs of the problems people talk about other then the sound being off. The two reasons i didint pick it up was-
1. They were askin for it used a dollar or two less then the new ones online.
2. It was blue and i wanted a black one...:-/

So has anyone noticed a change in build quality? Anyone who got one awhile back got anything new to say? Is there anything you said right from the get go that you want to reconfirm...?

It seems that most of what people complained about were right out of the box problems. Im really curious for thoes who got good ones how they hold up??? Are they worth the risk or complete turds?


ANY opinions are very welcome!!!! Thanks ahead of time guys!!!

Build quality hasn't changed.

There are a lot of out of the box problems, especially early on. What we ended up having to do is requesting that our sales guy at Hyperkin test them before they shipped them to us.

There is a problem with how the plastic is formed or something which causes a high percentage (like 25%) of them out of the box to not be able to fit a cart correctly into the slot.

After having Hyperkin test them and then testing them ourselves before we ship them our returns dropped down dramatically. I would be lying though if I said we got no returns, but a lot less than we used to. Most returns we get now are units just not working all off a sudden. However I think a high percentage of these are people squeezing the unit very hard trying to remove the cart.

If playing actual carts is not important to you I would suggest checking out the Gopher (http://stoneagegamer.com/gopher.aspx). It has the same 20 built-in games as the GenMobile, but can also read Genesis ROM files right off a SD card as well. Its slimmer than the GenMobile, but has a bigger screen that IMO is actually pretty nice. Some also beleive it has a better processor as well. There have been YouTube videos comparing the GenMobile/RetroGen to the Gopher and showing the GenMobile/RetroGen slow down where the Gopher has no slow down at all.

[hellraiser]

Hey thanks guys for the response!!!! If any one knows about these machines you guys must....
Yeah i kinda wanted to do the cart thing but ohh well... I guess i can wait for a new model to come out!!!

Thanks for saving me some cash!!!!

[Oldskool]

The best way to go for portable Genesis is either a netbook or laptop running an emulator and a nice USB controller, or.. the good old fashion Genesis Nomad. I took my Nomad (I'm the original owner btw), and sent it off to Jonjandran to have the screen replaced, and it's a mighty good little Genesis now. Check the tech section for pictures.

You can also be assured that every game is going to work on it, INCLUDING Virtua Racing.

[hellraiser]

The best way to go for portable Genesis is either a netbook or laptop running an emulator and a nice USB controller, or.. the good old fashion Genesis Nomad. I took my Nomad (I'm the original owner btw), and sent it off to Jonjandran to have the screen replaced, and it's a mighty good little Genesis now. Check the tech section for pictures.

You can also be assured that every game is going to work on it, INCLUDING Virtua Racing.

Hey thanks!!! Im goin take a look for that thread! Just out of curiosity whats the battery life like and dose anyone know if you can use rechargeable's.

[Oldskool]

Hey thanks!!! Im goin take a look for that thread! Just out of curiosity whats the battery life like and dose anyone know if you can use rechargeable's.

Here ya go.

http://box422.bluehost.com/~videogc7/forum/showthread.php?t=141863

This route is a bit more expensive. You'll have to find a Nomad and ship it out to have the screen upgrade, but if you are die hard Genesis fan like I am, it's worth it. I would think if you did some digging for a Nomad that's affordable, you could get a Nomad + have the screen upgrade for around $100.

The battery life, while not as good as a GenMobile, does improve. With some new rechargeable batteries I am getting around 2 hours of life as opposed to about 45 minutes to 1 hour before. The new screen is a power sipper so it doesn't eat the batteries as much. Of course there are other determining factors like how loud you have the volume up, etc.

The screen is beautiful, I sold my GenMobile because the Nomad with the new screen was so much better! I actually got the GenMobile to replace my Nomad, good thing I didn't sell the Nomad first. I was not happy with the GenMobile, just fealt like a cheap turd in my hands, and it sounded equally as shitty.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Jonjandran also will take your battery pack and install a rechargeable lithium ion battery in it. With the L-Ion battery and the new screen you can get around 4-5 hours of battery power. The battery he uses is from a camcorder, so you know it's good enough to power the little Nomad for a while. I was going to go that route as well, but have yet to get around to it.