« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2013, 07:27:35 am »
It's 7 months later, and the Letcool is for only still in stock (afaik) at Etronixmart ($75.95), but I thought I should still post this follow-up on my experience, better late than never...
I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase and still make regular use of it (watched MST3K on it while eating dinner tonight, and listening to music with it hooked up to the TV right now while I type this). It's got some highs and lows, although it doesn't really excel any one field, it is capable of some things even the dingoo and GCW can't do. I'd say it's worth the price I paid, but I'd be kicking myself if I had paid over $40 for it.
I do have a beef with Chinavasion for the particular unit they sent me. Although I can't prove it, there are a few quirks to it that make me think they sold me a refurbished (or possibly used, returned, and just repackaged) unit:
- The screen has a stuck pixel. It's a minor thing, off to the side and a dark color so it's hard to notice. I suppose it's possible a defect like this could've slipped past a hasty QC check on a cheap mass-produced device, but the only other device I've had with a stuck pixel, the pixel wasn't stuck when I first got the device, but got stuck after a few months of use.
- The front plate of the casing is loose in the upper right, not flush with the plastic that makes up the top and side, like it is on the rest of the front. The Start button is very mushy, has to be pressed in below the casing to actuate, in contrast with the Select button which clicks with just a slight press.
- The removable screen protector was on kind of crooked, and had some dust and air bubbles under the edge. Gives the impression it was a new one they hastily slapped on after it was sent back with the original protector removed
- There was (almost) nothing pre-loaded. Usually when you get a device like this, it comes with a few files to demonstrate the device's capabilities. Even if it doesn't come with game roms, there will usually be some music files and movie trailers. My Letcool had NOTHING... except 2 files in the GAME/BIN folder: BurningTetris.rec and ES_Data.bd. I theorize this Letcool's original owner left a bunch of roms on the unit when he returned it, and the folks at Chinavasion, in their haste to remove any infringing roms as part of their "refurbishment" also removed the "native" BIN games, but left these two (highscore table?) files alone due to their odd extensions, thinking they might be important system files.
Long story short, I'd say be wary when shopping at Chinavasion, especially if you see a low price for something that's been out for a while. What they're advertising as "new" may actually turn out to be a (poorly) refurbished used model.
Logged
My machines:
GBC,GBA,GBA SP,NDS,NGPC,Panasonic FZ-10 3DO,NES,Sega Nomad,Sega CDX w/Power Base Converter,PS1,PS2,PS3,Saturn,Dreamcast,PC (Win 98, XP, 7),Dingoo A320,Dingoo A330,Gemei A330,LetCool N350JP,PAP-GAMETA,GCW-Zero SE,Kyocera Rise,2DS,GP2X-F100,GPD G7,JXD 100,JXD A1000,JXD A3300,JXD F3000,JXD V5000,JXD S7300B,Hyperkin SupaBoy
Currently playing: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call (2DS)