Caanoo-Wiz-Pandora-Psp-Unnamed Console?


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darshie

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Joined
Dec 13, 2012
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Hi all
 
I was a happy owner of a GP32; purchased ages ago when men and animals used to live together, and used to hunt together before the ice age :)
 
I miss that little thing, was an awesome console with really bad plastic and components, but it was my first device to allow me to play emulators, way before the PSP would exist.
 
Now, I find myself with a PSP modded, so I can run homebrew on it (AKA emulators).
 
The problems are the software itself....basically I am not that happy about the emulators available for the PSP, so I am planning to buy a dedicated console for retro gaming (while away from my beloved desktop or laptop of course).
 
Beware: I am an avid Amiga gamer ( I had that too, was my most precious thing ever), so for me playing amiga games is not a must but almost a requirement....If I can get to play the most famous games like alien breed, super frog, f1gp and so on. Then I also play a lot of PCE, Genesis, SNES and Mame.
 
I have discovered various console: the successor of the Gp32, the Caanoo (which from what I understand is the Gp2X V3), the wiz (GP2X V2) and the pandora (which reminds me more of a computer like the old HP 200LX; for whom is old enough to remember that ).
 
I am not here asking which one is the best, since the answer is prone to start flame wars and spill hate upon the conversation....I am just asking to you all, expert, what would fit my needs:
 
- I live in USA, if possible I need a console that I can buy here
- The emulators are stable and play full frame, with no distortion
- plays Snes, Genesis, Neo geo and PCEngine games at full speed. Amiga games is a plus
- the screen is big enough to not go blind (like the one for the PSP would be great)
- It is cheap; I do not plan to listen music or watch videos; just use it to play retro games, nothing else.
 
I don't mind if the quality is poor or not (except the screen; I don't wanna go blind, but if I still have my sight after playing with my pc3ngine gt...), nor if is nice to look at, nor if it makes you coffee or has tons of GHZ (specs are important, but only so much; if it plays the games that I need at full speed it may be 200 or 500 MHz I can't care less).
I need a console that can play games, that does not crash and that is worth to buy :)
 
I appreciate any suggestion regarding the matter; I've read many forums with X VS Y VS Z but as matter of fact, I can't really see a good list of pros and cons for each of these console, since most of the users focus only on specific things (which in most cases are not important to me, so I get no info out of these posts).
 
If you have more than one console, I would like to hear which one you use the most and why; many suggested the pandora but honestly is a bit of  a waste for what I need, plus the 400+ pricetag is unacceptable for a little device that will be used only for games honestly (I may spend max 250).
 
Thanks in advance!
 
I have Gp2X F100 and F200, Wiz, Caanoo and Pandora.
 
If you're ignoring the Pandora...
 
As far as build quality goes, the Caanoo beats the others hands down. It feels nice and solid and the analogue stick is great, although it takes a little getting used to. The shoulder buttons are rock hard though and don't seem to be loosening up. It has a good range of emulators and the machine is nice and nippy too. It lacks the volume of software that the GP2X has, but what's there is generally the cream of the crop.
 
The Wiz would be my next choice as the screen is gorgeous. Vibrant and clear. The controls are all very good too. Software is pretty good, but not as much as GP2X.
 
GP2X F200 (the white one) - has touch screen and the controls are better than the F100s joy-nub. There are millions of games etc. available for the GP2X and the emulators aren't too bad on the whole.
 
I use both my caanoo and pandora.  The gp2x (and gp32) don't get any usage any more.
 
I think the caanoo is criminally undervalued and if money is a concern I'd be tempted to start there as its very well built.  And with ginge (gp2x emulator) the library is huge.
 
However, the Pandora keyboard really works well for emulating systems with keyboards.  So if Amiga is your key concern, then may be worth the extra.  Link sells the Pandora in the US.  No idea who sells the caanoo in US but sure someone does.
 
Finally - I never had an Amiga and never really got into emulation of it so can't comment on how Amiga emulation runs on both.
 
Thanks for your replies guys
 
Checked this zero that you mentioned, but it seems to me the same as the others :)
 
So there is basically no real advantage in getting an A380 Vs a Canoo, from the perspective of how stable and fast are the emulators running?
 
I get that the Caanoo seems bigger than the A380 (screen wise) and better built, but the tilt, vibration and gyroscope are not used in the emulator, so I guess you use them on the wiz emulator?
 
Pandora is a nice machine, and runs amiga stuff, but boy is that expensive....with 200 bucks you don't get even a 1st batch, and at that point with 249 I get a netbook, which runs amiga games and other emulators, and has a 10 inch screen :) If I find a cheap one I may buy it, but for now it seems that the Caanoo is most likely the one that I will get....If I can find a US seller of course.
 
Found some on ebay but they are shipped from Korea...if it is DOA I have basically burned a month before being able to get a replacement :) I wonder why thinkgeek stopped to sell them (found a link on a review site that mentioned that they sell them, but there is no trace of Caanoo or Wiz on their site now).
 
Thanks again everyone!
 
Gph doesn't produce the Caanoo anymore, so you'll just get the remaining stock. Anyway, it's a nice little machine and you won't regret to buy one.
btw: Mame supports the gyroscope, which is quite useful in games like Outrun or Arkanoid.
 
I am still waiting for my Zero (crosses fingers for early in the new year), but one real difference between the Zero and all other hanheld emulation hanhelds I've had is a true analog joystick.  This would make controlling MS-DOS, Apple ][, Vectrex, CoCo2, Atari 5200, and Intellivision much better.
 
My thought is that most people play classic games for nostalgia and/or gameplay, it's certainly not the cutting edge graphics {smiley}.
The analog joystick will improve gameplay in a lot of cases.
 
Orion; the worries that I have with the zero is that it looks quite amatorial-ish on it's production. It looks good, and the videos with the prototype looks promising...but I don't see any official release, nor their website works (which is quite a big no-no if you sell something. Plus it doesn't seems to play amiga games anyway, so it doesn't look more attractive than the Caanoo as is now :)
 
Glad to hear that mame support the extra Caanoo features, so it is not a waste :)
 
BTW how do you develop for the caanoo? Does it uses an SDK like an iphone? Or you gotta develop on linux and then compile and link for the arm?
 
I actually have a prototype Zero and can honestly say it's built very well. Supposedly the first retail units are shipping this week as all units up till now had been preorders. The GCW site seems to be back up now but I don't think you can just purchase one from there. Unfortunately, the console's so new that you'd have to email Justin(the creator of the Zero) to inquire about purchasing one. The lack of software will be remedied with time so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
 
The Caanoo on the other hand is a great console. The bad thing is they're going for an arm and a leg now since they have been discontinued. But rest assured if you find one for a decent price you won't be disappointed.
 
There is an SDK for the Caanoo if you want to program for it. It's on the archive along with almost all the other software for these consoles. http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/caanoo.cgi
 
I've found some Caanoo from HK for about 180 USD; is that a good price? I remember they used to sell the wiz for 130 USD...
 
I can always swap the Caanoo for the Zero, once it starts to be available....I had bad experiences as early adopter of electronic devices; so I would rather wait and see what happens :)
 
Thanks for the link Orion! BTW is there a way to get the firmware of the Caanoo and run it in a virtual machine? In this way I can get a feel about the development on the Caanoo.
 
Thanks a lot!
 
180$ is a lot of money for the Caanoo. Maybe it's better to buy a used one in good condition for half the price.
Can't say much about your VM question, but I've never heard of anything like that.
 
Akabei said:
180$ is a lot of money for the Caanoo. Maybe it's better to buy a used one in good condition for half the price.
Can't say much about your VM question, but I've never heard of anything like that.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Akabei; these are brand new from HK; I was not able to find any used one on Ebay; they usually sell for more than 100 USD; I would gladly get one for less than that :D 
 
I had a similar question... It's been a while since I've been on this board, I was an early adopter of the GP2X  and had a GP2X F200 also, but sold them because I had a sizable collection of old consoles that kind of 'filled the gap' so-to-speak... Those have since been sold as well and I was wondering if there was something 'shining above' the rest in the realm of the 200 USD range to fill the gap.. Something that would lend easily to the Neo Geo and TG16 side of emulation (anything more powerful or nicer would do...) I was absent for the Wiz and Cannoo days, as well as the Dingoo and the Pandora release.
 
What is this Zero I should be aware of?
 
Rayek said:
I had a similar question... It's been a while since I've been on this board, I was an early adopter of the GP2X  and had a GP2X F200 also, but sold them because I had a sizable collection of old consoles that kind of 'filled the gap' so-to-speak... Those have since been sold as well and I was wondering if there was something 'shining above' the rest in the realm of the 200 USD range to fill the gap.. Something that would lend easily to the Neo Geo and TG16 side of emulation (anything more powerful or nicer would do...) I was absent for the Wiz and Cannoo days, as well as the Dingoo and the Pandora release.
 
What is this Zero I should be aware of?
Click to expand...
 
Well, at that point you can get a psp modded and run all that you need decently, for that price. 200 bucks are a lot of money for a simple game console...dunno about you but I can get a full laptop for that price, which play "also" emulators ;)
 
The Caanoo and Wiz were interesting (like the a320), because they were a bit above 100 dollars, but if I gotta expect to spend more than that, for a portable console, I think that nothing beats the PSP at that point....you have a region free console that plays awesome games, and can use the emulators if you unlock it to play anything.
 
I gave a try to pspUAE and it is able to run Amiga games too, so at this point, buying a pandora is just a waste of money :) Talking only from the game standpoint of course; but whoever code knows that any resolution below 1024x768 is quite impractical, unless you use plain text editor under VI (which means you love prolonged pain :D). I would justify the pandora only with a 5-7 inch display, for that price honestly (you can get for much less a raspberry pi or a beagle board, a micro keyboard with touch pad, a 7 inch LCD monitor with controller and touch screen, and still have some money left ). I love the idea of the pandora but after looking at what people do with them, I think that is too much money.
 
If I can find a Caanoo for less than 130 then I will get one, otherwise I will continue to use my psp, since from the quality standpoint, can't be beaten for that price.
 
The zero is interesting but if it still has a kickstart page, means that there will be no chance to get something in working condition with warranty for quite a while (and I was one of the few that took the risk and purchased one of the first GP32, so it is not like I don't support new platforms). I saw some that has a prototype, and they work pretty well, but it is quite a risk to invest all these money honestly.
 
The A320 is purely a toy, compared to the wiz and caanoo, so I don't see why someone would get that (unless you just wanna play genesis and below that level...so no Snes, no arcade, no Dreamcast, no Amiga, no PSX).
 
From what I've learned here, I think that a Caanoo is the way to go, at least for my needs :)
 
Orion4874 said:
Darshie, they do have some cheaper ones on Ebay, http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=caanoo&_sacat=0&_from=R40
 
You have to search specifically for Caanoo, not GP2X.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the link!
 
These are quite expensive thou....if you add shipping we go close to the 200 dollars; while I have heard that you can get some used Caanoo for  much less (and possibly sold in USA instead than coming all the way from Korea.
 
I would gladly spend max 100-120 for one; I think that it is a fair price for it (which was the price that thinkgeek was selling them at, right?).
 
I will keep an eye on the board and ebay to see if anything pops up :)
 
darshie said:
Well, at that point you can get a psp modded and run all that you need decently, for that price. 200 bucks are a lot of money for a simple game console...dunno about you but I can get a full laptop for that price, which play "also" emulators ;)The Caanoo and Wiz were interesting (like the a320), because they were a bit above 100 dollars, but if I gotta expect to spend more than that, for a portable console, I think that nothing beats the PSP at that point....you have a region free console that plays awesome games, and can use the emulators if you unlock it to play anything.

The zero is interesting but if it still has a kickstart page, means that there will be no chance to get something in working condition with warranty for quite a while (and I was one of the few that took the risk and purchased one of the first GP32, so it is not like I don't support new platforms). I saw some that has a prototype, and they work pretty well, but it is quite a risk to invest all these money honestly.
Click to expand...
I think your quandary is one that's been assessed many times on this board since 2005... I'm here to get an open source handheld, one that encourages tinkering, not one that I have to "crack" or have someone else crack to work properly. I had a PSP once upon a time, and I got rid of it for the GP2X. Don't want to tread down that road again.

I have a laptop so that's not what I'm looking for. I wouldn't be here otherwise ;)
 
darshie said:
 
Darshie, they do have some cheaper ones on Ebay, http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=caanoo&_sacat=0&_from=R40
 
You have to search specifically for Caanoo, not GP2X.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the link!
 
These are quite expensive thou....if you add shipping we go close to the 200 dollars; while I have heard that you can get some used Caanoo for  much less (and possibly sold in USA instead than coming all the way from Korea.
 
I would gladly spend max 100-120 for one; I think that it is a fair price for it (which was the price that thinkgeek was selling them at, right?).
 
I will keep an eye on the board and ebay to see if anything pops up :)
 
Click to expand...
Yeah, used is probably the cheapest you'll find. I more or less just meant the top three postings on that link I gave you. $149 with free shipping isn't bad but it's still more than what they used to go for.
You should also check the "Trading" forum on the OpenPandora boards, sometimes GPH consoles show up there for decent prices. GameSuave still has them in stock but they charge shipping on top of the $140 price tag.
 
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