Panodra Durability

[CubeFreak]

hello all


i was looking around on YouTube of pandora reviews and i came across this video,

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0ybZIzqsODI?feature=oembed

it seems there are a few problems, but im wondering if:


A: He is just exaggerating the "problems"


B: it is a prototype


also the problem with sticky or hard to use triggers seems to be a pretty large problem with more than one person,


so how is the build quality of your panda? is it better than what the video explained?

 

[Prometheus]

Unfortunately mine has ended up with a few cracks forming out of nowhere, but I've repaired all of them using Sugru, and thus I don't feel that it's a problem.


That one thing aside, everything is fine with mine, and the build-quality is better than what I had been expecting from a device made in such small quantities. I would definitely call it solid enough. (I'm familiar with making one-off projects, albeit not ones involving plastics, so I'm guessing that I went in knowing what to expect, or close to it. )

 

[TrashyMG]

The case quality of mine was really good, my left trigger was a bit stiff, but fully functional.. I fixed mine by fairly easy by taking off the back of the case, putting a small paper shim on a specific screw hole and putting it back together.. now it seems perfect.

 

[CubeFreak]

cool, sounds like by the time i have enough money to buy one that the quality should be good...

 

[DaMummy]

my case has minor manufacturer cracks in some places, my case squeeks when squeezed or opened/closed, the right button on my dpad is much less responsive then others, my lcd cable is bad and slowly getting the Pink Tint Of Doom, my right speaker stopped working, my battery cover does stick out a litte like shown in video, my screen bezel is bowed LIKE BANANA!, my pandora cant run off official charger w/o battery while it can run off psp charger w/o battery, my usb otg port doesnt work which means i cant go into sd mass storage, there is a clear gap on left side when pandora is closed, paint is chipping off my dpad...AND...the case plastic is so cheap that it wont even accept my fingerprints OR make my hands sweat like crazy during usage like my shiny perfect Nintendo 3DS


also, this unit is a premium from june of this year

 

[Blue Protoman]

The bowed case and bezel are flaws in the case itself, everybody has those.

 

[FaeMinx]

my case has minor manufacturer cracks in some places, my case squeeks when squeezed or opened/closed, the right button on my dpad is much less responsive then others, my lcd cable is bad and slowly getting the Pink Tint Of Doom, my right speaker stopped working, my battery cover does stick out a litte like shown in video, my screen bezel is bowed LIKE BANANA!, my pandora cant run off official charger w/o battery while it can run off psp charger w/o battery, my usb otg port doesnt work which means i cant go into sd mass storage, there is a clear gap on left side when pandora is closed, paint is chipping off my dpad...AND...the case plastic is so cheap that it wont even accept my fingerprints OR make my hands sweat like crazy during usage like my shiny perfect Nintendo 3DS


also, this unit is a premium from june of this year

Wow, that's quite a list.


Mine has a tiny chip of plastic missing on the back of the hinge (same place that Prometheus developed a problem - but smaller), my case squeaks as well. dpad is perfect, except a bit of the paint is coming off. LCD cable has recently developed PTOD (but I received mine in Feb - so understandable). Battery cover sticks out a bit only with my second battery... first is flush. Mine *can* run without battery with the official charger. USB otg and mass storage mode work fine. Lid closes perfectly, but little rubber bung on left side is missing.


... AND .... My right nub is terrible - is barely usable for mouse clicks and super geometry dust... but nothing else. Can hardly use it in Mupen, is virtually unusable in pcsx, and *does not work* in Quake III. My right nub is a piece of poo.


I'm sending my Pandora off to ED in a couple of weeks to get the right nub and the PTOD fixed... maybe he can give me another rubber bung, but nothing else bothers me. Wifi is a bit slow, I'll ask him to look at that too - but hoping it's not an issue.


Apart from all that I'm really impressed with the build quality. I love my Pandora.

 

[TrashyMG]

Forgot about the slight bowing on the front LCD bezel, it's barely noticable... but can I be honest.. If this device was made out of cheap particle board I'd still buy it.

 

[Nintendo]

cool, sounds like by the time i have enough money to buy one that the quality should be good...

Quite a few peoples Pandoras are perfect.

 

[ToastBucket]

Personally, I think that the plastic used feels a bit soft and delicate. I'm not complaining, because ED posted somewhere on how difficult it is to make plastic, but I do think that it should be something that the company looks into for future devices.

 

[FaeMinx]

Personally, I think that the plastic used feels a bit soft and delicate. I'm not complaining, because ED posted somewhere on how difficult it is to make plastic, but I do think that it should be something that the company looks into for future devices.

Agreed. Pandora 2 should use a more resilient/strengthened plastic. I'm not complaining about mine either, but Pandora 2 I assume is going to make much bigger waves in the mainstream market... It can't afford to have case flaws to this degree (as there will be a far larger quantity of non-understanding end-users - RMAs for insignificant little cracks and chips *is not an option*).

 

[Cas]

Hello


I have to agree with him I am afraid.


The build quality of my Pandora is really not good.


1. It had a real stiff shoulder button.


2. The edges of the case look like they have been trimmed down with a blunt knife.


3. The case lid and or bottom is banana shaped.


4. Volume control is awkward to use.


5. Case just is not sturdy, you can bend and twist the whole unit, whilst it creaks and cracks.


It does what it is designed to do well, its just the awful build quality that hurts for what it costs.

 

[DaMummy]

while the plastic used does seem brittle, i am in no way complaining about it, i hope any future pandoras dont use the "sleek and shiny" plastic that most others use. i really like the rough and rugged feel, and as said, fingerprints and sweat particles arent a problem with it. although the rubbery material nintendo used for 3ds circle pads mightve been a good idea for our nubs

 

[slaeshjag]

I think these problems are caused by uneven quality of the plastic, not the plastic itself. Mine was perfect, I even dropped it loads of times, not a trace of a crack. All I got was scratches in the paint.

 

[CubeFreak]

cool, now should i wait for ED and his crew to get better quality hardware or should i just jump the gun when i get the moneys???

 

[Morn]

cool, now should i wait for ED and his crew to get better quality hardware or should i just jump the gun when i get the moneys???

It's entirely your decision, but what I learnt in this community learnt with Open Pandora project is that "waiting until..." is usually a bad strategy.

 

[CubeFreak]

thats true, i guess the pandora team wont focus on any major hardware changes until they get a stable amount of pandoras out there and have good companies to rely on, which will be awhile until now...

 

[fusion_power]

Hello


I have to agree with him I am afraid.


The build quality of my Pandora is really not good.


1. It had a real stiff shoulder button.


2. The edges of the case look like they have been trimmed down with a blunt knife.


3. The case lid and or bottom is banana shaped.


4. Volume control is awkward to use.


5. Case just is not sturdy, you can bend and twist the whole unit, whilst it creaks and cracks.


It does what it is designed to do well, its just the awful build quality that hurts for what it costs.

OP-Team promised a good Build Quality, they even used a thicker designed case AFAIK. But the Chinese Case Factory are not able to deliver the requested Quality, see the uneven lid, the rough sides, sharp edges 'n stuff. I'm disappointed to because today, even cheap China devices have a better quality case than the Pandora, so it must be possible, no clue why in the case of the Pandora Case they couldn't produce quality, even after oder 8 Months of adjusting the molds. (MONTHS!!!! )

 

[CubeFreak]

this is weird, because some people say it feels like it would be hard to break it and its really durable,


Other people say is an Arm processor and an LCD screen wrapped in a potato chip...


dont know which statement to beilieve.

 

[Prometheus]

It does what it is designed to do well, its just the awful build quality that hurts for what it costs.

It's common knowledge that lower-volume projects generally tend to cost more, but may or may not be able to compete with the build of mass-produced items that have enormous monetary backing.


That said, as I said earlier, I'm familiar with making one-off projects, so perhaps many people don't know to expect this from small-run projects?