Sand, Grit, Etc

[fiveseven]

I'm going to be spending a lot of time on the beach this summer, and a Pandora would be incredibly handy for sorting out and backing up photos. The obvious problem is that sand gets EVERYWHERE, including on a Pandora. While I could probably find some kind of clear plastic bag that would keep the worst of it off, I'm still worried about damaging my brand new handheld.

If I did decide to risk it and use it on the beach, does anyone know how likely it is to get damaged, and how badly?

 

[hells_dark]

Well, since you will probably have your pandora at the end of the summer… ^^'

 

[trooper]

Personally I would not spend £200 (equivalent in Euro`s & USD) on the latest mobile gadget and risk not getting it damaged, Stolen or worse, On what is probably one of the worst places to take such a device.

Honestly, Don`t do it. Just leave it in the hotel room and take a cheap mp3 player with you to the beach.

Anyway, I thought beaches were for sunbathing, Swimming, Volley ball and other such activities ?. :blink:

Trooper

 

[lulzfish]

We're in luck since the Pandora doesn't have anything like a hard drive or optical drive.
The worst that could happen is maybe you get sand in the keys and have to use compressed air or maybe take it apart and then use compressed air.

EDIT: the worst that could happen is you get sand pressing on the LCD panel. In fact, that would be horrible. Keep it closed when not in use and don't use your fingers on the touchscreen, maybe?

Getting sand in the SD slots would be bad too, but not horrible.

The worst that could happen is that you have to take off some covers and use canned air to blow the sand out.
Sand isn't conductive like water or sticky like chocolate milk, so it will be just a pain until you clean it. I wouldn't expect any lasting damage from it.

Disclaimer: I only took two years of high school chemistry and have never designed a handheld device myself, so I can't say how tough the Pandora will be.

 

[borgqueenx]

use a invisible shield. buy a large one and cut it until it fits your pandora.
Its good stuff to protect gadgets with.

 

[WoD]

A beach is probably high on the list of places I wouldn't use a Pandora, right up there next to "Underwater" and "During sex"

You could always get something like this. The trouble with waterproof bags, though, is that they're generally only suitable for phones... I don't think you can run a pair of headphones out from one. And using Analogue sticks through it isn't going to be a breeze.

Sand and grit probably wont do much to the Pandora, it has very few moving parts spare the hinge itself and SD cards (when you insert/remove them). And those only move if you move them. It's moisture it would be worried about.

You could always be the first to fill up all the holes in the casing with hot glue.

 

[lulzfish]

The Game Boy documentation always recommends keeping a cartridge in to protect the internals from dust.
For the Pandora, I would advise keeping either an SD card or a dummy SD card in both slots whenever possible.

 

[VRAndy]

I don't worry so much about sand at the beach, I worry about salt and water. They're bad enough on their own but together they might eat your Pandora alive.

 

[pelrun]

You'd probably be hard-pressed to view the screen anyway, if the day is bright enough to be lying on the beach. It's definitely the last place I'd be using my Pandora, and not just because I can't stand the beach

VRAndy has a good point about the salt and the water. An incredible amount of salt spray gets blown up off the water and goes inland a long way. Look inside any TV or sound system or other electronic device that's been in a sea-side house for any length of time and you'll find a mind-boggling amount of salt corrosion; even indoors, inside the case of an appliance!

 

[wermy]

If your primary use for it at the beach is backing up photos, why not just bring a couple spare SD cards? The majority of your Pandora's storage will be in the form of SD cards anyway... I wouldn't risk it, personally.

 

[gaterooze]

As mentioned, you'll barely see the LCD in the sun. If you're on the beach, enjoy the beach.

 

[danielliu88888]

sand wouldn't dare touch the pandora.

 

[jlepley]

Remember children, circuit boards are water proof... until you send electric current through them...

It isn't even that good--the water will rust the metal components.

 

[danielliu88888]

Remember children, circuit boards are water proof... until you send electric current through them...

It isn't even that good--the water will rust the metal components.

water and electricity don't dare touch the pandora.

 

[VRAndy]

Remember children, circuit boards are water proof... until you send electric current through them...

They're not salt water proof.

 

[thomasvdp]

As i agree that taking the pandora to the beach is not a good idea.
It could be used to blast some tunes while sunbathing or something.

 

[mafia-man]

Why in gods name would you be at a beach looking at your pandora when you could be wearing mirrored shades and watching all the bikini clad ladies?

 

[lulzfish]

The Pandora has the emergency backup bikini-clad ladies, in case none of the real ones show up.

 

[borgqueenx]

The Pandora has the emergency backup bikini-clad ladies, in case none of the real ones show up.

and if there's no one on the beach you can always plug in your 3g usb stick, and goto some bikini sites...or better.

 

[trooper]

The Pandora has the emergency backup bikini-clad ladies, in case none of the real ones show up.

and if there's no one on the beach you can always play with your joystick.

Fixed

Trooper