Worried About Build Quality!

[Dozer]

And hitting it with an xbox controller is a no no.

 

[finty]

Pretty much, just ask sam fisher for advice, and then do the oposite.

 

[Enslaved]

I dropped my GP32 on the tiles in my house and it didnt break and still manages to overclock to 220mhz Only thing wrong is the top right and left diagonals don't work good, but that is a common easy to fix problem (I didn't try to fix them tho )

 

[PinkSpider]

Only problem Ive had with mine is the crap screen (the purple stuff scratches off dead easily)

 

[Vimacs]

the screen is superb, the problem you mean is the screen protector

 

[Memnoch]

Only thing wrong is the top right and left diagonals don't work good, but that is a common easy to fix problem (I didn't try to fix them tho )

If they built it properly in the first place you wouldn't need to (as you've guessed my joystick blows as well).

 

[Racemaniac]

yo, don't worry about the quality, it's good, i got mine for quite a while now, and i only got 2 problems: my stick that doesn't do diagonals well, very well known problem, but hardly bothers me, maybe i'll fix it one day, if i find out how, and feel like doing it
something that is more annoying is my A button that's worn, but i only need to buy some cheap spare parts, and it's due to intensive use of the button rather than crappy material (i played pokemon, and the A button was really getting abused while playing it, no wonder it got all worn )

and you're from holland so: veel plezier met je GP32, maak je niet teveel zorgen, ik was ook wat nerveus in't begin, maar is allemaal goed gekomen, er zijn veel emulators op, daar vind je hopen leuke games voor die je op je gp32 kan draaien, 'k kan je desnoods wel wat romsites of zo geven (mag je niet op het board hier vragen, pas dus op), 'k hoop dat je een BLU hebt gekocht, ik heb unlit, valt wel mee, maar zonder licht is bij momenten echt wel lastig...
veel plezier ermee, het is zeker en vast een mooie aankoop!

 

[mastaboog749]

Waiting for the UPS guy does suck. Expecially when Lik-sang doesnt ship your order because they ran out of 128 MB SMCs, They finally are going to ship out soon... probably Monday with a 64mb SMC and my BLU. Now I have store credit.

O yeah I ordered this like 2 weeks ago, so I have been waiting for awhile. And if they ship out Monday I wont get it untill next Friday

 

[PinkSpider]

Its crap cause u cant get all the purple stuff off (I have it all around the edge only )

 

[mike5622]

Waiting for the UPS guy does suck. Expecially when Lik-sang doesnt ship your order because they ran out of 128 MB SMCs, They finally are going to ship out soon... probably Monday with a 64mb SMC and my BLU. Now I have store credit.

O yeah I ordered this like 2 weeks ago, so I have been waiting for awhile. And if they ship out Monday I wont get it untill next Friday

in exactly the same boat as you except i told them to cancel the smc card. about two hour after that it was showing as shipped with a tracking number! excellent customer service. apart from the fact they've told me it will be 1 - 2 weeks for my smc refund to be proccessed by their bank. dunno how in this day and age but hey, at least the BLU's on the way at last

 

[mattmagoo]

Its crap cause u cant get all the purple stuff off (I have it all around the edge only )

Previous post:

Only problem Ive had with mine is the crap screen (the purple stuff scratches off dead easily)

 

[PinkSpider]

Its crap cause u cant get all the purple stuff off (I have it all around the edge only )

Previous post:

Only problem Ive had with mine is the crap screen (the purple stuff scratches off dead easily)

IM DRUNK :0

 

[DaveC]

Hi all!

After lurking on these boards for a few weeks, reading the n00b faq and all the other useful information, I decided to order a GP32 BLU unit. Now its just a matter of waiting till it gets here! (I live all the way in Holland).

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for all the useful info on these boards, it made me buy the unit, so you have made a little more money for Gamepark  The last handheld I bought was a Zodiac, and I didnt do a whole lot of research before I grabbed my wallet, which was a major letdown because games are almost non existent for that device. I think the open source nature of the GP32 will not make me regret the decision of buying one!

There is one thing that worries me though. I talked to an online contact of mine yesterday, and he was raving about the GP as well, but he concluded his story with a disturbing sentence: "Too bad the unit was built like sh*t, they fall apart real easily". Now I am always EXTREMELY careful with all of my electronics, and I would hate if the GP32 would already look and function real bad after a few weeks or months! I trust the guy, but I am hoping his unit was just built bad!

So tell me, if I treat it good (always keep it in a carrying case when I dont use it for example) will it still be damaged/fall apart easily? What experience do YOU have with your GP32? I dont expect Zodiac sturdyness (which is EXTREMELY good) but I WOULD like GBA sturdyness.

Thanks in advance for any replies and I hope I will be able to make a lot more posts here once I get my unit (every hour passing by seems like an eternity, Im glad I paid a little more for UPS shipping, so it should be here somewhere next week).

NeoX

The only "problem" that I have had is the plastic screen protector is real dodgy. If you so much as breathe on it the atoms from your breath will scratch the screen it is so bad. The fix is easy though, just replace the plastic screen protector with a glass one. Not only is it then scratch resistant but the color is clearer and not tinted yellow like the original one.

 

[Prophet]

The Zodiac has had major problems with its sturdyness, especially its control stick falling apart. I have not heard of anybody having a GP32 that falls apart. I've had mine for over a year and its in great condition and I don't do anything special to keep it that way, it usually just sits on my printer at home.

That is somewhere between an absolute lie and simply being misinformed.

The Zodiac doesn't have "sturdiness problems" AT ALL. The Zodiac controller has NEVER "fallen apart." In fact, the Zodiac is light years ahead of the GP32, and most every PDA or game portable, in terms of materials and build quality. It's night and day - GP32 is cheap thin plastic, Zodiac is practically all anodized aluminum. Mine still looks like the day I got it, and works perfectly in every respect.

What you proabably heard about was the analog control issue where the pad would sometimes misread directions. That was FIXED with the 1.1 ROM update, and ALL current Zodiacs have that built in. And old Z's can easily be updated to the 1.1 ROM.

Having said that, when I had my GP32 FLU, it worked fine. The control stick hit all the directions. But it's obviously not made of the best quality materials. The Zodiac in comparison is one of the best built portable devices on the market, especially in terms of materials and design - just get one in your hands and you'll instantly understand.

 

[OmarNawaz]

IM DRUNK :0

ME TOO


ANyway abou the Gp32 you should get the build quality is alirght on the new blus so you should be fine.

Just replace the screen protector as soon A.S.A.P

 

[mastaboog749]

Ya mine shipped out and I actually should get it on Monday.

 

[Axeman]

To be honest - build quality seems great. I've never had any probs, and I've had my FLU apart a fair few times...

The stick is one of the best things about the GP32 as far as I'm concerned. It's clicky - which harks back to the old-style microswitched joysticks

 

[Axeman]

After lurking on these boards for a few weeks, reading the n00b faq and all the other useful information, I decided to order a GP32 BLU unit.

Hehe - who's da n00b man!!!!!

Bout time a few more took the same path to information gathering as you!

 

[NeoX]

Yeah, well I hate it when people ask things that are obviously already answered, especially on a big and long running board like this one. On a long running forum there IS something like stupid questions since you can look almost anything up.

*Walks back to frontdoor, unshaved, hasnt had something to eat or drink in 2 days*

Dang Lik Sang/UPS! I want my BLU NOW!

 

[adr]

Its crap cause u cant get all the purple stuff off (I have it all around the edge only )

Sure you can! I just pulled the grey plastic around the screen off with a flat-bladed watchmaker's screwdriver, dipped the screen protector in some rubbing alcohol and gave it a damn good scrubbing! Kept me up most of the night, but it worked a treat, and that's the only thing I've ever done to my GP32 except playing it

What's all this about fixing diagonals on joysticks? I've noticed mine's a bit crummy in Speedball in Castaway, but these is actually an extra button to hold to fix this, so I assumed it was just a common thing. Aside from that, I love the joystick, it's so much more comfortable than a D-Pad and doesn't bruise your thumb like the ones on the PS2 and the Dreamcast.