MY HANDHELD BLOG

AYN ODIN PRO 2.

August 1, 2024

Why I loved the Ayn Odin 2 Pro but returned it (twice)

I know the title does sounds a little off right, but since we only do honest reviews here, I thought I should also write about my short but very much interesting journey with the Ayn Odin 2 pro. This is why writing a blog came to mind. I mean lots of people recommend this device but I never once heard them talking about the downside of using old batch screens that can ruin your dream handheld. It certainly ruined my dream of Ayn Odin 2 pro being the dream handheld.

First things first I want to state clearly NOT only Ayn Odin devices have this problem I probably was one of the unlucky people who had dead pixels on twice of their devices. Most if not all the handheld devices that are being produced for Emulation like Retroid, Anbernic, Miyoo and more. I don’t know all the names but I know a lot of them buy old batch screens since it’s cheaper for them. Let me say if you hate that, then not even start with these brands and buy a high-end device. Thou don’t forget even Nintendo sometimes has a dead pixel in their screens, but to be honest I would return those too. It’s only less likely this will happen.

So, with that out of the way, A couple months ago I was looking for a handheld that could do PS2, Gamecube and Wii emulation, after my first dive into this devices I decided I wanted more. I got an Anbernic RG35xx as my first handheld device and was thinking why not have one for PS2 and GameCube mainly, and maybe even Wii. I am sure I am not the only one who have tons of great memories with games from the past and the feeling to play them again. Yes, I can buy the consoles again but on a big screen it’s not for me (Had tons of consoles before). So having this option on a handheld made this really interesting. Specially PS2 games that stands high on my list, to play again.

Here my research started and let me tell you it was not an easy one. There are so many different reviews and also quite some options you can choose from, it certainly took me a while. I had spent hours watching YouTube reviews reading blogs and searching where I could get my dream handheld. Lots of reviewers and YouTube movies I checked recommended the Ayn Odin 2. Thou here in The Netherlands it’s pricey due tax, and what if I don’t like it? I had so many doubts and even the reviewers couldn’t actually clear away those. In the end, I decided to get one off Amazon. This felt like a safe choice if something was off or if I didn’t like it, then I could safely return it. This did cost me around 530 euro’s, pretty expensive I thought. I bought the Ayn Odin 2 pro model with 12GB ram. I was over the moon when it arrived. I had to set it up from scratch I knew that, but that was what I really found interesting seeing if I would be able to do that. I used some great guides to help me out and after 2 hours everything was set up, I was amazed that it was actually really easy with the guides. The only thing left was to find PS2, GameCube and Wii roms on the internet, but since my computers is quite old it took me another 1.5 week to get all the roms I wanted. I recommend to get yourself a rom library asap if you want to start and add roms yourself. It would have taken me less time if I had done that before. I do enjoy searching roms for games I like to play.

And from here sadly things went down…. First, I had some weird hot pixels in the screen while I was playing Crash Bandicoot at my PS2 emulator and I can tell you it seemed like the pixels moved from bigger to smaller. This ended up with some hot pixels that didn’t disappear anymore, but since I had the device for 3 weeks already, I thought I could not return it anymore and took my loss. I did leave the Odin 2 pro alone for a couple days and decided to play on it again. That time I really thought I didn’t see it correctly ,but here were new dead pixels on the screen in different places. For a device in this price range, I personally think it’s a bad thing. I decided to call amazon for advice since I really was at loss. This was my dream device I loved. Amazon customer service was really amazing, and the told me I could return it. Buy a new one when you got the money back was what they told me. So, I did what they asked me and send it back. When they got the returned Ayn Odin 2 pro and I got my money back, I had been thinking a lot. Will I try this again?

Meanwhile I did a lot of research and found out I wasn’t the only one who was unlucky with hot pixels, dead pixels or even a row of dead pixels. It kind of shocked me how many people had this. Keep in mind it’s still way less than people who have no problems with their screens. With this researched I also learned that Ayn uses old batch screens as I stated on top of this blog.

In the end even thou I wasn’t sure I loved this device so much I decided to give it another try, wouldn’t be unlucky 2 times, right? I bought an other one, even got a different color hoping that would help me with not getting the same problem. Sadly nothing less was true. The new one came and in less than 10 minutes I found dead pixels. I really could cry at that time. Called Amazon again and the second device was also sent back. I was really sad because in all of the YouTube movies I watched all the reviews I read, no one had told me about this. I was ignorant that I didn’t do enough research. That is something I have learned for next timea, check for problems and see if you can live with them. For me a few dead pixels on a device for that price is a huge no.

So, I will not say don’t buy this device certainly not. Even up till this day I still love it, everything except the screen was great and really well made. I personally and honestly think it’s more a hit or miss with this device. You’re either lucky and have a good screen or you are unlucky like me and have this problem. I honestly been thinking to try a third device, but I just couldn’t. I was already so disappointed in this journey that the vibes were gone and they are not coming back. They really need to do something so special for me to consider their brand again. I wished they just charged some more and get new screens instead of old batched that have defects.

Till next blog everyone

Alexia