Are these handhelds any good?

[AceWhatever]

Does any of you guys own one of these or do you know if they're any good? If not, do you have any reccomendations, preferably something on the cheaper end, maybe something under 150 euros?

Like others said, while the pictured retro handheld is a device that exists, buying something like that from Temu is definitely a "do at your own risk" action.

I've tinkered with one type of these devices (Retroid Pocket 2S) and watched alot of videos on other kinds. But you need to be clear with yourself on the below:

I noticed no one asked the important question...

What systems are you looking to play?

This will help alot with making an informed purchasing decision. The retro handheld market is a bit flooded with a lot of choices in different performance/cost ranges, and until you can practically recognize chipsets by name it'll be daunting at first to remember what each device can handle.

At the very least it's a fun rabbit hole to fall into in terms of research.

 

[Zerpina]

yeah they are definitely good! i think i was using Crossmix OS on my one
but there was a bad update like a year ago and it made psp games run a bit choppy on that version so i kinda stopped using it, also i dropped it and cracked the screen :( :(
nooo0o0o0

Sorry to hear about the screen....

Ya I forget which version of CMOS I have on mine off the top of my head, but I haven't updated it in well over a year. So, I never got the PSP chop.

 

[Commash]

I noticed no one asked the important question...

What systems are you looking to play? I actually have a TRIMUI Smart Pro, got it on sale for about 50 bucks. I think they are 60 or 70 now, I don't know. Anyway, it's a good little handheld, capable of playing everything up to PS1 and PSP and light 2D Dreamcast games.

I think it's fine if it can play up to PSP games, I'm not looking for something too advanced, I just don't want to get ripped off.

I don't really know what to expect as I'm not very familiar with the market, the price range I gave is just how much money I can afford to spend.

 

[Zerpina]

My advice @Commash ....

Find one that looks interesting to you, get the name of it, and do a YouTube video search on it.
Get a few videos on each system. That’s how I decided to buy mine.
Wishing you the best in deciding, and I hope you enjoy the one you choose.
And as a lot of people said here, ya.... Temu is a shot in the dark, you may not even get what you ordered at all, let alone something good.

The old saying "You get what you pay for" is still around for a reason.

 

[AceWhatever]

I think it's fine if it can play up to PSP games, I'm not looking for something too advanced, I just don't want to get ripped off.

I don't really know what to expect as I'm not very familiar with the market, the price range I gave is just how much money I can afford to spend.

In that case you're in luck.

For a while the poster child for budget handheld that can play up to PSP was the Retroid Pocket 2S for around 100$. Unfortunately that model got discontinued at the end of 2024.

Anbernic released about half a dozen handhelds with similar performance around that time, but they were all pushing up to a price range of 150+$.

Right now there are at least two new contenders for best budget up-to-PSP handheld:

- Mangmi Air X
- Ayaneo Pocket Air Mini

(Yes two devices from two different companies both having Air in the name will not at all create confusion :p )

Mangmi is a newcomer to the market while Ayaneo has been around for a while but all their releases are generally high end machines and half of them run Windows. The Pocket Air Mini is probably their first sub-100$ handheld.

The main difference between the two devices is that the Air X has a bigger wider screen, so if black bars are a deal breaker for you you should keep that in mind.

In case you didn't already know, the Retro Game Corps Youtube channel is generally the go-to for performance demonstrations on these handhelds and he did videos on both devices. The newer Pocket Air Mini video has a small comparison with the Air X. If I were to repeat what I did last year (setting up 4 Retroid Pocket 2S devices), I would do it with one of the above two.

One tiny issue is how you acquire either device. The Air X is available direct from the manufacturer's website (don't know if there's a good reseller for it) while the Pocket Air Mini is still a backer reward from the device's Indiegogo campaign set to ship sometime next month.

The elephant in the room is how much work you're willing to put in to setup these devices. Most of the low-end devices use chipsets that run Linux-based OS and have several all-in-one solutions that you just pop into the SD card along with the games and you're off to the races. The problem is that these chipsets won't reliably play games past PS1. Any N64/Dreamcast/PSP games running will involve alot of tweaks (frame skipping, etc. And often per game), though that's all 2nd hand accounts I read online.

All the mid-high range devices that run post-PS1 consoles reliably out of the box are Android-based. Android requires that you setup each emulator one by one (including Retroarch) on top of setting up a front end (although you don't have to set one up. It's more of a nice bonus). I posted a bit about this in another topic and most of what I wrote applies here.

I'm not trying to scare you off. I just want you to be as well informed about this as possible. Do some more research and see other impressions of the devices I recommended.

 

[Zerpina]

In that case you're in luck.

For a while the poster child for budget handheld that can play up to PSP was the Retroid Pocket 2S for around 100$. Unfortunately that model got discontinued at the end of 2024.

Anbernic released about half a dozen handhelds with similar performance around that time, but they were all pushing up to a price range of 150+$.

Right now there are at least two new contenders for best budget up-to-PSP handheld:

- Mangmi Air X
- Ayaneo Pocket Air Mini

(Yes two devices from two different companies both having Air in the name will not at all create confusion :p )

Mangmi is a newcomer to the market while Ayaneo has been around for a while but all their releases are generally high end machines and half of them run Windows. The Pocket Air Mini is probably their first sub-100$ handheld.

The main difference between the two devices is that the Air X has a bigger wider screen, so if black bars are a deal breaker for you you should keep that in mind.

In case you didn't already know, the Retro Game Corps Youtube channel is generally the go-to for performance demonstrations on these handhelds and he did videos on both devices. The newer Pocket Air Mini video has a small comparison with the Air X. If I were to repeat what I did last year (setting up 4 Retroid Pocket 2S devices), I would do it with one of the above two.

One tiny issue is how you acquire either device. The Air X is available direct from the manufacturer's website (don't know if there's a good reseller for it) while the Pocket Air Mini is still a backer reward from the device's Indiegogo campaign set to ship sometime next month.

The elephant in the room is how much work you're willing to put in to setup these devices. Most of the low-end devices use chipsets that run Linux-based OS and have several all-in-one solutions that you just pop into the SD card along with the games and you're off to the races. The problem is that these chipsets won't reliably play games past PS1. Any N64/Dreamcast/PSP games running will involve alot of tweaks (frame skipping, etc. And often per game), though that's all 2nd hand accounts I read online.

All the mid-high range devices that run post-PS1 consoles reliably out of the box are Android-based. Android requires that you setup each emulator one by one (including Retroarch) on top of setting up a front end (although you don't have to set one up. It's more of a nice bonus). I posted a bit about this in another topic and most of what I wrote applies here.

I'm not trying to scare you off. I just want you to be as well informed about this as possible. Do some more research and see other impressions of the devices I recommended.

I am actually thinking really hard about ordering a Mangmi Air X myself.

From what I saw, it can do up to PS2 (not the stupidly hard stuff, mind you) and Dreamcast pretty well. Dreamcast has almost sold me on it. I just really don't want an Android based device. I really want something I can put Batocera on.

I usually hit up Techdweeb for handhelds. He's very passionate and honest about this kind of stuff, and he gave it pretty high praise as well.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 9:12 AM

Edit - Mind you this was when it was 75$ at launch. its 90$ now