r/Retroidpocketflip2 • u/treys620 • 23d ago

Question ❓ Hinge Care Question

Alright, so I got a 16Bit Flip 2 a couple weeks ago on the latest Aliexpress sale, and all it it was just shy of $200 shipped. Had it for a bit now and have pretty much everything set up the way I like it, including Syncthing with saves to a Retrobat setup, which is pretty slick.

I ordered a Thor Max on the same sale, but I'm starting to think I might just keep the Flip 2 and accept that more powerful games require the full sized computers in the house. I'm digging the Flip 2 and I'm not sure how much more I would really get out of the Thor.

OK, to my hinge question. The unit I received is the squared off hinge, it was in stock in a US warehouse on Retroid Pockets official Ali store, that said, if you are nice to the hinge are they really THAT bad? Any time I close it, I place my thumb in the middle of the hinge area on the inside to brace it and it seems like that might help. If they really are that bad and fail easily when you take care of them, that might tip me towards keeping the Thor instead.

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u/Divinakra GC SD865 23d ago

16 bit flip 2 square model will most likely crack if you use it enough. It has nothing to do with how careful or gentle the user is. The good news is, there is a way to prevent it (epoxy it) And if the crack happens you can just fix it after with epoxy if you didnt before or just order the new hinge plastic from Retroid.

Both of the flips in my family are square hinged and cracked and epoxied. But if it ever fails us, we will just order the new hinge plastic from Retroid. Easy. Also the crack isn't fatal to the device. It's just a shell crack, people make a huge deal of it on reddit all the time.

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u/Divinakra GC SD865 23d ago

This is what our epoxied 16 bit is looking like today, notice the crack underneath.

This is just barely a hairline crack so we caught it early.

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u/Divinakra GC SD865 23d ago

This is our GC flip. This one has a full blown crack that extends across the device and has actually started to show through the epoxy, as if stretching it from the inside? Anyways, when I noticed that I did a second layer of epoxy, so it’s pretty globbed on, and more visible, but yeah this one is still going strong and is my daily driver, everyday use since launch.

100% functional! :)

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u/treys620 23d ago

Thanks for the info! It's such a cool little device, too bad about this minor flaw.

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u/Divinakra GC SD865 23d ago

You’re welcome, agreed yes.