Hardware Has anyone had issues with bad clone/knockoff microSD EZ4s?

[FireEmblemGuy]

Just out of pure curiosity; there's a handful on AliExpress hovering in the range of $30 that go out of the way to hide the EZ-Flash name on the product images. No idea if they're trying to hide from Nintendo's potential legal actions or if they're just bad clones (at least one of them uses the Wowolink name, which the EZ-Flash team specifically denounced as unofficial).

Some of the reviews also mention issues with the 1.78 or 2.00 kernels, but never go into real detail; it's possible the EZ-Flash team added some form of anti-clone code to the kernel.

Considering picking one up to test alongside a cart from the 'official' reseller list to see if either feels or performs notably better. Either way, the last GBA cart I bought was one of the $10 128M Fire Linkers from DealExtreme a decade ago, so it'd be hard to do much worse.

 

[MHDestination]

Just ordered that one today:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/EZ-...r-GBA-GBASP-NDS-support-32gb/32814920311.html

Might be a bad quality clone, but i'll report when it arrives.
Orders from Aliexpress usually take two weeks to reach me.

 

[migles]

Just ordered that one today:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/EZ-...r-GBA-GBASP-NDS-support-32gb/32814920311.html

Might be a bad quality clone, but i'll report when it arrives.
Orders from Aliexpress usually take two weeks to reach me.

price for me is 30 bucks, damn for that price you could get a real ez iv?

 

[MHDestination]

price for me is 30 bucks, damn for that price you could get a real ez iv?

For me it's 25 €

I already own an original EZ-Flash IV, that one was 45 €.
But that one never worked for me . Reported that the battery was dry. But soldering a new one didnt fix it.
Therefore doesn't save.

 

[migles]

For me it's 25 €

I already own an original EZ-Flash IV, that one was 45 €.
But that one never worked for me . Reported that the battery was dry. But soldering a new one didnt fix it.
Therefore doesn't save.

but yeah my price was displayed in dollars it costs, 26 euros
if it never worked, you didn't RMA it?

 

[MHDestination]

but yeah my price was displayed in dollars it costs, 26 euros
if it never worked, you didn't RMA it?

No, i know i could have sent it back. But was to lazy to do so.
And even the original one came from china.
Sending packages from germany to china is expensive.

 

[razenxd]

Hello mates,
Looking to revive my gba for its long sleep(only played a full pokemon walkthrough once a year )
And wanted to ask
Are those Ez-flashe's fakes?

Sorry for asking here but didn't wan't to start a new thread just to ask that.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Hello mates,
Looking to revive my gba for its long sleep(only played a full pokemon walkthrough once a year )
And wanted to ask
Are those Ez-flashe's fakes?

Sorry for asking here but didn't wan't to start a new thread just to ask that.

Hard to say, really. Their price is only about £1.50 lower than another seller on the official reselller list, so it's not a huge red flag there, and they only seem to have positive feedback regarding the EZIVs they've sold. The other items in their shop also seem to point to them being a legitimate (as far as sales of homebrew devices are concerned) reseller. On the other hand, I don't see them on the reseller list, and they only ship on kernel 1.77, whereas the other sellers claim their devices already run kernel 2.01. 1.77 is the last kernel release before the EZ-Flash team started warning about clone carts, while 1.78 released a few months later. If there is some sort of anti-clone code in newer kernels, this'd be a prime suspect.

 

[razenxd]

Hard to say, really. Their price is only about £1.50 lower than another seller on the official reselller list, so it's not a huge red flag there, and they only seem to have positive feedback regarding the EZIVs they've sold. The other items in their shop also seem to point to them being a legitimate (as far as sales of homebrew devices are concerned) reseller. On the other hand, I don't see them on the reseller list, and they only ship on kernel 1.77, whereas the other sellers claim their devices already run kernel 2.01. 1.77 is the last kernel release before the EZ-Flash team started warning about clone carts, while 1.78 released a few months later. If there is some sort of anti-clone code in newer kernels, this'd be a prime suspect.

Ah haven't crossed that seller on the official reseller list, and he seems as the best option for me (price+shipping)+he 's official reseller. So hope he's in stock in one week from now when i'll be back from my vacations
Shame i didn't looked earlier onto it so i could carry my sp with some more games :/

 

[MHDestination]

My EZ-Flash from AliExpress arrived last week.

It looks real and is fully functional.
Installed latest firmware 2.03.
PSRAM, NOR and saving works.

Got it for 26,41 € (30 $) including shipping.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Mine arrived Friday, but the GBA SP I ordered beforehand hasn't shown up yet. After coupons mine came out to about $26 shipped. The cart and packaging look legit, but the PCB isn't actually aligned properly with the cart case; no idea if it's going to need adjustment before actually fitting in a GBA slot. I'll have a DS Lite on hand tomorrow or Thursday to test with.

 

[razenxd]

Another quick question mates.
Do gba roms run well on ez flash?

 

[The Catboy]

Just ordered that one today:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/EZ-...r-GBA-GBASP-NDS-support-32gb/32814920311.html

Might be a bad quality clone, but i'll report when it arrives.
Orders from Aliexpress usually take two weeks to reach me.

"ShouldMe"
That is the best flashcart name to date.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

So it seems as though my cart came with 2.01 already installed; I'm well enough convinced that it's a legit cart or a perfect knockoff.

Another quick question mates.
Do gba roms run well on ez flash?

The EZ Flash IV has been one of the most reliably decent carts over the last decade. Compatibility is good, and aside from its arcane patching system (which is done on-the-fly now), its biggest flaw is a lack of real-time clock for Pokemon games.