Hacking Reasons why I am buying Ez-flash Vi. What do you guys think?

[famicon_don]

I have read the reviews for Acekard 2i, Supercard DStwo and Ez-flash Vi and for me Ez-flash Vi seems the best choice and I will explain why. I would like you guys to tell me what you think. The Acekard 2i does seem like a good card but the one thing that is unacceptable to me about Acekard 2i is that it has poor build quality which leads to issues with the card making contact with the dsi. I don't want to have to do the paper trick just to get the card to work. That is just plain ghetto. The Supercard DStwo seems like a really good card but it is expensive, also has semi-poor build quality because it has one screw holding it together and drains too much battery life from the dsi. All I really want to do is play ds games on my dsi. I do not care about extra stuff like real time saving, cheats, in game guides, playing gba games on a dsi, etc. So basically, I am likely going to get an Ez-flash Vi card because the build quality seems good (I want a card that will last) and as far as I can tell, has very good ds rom compatibility, the card still has decent support and the card does not seem to drain the battery much. Am I right about this?

 

[Schlupi]

Good research.

The EZFVi is an all around good cart. My biggest issues with it are the following:

*GUI for menu sucks
*No firmware update in AGES

They have not fixed any of the recent games, AT ALL. Many new games don't work, even though they updated it to work on the DS. The Team is not dead just lazy.

I would honestly still recommend the AK2i or DSTWO. Buy from a reputable store; if you have issues with either tell them and they will refund it (Zhuzhuchina, Realhotstuff, and 0shippingzone are all great).

 

[emigre]

Fair enough reasoning though I have to say, I've used my AK2 for over two years now and I have never needed to use the paper trick.

 

[RoMee]

I personally think the r4i gold would be perfect for you
good compatibility when using wood
good build

 

[Mbmax]

They have not fixed any of the recent games, AT ALL. Many new games don't work, even though they updated it to work on the DS. The Team is not dead just lazy.

I'm not agree with you. The team is not lazy and windirt explained a long time ago something that you seems to have missed.
The team splitted their activity to survive when the crisis happened 2 years ago. They are not working only on flashcarts.

About new games, could you elaborate a little ? i'm not sure to be agree with you.

@Romee : yeah, i agree with you. The main problem of the ak2i is its build quality. There is a lot of defect according to some shop keepers.

 

[jurassicplayer]

The EZVi is an all around good cart. My biggest issues with it are the following:

*GUI for menu sucks
*No firmware update in AGES

They have not fixed any of the recent games, AT ALL. Many new games don't work, even though they updated it to work on the DS. The Team is not dead just lazy.

I wouldn't say the UI sucks...admittedly there are some quirks (having those L+X/Y shortcuts and L as a function), but most of the GUI is fairly customizable (and there is a great skin editor for it

).

As for firmware updates...there was one recently for the DSi firmware 1.4.2, but the EZFlash team actually makes an effort to keep their icon (they've kept the Tak icon since the start). In terms of kernel updates for game fixes, there actually aren't a ton of games that are completely busted (only like 6 games...4 of them being 2 games with 2 different regions). As long as you have a decent microSD that is 4GB+, there are relatively very little problems you would come across.

One of the neat extra features of the EZVi is that it can decrypt ROMs on-the-fly...though there aren't too many encrypted ROM releases, and I don't find many of them particularly interesting, but it's a neat trick that is somewhat convenient.

 

[Schlupi]

Maybe I exaggerated a bit, but you DO have to agree on the fact they have not updated for a while... I know they are a great team I wish they would support the card a bit more, it IS a good card.

 

[Mbmax]

Maybe I exaggerated a bit, but you DO have to agree on the fact they have not updated for a while... I know they are a great team I wish they would support the card a bit more, it IS a good card.

The ez5i is not a R4. You don't have to update the kernel to fix every simple AP like on wood R4.
Have you seen many kernel update on dstwo ? They use the same AP engine and i have to admit a better one on AP based on saves (ex SolatoRobo).
The ez5i require the special mode on those AP where the dstwo handle them automatically.

Are you sure to own an ez5i Schulpi ?

 

[Schlupi]

Maybe I exaggerated a bit, but you DO have to agree on the fact they have not updated for a while... I know they are a great team I wish they would support the card a bit more, it IS a good card.

The ez5i is not a R4. You don't have to update the kernel to fix every simple AP like on wood R4.
Have you seen many kernel update on dstwo ? They use the same AP engine and i have to admit a better one on AP based on saves.
The ez5i require the special mode on those AP where the dstwo handle them automatically.

Are you sure to own an ez5i Schulpi ?

I DO own one. I just don't use it that much (I use the DSTWO more). To be fair, you know more of the EZFVi than I do, I'll let you handle this.

 

[Clookster]

I have full understanding if someone is an EZ Flash cardcore fan. I envy each one. There are not so many, and I'd love to support a rather unknown cart, too.

---

But: Wood doesn't get just AP updates. It gets real updates that improve the GUI and the general performance of ROMs (!). That's why it's so good. Unbeaten, indeed.

The main problem with EZ seems to be the Moonshell GUI. I think. I never understood why EZ is so unpopular. And maybe people got confused to much with EZ's GBA stuff... There's a reason why every $2 R4-cart has "No savedata loss" written on the package.

---

So I agree with Mr RoMee: R4iDSN. Sorry. The package is ugly and stupid, I know. But it's good, buy it.

 

[Mbmax]

If i have to choose a kernel to use it's definitively AKAIO not Wood. The main reason is not tied to the kernel but to the flashcart.
Normmatt is doing great with his last AP engine where YWG has to patch every single AP games.

Now, AKAIO runs only on AK product. And that makes me sad because of the current quality of their product ...

 

[Normmatt]

The EZ5 isn't much better on the quality front. You'd be better off buying a clone of the original R4 it limits you to 2GB maximum microSDs but the original R4 has the best build quality by far.

 

[Snailface]

The EZ5 isn't much better on the quality front. You'd be better off buying a clone of the original R4 it limits you to 2GB maximum microSDs but the original R4 has the best build quality by far.

And they're a $1.50 now, can't beat that.

 

[Clookster]

Wood and Akaio are both good. Recently I had the impression that development of Wood is more active for whatever reason. If somenone needs automatic AP bypass, then Akaio is 'better', of course. But right now, nobody needs that.

Concerning 'build quality': The best ones I have are iEdge and R4iDSN.

Acekard is not good enough for the price (13-15 $) build wise. You can get the same card (R4 Gold 2.0) with better build quality for 8-9 $. Something went wrong there. Obviously it's too late, they are not interested to make a luxury version of Acekard for DSi anymore. Which is very sad. I'd spend $30 or $40 for something like the Acekard R.P.G.i.

But don't worry, Mbmax: Sooner or later I'll get an EZ Flash. Just as a souvenir...

 

[Mbmax]

The EZ5 isn't much better on the quality front. You'd be better off buying a clone of the original R4 it limits you to 2GB maximum microSDs but the original R4 has the best build quality by far.

May i remind you your ez5i is a 705 hardware revision ? The bridge to enable the sram part on the stacked memory was troublesome.
They released the 805 hardware revision because of this.

 

[Deleted-236924]

In terms of kernel updates for game fixes, there actually aren't a ton of games that are completely busted (only like 6 games...4 of them being 2 games with 2 different regions). As long as you have a decent microSD that is 4GB+, there are relatively very little problems you would come across.

Examples?

 

[Mbmax]

I try to keep a thread up to date on the ezflash usa forum according to users testimonies.
you can find it here : http://ezflash.sosuke.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16747

The special mode require a good microSD. It won't work on slow/crappy microSD.

 

[KidIce]

I DO own one. I just don't use it that much (I use the DSTWO more). To be fair, you know more of the EZFVi than I do, I'll let you handle this.

It's funny to me that you say this. That is the exact reason my EZ5 is the cart I almost always use and my SCDS2 is usually hanging out in my bag until I want to get my MAME, DS2x86, etc on... I hate the SCDS2's interface, it's just plain in the way.

And the SCDS2 is a battery sucking pig. ;-)

 

[Deleted-236924]

The above post is why I want to get an EZ-Flash Vi.
I barely ever use the special features from the DSTwo anymore, why should I continue wasting battery life?
(Plus, the EZ-Vi's build quality is incredible.)

 

[RoMee]

I love my EZ5i, but with it's game compatibility issue and slow updates I stop using it.
and that's the reason why I rather use my dstwo, along with GBA, and the best realtime menu, cheats, saves, etc

complaining about the battery is like saying you rather drive a 134HP toyota prius, because the 430HP mustang cobra eats too much gas.