Okay i understand what you are saying, but the 3ds hardware is like the worst today so i see no point on it but bud everybody has an opinion right?Mind you, flashcarts still have their problems.
Try loading a large game with intensive graphics on a Class 4 sdcard and tell me how that goes.
$12 is probably going to give you a hard time as it's more than likely a clone which will end up with you being fucked if you mess up with firmware if you don't have google-fu
Emulation can help with this problem but the problem is the hardware used and how deep the emulation goes in terms of accuracy.