Any thoughts on this cart dumper/flasher

[tech3475]

I'm interested in getting something to dump and flash ROMs*/sram, mainly NES, SNES, N64, MD, GB and GBA.

The Retrode2 is constantly out of stock, the retro blaster is either to expensive or to awkward (duty, shipping and stock issues) and the Retron 5 just bricked when I tried hacking that.

One option though I've come across is a Open Source option which can be bought on places like AliExpress such as this:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExAuw46

Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with these or perhaps some other alternative?

*Obviously I would need to get suitable writable cartridges where possible.

 

[RAHelllord]

The retrode 2 is not a flasher, it's only a dumper and pretty limited one at that. Dragonboxshop still manufactures them under the original license but I'd personally stay away from them unless you would like to use the controller ports. That's really the only interesting part of them these days.

That AliExpress thing would likely work, they claim it can be updated too so it should be a proper one. However I'm not sure about the flashing, you might want to check the github repository on what, if any, flash carts can be written to with it. Though since it's open source the answer is probably most of them.

 

[esmith13]

That AliExpress listing is based on the Sanni Open Source Cartridge Reader - which in itself is an amazing project. No idea what the build quality is of the AliExpress version of it though.

Here's more info on the Sanni OSCR for you to look into:
GitHub Page: https://github.com/sanni/cartreader
Link to one of the most trusted pre-built versions of it and all of its adapters: https://savethehero.builders/
Etsy shop for a USA based builder I heard good things about: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1313908826/open-source-cartridge-reader-oscr-hw5

 

[SylverReZ]

That AliExpress listing is based on the Sanni Open Source Cartridge Reader - which in itself is an amazing project. No idea what the build quality is of the AliExpress version of it though.

It's an open-source project, but I bet that the components used are possibly fake/resurfaced chips. But for the price alone, it's pretty acceptable if you're not willing to fork out all the components in bulk, which roughly goes even higher than what they're selling for.

 

[mrgone]

regarding the retrode:
i bought mine last year here https://dragonbox.de/de/
to get the retrode and the adapters at the same point in time iused the "watch"-feature and ordered as soon as i was notified
i did had to wait a few weeks, but it worked in the end