Hardware Is this flashcart any good?

[frizzykid]

So brand new to this website (well, for posting, i've always been a fan of gbatemp and have seen many posts especially when in the hacking department for wii.)

That being said, i apologize if this is in the wrong spot.


so i just purchased this

http://3ds-flashcard.com/8-r4i-sdhc-3ds-rts-2013.html


and I want to know a few things

1.) how reputable is the website? I've tried searching around, found a few things, but most of them were from a year or two ago, are they still good?


2.) How well does the card work (I've never had a flash cart before)

3.) Because its on a flashcart and is pulling data from an sd card, are there noticable frame rate issues? how bad are they for popular titles (zelda, pokemon, mario)

4.) whats the life expectancy. Obviously it's not licensed from nintendo, and its made by some 3rd party company. I'm always a bit hesitant of buying 3rd party products like this (especially because they can start to get expensive, i paid almost 40$ for this, I know that other cards are more expensive, but damn im cheap lol)

I live in a smoke free household, Only pets i have are cats, I'm very responsible for my belongings (I'll have a case for it) that being said, how does the original question of the life expectancy work out

5.) I'm a fan of "you pay for what you get"
IS this below, equal, or above that (or, did i pay too much for this product, too little, or just enough)


6.) is there anything i should know when using it?

I have a pretty good idea of how to set this up, and i've checked my firmware version, etc, and Its all good,


7.) any websites i should go to when downloading the files for the card?

8.) can i save my games without using save states? I personally feel that save states in most situations is kind of cheating

Thanks in advanced!

 

[CravingCritic]

You paid 40$ for an R4? I grabbed my R4i Silver RTS Lite for 6$ from Eachmall. iirc, the 2013 model isn't supported anymore officially, but I could be wrong. I get the feeling that's a clone cart because of the website written on the card. If it IS a clone, it should work still, but how long is another question.

This is a screenie of the back of my card, with the proper R4ISDHC website printed on the chipset.

Spoiler

As I said, if it is a clone, don't worry. Chances are it will still work, but don't expect official firmware updates too often. Usually they're just firmware files ripped from the official website and edited a bit to look like it's their own.

 

[frizzykid]

You paid 40$ for an R4? I grabbed my R4i Silver RTS Lite for 6$ from Eachmall. iirc, the 2013 model isn't supported anymore officially, but I could be wrong. I get the feeling that's a clone cart because of the website written on the card. If it IS a clone, it should work still, but how long is another question.

This is a screenie of the back of my card, with the proper R4ISDHC website printed on the chipset.

Spoiler

As I said, if it is a clone, don't worry. Chances are it will still work, but don't expect official firmware updates too often. Usually they're just firmware files ripped from the official website and edited a bit to look like it's their own.

It was like 18$ for the flashcart itself, and then an extra 20 for the micro SD Card,


Thank you for all the help, the card works amazing