Gaming Old NDS Going Super Cheap, Worth?

[link491]

So a kid in my school is selling off his old nintendo ds (original model, like, pre-ndsl) for $25. I've looked at it and the condition is perfectly fine. It runs everything i've tested it with and im thinking of buying it. Im just wondering if this is worth my money, and what the differences with the old ds and the dsl are.

specifically, im wondering:

screen brightness difference
battery difference
button quality difference
weight difference
size difference

thanks in advance.

 

[_v3]

Screen isn't as bright as the DS Lite screen. The battery (depending on how old it is) should give you about 10h of DS or 16h of GBA play.
It's bigger and heavier than the DS Lite but the buttons are (in my opinion) much better. Go for it if he's asking 25$, it's worth it.

 

[Tokopimv]

If it works, go for it. That seems like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[Vague Rant]

As a bonus, you might as well check what firmware it's running. The last few production runs of the original DS use Lite parts, so if you install the DS Lite firmware on them, you get multi-level backlight. I prefer the original DS in hand, so with the Lite quality screen it's essentially the best possible DS. An original DS running v5 firmware has a good chance of having the improved screens. If it is one of these, you should probably try not to let on how rare/desirable it is in case of a last-minute price hike.

 

[FAST6191]

Even if you would have to replace the battery then 25 of your Canadian dollars is a steal for an original DS in good condition, hell I would probably pay it for one with cracked hinges. To this day I still play on my original DS, however I get on OK with TN screens, old CRTs, the PSP 1000 and the like so I am probably not the best person to ask here.