Hacking Places to buy? (CycloDS)

[norcrel]

Hello, newbie here.

I've read a good number of posts here and I've decided to go for a cycloDS. I was deciding between an R4 and the cyclo, but with the increase of prices for the R4 and the features coming out with cycloDS, I figured I'd spend the extra for the cyclo.

But anyway, the cheapest vendors for it so far (that have it in stock) that I've found are at these sites:
(note: I live in the US, so the location may/may not have been factored in the shipping price)

Divineo.cn - $59.95 shipped via airmail
TotalConsole.com - $61.49 shipped via parcel post (+10 cents for priority mail, I dunno the difference)
mod-chip.com - $69.90 shipped via expressmail
consolesource.com - $61.98 shipped via USPS global airmail (+$5 for UPS standard)

I've heard some... bad things about Divineo.com. I thought their site was a bit sketchy so I looked it up here and at resellerratings.com, and it seems like I didn't worry for no reason. I remember reading here that people had no problems with the .cn portion of their site, however - only with the .com section [link]. Any thoughts on this?

I couldn't find any reviews or ratings on TotalConsole Inc, so I thought I'd ask to see if anyone has ordered from them before.

mod-chip.com seems pretty reliable, but if I can save that money then I'd rather. (edit: There's a deal with mod-chip.com explained below, $54.30 shipped)

consolesource.com didn't seem to have too many happy customers from resellerratings.com either.

Anyway, my main concern was which vendor seems to be the most reliable. I want to try to get the cheapest, but I wouldn't mind paying a little extra to make sure I don't get scammed or run into problems. (I've never actually had to deal with those, so I get a feeling I'd risk losing money from not knowing what to do)

Any suggestions?

(edit to link to the post I referred to)
Edit: I guess I'll post new additions as they come.
fusion-consoles.com - redirects you to divineo.com, so I suppose that doesn't count.
modchipcentral.com - $65.90 shipped USA Express ($51.95, $13.95 shipping)

OK, I just got the card for $54.30 from mod-chip.com. I ordered it on August 31st and it arrived exactly a week later on Friday Sept 7th in it's own little shiny case, etc.

Only (very very minor) problem I had was the company was in Austria so my credit card company called me to check if it was fraud (no big deal. It wasn't, and it shipped just fine) Thanks to mong for his input!

He explained it pretty well so I'll just quote his post here.

Go to the site, click on the nintendo DS. On the left side, you should see all the menu with PS2, xbox, etc. and somewhere lower in that menu, you should see "Best Price". Then fill out the form. As previously mentioned, i also found that the cheapest place is modchipcentral.com. So enter that site for the match up. Apparently, it works and the shipping is quite fast.

51.95$ - 5% rebate for best price = ~49.50$
shipping is about 5$ so it should be around 54.50$

They say it should be around 3 to 6 days shipping. Also, mod-chip.com seems to have a good reseller rating so you can trust them. Best price, fast shipping and good company.

I hope this was helpful.

 

[robi]

I'm in your boat too. I find it's time to upgrade the ol' DS-X...

Just to add another store to the list: http://www.fusion-consoles.com/p286/Cyclo-...oduct_info.html Looks like they are in New York.

I don't know anything about them though, just that they were on the CycloDS site under "Where2Buy"

I got my previous flash carts and modchips from modchipstore.com but it appears that they are dead now. It's a shame too because I had great service and quick shipping (Dallas to Houston)

 

[norcrel]

I'm in your boat too. I find it's time to upgrade the ol' DS-X...

Just to add another store to the list: http://www.fusion-consoles.com/p286/Cyclo-...oduct_info.html Looks like they are in New York.

I don't know anything about them though, just that they were on the CycloDS site under "Where2Buy"

I got my previous flash carts and modchips from modchipstore.com but it appears that they are dead now. It's a shame too because I had great service and quick shipping (Dallas to Houston)

I actually saw that site before, but when you click to buy it links you to divineo.com.

edit: I'd also like to note that i've gone to modchipcentral.com, and the price is $51.95 but once you try to checkout they charge $13.95 for shipping (cheapest). I suppose that's not that bad, added together it's $65.90.

 

[breezie]

modchipcentral should be good but i'd use realhotstuff instead if they had them in stock--- also the black cyclo ds should be out soon at divineo---

 

[norcrel]

I can't find an ETA for black cycloDS Evo's at divineo.cn.

I totally missed the sticky post about "where should I buy" under the NDS hardware and software section. That was mostly my concern was about. Doh! Redundant posts2lose.

 

[mong]

I bought mine at divineo.cn. I didn't have any problems with them. However, the cheapest (according to what I've found, which was too late because I ordered mine) is to buy it at mod-chip.com by using the best price option that they offer.

Go to the site, click on the nintendo DS. On the left side, you should see all the menu with PS2, xbox, etc. and somewhere lower in that menu, you should see "Best Price". Then fill out the form. As previously mentioned, i also found that the cheapest place is modchipcentral.com. So enter that site for the match up. Apparently, it works and the shipping is quite fast.

51.95$ - 5% rebate for best price = ~49.50$
shipping is about 5$ so it should be around 54.50$

They say it should be around 3 to 6 days shipping. Also, mod-chip.com seems to have a good reseller rating so you can trust them. Best price, fast shipping and good company.

I hope this was helpful.

 

[norcrel]

I bought mine at divineo.cn. I didn't have any problems with them. However, the cheapest (according to what I've found, which was too late because I ordered mine) is to buy it at mod-chip.com by using the best price option that they offer.

Go to the site, click on the nintendo DS. On the left side, you should see all the menu with PS2, xbox, etc. and somewhere lower in that menu, you should see "Best Price". Then fill out the form. As previously mentioned, i also found that the cheapest place is modchipcentral.com. So enter that site for the match up. Apparently, it works and the shipping is quite fast.

51.95$ - 5% rebate for best price = ~49.50$
shipping is about 5$ so it should be around 54.50$

They say it should be around 3 to 6 days shipping. Also, mod-chip.com seems to have a good reseller rating so you can trust them. Best price, fast shipping and good company.

I hope this was helpful.


Wow! That's amazingly helpful

Thanks! Do you have to order to verify the price though? I think some sites offer it a little cheaper (I suppose I shouldn't fret too much, since the difference I'm mentioning is only like $2)I thought these guys (mod-chip.com) were reliable but their price without the "Find-a-cheaper-price-and-yadda-yadda" was pretty high so I was deterred

Edit: Shoot... I wanted to get a black one. I probably shouldn't be so OCD about it though.

Stupid backorders.
edit2: Nevermind, you had the cheapest price at modchipcentral.com. Thanks again! A bunch!

Edit3: I just got an email response from them

QUOTEYour order has been processed and your package has been shipped! (1x white)
Your total: $ 54.30

 

[mong]

haha, glad to know I was of help. You're a few days away from getting your cycloDS evo!

 

[norcrel]

Uh oh... did their site just go down?

 

[scruffman]

You can buy it from http://www.realhotstuff.com. They currently have them in stock. Ordered mine on Friday, they shipped it out today. They sell pretty fast too, so hurry up and buy. They also sell the Kingston 2GB microSD japan version too.

 

[mong]

Uh oh... did their site just go down?

It did but it's back up now. So there's no need to worry

 

[norcrel]

It did but it's back up now. So there's no need to worry

Really? It's still down for me...

heh

Scruffman: Yeah I saw today

I already ordered from mod-chip.com though. hehe. If the shipping's not free then it's likely that mod-chip.com's deal is cheaper too, although their site seems to be having problems right now. I hope this doesn't mean problems for my cyclo

 

[JPH]

You're pretty much screwed, far as I know.
You'll just have to wait until the demand begins to go down.
The R4 is just as good and you have a better chance of finding one online

 

[Upas]

I would suggest RealHotStuff if you're US Side.

It takes about 3 days for it to arrive once its in stock, and costs about $57.95

I'd suggest waiting until they have it in stock, since they have excellent customer support.

 

[mong]

It did but it's back up now. So there's no need to worry

Really? It's still down for me...

heh

Scruffman: Yeah I saw today

I already ordered from mod-chip.com though. hehe. If the shipping's not free then it's likely that mod-chip.com's deal is cheaper too, although their site seems to be having problems right now. I hope this doesn't mean problems for my cyclo

Since they sent you an email saying your cyclo has been shipped, I believe it's under way. So, there shouldn't be any problem even if the site is down.

 

[hollabackitsobi]

I might order one to possibly replace my R4 because I like the draw of MicroSDHC

I already have a 6GB card picked out, I just need moneeeey.

 

[norcrel]

Since they sent you an email saying your cyclo has been shipped, I believe it's under way. So, there shouldn't be any problem even if the site is down.

Yeah, I feel like it shouldn't be a big deal either, but they didn't give me a tracking number for the package, so I'm a bit scared when their site goes down. It's like they've shut down or something. haha.

Anyway, the site's back up again, so no biggie I guess. haha

 

[MillionsKnives]

Looks like it is Out of Stock at mod-chip.com because it is no longer listed on their site. It's too bad though because with that price guarantee it seems like they had it for the best price.

 

[mong]

Looks like it is Out of Stock at mod-chip.com because it is no longer listed on their site. It's too bad though because with that price guarantee it seems like they had it for the best price.

hmm...I just checked it right now. It's still in stock. You can back-order for the black one also.

 

[MillionsKnives]

Ohh I see... I was at www.modchip.com not www.mod-chip.com. It's funny though because mod-chip.com was down so I clicked on the cached page that google has, and it showed the modchip.com page, so I figured it was just the same. Now that it is back up though, I see the difference.

Thanks, I think Im about to order one now. Just a question of what MicroSD card to get. I know that Kingston cards are highly recommended, but I hear that the Japanese version is the best. How do you know for sure which is which? In another post this card was recommended...

http://www.dz-tech.com/index.php?main_page...products_id=631

I guess that is a pretty good price, but I'd rather buy this one from Buy.com because I can use Google Checkout and get an extra $10 off. It also comes with a card reader, which is nice because I hear the one that comes with the CycloDS is not exactly the best quality.

http://www.buy.com/prod/kingston-usb-micro.../204737106.html

I just don't want to get stuck with a card that has poor performance. Any suggestions?