Gaming What are the DS replacement shell's quality like?

[Harsky]

I've been contemplating buying a DS lite with a really badly scratched shell for cheap and then buy a special edition shell for it. Are most shells on ebay decent quality or are they really bad?

 

[tvoretz]

They vary. Piece of advice, though: save the buttons, screws, and springs from the DS you buy and use them with the new shell.

• The replacement screws almost always strip easily.
• Replacement shells generally come with two of the same spring instead of one for each shoulder button. They'll work, but not as well as the originals.
• The printing on replacement buttons will rub off quickly, and I once got burned on a D-Pad that was just a little bit too short; it made using the d-pad difficult. (The short d-pad was on a trans-blue shell, incidentally.)

P.S. You'll probably want to keep the button pads (the rubber beneath the buttons) from the original, too. The real ones are firmer. Again, the replacement ones will work, just not quite as well.