Thinking of getting a Lynx

[Atari Dogs]

Someone near me is selling their non working Linx 1, four games, two power cords and a caring case.   I am trying to talk him down in price.  He wants more than I would want to pay for this with a working unit.  I never had one.  He is close, and I am decent at soldering.  How often do Lynx come on eBay at a good price?  Also, would I want to wait to see if I could get a Lynx 2?  At some time I would probably put in a new screen.  I don't think I would use headphones so the stereo should of the Lynx  2 would not be music of an advantage.

[Nop90]

A lynx II is more compact, but both the two are great consoles (ok, I'm not impartial).

 

Cheap (less than 50-60 USD) not working Lynx happens on ebay, most of them have the power circuit broken and are very easy to fix with some soldering skills, the real risk is that also some of the IC could be broken. It happened me only twice on about 10 broken lynx I get.

 

 

[Atari Dogs]

Only $50 to $60 for a non working.  I was thinking more , and the guy was thinking way more.  I offered $25 less to him thing I would pay extra to have in my hand and not have to pay extra for shipping and sales tax, but he was sticking to his price. 

 

I don't mind the bigger size.  My daughter just bought a Lenovo Legion Go, so I wanted sit with her and play.  

[Isgoed]

Recently I let some 16 year olds play 2 player Checkered Flag comlynx, and between races I would let them switch the Lynx 1 with Lynx 2.

 

They both said that they preferred the Lynx 1 (just sliiiiiiightly) over the Lynx 2 in terms of holding comfort and the big sound.

But they thought the Lynx 2 was cooler in terms of aestetics and the smaller design.

 

In the end it didn't matter that much to them as they enjoyed both Lynxes and would not prefer the one over the other for some good gaming action

 

[eightbit]

I personally have the most nostalgia for the Lynx 1 simply because it was the first Lynx I had ever owned...purchased on launch day from Babbages. 

 

But, I have to say the Lynx 2 is just better in my personal opinion and I wouldn't want to own the Lynx 1 at this point in time to use as a daily driver. Slightly better battery life, much better cart slot placement, stereo headphone jack, more compact size (its big, but the Lynx 1 is BIG) and at least as far as I am aware the shell is not painted on the Lynx 2. The paint on the Lynx 1 eventually flakes off from merely holding and playing the console. 

 

Depending on what he is asking you might be better buying a new Lynx 2 from myatari or Best if he has them. I recently purchased a "grade A" console from myatari which is basically the console and manual in new condition and that ran $200. 

[+jeremiahjt]

27 minutes ago, eightbit said:

I personally have the most nostalgia for the Lynx 1 simply because it was the first Lynx I had ever owned...purchased on launch day from Babbages. 

 

But, I have to say the Lynx 2 is just better in my personal opinion and I wouldn't want to own the Lynx 1 at this point in time to use as a daily driver. Slightly better battery life, much better cart slot placement, stereo headphone jack, more compact size (its big, but the Lynx 1 is BIG) and at least as far as I am aware the shell is not painted on the Lynx 2. The paint on the Lynx 1 eventually flakes off from merely holding and playing the console. 

 

Depending on what he is asking you might be better buying a new Lynx 2 from myatari or Best if he has them. I recently purchased a "grade A" console from myatari which is basically the console and manual in new condition and that ran $200. 

I first got the Lynx II in '91 or '92, so that is where all my nostalgia is. I actually like the Lynx I just as much.

 

Size wise, the Lynx II is thicker than the Lynx I.

 

I do not believe all Lynx I units have flaking paint. I think some were manufactured differently and do not have that problem.

[eightbit]

10 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

I first got the Lynx II in '91 or '92, so that is where all my nostalgia is. I actually like the Lynx I just as much.

 

Size wise, the Lynx II is thicker than the Lynx I.

 

I do not believe all Lynx I units have flaking paint. I think some were manufactured differently and do not have that problem.

 

I think at the end of the day either Lynx is a good choice as long as it works

[sirlynxalot]

I agree, my lynx 1 has no flaking going on at all and I think the plastic is molded with the grey color. 

[eightbit]

3 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

I agree, my lynx 1 has no flaking going on at all and I think the plastic is molded with the grey color. 

It must have only affected very early (launch) models. Mine was certainly painted.

[ColecoGamer]

@eightbit Do yourself a favor and buy a Lynx II with an IPS screen installed. I’ve been on the same batteries for months; the screen is bright, clear and colorful, AND it doesn’t eat batteries.m

 

Me beating Double Dragon:

 

[sirlynxalot]

5 hours ago, eightbit said:

It must have only affected very early (launch) models. Mine was certainly painted.

Yeah a friend of mine had one growing up and his was quite chipped up even back in like 1999. Certainly some of them are painted.

Edited April 8 by sirlynxalot

[Blany]

On 4/8/2024 at 5:13 PM, eightbit said:

It must have only affected very early (launch) models. Mine was certainly painted.

Mine too. It was a real surprise when it began peeling off. I can't imagine that something you handled would be manufactures in this way now. Even something cheaply produced.

[+MarcoJ]

[KrunchyTC]

Shadow of the Beast, and Toki are games I'd get for the Lynx too!

[+cubanismo]

I never had either as a kid, but always thought the Lynx I was an awesome design looking at it in stores and catalogs (OK, not that many stores unfortunately). I have both now, and I still prefer the look of the Lynx I, but the Lynx II is more practical and gets more actual use. That's also the one I installed a BennVenn screen into, so obviously it looks a lot better too. I'm keeping my Lynx I stock just for the nostalgia feels, and I got an Analogue Pocket with the Lynx adapter just the other day, and to be honest, the latter is probably where I'll do most of my Lynx gaming going forward. Assuming they get my last cartridge working (Alpine Games), it's all the goodness of original hardware and modern screen, plus Game Gear, which I actually had as a kid, NeoGeo Pocket (Cool, I guess?), Game Boy (I won't use this much TBH. I never had one, never really wanted one, don't do Pokemon, so I never developed the nostalgia), Game Boy Advance (I wasn't even paying attention to hand-helds when this was a thing, so I'll probably explore its catalog a bit), and most importantly, all the Pocket's OpenFPGA cores too. Once someone pointed out the OpenFPGA stuff, it became hard to argue for anything else.

 

Still, I have a feeling I'll always break out that Lynx I and have a session on it from time to time with its original screen. Just something about it...