SDrive Max vs Fujinet

[Sid Pokey]

On 4/7/2024 at 9:00 PM, ACML said:

If you are referring to Lotharek's new mini SDRIVE, it is a fantastic little device.  I especially love the joystick navigation and the ease in jumping drives with the two little buttons.  Awesome solution for XEX and ATR files.  As for the Fujinet, the new Lotharek Fujinet 1.7 Pro is super nice and I highly recommend it.  The navigation on the SD card library is top notch to include joystick navigation.  The SAM voice telling which drive is active is nice as well.  Today, if I had to pick one as a new enthusiast, I'd pick the SDRIVE micro/nano from Lotharek for price (under $30) and if you are will to spend more, the Fujinet 1.7 Pro also from Lotharek.  Either gets you covered for disk and file images, but to round out the complete capability, I'd also get one of the above and an UNO Cart which runs ~$65.  The UNO Cart gives you the ROM world up to 128K.

Thank you. The SDrive Mini/Nano certainly looks very interesting, but I've not been able to find much info or reviews about it beyond from Lotharek himself. If its ATR and XEX compatibility is as good as its bigger brother and it can do multi-disk games, then I may very well be sold!

 

www.lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=375

[+CharlieChaplin]

SDrive mini by Lotharek supports 4 drives (or drive slots), like the original SDrive; images can be swapped for multi-disk games. BUT: Limit is max. 4 disks/images, so a few games, like AR Dungeon (5 disksides), Gunslinger (5 disksides) and others will most-likely not work.

 

[SS]

49 minutes ago, CharlieChaplin said:

SDrive mini by Lotharek supports 4 drives (or drive slots), like the original SDrive; images can be swapped for multi-disk games. BUT: Limit is max. 4 disks/images, so a few games, like AR Dungeon (5 disksides), Gunslinger (5 disksides) and others will most-likely not work.

 

The touchscreen on the SDrive-MAX makes disk swapping very easy.  Just saying.  

[+mytek]

1 hour ago, CharlieChaplin said:

SDrive mini by Lotharek supports 4 drives (or drive slots), like the original SDrive; images can be swapped for multi-disk games. BUT: Limit is max. 4 disks/images, so a few games, like AR Dungeon (5 disksides), Gunslinger (5 disksides) and others will most-likely not work.

 

Sounds like Lotharek's mini SDrive is very similar to the SDrive-ng by @kbr that I was fooling around with a while back. It also can rotate 4 drive images with a press of a button.

 

 

[ACML]

3 hours ago, Sid Pokey said:

Thank you. The SDrive Mini/Nano certainly looks very interesting, but I've not been able to find much info or reviews about it beyond from Lotharek himself. If its ATR and XEX compatibility is as good as its bigger brother and it can do multi-disk games, then I may very well be sold!

 

www.lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=375

I've owned it for about three months and have used it many times, but I would not say may testing was exhaustive.  To date, I have not found any issue with compatibility.  It uses the same SDRIVE.ATR software as the SDRIVE MAX. It easily swaps disks (Left button increments one drive # and right button decrements one drive #).  There are bright color LEDs to tell which drive slot is active.  To me, the simplicity is a plus.  What is the longevity of cheap LED screens?  I thought some of the SDRIVE MAXs, maybe early versions, have/had issues playing well with other SIO devices.  But trust me when I say that you will not be disappointment with the Lotharek Fujinet 1.7 Pro.

 

The only thing holding me back from saying the SDRIVE mini is perfect is that old antiquated menu screen that all SDRIVEs have to suffer.  About 1/3 of the screen real estate is wasted on a useless directory path.  You only get to see the full filename of the currently selected file.  The Ultimate Cart or SIO2SD version 2.5 menu is far better.

 

 

 

  The Fujinet menu selection system is awesome!

Edited April 8 by ACML

[eightbit]

I can say from owning many of Lotharek's devices that they are always top quality. I don't have experience with his Fujinet device but I can imagine it is very well put together. I'll have to give it a try when my wallet permits

[+bf2k+]

I own 2 Fujinets and a Sdrive Max and do not really use either of them very much.

 

Having said that, I really don't see how they are comparable since the Fujinet has the network access and the SDrive Max has none... My $0.02  

 

[Peruchi]

I've built my own SDrive-MAX, that's the way to go from a value standpoint! Especially considering the ludicrous import taxes I'd have to pay if I was to purchase something from ebay. But even with that nuisance, I've ended up buying a Fujinet to try, it's a cool device, has 8 disk slots, support for long filenames, networking, all that good stuff. For me, I just want to play games, I don't have much interest in its networking capabilities, but they are great, nonetheless. My humble opinion, don't want to force anything on anyone.

[Ppyo]

On 4/8/2024 at 7:38 PM, mytek said:

Sounds like Lotharek's mini SDrive is very similar to the SDrive-ng by @kbr that I was fooling around with a while back. It also can rotate 4 drive images with a press of a button.

 

 

I have that one, but after almost a year of solid performance, it suddenly started to work iffy. My idea is to go Fujinet and keep the SDriveMax-ng as backup.

Edited April 17 by Ppyo