I haven’t really done an update on this in two years and I’m in the midst of a proper cull, so time to put something together. As of this writing, 50 handhelds of various levels of quality have passed through my hands and I’ve managed reviews and commentary for the vast majority of them. I’m currently down to 20 remaining, but two of those are up on eBay already, so it’s really 18. (And I bought a second Trimui Smart Pro and a second R36S as gifts for friends.)

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So, that’s six handhelds in the “throw in a pocket for the subway or just in case I’m bored” category (Q90, Trimui Mini, DY19, R36S, A30, GB300); three workhorse mid-level handhelds (RG350, RP3, Trimui Smart Pro); three under-used all-rounder devices (RP2+, RG35XX, RG35XX-H); two high-end Android devices that I should use for more recent systems (Odin, RP5); and two gimmicky specialty devices I should use more or pass on (V10, MagicX). Half of the devices (the workhorses, all-rounders and high-end) are loaded with my “Ideal ROM Collection” including all of the hacks and fan translations I’ve found interesting over the years; while the others have their original loadouts, often with a handful of games added.

Conclusions: I should try out the expanded capabilities of the high-end systems and spend more time with the gimmicky systems to see if they’re actually worth continuing to keep. And I shouldn’t buy any more devices unless I can come up with an actual use-case for them, because right now everything is pretty much covered several times over.