Cracked NDSL Hinge - The Reborn

There you go ladies and gentleman, my newly reborned Nintendo DS Lite with its new SHOCK! Replacement Case of Strat Clear. It took close to 1 hour give or take for the fellow from PLAYTIME Bangsar Shopping Center to change the casing. In total, it cost me RM150 for the repair and casing.

Furthermore, my DS Lite is a lot more lighter now than before. The previous shell casing it self is quite heavy. Now all I need is an invisble shield to show off my brand new casing. Woot!

 

 

 

 

-Because I Can-

Cracked NDSL Hinge - The Replacement Casing

SHOCK! Replacement Case
One of the more reputable (or so they say) and better build quality DS casing, with glee I tore open the package and found all this. I have taken to taking each and every one of the pictures.

FYI, I have purchased the Strat Clear Casing which in picture looks slightly darkish clear casing but in reality, I found otherwise.

The box containing everything is no bigger than an NDSL.

 

Everything in the box is displayed here. 

 

All the smaller buttons and the back cover. Watch out, for the buttons, if you drop it. It's very hard to find it on the floor again. I speak from experience 

 

Top part of the screen

 

 The battery compartment and the base

 

 The bottom screen

 

 Close up look

The top outer part of the casing does not contain any DS logo, making it a smooth and sleek surface which does not attract fingerprint. The inside feels more like the normal DS insides section. Slightly rough and sandy.

I am now looking for another added protection for this case. Along the line of ZAGG invisibleSHIELD. What good is a special casing If I am going to wrap it up in protecting case all the time right?

 I will be doing the replacement tomorrow if possible, going to hand it over to some shop which promised that they can replace the whole thing in less than 2 hour. Hope it works!


-Because I Can-

Cracked NDSL Hinge - The Search

Boy did I do my research, I haven't done my research as much as this since I last purchased my PSP which is 2 years ago!

I searched locally first for any replacement and the best I found is for some dude to order the casing from Dealextreme and then replacing it for me for RM150, problem is, I don't trust the fellow enough to let him muck around with my DS for a few days nor is the fact I have to wait 3 weeks for the item to arrive suits me.

Then I found two shops in the whole of Kuala Lumpur that does carry replacement case, problem is. They only have all black casing and all red casing. Don't like both the colour. So what next? I turned to the net.

Online, I found at least a dozen different site that carry all kinds of different casing ranging from all sorts of colours, designs and also special editions. But none of them I fancy, and 11 out of the dozen site does not send oversea or are very dubious in nature. Then I remembered something that I myself blogged more than two years or so ago.

SHOCK! NDSL Replacement Case

And my search ends but the bulk of my research is about to begin.

I found out online after much digging, the SHOCK! Case has good build quality but does not supplement the full range of replacement that is needed, some of the things that are missing are the inside part of the Slot-2 cover and also some nitpicking here and there.

I also found out that the Chrome Metal casing for SHOCK! case is a scratch fest. Easily scratched and also finger print magnet. After totting around my DSL for so long with a fingerprint magnet, that is the last of the design I wanted.

I mulled over the idea for over a week, trading e-mail with the surprisingly friendly retailer of the site NDS-CENTRAL. He was polite when I questioned him on certain stuff and offered to meet me in an MRT station in Singapore but since I am based in Kuala Lumpur, I had to reject. but the best part is that he quote me lower price than the one advertised on its site! Maybe their sales are not as good or maybe because he thought I am Singaporean.

Anyway, the purchased was made with no hesitation on 30 September 09 and I finally received the package yesterday night! OH JOY!!

-Because I Can-

Cracked NDSL Hinge - The Broken NDSL

So it's been 3 years since I purchased my Black NDSL and the inevitable happened. The hinge cracked rendering my whole DS spineless and unable to be "rigid".

The crack

Close look

Closer look still

As you can see, the thing is gone and the only option available is to look for a new case. Hence began my quest for a new armour for my beloved NDSL.

-Because I Can-