#14409 - uroscar - Tue Jan 06, 2004 2:28 am
Hello everybody!
As everybody wants to get as much as possible out of their money, I would like to ask for advice or first-hand experience. I'm new to this "FLASH" world and I'm in a big dillema. I read a lot of tests and I came out with three packages wich are very interesting.
They are:
1. EZF-ADVANCE 256M flash cart set
2. EZ-FLASH II PowerStar 256M Cart set
3. FLASH2ADVANCE ULTRA 256M Cart with USB linker set
So I'm asking all of you experts which of these three packages would you recommend and of course why?
I know that there are many other possibilities, like the 1Gb cart from Flash2Advance ultra, but it is to expensive for me. I want to focus on the 256M carts which still have an acceptable price.
Thanks, and I hope I wasn't to long!!
UrosCar
#14456 - dagamer34 - Wed Jan 07, 2004 12:24 am
EZF-Advance 256 Mb kit from MWElectronics(check the retailers section) at $107 with shipping shipped to your door in 1 week at most, usually 3 days when paid with PayPal. Need I say more?
By the way, there is that Real-Time clock but the EZ-F will not play GB Roms(roms can be played on F2A but it needs a GB bridge)
Writing software is also ok. Could be better and it could be worse.
You might want to pray to God hoping that Windows correctly recognizes the USB cable. I did. (Note: my methods do not work 100%, only tried once).
By the way, I speak from experience in owning this cart, so my views might be biased. Check the other kits too, they might be good, ESPECIALLY the forums of the owners sites. Don't only take my word for it but I bought mine only 1 week ago and am not complaining.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#14489 - malone - Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:35 pm
I've had experience with card #1 and #2 you listed.
EZF-Advance has fewer parts and you can upload ROMs directly to your GBA rather than having to write to an external card docking device in the EZ-Flash II package. Write times to EZF-Advance is also shorter than its many counterparts (approx 5 minutes for a full write). I find this more convenient.
Reliability for both cards are the same.
However... As you may already know, EZ-Flash II PowerStar has a 1.8v memory chip as opposed to the 3.3v used in almost all other cards, which allows for ~5 hours longer battery life (GBA SP). This more than makes up for the extra few minutes it takes to write ROMs to the card.
Personally, I like the EZ-Flash II PowerStar card the best. At the time of this post, mwelectronics.com does not offer these cards, and www.e2city.com has them at unbeatable prices.
#14495 - uroscar - Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:35 pm
Hi!
Thanks guys.
1.I heard that the new Flash2Advance Ultra card has been made from a "special material" wich uses less power, and It has some special buttons called "unlimited revival". Any comment?
2.Is it true that you cannot put (it does not fit in) any other cart except the one you get in the package in the EZ flash 2 Powerstar writer as I read on the gbadev.org test page? Because the producer says you can backup games but that is impossible if they cannot fit in the writer.
3. ".........6. The new F2A Ultra also comes with a new flash writer program (supports Zip archive, Cheat, and with both English and Chinese interface. Further more, now you can add games to the Flash Cart, without rewrite the entire cart from the beginning). And new GBA starting-up program will gradually upgrade into a mini operating system, providing a Windows like interface, so that users can not just use the F2A Ultra playing games, listening music, watching video and eBook , but will be also able to run applications like education software." ......
Any comments about that, that this is the only cart you can add games to the Flash Cart, without rewriting the entire cart from the beginning like with other carts. And what is this "windows like interface"?
Thanks
UrosCar
#14498 - tepples - Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:39 pm
"Windows like interface" may just be PogoShell, which has historically worked more reliably with F2A carts than with EZ-Flash.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#14680 - uroscar - Sun Jan 11, 2004 12:19 am
Thanks!
What about the other questions? Any clue?
Bye
#14704 - X31 - Sun Jan 11, 2004 9:08 pm
"Unlimited Revival" means that you can save you game at any time, regardless whether the game actually allows you to save at that point. This comes in very handy for a great number of games that do not allow you to save at any time.
I just recently bought a F2A & Linker package (not Ultra) and I can not say enough good things about it. Load F2A Writer software, plug in the cable and everything works right away on my 3 year old laptop and fairly new desktop.
As far as "special" materials go, no clue, all I know is that the power consumption of the F2A (non-ultra) doesn't seem to be all that great, I have not had mine for too long, but so far I failed to notice any difference between F2A vs. no-F2A, of course I never really go 10 hours without to plug in either.
Adding games without to rewrite your card is a gimmick imho, don't let your decision which to buy be influcenced by that, simply because it is not an overly practical feature anyway. I mean you load games, you play them, you can write your save files back to HD and load new games. The whole saving and writing process takes like 3 minutes, you may save a few seconds by being able to add to a card rather than rewrite it.
If you have the cash, go for the 1GB F2AU, I have the 256Mb one, and I found that it will sometimes not hold two 128Mb games, many of the latest releases are 128Mb tho, so you are "stuck" with one 128Mb one and one or two 64Mb ones.
#14723 - uroscar - Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:54 am
Thanks X31!
I also heard and read bad stuff about F2A non-ultra.
What do you think about F2A Ultra? Do you think I should buy that instead of EZ-Flash 2 Powerstar?
What about 512M? Do you think that would do?
Bye
#14734 - X31 - Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:39 am
Well, I am sure when searching the net, or even this forum, you can find any number of negative experiences for each of the mainstream cards. Some people get faulty equipment, some have screwed up computers they connect their cards to, for some the dog chewed the linker cable through, whatever.
I have had my F2A non-ultra for a couple weeks, and I have had zero problems with the card itself, the linker cable, or the writer software.
If I were to buy a new card right now, I would buy an F2A-Ultra, simply because the "save anytime", the realtime clock, and the large capacity seem like an excellent combination of features.
I am also not saying 256Mb is not enough, just saying that you may not be able to fit two 128Mb games on there at one time. Which is ok when it comes down to it, because you can have one extensive 128Mb one and two fun 64Mb ones. I checked into it, and seems like quite a few new titles are still 64Mb (i.e.: Advance Wars 2). If you are on a budget, then go with 256 as your first card, after a year or so, when you feel it is really not enough, or when the releases start to get larger you can always get a bigger one. If you have the cash, go big! ;)
From my experience I would buy an F2AU any day, but I am sure that many others swear by their EZF cards.
#15322 - TheGuardian - Tue Jan 20, 2004 8:42 pm
In its current state avoid F2A Ultra like the plague. Trust me, I got one. (1Gbit) Its bug ridden and outright annoying to a point that almost renders it useless. I'm not alone several others have stated that they have the same or similar Issues with that card. This card needs some patching up. I hope that they don't need to rework the hardware....
#15367 - uroscar - Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:06 pm
Thanks guys!
I also heard that there are many patching issues with the new card. Everybody was really excited because of the 1Gb cart, but that is the only mayor positive side of the card. Everything else needs a lot of work.
#15666 - Fritti - Tue Jan 27, 2004 12:58 pm
Great thread, after some morning reading I came up with the exact same 3 linkers that I wanted to buy to replace my failed FA linker (yes, the original one).
I do still have a few questions though, for people in the know (why can't I find a FAQ on all this...):
1. EZF-ADVANCE 256M flash cart set
It seems this is the best all around set, and it definitely has a pro in that you don't need to remove the cart from the linker. But, what are battery times like? My old FA cart definitely drains the batteries faster than a regular cart (like 3-4 times as fast). The power consumption is the #1 reason for me to get...
2. EZ-FLASH II PowerStar 256M Cart set
So, apart from the cart-swap thing, are there any other known issues with this one? Like, save patches etc, the things I wanted to get rid of along with my old FAL. It seems that
3. FLASH2ADVANCE ULTRA 256M Cart with USB linker set
can do all types of saves etc, but It also seems like there are a lot of issues with this one still. Can anyone confirm that there are issues with the 256M version or is it just the 1Gbit version that is buggy?
Choices, choices, so many questions...
Thanks for your time!
#15668 - Mill - Tue Jan 27, 2004 1:35 pm
I agree with TheGuardian, the F2A Ultra is not usuable at the current stage. As he said, I just hope that it's just a software problem. As for the battery life of EZF Advance, I have never felt that it's noticebaly shorter than the original cart so it should be fine.
Anyway, I'm very curious about the battery life of EZ2 PS. Does it really last a lot longer that the original cart? Can anyone confirm this?
#15696 - dagamer34 - Wed Jan 28, 2004 2:00 am
EZF Advance uses about 20% more battery. Not much to worry about, since you should have an AC adapter anyway. Let's not waste money by buying batteries.
Or better yet, get a GBA SP. That will solve your problem pretty quick.
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#15789 - ewok666 - Fri Jan 30, 2004 9:25 am
| Mill wrote: |
I agree with TheGuardian, the F2A Ultra is not usuable at the current stage. As he said, I just hope that it's just a software problem. As for the battery life of EZF Advance, I have never felt that it's noticebaly shorter than the original cart so it should be fine.
Anyway, I'm very curious about the battery life of EZ2 PS. Does it really last a lot longer that the original cart? Can anyone confirm this? |
I realize that lots of people are haveing problems with the 1Gb cartridge......however, mine works just fine. I filled it with about 1020 Mbit of Games and they all work. Also, this is the second time I wrote a fullGb onto the cartridge. The first time they also worked well. Of course it's a bit stupid that the cartridge cannot be formatted by the software and that the games cannot be renamed....but other than that it seems fine....
cheers,
Stefan
#15818 - Phhlow - Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:45 am
Finally, someone who can be honnest about the card, someone who won't just criticize it because F2A is known to be primarily used for pirating games. Thanks for the info.
_________________
"Amp up and amplify! Defy! I'm a brother with a furious mind!"
#15879 - uroscar - Mon Feb 02, 2004 3:02 pm
OK, guys!
Let me just sum up what we said in this thread.
1. Currently FLASH2ADVANCE ULTRA 1GB cart is not a very good option since it has a lot of bugs and lossy software. Hope they will work out the problems.
2. EZF-ADVANCE is very good choice because it supports almoust all the functions (real-time,....) but it's only in 128 and 256 format and it's "a little bit older" than other two, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
3. What about EZ-Falsh 2 PowerStar? Nobody said nothing about that! Is it good? The 1.8v chip promises longer battery life and it also has real-time clock,etc... But those are just promises.....what about real life experience?
Bye, UrosCar
#15913 - dagamer34 - Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:21 am
Maybe its because MW Electronics doesn't carry it. When you have all these "great" reviews and a price that can't be beat, would YOU really buy an PowerStar II over an EZF-Advance??
Wait, I forgot, that's the point of this thread...
Anyway, if you follow the leader, little can go wrong. You will always have someone to blame...
_________________
Little kids and Playstation 2's don't mix. :(
#16021 - dthadamaja - Fri Feb 06, 2004 12:53 pm
well i actually i bought a ez2 ps for my friend and it has worked great no problems whatsover. well i wasnt apble to save at first but the new client they have out fixes that problem. and the ez2 will soon have pogoshell support as said by sasq himself which the ezfa doesnt support. i wud go with the ezfa tho if u dont care for plugins and wallpapers and such. ummz jandaman.com carrys the ez2 ps as well as e2city.com i think. i just bought the extreme flash advance (efa) from mwelectronics and waiting for it ship. i'll let you know how that flash cart goes.
#16109 - ewok666 - Sun Feb 08, 2004 4:27 pm
| uroscar wrote: |
OK, guys!
Let me just sum up what we said in this thread.
1. Currently FLASH2ADVANCE ULTRA 1GB cart is not a very good option since it has a lot of bugs and lossy software. Hope they will work out the problems.
2. EZF-ADVANCE is very good choice because it supports almoust all the functions (real-time,....) but it's only in 128 and 256 format and it's "a little bit older" than other two, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
3. What about EZ-Falsh 2 PowerStar? Nobody said nothing about that! Is it good? The 1.8v chip promises longer battery life and it also has real-time clock,etc... But those are just promises.....what about real life experience?
Bye, UrosCar |
I had an EZ-F Advance and was very happy with it. It was just too small for me....Just as an update to my previous post: I rewrote the cartridge completely again....just under 1Gb and all is well again. I also restored savegames from the old games and one savefile from a gameI played on the PC (VBA). That all worked fine.
I'm quite happy with the cartridge and would assume that those who have problems must have faulty card!
Cheers,
#16364 - dthadamaja - Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:57 am
well i ad my efa for almost a week now and i have to say, i'm etremely impressed with it. ive been sooo happy and it hasnt given me a single porblem yet. thanks MW electronics for carrying a great product. i would definenlty recommend the efa to anyone.
#16366 - ampz - Fri Feb 13, 2004 3:17 pm
For developers interested in PDA like applications. Please note that it is currently unknown how to access EZ RTCs from software.
F2AU and X-ROM use N compatible RTCs. EZ does not.
#16620 - Mill - Sat Feb 21, 2004 10:51 am
Is anyone willing to share the experience with EZ2 PS?
I'm really curious about the life time of GBA SP when using EZ2 PS.
For anyone interested, here is my test result with other carts.
Original Cart(64MB) : 9 hours 40 minutes.
EZFlash 1 256 (The original borden product) : 8 hours
EZFlash Advance 256: 8 hours
EFA 256: 7 hours 20 minutes.
If anyone using EZ2 PS, please share your experience with us.
Thanks,
#16623 - SimonB - Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:59 pm
Mill, could you elaborate on the exact methods you have used to perform these tests?
Did you backup the orignal Nintendo game you tested (9h 40m) and put on the flash carts or did you try them with different binaries?
Also, did you just turn on the GBA SP unit and left it there until it died?
Was the frontlight lit all the time?
Was the battery fully charged on each of the tests?
Simon
#16625 - ampz - Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:40 pm
Actually, I have measured the power consumption of a few games... First, there is almost no difference between different games (at least the ones I have tested).
The GBA (non SP) with a normal game in it typically consume 100mA. (a set of 1600mAh NiMh batteries lasts for about 15hours) A flash cart typically add about 50mA to that figure (cuts down the battery life to about 10hours). I don't have any numbers on the powerconsumption of the SP or the PS.
#16627 - Mill - Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:04 pm
Yes, I used the original back up. All the test result came from the same game. In all cases, I just left the GBA SP turned on at the title screen. All using the same GBA SP. The time is from the fully charged state to the automatic power off, with the light on.
But there could be some timing errors(+- 10 minutes?) because I didn't really watch the GBA SP whole time.
#16628 - Mill - Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:23 pm
ampz, is there an easy way to measure the power consumption of different carts? Also, EZ 2 PS says that it operates under 1.8v and other flash carts 3.3v. Do you know anything about the original carts? Do they use 1.8v, 3.3v, or something else?
Actually I usually use original carts and just take flash carts for the travel. So if my GBA SP's battery lasts longer with PS, I'd go for it. But I wanted to know the real experience before jumping onto it.
#16646 - ampz - Sat Feb 21, 2004 11:52 pm
| Mill wrote: |
| ampz, is there an easy way to measure the power consumption of different carts? |
No. It is a bit complicated to do.
What you can do is to leave the GBA on and see how long it lasts.
| Quote: |
| Also, EZ 2 PS says that it operates under 1.8v and other flash carts 3.3v. Do you know anything about the original carts? Do they use 1.8v, 3.3v, or something else? |
3.3V, but that's not really the point. Original carts use ROM memory (requires very little power), while flash carts use flash memory (requires much power).
| Quote: |
| Actually I usually use original carts and just take flash carts for the travel. So if my GBA SP's battery lasts longer with PS, I'd go for it. But I wanted to know the real experience before jumping onto it. |
The GBA consumes about 100mA. A normal 3.3V flash cart consumes about 50mA. The PS utilise a step down converter to get 1.8V, this reduces the power consumption to 1.8/3.3=54% of a normal flash cart. 50mA*0.54=27mA.
So, a GBA with a normal flashcart consume 100+50=150mA while a GBA with a PS consume 100+27=127mA. This amounts to about 10 hours of battery life for a normal flashcart and about 12 hours of battery life for a PS. Original carts gives you a battery life of about 15hours.
This is for a normal GBA or a GBA SP with the light off.
The GBA SP backlight will add another 50mA to the power consumption, thus reducing the difference in battery life between the PS and a normal flashcart.
#16655 - Mill - Sun Feb 22, 2004 4:16 am
Wow, thank you so much for the detailed description. It really helped me understanding those power issues.
#16864 - bubun - Thu Feb 26, 2004 1:45 am
Does the EZ Flash Advance and F2A Ultra work with the GameBoy Player accessory for Gamecube ?
I have been thinking about getting either the EZFA or F2A Ultra, and would really like to use them in the GameBoy Player so that I can view them on my big screen TV.
If both of these work in GB Player, does one work better than the other ?
#16865 - Mill - Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:51 am
EZFA definitely works. And F2A Extreme works also. I haven't tried F2A Ultra but it should work fine because all the hardwares for GBA can be used with GB player.
By the way, I don't think there is any difference between them on GB player.
#16877 - torne - Thu Feb 26, 2004 6:36 am
All flashcarts work identically on the Player as on a real GBA. The Player contains the same hardware, after all. =)
#17921 - Mill - Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:22 pm
An update about the battery usage.
I just tried the EZ2 PS 512 with the same configuration.
My GBA SP lasted around 6 hour 30 minutes this time.
So if you care about the battery time, just go with
256 carts and PS won't make any real difference.
#18856 - smallbomb - Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:08 am
IMHO, power comsumption of logic circuits is dissipated in two ways. one is the DC power, which is used to power-up the the card, and the other is the switching states during every clock period. For the first way, if the new card uses a DC-DC switching converter to lower the power supply to 1.8V, the efficiency of is about 95%, so there is some advantage for 1.8V chip over 3.3V chip. However, 1.8V signals has to be level shifted to fit a 3.3V GBA machine. So you need some power to support these extra circuits, which could just consume more power. I guess that is why the EFA or EZFII PS card is even worse than the original 3.3V chip in terms of power consumption. By the way, EZFII PS card is not an upgrade of EZFA, as they are cards made by two companies. They are competitors, not partners.
#20206 - Tactic - Tue May 04, 2004 8:38 pm
I just got my EZFA on Tuesday from Jandaman.com and I think its great!
But should I have gotten EZ II Powerstar Instead?
#20270 - Fatnickc - Wed May 05, 2004 9:42 pm
How is this 1? it is US$86.99 including shipping &handling. Is it any good? i know that you may have already said it as one of the ez flash... or something, but i don't know! Also, there are lots of different things about each one, but in my case (up to US$100 to spend) i have no idea. Oh, and I live in Britain, so do they post it here?
Thanks!!!
#22265 - uroscar - Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:57 pm
1. Right now, the best choice is EZF-Advance 256Mb. The only thing that puts her infront is that you don't have to remove the cart from GBA like EZ-Flash 2 PowerStar so you can imediatelly check if flashing was successful.
2. I also had the chance of trying EZ-Flash 2 PowerStar 256Mb and I can say it's a great card, but the "low voltage" doesn't really make any difference, just the price is higher than other two carts.
3. My friend bought Flash2Advance 256Mb ULTRA and said that it's ok and works well with all the basic needs, but still "lacks the stability" (i think he was talking about bugs) of EZF-ADVANCE. i cannot confirm that, because I didn't had a chance to try it.
Let's see what the "flash-world" has to say about that.
Bye
UrosCar