New 3DS local stock - TN and Faulty panels - Warning "Updated with photos"

LMost Wanted on 09/04/2017 - 04:05
Last edited 15/04/2017 - 06:37

On Friday i went with my sister to pick her up a N3dsXL at target "Perth", took the Blue one out of the box and checked it..In the bright lights of Target it seemed fine compared to mine, went home .. and looked at it from the side…seemed a bit white and washed out… turned off the lights and h-ly shit it was Terrible, I took some pics to compare mine and my sisters-see below, anyway we went to another Target store and replaced it .. took it out the box and the counter girl said is that the faulty one? .. we said no thats the new one … she then pointed out the backlight bleeding.. the seal to the top monitor was torn and see could see 4 lights shining from the bottom ..There wasn't any stock left "boths stores they where the last 1" and we went home dissapointed .

So be Warned.. If your looking to buy a new 3DSXL be aware of faulty products and low quality TN screens, be sure to get that IPS "top panel, bottom doesn't matter that much"

Update: went to EB games .. 3 different stores, all TN "top and bottom" and Tons of backlight bleeding/Broken seals on the top and bottoms screens, on all different sides ..Seems all the Blue models are f-cked/ maybe a different production line .. Seems Nintendo released the New 3DS Xl with IPS panels but have now all done something worthy off sueing and changed all the panels back to TN.

Update: Bought two more, one blue and one gray, Both defective with seals broken and TN panels .. Confirmed all models have no quality control and coming from the same factory/same production line. Seven products all together, all faulty compared to the stock "the one bought" in 2015.

Heres some photos with my sister holding the devices, same "3" brightness setting auto brightness off, both set to Blue o-o: http://imgur.com/a/NGwJ8

Gaming Game Console Nintendo

Comments

  • airal3rt on 09/04/2017 - 04:22
    +2

    So you're saying some 3DS have TN panels and some have IPS panels? And they are being sold as the same unit despite the difference?

    • Most Wanted on 09/04/2017 - 04:26

      Yes .. Nintendo has multiple factorys and lets them do whatever they want with panels, no quality control it seems, theres some videos on youtube about it :/ , I just got lucky with my first one 2 years ago .. some person has 7 of them and only 1 with dual IPS screens .. and i think that one has dust under the screen.. lol

      • nicholasfrawley on 09/04/2017 - 07:58
        -5

        You seem A bit FUSSY, i don't think there is a need to tell the ozbargain community, most people are okay with TN panels and won't really know the difference unless in a direct comparison as the 3DS screens are atrociously low resolution, but if you really want to avoid this issue, buy a preowned one at EB games and test it there. I know from experience, have bought 2 preowned new 3ds xls from EB and got both top IPS

    • SteveBuscemi on 09/04/2017 - 08:46
      +2

      LCD-based products essentially being a "panel lottery" is nothing new. Certain models of Dell monitors and Samsung TVs have had similar variances. And Nintendo have been churning out TN new 3DSes for years now.

      Although I have to say, the TN panel in the 3DS is pretty terrible. My sister bought two new 3DSes for her kids and ended up with one TN, one IPS…and even they notice and fight over the one that "looks better".

      Check out how bad the TN one is with blacks:
      http://neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=156855835

      • BertieBrown on 09/04/2017 - 10:16

        Jeez that is ordinary.

        I want to say that Nintendo only do this because they reckon mostly people don't care because it's a handheld but as you say Samsung do the same damn thing.

        Oddly enough I don't know of instances where this happens with mobile phones?

  • ronnknee on 09/04/2017 - 10:16

    Nothing new. It's always been either TN or IPS, with TN being the more commonly used panel in the 3DS. You can even say that's the standard and the IPS panel is just a bonus.

    • Most Wanted on 20/04/2017 - 12:14

      They are now all TN, no more lottery system, I'm still looking

      • [Deactivated] on 20/04/2017 - 13:44

        I think new US reds are mostly IPS and would guess most Japanese systems are IPS. Nintendo have often dumped inferior quality on the export market. Back when Chinese manufacturing was significantly lower quality, around about the Nintendo GB Advance era, export models were made in China and Japanese models made in Japan.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/04/2017 - 11:11
    -4

    Its a game console aimed at children who probably don't give a toss about the difference between TN or IPS panels
    So much nitpicking over a panel lottery
    Whos to say there was an issue at a factory and a bad batch got released

    Kids wouldn't have a clue unless something was said to them, so in the case of the sister with 2 kids
    unless you have brought it up to them, they would be none the wiser

    • [Deactivated] on 09/04/2017 - 12:36
      +4

      "…Its a game console aimed at children…."

      Incorrect.

      • The 3DS XL and New 3DS XL were specifically designed for larger ADULT hands (they also tip the scales at over 320g)

      • The 3DS and New 3DS were created for the mid-late teens market

      • The 2DS was brought to market for children

      • BertieBrown on 09/04/2017 - 22:51
        +2

        To further the point I'd add that Nintendo also warn against younger children from using 3D parallax specificied by the 3DS; the system itself was designed for older participants and anecdotally it's been indicated that younger people do notice the difference and will argue to use the non-TN based panel.

  • Sage on 09/04/2017 - 14:00
    +2

    Thank you, Most Wanted.
    I knew already about this, but I don't think it's well known.
    It's helpful to have things like this posted on the forum for when we want to buy the same product.

  • Zachary on 09/04/2017 - 14:27
    +1

    Oh that's interesting…never knew there were different panel types for the 3DS's top and bottom screens….

  • [Deactivated] on 09/04/2017 - 16:05
    +2

    It's a strange user issue as the 3DS 3D itself only works through a few degrees of viewing angle anyway, so viewing angles aren't a big deal. I use both and for some reason the colours are more drab than on any of the previous TN based older 3DS versions. For games like Zelda with a natural palette it's not problem, but if you are used to playing Mario 3D world on another 3DS you will notice the primary palette differences.

    Neither the TN or IPS are perfect…the IPS is slightly oversaturated, dark areas are pretty dark during daylight (the gamma is quite different) and it has a higher refresh rate latency causing slight scanlining.

    • Most Wanted on 09/04/2017 - 20:29

      MY sister hardly would hardly use it in 3D mode since she has eye problems, its mainly going to be a Emulation device for 3ds games in 2d all the way back to Nes games, shes going to be viewing it from lots of angles

  • cheepwun on 14/04/2017 - 14:12
    +3

    Dear Customer

    You play the 'panel lottery' because we want to make more yen. We have not turned Panel Lottery into a game yet, so you may wish to consider it a free game. We never specified the 3DS came with an IPS display. In fact, we have been de-emphasising hardware specifications for decades. Like Reggie says, for us it's not about specs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhl5sk9i6Mk

    Therefore, we file this under I for Irrelevant. Perhaps even A for Amusing.
    I mean, we value your feedback. Thank you for your interest in Nintendo products.

    Tatsumi Kimishima
    https://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/report2016/president/img/p…

    PS. the Nintendo Switch has IPS. If we used TN in a screen of this size it would be too noticeable. We tried. We really did. Umm, forget I said that. For us, it's not about specs & things are subject to change at any time. Please enjoy the Nintendo Switch.

    • Most Wanted on 14/04/2017 - 17:43
      +2

      "Changes the switch to TN two years later" haha

  • Ctn on 24/04/2017 - 14:44

    Did you end up finding any with IPS panels?

    • Most Wanted on 26/04/2017 - 14:51
      +1

      In the end no, I tried several more times with EB games since they had a Monster hunter bundle for only $9 more, however All of them where dual TN, i could tell after awhile just in the stores now "look for the backlight bleed" , So what I'm doing now is contacting sellers on Ebay, I've found a couple Grey Top Ips ones that are for sale "talk to the seller and make them send pictures from a angle if your unsure to trust them", I've just bought a blue one and waiting for that to arrive, This blue is in top condition so easy to sell again if the seller was lieing, anyway just waiting for that and if it fails i'm gonna keep looking for a blue Top/Dual Ips, I've also ordered and waiting for very rare pink/white model, I'll edit this later to say if it was IPS or Tn.

      • Ctn on 26/04/2017 - 21:33

        Dang, according to this most new 3DS XL are IPS top and TN bottom. https://gbatemp.net/threads/guide-tn-and-ips-displays-which-…

        Might have to go 2nd hand if you are after dual IPS.

        I can't stand TN personally.

        • Most Wanted on 27/04/2017 - 18:18

          I use that website a lot but thats a old tread and most likly USA stock , "IPS or Tn randomess" used to be before the switchs release for Australia

        • Most Wanted on 07/05/2017 - 20:18

          @Most Wanted:

          The Pink model was Tn, but i'm handy enough, so im doing a Tn to Ips with a donar 3ds

  • Doggiie on 27/04/2017 - 09:44

    Wow I was not aware of this at all!

    Well at least my New 3DS XL is an IPS top and TN bottom. (Though it was bought about a year and a half ago).

    • Ctn on 27/04/2017 - 21:11

      Lucky you

  • puthpaul on 29/04/2017 - 20:24

    I'm lucky to have IPS N3DS XL but I bought it because of the games library. The hardware itself don't impressed me at all. This TN Panel issue also don't surprise me as 2 out of my 5 DS lite still have bright screen while other 3 have dim yellowish screen. Thank you Nintendo

  • Ctn on 06/05/2017 - 17:01

    Hmm pros and cons with TN and IPS.

    http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=156553933

    TN: Can see more shades of black/grey (can see better in dark areas), better response times, slightly better battery life, no dithering artifacts, no visible scan lines in 3D.
    IPS: Better viewing angles, more saturated colors.

    Edit: a few pages in, the visible scanlines & banding on the IPS panel in 3D is horrible. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1009798&page=8

    • Most Wanted on 07/05/2017 - 20:16
      +2

      When you have them in real life , their is no pros of Tn since most of those "pros" are lies e.g the better battery life is a lie, response time is exagerated since you will not notice it aka perfect enough already,Dithering artifacts is a lie, "can see better in dark areas" is because everything is too bright/white with the Tn, so you never will enjoy dark areas like monster hunter with a bad contrast tn, and i could see every dark area in monster hunter, accept when standing in direct sunlight.
      The scanlines for 3d are at a angle which system cannot detect your head, aka it doesn't matter since you never put your head outside of the front cameras view for 3D.

      In the end you will notice the cons of Tn and never the pros

  • [Deactivated] on 21/05/2017 - 13:00

    Yeah i heard about this, its a shame, i think some of the lesser aspects of the Nintendo handhelds might unfortunately be incorporated into the "Switch" home system if they try to go the "mid gen upgrade" route they way they did extensively with the 3ds and past handhelds. If they do i believe it is a sign that home console gaming may not be as strong as it once was. And with mobile you can still have alot of fun. But yeah, I think there is a "milking" aspect to it. Though i guess the trade off was you were getting a less expensive on the go device, suited for children that it wouldnt hurt wallets too much if they broke it. Very suprised with this but i guess Nintendo openly sees it the handheld as the "lesser" product from a production standpoint. Very suprised given they are the "premium" company.

    Obvious Microsoft and PS combine mid gen alternative systems to pump up shipped sales numbers as consoles havent sold as well as they pretend to claim with Xbox One/ PS line. Basically why we dont just have slims but Xbox One S, PSVR, Pro and now Scorpio and a possible Pro revision. Basically what they're doing, is what Nintendo does with their handhelds or Apple possibly. Not that any of that honestly matters, i think some of those ps3 units were certainly exaggerated. TLDR Longer then i thought, sorry.

  • lint on 23/05/2017 - 10:13

    This has been known for a long time. If you're fussed about it, maybe return it or exchange it or something.

    I think my New 3DS is a TN panel, but I don't really have any issues with it. I mean, 3DS displays aren't the best on the market, but it seems to be fine for what it is.

    I'm not exactly going to be playing games on it at a 55 degree angle like happens with all the comparison pictures. While it'd be nice to have better viewing angle, it's a device you'll pretty much always have in front of you in your hands, it's not really like other devices where the viewing angle is much more important.

    Basically, if you didn't know this was a thing, you're better off just being happy with it because you have been all along than fretting over it.

    • Most Wanted on 23/05/2017 - 14:11

      You would notice if you try to use this device in the dark or in 2D mode for emulators.. once you've seen a IPS display "and later in the future OLED" their is no going back

      • Ctn on 25/05/2017 - 11:03

        I mostly use my dual TN n3dsxl in the dark before I sleep and I'm amazed by the quality.
        It's got spot on color calibration and gamma as far as I can tell via online checks.

        Dare I say, it's comparable to my Dell CCFL IPS display when looking straight on.

        I haven't seen a dual IPS to compare though…

        • Most Wanted on 25/05/2017 - 15:46

          Then you might have the IPS, i thought mine was a Tn since when at a extreme angle it changes to whitish "before i ever saw a TN".. however i found out it was the IPS. To find out if its Tn without another device, TN has a greenish tint turned off .. Turn on your bedroom light "or whatever light is white in your house" and try to reflect the lightbulb until you see the reflection .. On the Tn the color changes to a green while on the Ips the color is a blue/white like the original light.

          Also don't spread nonsense that a Dual Tn looks good .. It does not, its disgusting and has terrible calibration .. Compared to other IPS devices and my IPS Ultrawide monitor

  • jmugwump on 27/10/2017 - 03:01

    Further 3DS lottery issue. The hinge can wobble on some 3DS'. To check, open your console to the 2nd click. Then lightly shake. If the top of the 3DS wobbles at the hinge, you have a faulty one. If it's a firm and does not wobble, you're good.

  • AustriaBargain on 09/11/2017 - 23:19

    I feel your pain buddy. I've been wanting even a top screen IPS 3ds for a long time now. Given up completely on somehow finding a dual IPS one. Just found a used top screen n3dsxl and thinking of buying it to replace my TN n3dsxl.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join