I got one. It's great. I'm having a lot of fun playing Adventure Island (NES) and Soul Blazer (SNES). I tried a bunch of the homebrew stuff too. The Tomb Raider port is impressive.

Okay, but

what is an Anbernic RG350?

A linux based retro console, that can emulate everything upto PS1. The surprising thing about Anbernic consoles is that, even though they are a Chinese manufacturer, the build quality is top of the line. And their 350m and 351v models have amazing 640x480 screens. Why did you get the 350 and not the 351, which is superior in every conceivable way? Please tell me that you at least got the 350m which has 640x480 screen and not the 350p with 320x240 screen.

So basically you paid for a glorified Retropi?

I don't own any of them, but I'm looking into getting one pretty soon. And I mentioned already that the build quality is amazing. Not to mention that the analogue sticks, buttons and 640x480 screens are praised by everybody that owns one. Comparing that package with a flimsy pcb that I can snap with my fingers if I'm not careful, feels beyond dismissive.

By the way did you say the same thing when we were discussing the NES mini and SNES mini? Because I also mentioned there that I highly value the build quality and the look and feel of the package.

I got the original 350 because it's the cheapest. It's great. I'm curious how much of an upgrade the M really is, but right now I'm having fun with the one I got. No, I paid for a Chinese handheld console. It's not just a board.

Hence the, "Glorified" part.

I think ETA Prime has video reviews on all of them in his channel. You may want to give it a look.

As far as I know, the M only has the 640x480p screen and the full aluminium shell. Other than that it's exactly the same.

Isn't the idea of "All Chinese stuff is badly made crap" a bit of an outdated meme at this point? To say nothing about the fact that basically everything is manufactured there and even if the label reads "Totally not made in China", that usually means that all the parts are made in China, they were merely assembled by some dude in a factory somewhere in California.

Sure, there's also really badly made crap. So here's a protip: The Chinese have this saying 一分钱一分货, which basically means if you spend a penny for something, you'll get something worth a penny in return. Keep that in mind and you'll be fine.

I'm a big fan of the RetroPie, but I do see why people buy the retro consoles (and even dodgy mainland Chinese ones) purely for the convenience of having things already assembled and working. Especially in handheld format.

That being said, while I'm okay with buying things from the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) including IP held there, I actively try to avoid buying items manufactured in or developed by companies from the mainland of China.

Not when it comes to retro consoles. There are maybe 2-3 Chinese companies that have excellent build quality, and all the other are severely lacking.

Also, it's not that if you spend just enough for a piece of shit, you end up with a piece of shit. In this context, the consoles have surprising build quality, despite the low price they are being sold for.

EDIT: By the way, you almost got me to argue a point I wasn't even trying to make. Most Chinese retro consoles are cheaply made and sold for an appropriately cheap price, and this is done at the expense of the build quality.

That shouldn't be that surprising. Probably most electronics you own were manufactured in China regardless of the "home country" of the brand.

No, it's still crap.

I was trying to buy an original Dual shock 3 last night. Way more complicated a task than I wanted. Thanks China.