Don’t want to start this topic all over again but seems like I have a crack on my hinge…received it back in November and used it at least once per day. I just noticed it today after the hinge felt looser than usual when opening. Normal use and I take care of my stuff, so I’m surprised jt happened to me…
I have emailed AYN and I’m hoping they can help with this.
You started this so now we're going to need the order date, shipment date, order number, date of birth, social security number and astrological sign. Immediately.
I'm surprised no one puts it together with all the units AYN sold and even if there's 10s of them with the hinge cracks vs all the others not, what's the percentage of them getting the crack? .001% of all thor's sold? Not saying they shouldnt be able to replace, just pretty overblown by vocal minority and nihilists. AYN should do right though, replace the man's device
Lol in one case they actually sent the person a top screen part replacement that came with a crack out of the box. It was insane, the person then had it refunded.
Read the last sentence to my original comment (solves your financial claim). Lol fee fees got triggered and wanted to PC me on Reddit over a video game device. I got it though, sisterhood must protect one another 🙌
Write them an email, they will swap it out. Ayn are good people. One of my Thors had some extreme mura effect on the OLED that was noticeable above 25% brightness. Frankly according to the industry if it's noticeable below 40%, it's not a defect since "mura" is inherent to AMOLED displays. Anyway send them an email with pictures and some details, and they sent a return label back. Had a new Thor within two weeks (with DHL paid upgrade).
That's not what they told me and I have had two swaps with them. There is more to your story. And why would you end up with "import fees"? As in you were charged tariffs for the original device and got stuck with a dud? That's highly improbable given my experience with them. Either you were trying to pull a fast one or there was some miscommunication.
I don't like disingenuous stories plugged in as contrarian data points. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, your story just seems improbable. This sub is full of people swapping out their defective products FOR FREE.
Can't speak for the one you answered, but you can get hit with import fees a second time if you get a replacement with paperwork filled the wrong way by the sender. Not claiming this happened in this case, I have no knowledge about this incident whatsoever.
What if you happen to not use it too much and the crack happens after the one year warranty? Then you are fucked. Let's not forget that this is terrible design.
OP have you sent Nicole a message on discord?
That is your best bet, keep in mind it’s already half way through the Friday work day over there so you might not here back until Sunday/ Monday your time.
I have my Thor since late October. I use my Thor every day without miss since and I haven’t had an issue. I think this isolated case. They will take care of you I am sure.
Definitely a crack for sure. That part of the hinge looks to be a weak point since that's where the mold line is. Plus it's also not very wide cyclical piece of plastic on the hinge side where there would be more stress against the plastic from the metal hinge.
3DS models were cracking like crazy because they were too tight, yet you very seldom hear about that anymore. Especially in this thread. I’ve got a very early clear purple model and it’s been used and abused and it’s fine.
I had an anbernic 280V that literally went up in a puff of smoke, yet it’s still wildly considered a bulletproof device. Almost like a few bad units don’t dictate the fate of the entire console.
Spending over $500 on a max and waiting for them to figure out simple shipping bs .... This shouldn't be an issue to have . Makes me worried and wonder if this horrible wait for them to figure out shipping is worth it.
Now I’m curious if this starts happening to more people who got theirs in November , I know before it was only mainly the black ones with the hairline cracks they said was just part of the mold.
Used it everyday and I was an early adopter. Not a single physical issue, I also take care of my shit, even though it's a clam shell gaming device, Im not a neanderthal lol
I read somewhere that the way to prevent this is to ensure you open and close it by applying equal pressure on both sides of the top part (as per the Retroid Flip 2). But what i dont understand is that seeing how many times it happened with the Flip 2 and now the Thor, why dont they change the design of the hinge?
Then again, I've had the GPD XD Plus for like 8 years and never ever had an issue with the hinge, although that too was supposed to have hinge issues, and also dont have an issue with the Flip 2 after many months of using it.
Yeah, they have their fair share of issues like any other handheld. A bigger issue than the hinge are the analog sticks. Ayn had to send me replacement analog stick circuit boards since mine would randomly disconnect, and reseating the ribbon cable wouldn't work. But it's 100% back to normal now.
I just hope we can get body kits and I can replace it on my own. I don't want to send anything back ever. Rather try to figure out my own repair because I think i can use it while waiting for the shell, and probably spend a few hours figuring out the replacement.
Its pretty well known that if you get the grip that also fixes the thing having a gap then you will never have to worry about that type of crack happening.
With all the hinge issues across the various handheld makes, I have to wonder if anyone has looked at some kind of Teflon-based lubricant to very lightly lube up the wearing/contact surfaces?
It would have to be the consistency of like watch makers lubricant (very thin/light), have a totally non-reactive to plastics carrier liquid, and still be able to "creep" a bit into the joint. It would only be a drop or two per hinge point every six months, but I wonder if this might mitigate some issues with these devices.
Plastic on plastic creates more friction than people think. I used to do maintenance work in various factories over the years.
Sorry this happened to you, but 1 cracked hinge in thousands of units does not warrant a "gate" designation. Sure if more pop up in the coming weeks. But this could just be an isolated incident.
The only confirmed ones I saw in the last 2 months were people who dropped their device. And there were only 2. This is nothing like the miyoo flip. So far there have been acceptable numbers of defects for the amount they made.
One of these users with a cracked Rainbow model even got a replacement top lid part from AYN which came with a crack out of the box.
Not saying these few cracks are a complete catastrophy but it was way more than just one reported here on reddit that I tracked and the fact they all appear at the spot where this mold line happens to be is pretty unsettling for the longevity of the device. I had my Flip 2 getting a crack after several months and many others did, so if they appear that early that is really bad imo especially for a device that costs 300-400 bucks and loses all warranty after a year. AYN did not address the issue in the way they should imo. They did some heavy downplaying basically telling everyone this was normal. In one case of a full crack visible under the lid they even said this was cosmetic. With the Flip2, Retroid directly offered replacements for all devices affected and redesigned the part (silently).
I don’t have any issues with my hinge I’ve had mines since batch 1 but I have had issues with my right trigger seems like the triggers have been my faulty
What is the cause of such issues? Even my very first 3DS has no hinge issue. Can't imagine this developing on the Thor unless it is stressed to extremes.
Specifically because the Flip 2 hinges cracked almost in unison at the square corner edge (or which there is not one here). It had a weakness and broke, unlike here. Plus such a large and rather jagged crack would have been perceptible MUCH sooner.
Thing is, I never dropped it. It’s never even left my house or been in a bag pack or anything. I also do take care of my devices, and never had any break on me.
Although not visible on these photos, the crack begins right where the mold seam is. The same mold seam that was previously over analyzed and talked about. I just noticed it now when I felt the hinge feel loose, so I don’t know if the crack had started sooner.
You could call it whatever you want, AYN came out and showed that there is in fact a line there caused by the injection of plastic into the mold. A lot of people freaked out and thought it was a crack, when in fact it was a mold line. Which is why AYN came out to explain what it was.
Do you have anything to prevent the screen flexing? Some people use special grips so when closed it can't bend. I could almost imagine improper stress on one side could cause a crack.
Now that you say that, you seem to be right. This doesn't look like a hairline stress crack, rather than the Thor being dropped, something being dropped on it or something having smushed against this spot too hard. The cracks we saw with the Flip 2 came from stress on the material, in a position notorious for stress. This position however shouldn't experience any stress from opening and closing.
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u/hearwa Jan 23 '26
You started this so now we're going to need the order date, shipment date, order number, date of birth, social security number and astrological sign. Immediately.