Is the Switch unreliable?

[rgraves]

Erm....yeah - see that bit in the middle....most people do use both modes. Some people use undocked more than 80% of the time (red bit), a few less use docked more than 80% of the time (blue bit).

 

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, Oh Danny Boy said:

The Vita TV was hardly a success.

 

In the end if Nintendo have both a handheld and a tv only version of the Switch it would completely dilute the concept and cause consumer confusion. Would be a dreadful decision. 

The Vita itself was hardly a success, but I guess most people just preferred playing on PS3 or PS4 to get the full fat PlayStation experience , with Switch there is no difference as it’s the same games. 
 

The concept would cause no more confusion than a Switch Lite which you could argue also dilutes the concept. Switch is and was always a new ecosystem for Nintendo, so in the same way you have iPhones and iPads, Apple TV etc. there is no conflict offering multiple devices for Switch either. 

[Zio]

I've never had the joycon drift issue, but my launch console warped slightly when brand new (but has never got any worse) and both of the joycon sets I have (and have owned since launch) don't lock very securely to the console and can come loose fairly easily.

 

I use my Switch both handheld and on the TV and the Switch concept itself is the main thing for me. I also own a decent gaming PC and a PS4 Pro, and yet have deliberately bought the Switch version of some games purely so I'd have the option of playing them handheld if I wanted. It was great before lockdown because I'd travel relatively frequently and could take it with me. Now it's great because it means I don't have to steal the TV from the missus when I want to play a game.

 

My biggest problem with its reliability has actually been with the Ring Con from Ring Fit Adventure. I use that most days for a quick workout, but the ring has been getting worse and worse - often it doesn't register reps of certain exercises when I *know* I'm doing them right and more recently it's no longer able to recognise 100% strength when squeezing it - squeezing it hard enough so your hands can touch in the middle now registers around 92% strength on mine.

 

 

[dumpster]

Nintendo kindly returned my console to me, 3 weeks later, factory reset with all save game files missing.  This is ridiculous in 2020. You can't make your save games default to the SD card and there's no way to save them anywhere other than the console. And even if you could, it doesn't matter because the repaired console sees the SD card was "used on a different console" and won't allow you to use it unless you format it.  And you need to pay for the online service to use the cloud.  So if your console breaks, (and it's a handheld with a big screen so it's more likely to get damaged than most), then you have to start all your games from the start.  This is the console that launched with Mario Oddysey and Zelda, massive games where losing your progress would represent weeks and weeks of progress. Honestly.  I'm out.  Worst console ever. Unreliable, controllers, flimsy, and now I learn it has the same save game system as a Philips CDi.  And I had to pay for the repair because despite having a letter saying "we have extended your Nintendo warranty for 12 months" that only applies to the controller they most recently repaired. Three repairs in 2 years. Worst purchase ever.

[sir stiff_one]

Buying the online service (I got an extra year free with prime) Just for cloud saves seems worth it let alone all the nes And SNES and online stuff (and tetris99 obv). What a shame about your saves.

[dumpster]

Thing is, if they said "you'll have to pay to repair it and all your saves will have gone" I'd have said no, stuck all the games on eBay and written off owning a Switch as a bad decision. But instead I've got a console back that I've paid for and is pretty much useless to me because there's no way I can get back to where I was in all those massive games without weeks of effort.  At least I can flog this console while they still have second hand value. As an unpatched console I think I can get back pretty much what it cost me.  But in the era of AAA games that you can play for months, why is there no way to save your games onto the SD card? It defies belief that in 2020 they don't have a system for that. 

[MikeBeaver]

7 hours ago, dumpster said:

Thing is, if they said "you'll have to pay to repair it and all your saves will have gone" I'd have said no, stuck all the games on eBay and written off owning a Switch as a bad decision. But instead I've got a console back that I've paid for and is pretty much useless to me because there's no way I can get back to where I was in all those massive games without weeks of effort.  At least I can flog this console while they still have second hand value. As an unpatched console I think I can get back pretty much what it cost me.  But in the era of AAA games that you can play for months, why is there no way to save your games onto the SD card? It defies belief that in 2020 they don't have a system for that. 

 

 

As an unpatched console, you "could" have got all those save games off there, sorry to say that now it is back and sans save files, but maybe it's useful info for anyone else with an original unit that develops a fault, I'd never send a console to the manufacturers to be fixed, unless under warranty, 3rd party places will always fix it cheaper.

 

As for WHY they don't let you put saves on the SD card, well Marcan and the rest of Team Twiizers caused a lot of problems on the Wii with save game exploits, so they decided to lock it all up.

[dumpster]

22 minutes ago, MikeBeaver said:

 

 

As an unpatched console, you "could" have got all those save games off there, sorry to say that now it is back and sans save files, but maybe it's useful info for anyone else with an original unit that develops a fault, I'd never send a console to the manufacturers to be fixed, unless under warranty, 3rd party places will always fix it cheaper.

 

As for WHY they don't let you put saves on the SD card, well Marcan and the rest of Team Twiizers caused a lot of problems on the Wii with save game exploits, so they decided to lock it all up.

There's an irony there, what with having modded pretty much every console I've owned!  I had factory reset the switch and removed all mods, if I'd have known you could back up the saves I'd never have done that!

[MikeBeaver]

3 minutes ago, dumpster said:

There's an irony there, what with having modded pretty much every console I've owned!  I had factory reset the switch and removed all mods, if I'd have known you could back up the saves I'd never have done that!

 

 

It's called " checkpoints" you can even swap saves between different, hacked consoles.. sorry, wish I'd mentioned it sooner

[Down by Law]

Timely

 

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/09/nintendo_is_getting_sued_yet_again_over_switch_joy-con_drift

[dumpster]

...and , as if to thank me for my angry posting yesterday , the console is broken yet again.  This time it works perfectly in the dock, but I get a black screen when not docked.  You can hear the controllers connecting, you can hear the taps on the touch screen but a black screen.  So pissed off with this right now.

[Sarlaccfood]

7 minutes ago, dumpster said:

...and , as if to thank me for my angry posting yesterday , the console is broken yet again.  This time it works perfectly in the dock, but I get a black screen when not docked.  You can hear the controllers connecting, you can hear the taps on the touch screen but a black screen.  So pissed off with this right now.

Isnt that’s just the thing where you have to hold down the power button for a few seconds to do a proper reset?

[dumpster]

4 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

Isnt that’s just the thing where you have to hold down the power button for a few seconds to do a proper reset?

Tried that.  It powers off with a loud click, but when you switch back on the screen lights but remains black. Putting the console in the dock makes it all work again on the TV.  I just factory reset it and formatted the memory card and still the same.  

[MikeBeaver]

Sounds like the ribbon cabl for the screen isn't in correctly.

[Sarlaccfood]

7 minutes ago, dumpster said:

Tried that.  It powers off with a loud click, but when you switch back on the screen lights but remains black. Putting the console in the dock makes it all work again on the TV.  I just factory reset it and formatted the memory card and still the same.  

Urgh sorry mate what bad luck. 

[dumpster]

2 minutes ago, MikeBeaver said:

Sounds like the ribbon cabl for the screen isn't in correctly.

The screen is lit briefly, just blank.  Is that a fix I could do?

[MikeBeaver]

6 minutes ago, dumpster said:

The screen is lit briefly, just blank.  Is that a fix I could do?

Yeah, just sounds like the ribbon is loose.

[dumpster]

10 minutes ago, MikeBeaver said:

Yeah, just sounds like the ribbon is loose.

I guess that would invalidate the warranty from Nintendo if I look and it's not that?

[Jarik]

Haven't had really any problems with the Switch (touch wood), either the original one I got at launch or the Upgraded Chip version I got last year.  I did get the dreaded Joy-Con drift on the first one after about a year & half of use, but I just replaced the Joy-Cons & nowadays I use it mostly in the Dock with a Pro Controller.

 

I have to admit to a growing feeling of Paranoia however.  All but one of my games are downloads & as the number stored in the machine grows I'm starting to worry more & more about what happens if the unit breaks down or is stolen to the point where I don't want to take it anywhere.  I've been told that if it was stolen/broken I could recover all my software by contacting Nintendo, telling them what happened & giving them the serial number of the device (which i've recorded) & logging in/redownloading to a new machine, but i'm not sure if that's really the case & it seems entirely too dependent on Nintendo's generosity & consideration.

[dumpster]

3 minutes ago, Jarik said:

Haven't had really any problems with the Switch (touch wood), either the original one I got at launch or the Upgraded Chip version I got last year.  I did get the dreaded Joy-Con drift on the first one after about a year & half of use, but I just replaced the Joy-Cons & nowadays I use it mostly in the Dock with a Pro Controller.

 

I have to admit to a growing feeling of Paranoia however.  All but one of my games are downloads & as the number stored in the machine grows I'm starting to worry more & more about what happens if the unit breaks down or is stolen to the point where I don't want to take it anywhere.  I've been told that if it was stolen/broken I could recover all my software by contacting Nintendo, telling them what happened & giving them the serial number of the device (which i've recorded) & logging in/redownloading to a new machine, but i'm not sure if that's really the case & it seems entirely too dependent on Nintendo's generosity & consideration.

As far as I know if you log into the new console with your username and password you'll have no problem getting your games. Put the save games are on the console itself so they're gone forever.

[MikeBeaver]

35 minutes ago, dumpster said:

I guess that would invalidate the warranty from Nintendo if I look and it's not that?

 

There are not any little warranty stickers, but yeah, it would technically, but they shouldn't be able to know really as I say, no stickers... unless they have stuck some on there since they sent it back.

[Jarik]

20 minutes ago, dumpster said:

As far as I know if you log into the new console with your username and password you'll have no problem getting your games. Put the save games are on the console itself so they're gone forever.

 

That's what I've been told & its certainly the way that the PlayStation accounts work, but considering that this is Nintendo we're talking about & I still needed both Switch's to transfer my software when I got the upgraded chip model, I'd be a lot more assured if someone had actually been through this process.

 

Has anyone tried to log into their Switch account on a new machine without having access to the old one?

[dumpster]

29 minutes ago, Jarik said:

 

That's what I've been told & its certainly the way that the PlayStation accounts work, but considering that this is Nintendo we're talking about & I still needed both Switch's to transfer my software when I got the upgraded chip model, I'd be a lot more assured if someone had actually been through this process.

 

Has anyone tried to log into their Switch account on a new machine without having access to the old one?

Although I was using a repaired console with the same serial number the system treated the new system as a different console.  It asked me to log in and I said to use an existing account. I then got given the choice "I have the original console" or "I do not have the original console". I said I did not and it logged me in and I went to to the store and redownloaded.  I assume if there was an old console I would be auto logged out of it now.

[Shimmyhill]

1 hour ago, Jarik said:

 

That's what I've been told & its certainly the way that the PlayStation accounts work, but considering that this is Nintendo we're talking about & I still needed both Switch's to transfer my software when I got the upgraded chip model, I'd be a lot more assured if someone had actually been through this process.

 

Has anyone tried to log into their Switch account on a new machine without having access to the old one?

I have, my old console is with the kids and their mum so my new model console is with me - I’ve just logged in and can download any games Ive bought digitally and have all my cloud saves - I would say it’s as good as Sony but..... my console isn’t the primary one so the kids can still use my games under their accounts but for me to play any game (even on cart) I have to be connected to the internet so it can check if I’m allowed to play my own games 

[dumpster]

It's the save games that get lost in the process - and it seems unforgivable on a machine that plays Mario, Zelda etc.  Even Deadly Premonition 2 took me three hours to get back to where I was (skipping every bit of dialogue I could) until the console broke again and now I have that to look forward to in three weeks when the fixed one comes back.

[Shimmyhill]

2 hours ago, dumpster said:

It's the save games that get lost in the process - and it seems unforgivable on a machine that plays Mario, Zelda etc.  Even Deadly Premonition 2 took me three hours to get back to where I was (skipping every bit of dialogue I could) until the console broke again and now I have that to look forward to in three weeks when the fixed one comes back.

I have all my saves as they were backed up in the cloud.

[Tempy]

Hmm, just over a year of ownership and I'm now experiencing drift on the left blue neon controller. This was the newer Switch model with better battery life too. My 6 year old son kept complaining about his character in Fortnite glitching so I had a go and very quickly realised the dreaded drift had set in. I tried all the usual tricks such as reseting the Switch, updating Switch and Controller firmware, running the controller calibration but no joy.

 

Today I've today sent off the controller for a warranty repair. Nintendo customer services said I wouldn't have to pay if the Switch was puchased less than two years ago. At least that's better than the standard one year warranty, but still shocking how widespread this issue is. If the controllers weren't so expensive I'd have bought a spare set.

 

Thankfully I'd got him a 3rd party pro style controller for us to play together, so he can still use the Switch, but not in handheld mode. Hoping it doesn't take too long to get it back.

[JPL]

1 hour ago, Tempy said:

Thankfully I'd got him a 3rd party pro style controller for us to play together, so he can still use the Switch, but not in handheld mode. Hoping it doesn't take too long to get it back.

Why can’t he use it in handheld mode? My son uses a Pro controller with the Switch in handheld mode no problem.

[Raoull duke]

On 03/09/2020 at 13:32, Nick R said:

 

Saying "I personally do not/would not get much use out of the handheld mode, so I'd like to be able to buy a cheaper TV-only Switch" is not the same thing as saying "Nintendo should have made a TV-only console from the start".

 

I don't understand how TV only is silly but handheld only isn't. Just seems like an arbitrary distinction someone has imagined based on their own particular requirements and circumstances. 

 

Lots of people would buy a TV only switch. I know two people have put off buying a switch cause it is expensive that were gonna buy Lites until they found out that it wasn't possible to get a dock at a later date and use it with the TV. Who wants to sit on a handheld when you could be looking at a 50" HD TV. And obviously some people play on their commutes or whatever and it's a great wee time killer, but not everyone commutes or has time to play games anytime other than when they're sitting in the vicinity of their 50 inch TV.

 

It seems like the logical next step after the handheld only version. Call it a budget version. Pro controller instead of joycons, no screen, no dock. £150. How many of you "oh that's a silly idea" fuckers would get an extra one for the bedroom or wherever at that price? Be honest, you know you would. 

 

Though I'm not sure they'll do it until the sales start to dip. Why give people a cheaper option when the mad expensive version is still selling well. Hopefully PS5 and Xbox series start eating into their sales soon and we see one in time for Christmas. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Strafe]

I’ve had joycon drift in and out of warranty! Also, the SR button has been prone to breaking too.

 

The console itself? Fine.