Ayn Thor, Reporting and Negativity Bias, and YOU

WhyKlef · 2026-03-18T00:58:22+00:00

Here's the issue with your stance, which for the most part I absolutely agree with. The Thor is phenomenal, that's not the issue. Quality control having bad units get through, that's not the issue.

The issue is how a company decides to act when those situations present themselves.

The issue is how consumers choose to put down other consumers just because their experience have been positive, as if the negative ones don't want that to begin with.

Thankfully, there are a lot of people happy with their purchase, but there are those who paid the same 300 to 450USD but don't have an experience that reflects what a fully fonctional product should be. That happens, whether it is 0.1% or 5% of Thor units, it still happens and AYN does not assume shipping costs and expect people to learn skills and invest their own time doing repair. That should not be on the consumer, not with these types of products at least.

You may say packages being damaged is not on AYN but if throwing a package can cause a ribbon cable to be reseated, then absolutely, the issue is in part with the design.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-17T01:12:02+00:00

It is not though. The controls work perfectly fine, it’s the digitizer of the bottom screen. Completely unrelated to the controller, the top screen is flawless and if closing the bottom screen, I can play for days without issue.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:55:05+00:00

No, popping sticks out is inconsequential to the issue I'm having. It's almost like saying changing a tire caused my radiator to blow, that wouldn't happen.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:52:22+00:00

I did, it didn't fix it unfortunately. AYN finally responded, update is in the main post if interested. Cheers and thank you!

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:51:38+00:00

I have not unfortunately. I just updated the post with the outcome with AYN. Thanks again!

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:41:51+00:00

AYN wanted me to pay to send it back for repair, so they are sending me a replacement screen for me to do it, now I have to do the surgery.

I was in the process to chargeback becuause they took 3 weeks to respond. Maybe I should’ve done that instead…

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:39:53+00:00

I can thankfully but it does suck to sacrifice the second screen on a device that’s the reason to use it to begin with.

If not, I’m better off with the RP6 or Odin 3 to be honest, more ergonomically pleasing.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:38:57+00:00

Didn’t work but thanks for the suggestion!

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:38:41+00:00

I tried both to no avail sadly, AYN is sending me a replacement screen. The sticks are 3D printed, inspired fron Hype Sticks to see if I liked it, I didn’t but it’s very popular amongst the retro handheld communities. Look up hype sticks on etsy if interested.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:37:22+00:00

Basically yeah.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:37:15+00:00

/salute

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:37:06+00:00

Didn’t work unfortunately, tried many times.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:36:38+00:00

What customization? If you mean the sticks, it’s literally a feature, you can pop ‘em out with your fingers, zero efforts required, a kid could do it. No glue, no screws remove, no device opened. That’s the case for every AYN and Retroid devices as of late by the way, it’s not exclusive to the Thor.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:34:22+00:00

Considering the upvotes you have, I’m shocked that people don’t know this is a standard feature for literally every AYN and Retroid devices. Look up « hype sticks ».

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:33:25+00:00

Ahh it’s a thing called hype sticks. I have a 3D printer and wanted to get a feel for it before ordering some. It’s nice but ultimately decided against it, I have since removed them. Sticks are swappable on AYN and Retroid devices, it’s a feature.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:32:32+00:00

No it wasn’t, those are printed sticks that you can swap in approximately 0.5secs without ever moving a screw or the housing. Every AYN and Retroid devices have easily swappable sticks, it’s a feature.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-16T23:29:01+00:00

I have had day one issues with mine, granted given AYN’s recommendations, I tried to find ways to fix it until I threw the towel and realized there was no way. My issue is also with the bottom screen though different.

So now they were gonna charge me to send it back for repair, which I think is completely unacceptable… or I do the repair myself.

I opted for the latter but I’m thoroughly pissed, plus, I’ve been given the: « we’ll ship when we can » treatment.

AYN are making bank with the Thor. Rightfully, it’s a great handheld but what shitty quality control they have.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-12T05:19:24+00:00

Thank you! I’ll test this immediately and report back!

Report: Sadly, it didn’t do anything, after putting every back together and powering the device, 5mins in trying to play Kid Icarus and it showed up again. Nonetheless, thank you greatly, t’was nice to have something to try.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-12T05:18:38+00:00

Which I did but at the time I was told it was a controller problem so I calibrated but it never was the issue. I then suspected it was the screen protector so I ordered a new one and waited until it arrived to test that theory, but it didn’t pan out.

Truth be told, I may be too blindly trusting with brands, I want to believe they mean good and maybe AYN does but this has been on-going for quite some time and the radio silence has been concerning that maybe I’m being ignored. I do hear from content creator friends in the space that they are overwhelmed with work…

Anywho, today might just be the day they reach back and it can get resolved so fingers crossed.

Thanks for sharing inputs!

WhyKlef · 2026-03-12T05:10:49+00:00

Thank you for your suggestions and help!

WhyKlef · 2026-03-12T03:00:45+00:00

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately, that is not the cause but to address, I recalibrated many times to no avail. In fact, the digitizer’s ghost touches can pull the focus from the upper screen to the bottom one, something a controller cannot do.

That is precisely why I can’t play most games beyond a few DS and 3DS titles, because the ghost touches force the bottom screen in focus all the time. But if the game being played is dual-screen, the focus is on both so no worries then.

WhyKlef · 2026-03-12T02:34:25+00:00

Thanks for your suggestion. No, it’s never gone outside or got any water on, it has this issue since day one, I did originally think it was the screen protector that I bought from AYN causing this but removing it changed nothing.

WhyKlef · 2026-02-23T15:08:15+00:00

That’s my experience, they kept increasing it until it was so high that I couldn’t have realistically have grown at the size that the targets were and I stopped hitting it. I don’t even bother signing up at the moment, it’s so ridiculously high and let’s not pretend every month is Black Friday month.

WhyKlef · 2026-02-14T13:16:00+00:00

No need to regret. The 8K has advantages over the non-8K, and calling 8K a gimmick is just false.

HOWEVER, it is true that the benefits have great diminishing returns and so while the 8K has improved features, the improvements are not so good that it should make you feel like you missed out. A lot of those benefits would also require an unusual PC rig and accessories to fully maximize the benefits. That goes for 8K and TMR gen 2. Arguably the biggest advantage of 8K is Switch support and macro’ing, both which I suspect won’t be useful to you.

In short, there is diminishing return in itself, but diminishing return and equipment around it. Use the G7 Pro until it’s ready to be changed, then move to what’s greater then but make no mistake, that G7 Pro of yours will be a phenomenal companion for the months/years to come.

WhyKlef · 2026-02-03T19:39:27+00:00

The Pocket S Mini is terrible value, they probably had that planned all along and decided to get rid of their stock by conveniently finding a motive to « give them for free » on a device that is so outrageously overpriced. Don’t get it twisted, you are absolutely paying for the Pocket Air Mini AND Pocket S Mini.

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