AYN really does make such nice looking and feeling hardware, had it actually released closer to when they originally planned it would have been a real contender
Yeah, releasing this late in the game is really going to hurt their investment. I can't imagine someone would think to themselves "Yeah, I'll pass on the Ally. I'm gonna drop the same $700 to get this older hardware, wait months for my order to ship, deal with international shipping, Ayn quality control, and inevitable software bugs that they'll be dead silent on for weeks until an update mysteriously drops and fixes the broken thing while breaking something else." The Odin's release should have been the canary in the coal mine. Good luck to anyone still keeping their order.
@@ivana6141 It costs almost twice as much as the Steam Deck lol. And with Valve I have no concerns that they are going to just disappear with my money in a couple of months without ever sending me the thing I paid for.
@@gravitronlocksport9925 up had my steam deck in 5 days which is impressive for fed ex. Yeah this will get clearance out, only handheld enthusiasts with the cash to burn will pick this up. Ally and Deck will essentially be the Xbox and Sony of handhelds.
@@ivana6141 Not with low TDP's.. this is the main reason why I'm not going the x86 route for a handheld, when I get worse battery life playing snes/gamecube many of the lower tier systems on a steamdeck compared to an Odin or some other ARM device, nah, not for me, for emulation.
As previous owner of Ayn Odin Pro, it seems that Ayn made another quality product. If only Ayn released this just few months earlier, then this would have been a hit. Now, there is too much competition...
These companies selling cheaper devices will be alright. OneXPlayer, GPD, qnd Ayaneo are definitely going to need to reduce their price a 1-2 hundred bucks
@@GoToSleep1993 the AyaNeo Geek 1S has a model that has 16GB and 512GB paired with the 7840U for about $600... In my currency it comes out to about the same as the ROG Ally locally due to import fees, but if you don't have to worry about that it's actually insanely good value
In my opinion I love this design way more than the rog ally I just think the rog is trying too hard to be sharp and gamery, in the end I think it just looks gaudy.
Yes, the ROG Ally is way too ugly, just like the Steam Deck. But in the end it is not the looks that's most important. That's why I like to use my Steam Deck as it's really comfortable and works just great. Still I love my ayn Odin and ANBERNIC RG552 the most, because I mostly play retro and the Steam Deck is just way too chunky and big for that. Even though it's comfortable, it just doesn't feel right to play Gameboy games on it for example.
@@timaaaahhhh true true but they are priced the same at least as of right now you can get 75$ off the most expensive Loki making it the same price as an ally, also rog hasn't been doing to good lately with consumer trust like with their mother boards exploding, and their oled monitors not having a burn in warranty.
@@clownavenger0 no one cares about thickness though, even on a thin console like the Switch people still use thicc joycons like the binboks for more comfort
@@ca9inec0mic58 some people do. And I only commented on why something's dimensions of length and width can handle a 38 watt TDP. Prob has a decent cooling system that takes up some space inside. As long as it can stay quieter than the steam deck that's a great trade off imo. A few months ago I would have considered buying the thing. Now the competition is so fierce
@@jamesyu5212see that a lot on RU-vid comments. It's that they're enough of an attention grubber to write "first", but they also want a comment to get a ❤ from Russ, so they try to write something insightful while having zero information about what the video actually contains. They in short didn't get enough attention from mommy or daddy
@@Boogie_the_cat yeah. The amount of "thank you Russ this is so helpful" comments when they haven't even seen the video is laughable. Russ doesn't actually have to do anything, he can literally post a 40 minute video of his cat and it will still solicit a thank you and congratulations from attention seeking gullibles.
Mendocino one for $299 will kill all android competition, that is if they keep it at $299 and not change it to $650 a few months later like a certain other company
@ca9inec0mic58 yeah I have that one pre-ordered. I cannot wait to see it's performance. I hope and I imagine everything even PS2 should work great. Should even run mid range games.
Cheers Russ. Nice to see Ayn have moved their game on with the controls and ergonomics, more impressed so far than I thought I'd be. It's still in a slightly uncomfortable place with price and performance, but a really nice user experience would help that. Looking forward to the full review now. :)
Gotta feel bad for AYN, you can tell they put care into this product but it just came way to late into the game. Even ignoring the Ally pretty much cannibalizing all the competition. I can still see reasons to stick with AYA and their devices, but I can't see a market for AYN and alot of others anymore.
Yeah I'm kinda with you on that. They took too long to get the Loki made and, in the process, might've burnt some bridges with the Odin. I love my Odin to bits (daily user since launch) but have noticed microcracks on it as early as last December). It turned me off from using the thing and encouraged me to treat myself to a Steam Deck, which then opened the door for me to get an ROG Ally next week. AYN did a great job with the Odin for a first product but all of the trouble I've had with the dock and those microcracks turned it from a no-brainer device to one I use for simple emulation stuff due to the battery life. And even then, I'll just be selling it in a week or so and giving my Steam Deck to my gf
@@ca9inec0mic58 If they want to succeed that is what they need to do. Stick with the odin devices and put a better chip in there and work on the button mapping software more. A device the size of the odin that could actually play every ps2 and gamecube game without having to spend forever in the menu adjusting the emulators and still getting no where would sell. This unit is priced $200 too high at this point in the market. Why would anyone buy a 6800u for more then the Ally or Aya units with the 7000 series chips? I used the odin not only for gaming, but as a tablet to stream netflix, youtube, nfl games when i had it. It was great for that.
@@creaturecore13 People are beginning to use much better android chips as well. an Odin with a snapdragon gen 1 would be great for emulation and battery life.
Aya is a non starter for me, because most of their devices have locked BIOS, which means you are stuck with the stock OS. I simply won't pay a lot of money for a locked down device. The only x86 handhelds I'm interested in right now are the ROG Ally and the GPD Win 4. There should be a 7840u version of the Win 4 at some point, because it's a drop in replacement for the 6800u. I have an Ayn Odin Pro that I never use. I just don't like gaming under Android. My daily driver is an Anbernic Win600 running Batocera. Along with every console from Atari to Wii U, I've also gotten MS-DOS and Windows games installed in Batocera, such as Skyrim, Hades, and Into the Breach.
Getting these handhelds are pointless in modern times...you end up just collecting them and never playing them because you are already on to next big thing...got 280v, bought nice SD cards, got the latest and greatest firmware the device could ever possibly have...scraped every box arts out there and when everything is all done and it's time to play, test the games for 5 minutes, chuck the device into drawer and never touch it again...same with 351v...I am noticing a pattern here so I have decided I am not going to waste my money and time anymore on these anbernic or similar products anymore but I am still gonna watch these reviews on you tube cause you know reasons 😅
When I was a kid I had 10 games max to play and so many hours to do so, now we have grown and we can access 10000 of games, have less time and feel like im testing and not playing
That's not how I do things. I do a lot of research, buy one device and enjoy it for a couple years. Sounds like you have "too much" disposable income and you chase the next big thing in technology. I have very little income, I waste all my time doing research before I buy. And after I buy, I enjoy tweaking settings to get the most out of what I have. I only buy "the next big thing" when my "current thing" can no longer game. I'm sorry you feel trapped in a cycle of collecting, but it doesn't have to be that way for everyone. With tech there is always a "next big thing" and there is no way to always be caught up. Technology moves at faster and faster pace every year. No way to stop it, but you can stop yourself and enjoy what you have. It almost sounds as if you don't enjoy playing games, just buying the best hardware.
I waited so long and trusted AYN to put out a good product. I'm glad that trust was not unfounded and had they shipped even a month ago I would've been happily playing on my own Max. I cancelled last minute to get a Geek 1S because I was just getting more for the same price and sadly that's just timing...I hope Loki has a market, I'll be excited to see how the Odin 2 turns out, but yeah damn if only it came out sooner.
I'm exactly the same. Absolutely love my Odin Lite and really wanted to keep supporting AYN, but will be ordering a Geek 1S because it's more bang for my buck. If the Loki had been released 6 months ago I would have 100% bought one. The 6 inch screen is a bit of a negative too, I feel like it's just a bit too small for PC games.
It's a real shame that the Loki blew past it's original release date but I'm glad I held firm and will be getting mine soon. It may not have the power of the Ally or the Aya 7800 handheld bit it's just the right size and will handle most anything I will want to use it for.
The Loki Max may be thicker but to me it's totally worth it for the vastly improved analog sticks. I hate the low profile Switch style sticks with a passion.
The ambience lighting is probably reactive to whatever the color on screen is. The device seems cool over all. It's nice to see a wide variety of 6800U devices. Lots of options and competition in the market
Damn I just cancelled mine a few weeks ago due to the wait… got a steamdeck in the meantime. But honestly with bigger companies like ASUS stepping in the ring I believe other options will become more prevalent and with the chip shortage slowly ending we’ll also see more of those options appear a lot sooner
Can't wait until they start making and shipping the Loki Mini, the Max looks awesome, but looking to get the Mini mainly because I don't necessarily want to replace my pc, just looking for something that has a bit more power than my Odin Lite but not be this huge handheld.
The Loki, along with my experience with Steam Deck and other handhelds, is making me realize what my top criteria are for gaming handhelds... 1. Comfort to play. If you are uncomfortable playing the game, what is the point? This is why I'm ordering a Loki. 2. Portability.... if I'm going to sacrifice the comfort (to a point), it needs to come in a VERY portable form. For portability, anything larger than the RP3+ is not offering enough portability. So, if it's larger than the RP3+, you may as well move up to the Loki to get the comfort, because anything larger than the RP3+, you won't exactly be putting in your pocket. Even the RP3+ is pushing it for pocketability. Honestly, until they have a decently powerful pocketable device, this Loki seems like the only handheld I want. I'm selling my other handhelds to get this. If I want gaming on the go, I'll live with my phone.
while you are doing your intro, I am looking at the like... pre-order... what what? Sorry that price is just outside of my budget :-/ still going to look at the review, but with a sad eye
Will you be doing a video on Ally again nearer to or slightly after the Ally 's launch? To see if anything changes/improves compared to your initial video?
Damn, this thing actually looks perfect as far as size, stick and button quality, and screen goes for a 1080p handheld goes. When they make one of these with a new chipset that can handle max settings on newer games I'm all in but not trying to play 720p low for 60 fps for 775.
Waiting for what's really important, that improvement on battery technology. I just started my 20s and am willing to wait till the start of my 30s but hopefully it won't be that long. Or you know optimization and efficiency of components
They really had to fix all of the glaring problems that the Odin had right after I bought it lol. The analog size and dpad placement are PERFECT on this. The Odin sticks are way too small and the dpad placement is so crowded to the side you end up having to use the middle of your thumb for it (a grip fixes this though). I love the Odin but im kinda wishing I held out for the base model Loki now.
I really want a good budget windows handheld for steam indie game playing with a good battery life. When will something like that exist? So much focus on running AAA games, I just wanna play pixel indie games from my Steam library.
The "Boost" for the cpu could be something along the lines of what the ps4 pro has. When you turn on boost mode for the pro, it overclocks the apu to help games that have a targeted fps and stay at that framerate more consistently. That's probably what's going on with the Loki, it's just a toggleable switch to overclock the cpu without having to go into the bios.
As good of a product as it looks like, the ROG Ally seems like tough competition for this one. I'd be interested in the Loki Zero or especially the Loki Mini Pro at a lower price point than Steam Deck, hopefully more news about those come out eventually!
Ordered this when they first announced it, got it for $650, due to being an Odin backer. Even though I will have the Ally by the time I get this, I'm still really looking forward to it. Hopefully it releases soon. Bummed it took them so long, but it looks very premium. Just think the way they release these will really hurt their sales and that's a shame. So far they have made two great products. The Odin is still my favorite for emulating GameCube and below. Playing Zelda OOT 3ds on it right now and it looks and runs great.
Hi rgc i have a question about this ayn loki max would i be able to play mobile games on it ? if not what handheld would play mobile games as i don't like playing games with virtual buttons on the screen ..
Hi Russ, just wanna say that I've recently gotten a RG353PS and thanks to your guide, I was able to install ArkOS without any issues. Keep up the good work.
They should have been one of the first to release a RK3588 handheld. Handheld PCs are saturated. This should also be priced at the entry level ROG Ally at $599.
It's a beautiful device and I'm glad companies are getting the ergonomics right with the v-shaped control setup. I just wish these units weren't so expensive. They're overpowered for what I want to do (Nintendo Gamecube emulation), but the next step down is the Odin family and they're just a hair underpowered. I keep hoping to hear there's gonna be an Odin 2 or a comparable device announced and launching soon because I'd love a handheld that can do Gamecube emulation without hours of tinkering, but stay in the $300-ish dollar range. Anyway, excellent vid as always, my guy.
I personally love the design and size, it's simplistic with a little cute add ons (the rgb), I also hope to see it run emulation pretty well, the option to adjust screen res was just a plus to me. Wasnt expecting its front end to work that well. I ordered the Mini Pro about a year and a half ago, I'm not expecting the same performance but seeing the 7320U performance on low end laptops is impressive that it can run most games on low, I do hope you receive a test for that
I do feel like form factor is an important variable with these handhelds, even factoring in performance. Since you'll never actually cram in the power to rival a full desktop or gaming laptop, there's a sweet spot to their size/power. I personally find the steam deck to be a bit too big.
I don't think the Max has a purpose any more, but the 6600U might still have a place as a smaller lighter device that still has a good amount of power behind it. Is nice though that just like the Odin it looks like even after all the delays they got something good out the door.
In the in-depth review please show how well the app FXsound boost the audio quality. Otherwise you do an excellent job as always keep up the good work! 😀👍
I just don't know if I'd spend the money considering how rough the Q/A was on the Odin. I know mine just had a straight up dysfunctional touchscreen, and the discord was full of people with units with just a plethora of issues from buttons to screens like mine to broken triggers... That "Nicole Ayn" lady seems to really try and help out but.. one person can only do so much. Otherwise i love the Odin/Loki aesthetic. but for the consumer? I can't imagine spending big money on anything other than the steam deck or ally.
Thanks for the video. The LCC software looks really simple but nicely done. Please test the software in your final review and check how stable it is (resolution change, refresh change).
AYN makes solid products probably because they take their time. Unfortunately, they take too long for fulfillment. 6800u just doesn’t make sense when you can get an ally for less.
If I can sell my Steam Deck at a decent price. I might get this. Perfect size and ergonomics. Just what I need. I don't play high-demanding games on my handheld, so this will be perfect choice.
@@ca9inec0mic58yeah, I don't get how people freak out when they looking to buy something akin to a steam deck, and it costs only a bit more than a steam deck, but they act like it's way more expensive. New things always cost more than old models. Excluding the Asus RoG, but Asus has more money than God, so they are paying the price of less profit in exchange for a foothold in the Deck's territory. Any company that's not butt ass rich like Asus can't afford to do that. And apparently the RoG ally has some software issues. 😂
all the changes they made to the button/ joystick/ speaker layout (basically, the entire front section of the device) are all the changes I wanted to make to the Odin. It's almost like they listen to their customers.
if you are allowed can you do a tear down to show SSD upgrade and how difficult is going to be to open the Loki Max. Thanks for the great and honest review
Hello, does it work with Aya Neo Multidock? I want to be able to dock the Device and that Aya Neo dock looks like best option right now. I’m just curious if it fits inside
Shame..too late. Between everything that’s out currently, I would still purchase a Steam Deck again and again. The OS is clean, performs amazing, and if I wanted insane graphics, I could use Steam Link to my gaming PC and turn on ray tracing on all my stuff. Ally sounds good, buts limited by Windows OS. Valve is the top player currently and my Steam library keeps growing. Surpassed my Sony, Xbox and Nintendo library the moment I bought a deck. The only one that can topple the deck is Microsoft releasing a 1st party handheld with GamePass included…Xbox Series H? 😅
This device looks awesome! I really enjoy my Steam Deck, so this kinda looking like a Lite Steam Deck is neat! Usually i think these handhelds look really ugly, but the Steam Deck's ugliness is because it puts comfort and usability as a priority, and the look of it has grown on me., especially since we can customize it so well with skins, cases, thumb & trackpad covers, etc.. Anyways, this AYN Loki Max looks like a solid handheld, i would love to get, if i didn't have a Steam Deck already. Hope AYN keeps going this path!
I also wanna say that i really like the software menu AYN added to control the fan and LEDS and such! Wow, such amazing UI and software is rare! It works well and fast and looks good!
I asked for a refund 2 weeks ago as I pre ordered the Loki Max 27th of July 2022, which is almost one year ago. And every handheld coming out lately has more power than this one, so I also pre ordered the ROG Ally, which I will have before I even would have received the Loki Max. Sorry AYN but definitely not the way to do it, although the device looks nice. I have the Odin Pro and I like the form factor, that's exactly why I wanted the Loki and I quite liked their redesign. But seeing now that's even bigger makes my happy that I will get the ROG Ally instead. I didn't want a bigger device in the first place, as I own the OneXPlayer 8.4" and it's way too big and heavy so I thought the ROG Ally is something between the Odin and the OneXPlayer.
I just recently purchased the handheld and I did a reinstall of windows to fix something graphics related. Upon reinstalling and installing all the provided drivers I see that Gyro doesn't work in Steam's advanced settings mode. Is your gyro recognized in steam?
Just a note on the $699 price tag (after coupon). It may not represent great value Vs the ROG Ally in USA but in UK where the Ally is £699 and the rest of Europe even higher it makes the Loki approx £140 cheaper
Great video! Really in-depth, but I have a very small criticism. In my opinion, you say the phrase "right here" way too many times. Especially for the longer form video format, I ended up becoming hyper focused on it and expecting it after every other sentence. Not trying to be mean or anything, just something I noticed.
Having watched this, it's too bad Ayn came out with this so late because it honestly sounds like a home run as far as the design of this machine. Hopefully Ayn gets some review units of the 6600u Loki out because we really don't know a whole lot about what that chip is capable of.
I honestly don't mind the thickness on the GPD Win 4, with the same chipset I am glad I made the jump to the GPD Win 4 now that I am seeing this. still an amazing looking device
This seems very comparable to the Aya Neo Air Plus 6800U - same screen resolution (1080p) and battery life (46.2 Wh). If we use the battery life estimates of the Aya Neo, then the price of this device becomes hard to justify: -Less than 5 hours of playtime while running SNES emulators (at 5W TDP) -Barely over an hour of modern PC gaming (at 20W TDP and lowest graphical settings) Are these devices actually attractive options to anybody at these prices? It hardly feels portable with this battery life. I know battery banks exist, but i don't want to tote around extra junk just to play some games on the go. Given the timing of this release, I think it should have been an Android handheld with a modern Snapdragon processor. It would still be fantastic for streaming with WiFi 6 and a 6" screen, and I think the battery life could be extended quite a bit.
That's why I ended up selling my ayaneo 2. Yea, it can play basically any AAA title at high wattage but the battery life is absolutely trash. That and the fact it was just to bulky/heavy for extended use. IMO the performance is here but the battery life in all these high end mobiles needs some serious improvements.
That's the one specific reason why I prefer Android emulation handhelds like the Odin, GPD XP+ and PiMax. Android handhelds have extremely long-lasting batteries that can run for 7-9 hours straight no problem. I cannot deal with a PC handheld that gets less than 3 hours of battery life, I'm too used to Android having extremely long battery life.
@@kurtisrinker1202 I usually use my Android phone (same CPU and same amount of RAM as the Odin Lite, Dimensity 900 + 8GB RAM) and even playing PS2 it runs for like 5-6 straight hours on a full charge. If I play N64 I can run for like 8-9 hours. I want to buy that PiMax handheld, seems to have a good price, CPU is equivalent to an SD865, would probably have slightly battery than my phone too (on top of actually being able to upscale PS2 instead of playing only on native, and supporting some Switch emulation).
I don't have any handheld like this but to me, the main attraction is being able to play in bed or on the couch, so I don't think I would mind having a cable connected. I wouldn't leave the house with it. I imagine a lot of people feel like this too. But yeah, battery is a really limiting factor in handhelds these days.
Hey Russ, when you do your review can you please make a specific comment on whether or not the Loki is worth upgrading from an Odin for the purposes of retro gaming only? I've got an Odin Base and it works a treat, but I can see the benefits of getting something with a larger screen like a Deck, but the Loki doesn't seem to bring too much more to the table if your main interests are purely retro. Thoughts?
Do your hands block the speaker at all? It looks like it does a little but does it affect sound ? Edit: didn't realise you went over the audio later in the video haha my bad
It looks great, it's a shame it's so late to the party. Sales of the 6800u devices have already dried right up, this needed a 7840u or a substantial price drop this late in the game.
Holy hot damn. That's a nice looking device. I may have to get a refund on my ayaneo air plus. Let's just hope that it holds up better than the odin. I canceled my odin order after seeing AAAAALL of the comments on reddit on the shoulder buttons breaking, screen issues and the device cracking over time.
