Question about Light-Sixers

[Lodmot]

Alright, so I have a light-sixer Atari 2600, and it looks like pretty much every other light-sixer out there. Nothing too special about it.

However, when I was hanging out with my friend, he and I stopped at Game Xchange, where he bought himself his own light-sixer.

When we got back to his place, I placed my light-sixer right next to the one he just bought, and there were actually a couple

differences with the two consoles, even though they're both considered light-sixers.

 

Firstly, I noticed that his light-sixer had an orange-painted trim going around the panel where the cartridge slot and the six switches

are contained, whereas mine didn't have any painted trim; it was just black. Second of all, on the bottom of the console, I have a

channel select switch in my console, but while we were testing his, I noticed that the channel select switch was curiously missing,

however the hole and label for the switch were still there. Very strange.. I know heavy-sixers are known to have this quirk, however

I double-checked it, and no, his is a light-sixer (supposedly) like mine.

 

The last odd thing about my friend's light-sixer is that quite a few of the games I have seem to have a hard time fitting in his cartridge

slot, but on my system they slide right in just fine. And also, the casing kind of humps upward where the cartridge slot is on his system,

but my casing is straight.

 

Has anyone else noticed these subtle differences between multiple light-sixers? And if so, what do you think the explanation behind it is?

Edited February 6, 2012 by Lodmot

[zylon]

In some cases, the orange paint has just worn off or been removed from the console. L6er's assembled in Sunnyvale usually don't have the channel switch. By your description of your friend's system, I'm led to believe it was opened and not reassembled correctly.

[ApolloBoy]

Firstly, I noticed that his light-sixer had an orange-painted trim going around the panel where the cartridge slot and the six switches

are contained, whereas mine didn't have any painted trim; it was just black.

Sounds like the paint was rubbed off on your system, that's very common with pre-Vader consoles.

 

Second of all, on the bottom of the console, I have a

channel select switch in my console, but while we were testing his, I noticed that the channel select switch was curiously missing,

however the hole and label for the switch were still there. Very strange.. I know heavy-sixers are known to have this quirk, however

I double-checked it, and no, his is a light-sixer (supposedly) like mine.

Earlier Light Sixers lack the channel select switch like with Heavy Sixers.

 

The last odd thing about my friend's light-sixer is that quite a few of the games I have seem to have a hard time fitting in his cartridge

slot, but on my system they slide right in just fine. And also, the casing kind of humps upward where the cartridge slot is on his system,

but my casing is straight.

It might be that his was disassembled at one point and wasn't put back together quite right.

[atari2atari]

In some cases, the orange paint has just worn off or been removed from the console. L6er's assembled in Sunnyvale usually don't have the channel switch. By your description of your friend's system, I'm led to believe it was opened and not reassembled correctly.

 

Was just about to say the same - - that "hump" is created by not placing the face-plate back into the unit correctly.

 

There is a final tab that needs to "click" and the hump will leave, but don't force it too much . . . !

 

As to being black with no trim, that could also be another re-assemly issue - - someone used a "VADER" unit face-plate, perhaps, or as zylon pointed out, it does sometimes rub off!

 

-a2a

[SlowCoder]

More likely the orange has been rubbed off than it be swapped with a Vader plate. If it was Vader, the letters on the plate would be a different color, I believe.

[ptol]

A Vader plate wouldn't fit on a light sixer, a Vader has 4 switches...

[SlowCoder]

A Vader plate wouldn't fit on a light sixer, a Vader has 4 switches...

Derrrr ... Not sure what I was thinking.