Krip316

[Greg2600]

Recently completed a portable mod transaction with Krip316. Wow, nothing but praise! My friend wanted to get his Lynx II modded with the McWill screen, so I sought out a domestic modder to do so. So Krip and I chatted quite a bit, he was very helpful, and I decided to get a Nomad modded with a modern LCD and the caps changed. He also did the cap job on the Lynx II, plus was very nice to double check my Lynx (via pictures) to confirm that the caps were done already. Prices were very fair, and the turnaround time was great.

 

He sent me images of his work in progress, and here is the final result. It's really tough to get a good representation of the LCD's (old on left, new on right) while the game is in play. I can say the difference is highly noticeable, nowhere near the blurring. It's like going from composite to component video.

 

 

 

As for the Lynx, I'll let my friend post those.

[Rick Dangerous]

Russ recently did a Lynx II for me. VGA out, and McWill LCD Screen. Great communication, great work, and reasonable prices. I would highly recommend his services as they were top notch! He was even able to polish up the scratched screen I had to near new.

 

I am sending him a Nomad next for a screen, cap and LCD replacement! And possibly another GameGear or Lynx in the future. Cannot recommend him enough.

[FlyingBurrito1976]

Krip316 did a gorgeous LYNX II McWill LCD screen mod and re-cap job for me. The work was perfect and the LYNX (which he commented was in gorgeous condition - THANKS! I'm pretty OCD about the condition of my classic hardware) came back in the exact condition that it was sent (well, except for coming back with a much better screen).

 

I would strongly recommend his services, I opted for the basic version of the McWill mod, no AV out and no scanline setting, so that helped make the job easier for him and faster for both of us.

 

Good pricing, good correspondence on the status of the job, excellent, professional work on the mod itself, and fast overall turnaround time.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

 

[Tempest]

I had Krip install my Lynx VGA out and screen mod in my Lynx II. He did an amazing job and everything worked perfectly.

 

When I went to go use it again after a few months and discovered that it had stopped working, Krip offered to fix it for free. After much investigation it turned out to be a bad flex circuit and had nothing to do with the mod installation at all. Even so Krip fixed it for me any way free of charge! He really went above and beyond, I highly recommend his work.

[Kat-Atari]

Just to let folks know that Krip McWill'ed a Game Gear for me and it is working great!

 

He also re-capped a 2nd GG (did not do a Mcwill on that one since it is a backup) and also re-capped Lynx II. Both are also working great!

 

He is currently working on recapping a 3rd GG for me and recapping a Sega Nomad. Thanks!

[Kat-Atari]

Comments regarding my follow up to my experience with Russ..His last message to me was that the "SMS mod is no longer working and the buttons are not responding correctly". Russ never disclosed that the capacitor pads were lifted and the Nomad no longer had any sound. He kept my Sega Nomad for months and I did not find out the extent of the damage until I sent to another repair person on Ebay "Retro Machine Repair" who was able to diagnose the issues caused by Russ' sloppy work on the Nomad.

 

Here is the comment from "Retro Machine Repair" regarding Russ' work on my Sega Nomad.

 

• Well I have you screen working better very little to no static. This was due to the lifted positive and negative pads. You now have sound and the region unlock works via holding down mode during load up. All your buttons work (checked on batman forever all 6 were operational) It was a bit of a mess though. A lot of lifted pads and retraces as well as getting solder off microchips. The sms mode is not working for me either....

 

In other words, Russ may be able to fix Lynx'es and Game Gears, but he is not very good with Nomads.This is MY personal experience and although others may have had more positive experiences, my overall experience with his Nomad work was extremely negative. The moderator has access to all of our emails back and forth and can verify the information given, My main issues were him not coming through on promises to send pictures, provided very few updates, extremely slow email response time, and hiding the extent of the damage to my console...

• During the months that he had my Nomad he kept promising pictures (that were never sent) over and over again.
• He promised videos that were also never sent and his general responsiveness was slow.
• He would say "I will start work tomorrow" or "I should have it done tomorrow" with no reply for days or even 1-2 weeks and only after asking for updates a few times would I get replies such as "Sorry I was busy, I'll start work today".
• He was very responsive to emails at first, but after receiving my consoles, he suddenly became very slow to respond.

In other words,you take your chances with Russ and an indication that something has went wrong if he stops responding for a while or is very slow to respond. Have your Nomads recapped by someone else and only maybe trust him to ONLY install your LCD screens on a Nomad. Overall though, I STRONGLY urge you to find someone else for your Nomad work. As I said, although you readers may not have access to our months of email, the moderator will be able to verify the above complaints.

 

Regarding your Lynx units, I would advise you to go with "cowdog360" on this forum. He was much more timely with updates, provided pictures, and admitted that something had gone wrong with a McWill mod and he fixed 100% (he didn't try to hide).

[Krip316]

Comments regarding my follow up to my experience with Russ..His last message to me was that the "SMS mod is no longer working and the buttons are not responding correctly". Russ never disclosed that the capacitor pads were lifted and the Nomad no longer had any sound. He kept my Sega Nomad for months and I did not find out the extent of the damage until I sent to another repair person on Ebay "Retro Machine Repair" who was able to diagnose the issues caused by Russ' sloppy work on the Nomad.

 

Here is the comment from "Retro Machine Repair" regarding Russ' work on my Sega Nomad.

 

• Well I have you screen working better very little to no static. This was due to the lifted positive and negative pads. You now have sound and the region unlock works via holding down mode during load up. All your buttons work (checked on batman forever all 6 were operational) It was a bit of a mess though. A lot of lifted pads and retraces as well as getting solder off microchips. The sms mode is not working for me either....

In other words, Russ may be able to fix Lynx'es and Game Gears, but he is not very good with Nomads.This is MY personal experience and although others may have had more positive experiences, my overall experience with his Nomad work was extremely negative. The moderator has access to all of our emails back and forth and can verify the information given, My main issues were him not coming through on promises to send pictures, provided very few updates, extremely slow email response time, and hiding the extent of the damage to my console...

• During the months that he had my Nomad he kept promising pictures (that were never sent) over and over again.
• He promised videos that were also never sent and his general responsiveness was slow.
• He would say "I will start work tomorrow" or "I should have it done tomorrow" with no reply for days or even 1-2 weeks and only after asking for updates a few times would I get replies such as "Sorry I was busy, I'll start work today".
• He was very responsive to emails at first, but after receiving my consoles, he suddenly became very slow to respond.

In other words,you take your chances with Russ and an indication that something has went wrong if he stops responding for a while or is very slow to respond. Have your Nomads recapped by someone else and only maybe trust him to ONLY install your LCD screens on a Nomad. Overall though, I STRONGLY urge you to find someone else for your Nomad work. As I said, although you readers may not have access to our months of email, the moderator will be able to verify the above complaints.

 

Regarding your Lynx units, I would advise you to go with "cowdog360" on this forum. He was much more timely with updates, provided pictures, and admitted that something had gone wrong with a McWill mod and he fixed 100% (he didn't try to hide).

 

Hide? Really? HIDE?! [emoji23]If I was trying to hide something, I wouldn't have sent it to another tech for a 3rd look. Btw, Roger, you forgot to mention I'm the 2nd person to fix/mod your system. The first guy did a bad job that I had to fix. Your welcome.

 

When I got it, 3 pads were lifted but still attached and worked, so I didn't bother with it.

 

The solder was on that chip when I got it. I did get some of it off. Your welcome. Again, it didn't seem to effect the system, so I let it be.

 

Yes, when I put it back together to ship it out to RMR, more issues came up. There was still sound, very low, but still there. Your messages prove the low volume was an issue from the start. No fault of mine.

 

You were well aware that this is a hobby and I do the work when I can around my full time job. I responded within minutes 99% of the time. Only 2 times I didn't respond and I told you why. Messages will also prove, yes, I did supply photos and I didn't do a video because the static was gone. And, ladies and gentlemen, notice RMR says, "very little to no static."..... um, notice the static is still there? I told Roger the static was better before I sent it because I replaced the bad LCD from the first guy and installed it correctly for FREE. So RMR didn't fix it!!!!

 

One last note, Roger filed a PayPal case against me for the full amount even though the Nomad was the only system with issues. I'd like to announce, today, I won the case. [emoji3][emoji1303]

 

I think we can agree on one thing, careful who you deal with and document EVERYTHING.

[Kat-Atari]

I'm just reporting my own personal experience for others (believe me or not readers, it's your choice).

 

Also, the reason that Russ won the PayPal case (and I did *NOT* file for the full amount as Russ claimed) is that although you can FILE a case for problematic service, they will not do anything regarding mod or service issues because it's difficult to prove. Customer service said that complaints about service is only meant as a way to "get things going". between the two parties. In this case even though I lost, it did some good because this is the MOST response that I've gotten out of Russ in months. I had asked for updates, pictures, and videos (he said "yes" to all - but sent NOTHING) and had asked him to mail out my Nomad to RMR several times and saw the PayPal claim as a way to "convince" him to do so (which he finally did).

 

Russ had my Nomad for FIVE months (yes, that's 5 months) and I was ** very patient.** Regarding Russ' UNTRUE comments about "responding in minutes" and "sending photos", I'll leave up to the MODERATOR to view our back and forth emails and verify whose version of the story is correct here. The moderator can confirm Russ' often said "I'll get to it tomorrow", "I'll have it done over the weekend" with NO updates after the timeframe that HE provided has passed. Only after I followed up did I get the "Oh, sorry, too busy, I'll try to get to it this week" (and so on, and so on). His last update about the Nomad (after I asked for updates a few times AGAIN) was....

 

Krip316 said:

But anyway, it still has the "noise", the SMS stopped working and when I put it back together for the last time, I noticed the buttons didn't respond smoothly. I really think getting a second look at this system from the guys you mentioned is a good idea. They may have access to a replacement motherboard.

 

ALSO, I WAITED FIVE MONTHS BEFORE FILING THE PAYPAL CLAIM ( I was patient during that time up until he stopped responding to any of my emails during the early part of March). I didn't know if I was going to be mailed back a totally dead system because he promised to send videos and pictures during January, February, and March and he sent NOTHING. I was nervous that this lack of response meant that the possibility of a dead system (or NO system returned) and so why not try a PayPal claim for $225 (the cost of my Nomad) to try to scare Russ into responding? Nothing for me to lose - if I win great, and if I lose, nothing lost (no Nomad anyway). I lost true, but the claim WORKED - he started responding to my emails and finally sent off my Nomad to Retro Machine Repair as requested.

 

All that I'm saying is that he is OK with Lynx'es and Game Gears, but I would suggest to NOT allow him to recap your Sega Nomad recaps (perhaps only LCD mods) - see the comments from RMR about the several lose solder pads on my Nomad that Russ wasn't able to fix. Also, RMR said NO SOUND (none) and Russ said "low sound". I'm sure that any technician can tell the difference between low and no sound and so I'm going to believe RMR that audio was gone and that Russ never mentioned.

 

For your Lynx needs, I STRONGLY recommend that you go to "cowdog360" instead. You'll get better service overall, faster turnaround time, better communication, with REAL PICTURES SENT (not empty promises instead). As I continue to say, the moderator can view our back and forth emails. They say more than anything that I could...

[g4r37h]

A pompous prick with a real attitude problem.

[Rick Dangerous]

Russ fixed a GameGear for me, and completely refurbished a red Japanese unit.  He has been nothing but prompt, professional, and fair with pricing.  He also does extremely high quality work.

 

Russ will be the first person i will PM from now on when it comes to handhelds, or any work he is interested/willing to do.   Thanks again Russ!