I've downgraded with no issues.

Uhh, if you're talking about me...

I wasn't saying that his losing money is a concern for the end user. I was saying that it was hyperbole to imply that they are being "nickel and dimed" when we know it isn't a profit thing and that phrase applies to unscrupulous profiteers (not someone asking the customer to cover a shipping expense that's less than the total cost). The justification of that fee is a different matter that I am wholly undecided on.

I do think an external adapter would make more sense for the people where opening the console could proved burdensome. Speaking of which, there may be a bit of precedent:
Does anyone know if Codemasters/Galoob charged shipping for their Game Genie NES-101 adapter?
 

Part of it was a response to you. Thanks for elaborating, since the updated comment elaborates further.  I appreciate the civility.  I also don't believe that he's "nickel and diming" anyone. 

Good question about the Game Genie NES-101 adapter. I've never even seen one in person.

 

Just now finding out the new connectors are in. Been waiting on this moment, but we now got to do something else and mod our console? I don't feel comfortable at all about doing that. Now I don't really know what to do. Anybody had any luck exchanging theirs for a newer model?

Someone here said that the mod is only needed if you still have trouble. Not sure if RetroUSB says the same...
 

Me neither. It's as rare as hen's teeth and expensive to boot!

They do say that. To try the new connector first, and then mod the case if needed after.
 

Gotcha. The mod wouldn't be bad at all on a standard unit but I wonder how bad it would look from the outside on one of those special clear ones.

Funny enough, I don't recall anyone with a clear one having green strip trouble.

Maybe they keep theirs in the box and don't play with them.  

There is a black plastic cover the hides it. I practiced on my RE first and the LE came out good   I mostly use PowerPak or Everdrive so I had not noticed green strip games issues on either so was more preventive maintenance.

 

Pro tip. Use 1 or 2 layers of masking tape to cover and help protect the surrounding areas. I user a Dremel with a cutting wheel and stone wheel to smooth out

I guess I might be better off selling it then since I don't have a job right now and could kind of use the cash. Anyone here willing to buy it or know where I can list it?

As a follow up, I've downgraded to 1.10 (in addition to trying 1.20b8 & 1.20) and the issue persists.
I've also tried different TV's, HDMI cables, USB ports, and USB cables.. and the result is the same.
Once a while, a game will boot normally, but most of the time, I get background noise as soon as a title screen boots.
 

Damn. Time to contact support.

I have an LE, and yes the green strip frustrates the connection. I'm not modding it. No way, no how, no sir. If I can solve it by simply replacing my green strip carts, I'll do that instead.

Re: to the upset customers in this thread. I do understand your displeasure, and ideally problems like this would be solved faster and with a cleaner solution. But the ideal ignores reality which is that this product comes from one guy and not a mega-corporation. So many small projects like this fail on so many different levels. Some don't even come to fruition. This one has been pleasantly successful compared to my past experiences (for example see the Open Pandora handheld).

So it's fair to criticize, but always bear in mind the understanding that he's doing his best. Some number of functionality issues are just the nature of the beast. If you want perfection or nearer to it, then only buy from big name corporations going forward. And even then, big companies do make mistakes or fail to catch issues from time to time.

I got my connector in the mail recently and the mod was easy enough. A couple tips:

1) After removing the four screws and pushing the power and reset buttons in, pull the case forward before trying to separate the two halves. This is by far the hardest part of the whole process!
2) When modding the plastic, use needle nose pliers and gently bend the strip of plastic back and forth. You should be able to easily remove it, almost in one piece, with very little effort. This was not as hard as it seems, so nothing to worry about!

As for the debate about this, I see both sides. Extra cost for the consumer is never desirable. Supporting hobbyist projects comes with certain tradeoffs in order to have new things.

I disagree with a few of the comments though, like the idea that customers always pay return shipping with warranty issues. That is mostly true, except when products are shipped with defects, and there is a recall. In that case, the consumer is not usually responsible. All original AVS units shipped with the same connector flaw. For example, I did not have to pay any shipping to service my Nintendo Switch Joycons that had sync problems. Still, I was ok with paying shipping for the new connector, given the nature of the business.

I also disagree with the notion that it was no big deal, and that the green strip games were at fault, and there were very few of them. All of those games work flawlessly on multiple original and clone consoles, so the games are not the problem. I had fifteen games in my collection that didn't work, and they were not obscure games. Some examples: Ninja Gaiden, Bionic Commando, Tetris, Dragon Warrior. So, a big deal for some of us!

Long story short, I don't think we should argue about this. People have a right to be upset, but also it is fair to say that the AVS is still an amazing product, and well worth the trouble. It is substantially cheaper than the competition! Those that are considering returning theirs or selling, I would say don't. Just do the mod, it's really not that hard, and move on by having a lot of fun with your fully working console.

Actually not true. I had green strip games not work on many clone consoles as well for the same reason. It's not a problem unique to the AVS. At least RetroUSB had a solution.  

 

I purchased my AVS from a Retro Game store back in March, so I don't know exactly when it rolled off the manufacturing line. Is there any ID # on the unit that can tell me which batch my console came from?

In the other thread I was one of the "grr I'm angry about the $4 charge". But what are you going to do... so I ordered one.

What irritated me more than anything was that RetroUSB should have all the contact information for folks that bought the original directly from them. A single email notifying its availability would have been nice. I didn't appreciate first hearing about it in the other thread, before this one even surfaced. That was certainly part of my initial anger at the cost. In other words, had I learned first directly from RetroUSB via an email, I would have quietly and possibly happily placed the order immediately.

Here's to hoping development continues, and these firmware updates come out of beta. I still have mine on the stock firmware, because I don't have any issues and it seems that each one has some corner cases that would bug me.

Always loved my AVS. Always will. Just a mildly salty about the handling of this, as well as the unavailability of the USB port enforcer.

Ok, how about some clone consoles? Lol!

Seriously though, all of those games worked on my Retron 5, Retro Freak, Yobo, Analogue Nt, etc.

 

Yobo lol. I got one in a game lot a few yes back it started smoking when I plug it in and turned it on worst clone ever!

RetroUSB AVS: at least we won't burn your house down.

Retro Freak doesn't count. You need an adapter for it to play NES. The Honeybee does the heavy lifting.  

 Retron 5 needed firmware updates to improve its joke of a compatibility rate (and it took a long time to roll them out), Analogue Nt scraped up carts, Yobos apparently explode. All NES clones have had their issues.  

You make fair points, but all companies seem to have their ups and downs.
 

 I damaged two games on a Retorn 5 do to the connector sucking.  

My Yobo literally smoked and died, Retron 5 died within a week and I returned it, so no more examples from me!

Viva La AVS!

It works, won't scrape up your carts, blow up your house, or die within a week. RetroUsb has my permission to use that for advertising 😂