AYN Odin 3: what the reviews agree on

All reviewers describe a large jump in power and strong PS2 and GameCube results. They split on compatibility: Retro Handhelds is upbeat, while Joey's Retro Handhelds calls it more miss than hit for demanding systems.

• Retro Handhelds saw most GameCube and PS2 games run at 1080p, got decent results in some PS3 games, and had indie Switch games work in Eden or Citron. It found GameHub games such as Blur playable.
• Gardiner Bryant found PS2 and GameCube upscale cleanly to 2.5x, with a full 4K upscale possible docked. Metroid Dread held 60 fps, and Nier: Automata ran at about 60 fps and dipped to the high 40s at 720p through GameHub.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds ran PS2 at up to 6x with few dips and Metaphor: ReFantazio at 40 to 60 fps in GameHub. He found Wii games glitched until Ubershaders or manual texture sampling was turned on.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds and Gardiner Bryant both found Switch emulation uneven and not yet a reason to buy. Joey describes the experience as more miss than hit.
• Retro Handhelds measured a 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress loop score of 6541 with 97.9% stability.

Joey's tests show very good efficiency in Switch emulation but poor results in GameHub. Retro Handhelds also names battery life among the strengths.

• With the 8000 mAh battery in a Switch test using Captain Toad, Joey's Retro Handhelds got 322 minutes, against 263 minutes on the Odin 2 Portal.
• In a GameHub test by Joey's Retro Handhelds with Dispatch, the Odin 3 lasted 142 minutes against 272 on the Odin 2 Portal, drawing 16 to 17 W where two Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devices drew about 10 W or less.
• Retro Handhelds lists impressive battery life among the Odin 3's strengths.

The 6-inch 1080p 120 Hz AMOLED earns praise from every reviewer. Retro Handhelds and Joey's Retro Handhelds both flag image retention, since the panel is the same one used in the AYN Thor.

• Retro Handhelds calls it one of his favourite panels for colour, brightness and refresh rate, and says it suits shaders and black frame insertion. He mostly left it at 60 Hz.
• Gardiner Bryant calls the 120 Hz panel bright and sharp and says it makes the UI feel more fluid than previous AYN devices.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds points out the Thor's image retention carries over but says he has not found it a problem in games. The first-impressions piece from Retro Handhelds notes that AYN added a Pixel Refresher for it.

Reviewers like the taller Hall effect sticks, quieter face buttons and textured grips. They differ on whether the TPU grip is optional and note loud shoulder buttons.

• Retro Handhelds likes the gradual rear slope with the textured grip and the larger sticks, with quieter face buttons. He suggests AYN's TPU grip for some users.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds calls the TPU shell a must-have for comfort. The first-impressions author at Retro Handhelds felt no need for a grip.
• Gardiner Bryant weighed it at 388 g and found long sessions never tiring. He says the shoulder buttons are loud while the face buttons are silent.
• Retro Handhelds notes the D-pad and right stick are inset and would be better closer to the screen. Joey's Retro Handhelds calls the clicky L1 and R1 shoulder buttons loud.

Reviewers disagree on the fan. Retro Handhelds and Joey's Retro Handhelds report little heat on the body, but Joey and Gardiner Bryant find the fan loud, while Retro Handhelds calls thermals excellent with some whine.

• Retro Handhelds calls the thermals excellent and says the fan can whine when pushed hard for a long time.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds measured around 70 degrees Celsius with a peak of 75 in GameHub and felt little heat. He says the high-pitched fan noise was bad enough that he leaves it in Quiet mode and accepts the heat.
• Gardiner Bryant calls the fan loud and unpredictable and sometimes hears it blast for five seconds at shutdown. He wants a TDP limit, though he says game audio masks it for him.

Reviewers agree driver support for the new chip is early. Retro Handhelds hit few issues, while Joey and Gardiner Bryant found RetroArch cores and several emulators needing workarounds.

• Retro Handhelds says RetroArch needs the Vulkan driver, and that it needs several Switch emulators, which makes frontends harder to use.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds found the mGBA core black screens until switched to Vulkan, Swanstation crashes with OpenGL, and N64 RetroArch cores load to a black screen with no fix.
• Gardiner Bryant found a few PS1 and N64 cores with visual problems, many PS3 games stuck, and Switch compatibility limited.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds recommends it for streaming, with Wi-Fi 7 and strong decoding in Apollo and Artemis.

Reviewers quote $329 for the base model up to $519 for the Ultra at launch. Retro Handhelds sees a new default, while Gardiner Bryant calls it a purchase for people who accept the unfinished software.

• Retro Handhelds lists a base price of $329 rising to $519 for the Ultra tier and tested the $449 Max. It calls the Odin 3 a new Android handheld default.
• Gardiner Bryant lists a $329 pre-order price for the base 8 GB model up to $519 for the Ultra, and notes it sits in the price bracket of SteamOS and Windows handhelds. A developer he quoted advises buying for what it does now, not for promised improvements.
• Joey's Retro Handhelds says that a newer Odin may come out before drivers mature and that this one feels like a prince in waiting.