Review EZ Flash 2 Powerstar 512 Review

[Xanthious]

EZ-Flash II Powerstar 512meg Kit
Review by: Xanthious 12-11-2004

ORDERING
I decided to purchase the cart from Winsunx.com as Ive had good experiences with them in the past. Ordering I found was really simple, however, I find it to be a slight bit different than most place but not in a bad way. They offer both Western Union and Paypal. I have used both and found both to be very easy. The customer service was top notch and the questions I had for them were answered shortly after writing them, usually within a couple hours. The package was ordered on a Thursday night and arrived early Monday morning. Overall the customer service was top notch and the delivery was super quick. Overall I was very pleased with my ordering experience and will most definately go back in the future.

ARRIVAL & INSTALLATION
Upon opening the packaging I found the box to my EZ-Flash II. It was a sturdy cardboard box and contained the cartridge, an adapter that the cartridge plugged into and a cable that plugged into both the adapter and a USB port on the computer. This particular model doesnt require a GBA or a SP to flash which makes it a good choice for DS owners like myself. One thing I really wish was included was a disc of some sort that had drivers and other needed software. Installation was really easy once I found the right version of the EZ Client. The earlier versions dont support the 512 meg cart and I didnt have much direction on where to go to get the drivers and/or flashing software. However, as stated before once I found the right version it was super simple. Now all that needed done was to charge the cartridge itself for a mere eight hours and I would be on my way.

CARTRIDGE FEATURES
This particular cartridge has a good deal of useful features. The most noticable of them being full compatibility for every save type. Which in a nutshell means you dont have to worry about patching games in order for them to work. Also on board is a real time clock for the Pokemon games. The EZ-Flash II can also support NES, GB, and SMS games as well. The only short coming about the features this cart has to offer is that there is currently no Pogoshell support. However, after using it for the past few days I havent found myself missing it all that much.

SOFTWARE (EZ Client 3.11)
The flashing software is pretty straight forward and easy to use. I found that I pretty much had the hang of it with in a few minutes of using it. It allows you to obviously flash the cartridge as well as import and export game saves, and back up full games. Flashing times were really impressive as well. I tried flashing 128, 256, and 512 megs and the times are as follows. The 128 took a about a minute and 45 seconds. The 256 took just about three minutes even. While the 512 took right around 5 and a half minutes.

OVERALL
Overall I really have few complaints with the EZ-Flash II Powerstar. Its a late model flash cart that offers a wide array of easy to use features. The price is very reasonable and the product is top notch. I highly reccomend anyone considering a new flash cart looking into the EZ-Flash II Powerstar as its easily one of the best cartridges out there.

PROS
* Fully compatible w/ all save types
* Great flashing times
* Easy to setup and use

CONS
* No Pogoshell support
* Must charge the cart for 8 hours before using it
* No software included in kit

 

[Vince989]

Good review there, but it could almost seems to me like you're making competition to shaunj66...

You said what matters, and it was pretty much what I thought : This card looks a hell of a lot like the EFA ... No wonder I didn't know which one to take between both when I ordered my EFA 512 from Jandaman...

- Vince989

 

[Xanthious]

Actually I took my format from Shaun's review, I wanted to do a review but didnt feel like putting a whole lot of effort into making my own format. Plus I figured he did a great job with his why stray from what works

 

[wulfie]

excellent review! I got my ez-flash II Powerstar 1Gb about a week ago and couldn't be happier!

 

[NTolerance]

Do the EZFlashII 512mbit and 1Gbit carts use the slower memory for mass storage before copying to the faster memory for playing the games? Are there any load times?

 

[wulfie]

nope, no load times at all, at least that I can tell. ya pick a game off the ezloader menu, hit A and boom, game loads

 

[NTolerance]

nope, no load times at all, at least that I can tell. ya pick a game off the ezloader menu, hit A and boom, game loads

That's cool. I have been trying to decide whether to get the EZII or EZIII. I don't need the PDA features of the EZIII and I don't like the load times that it has, so it appears that the EZII is going to be what I want.

 

[SlapFunk101]

Anyone know how to rename the games with come up in the cartridge menu?

 

[WeaponXxX]

I didn't know to charge mine....Doh

 

[wulfie]

I didn't know to charge mine....Doh

just leave it in the linker overnight

 

[WeaponXxX]

Yea I did that, I mean it works fine, I am impressed, I will need to remove the stupid logo on the next format, as for renaming the files SlapFunk101, I did that pre burn and it's kinds hard to explain. On the right side you can change the name but it wont appear to be changed untill you burn the cart. I have to do dishes if you need screen shots just ask as I am making a tutorial anyway.

 

[wulfie]

slapfunk, just change the name that shows up under 'chinese name' in the right window after you've added a rom

 

[SlapFunk101]

Thanks everyone for the help!!!...