DS Lite Stress Test

Durability

The DS Lite came off really well in durability testing. We filmed the DS Lite taking a beating from keys and coins, taking nothing more than light scratches on the casing, and 3 tiny scratches on the screen, too small to even get a decent picture of. We continued to drop it onto three different surfaces (carpet, wood then tarmac). The DS Lite didn't have any problems and only a couple of very light scuffs to show for it.

- Scratch test. 9/10
- Low level drop onto carpet then wood then tarmac. 8.5/10



Stress tests

The DS Lite is still alive after the stress test. It is still playing games, the microphone is still working as is the wifi.

The first stress test we did was a step/kick, this did little damage so we did a drop at 20 MPH onto tarmac, the DS case came off the worst with deep scratches and red tarmac embedded into it in places. We continued to throw it down a flight of stairs and then poured a cup of tea over it. The ds took everything in its stride and has some deep scratches and scuffs to show for it.

- Drop at 20mph onto tarmac. 8.5/10
- Drop down stairs. 10/10
- Stepped on 9/10
- Water (cup of tea) 10/10



Extreme

The DS Lite is sadly no longer with us. The extreme testing got the better of it just before we threw it into a sink of water.

A 2nd story fall ended up breaking it, which we actually thought it would survive after seeing the results of the first story drop. I thought at first the on switch had just gone but after opening it up we realized the impact had damaged it far more than we expected with several metal pieces and chips falling out.

We started off with a drop at 50mph, this scratched the DS Lite and embedded some tarmac into it, but it functioned perfectly and surprisingly went on to survive one big drop and being run over at a low speed.

We got some great pictures of the DS after destruction so be sure to check them out!

- 1st story drop 8/10
- Run over motorbike 10/10
- Drop at 50mph 9/10
- 3rd story drop 3/10
- Thrown against wall 1/10
- Toughness 6/10



+10 because the Nintendo DS wasn't designed, and isn't advertised as a tough product.
Overall 87/100

A very respectable score for a product which was not in any way designed to be thrown down stairs, out of windows or at high speeds. I would highly recommend the Nintendo DS Lite, and not only for its durability. The nintendo ds lite took a LOT of punishment before breaking and wont scratch easily. We'll be doing a PSP over the coming months to see how it stacks up to the DS Lite.





You can view more pictures of the Nintendo DS Lite here.

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In the review: Nintendo DS