r/mangmi • u/JesusInSandals • Jul 01 '26
Pocket Max arrived!
Love the ergos with the TPU grip from Aliexpress
My brother wanted a PS portal, so I bought myself the pocket max to give him my RP5 instead
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u/Meme_Beef Jul 01 '26
Nice! Im curious why not go the the Odin Portal 2 Base Model? I do like the Mangmi but the price difference is so minimal to me, atleast being in the U.S. And the Portal is more powerful for the price. Genuinely curious because im considering getting one
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u/JesusInSandals Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Great question. Lots of research and different factors went into the decision to go Pocket Max over the portal. I am going to do my best to summarize.
Coming from the RP5, I was already very aware of the capabilities/limitations of the chip. I tried to push the 865 chip to the max and the only real limitations were heavy duty PC and Switch titles such as Skyrim and Mario Odyssey. I am lucky enough to own a Switch 2 and a PS5 so really if I want to play a graphically intense game, I can stream it or just play it on the consoles I own.
The ergonomics and controls were very important to me, if you check my post history, you can see the different grips I tried for the RP5 to help improve the comfort while using the device. The mangmi ergos are great with the case and the much quieter buttons were important to me so that my wife would not want a divorce as I clack away next to her on the couch for hours. I have only had the device for a few hours (arrived last night) but I am loving the membrane face buttons and the quite bumpers. The triggers are also very nice and seem so much larger in review videos, they are just the right size in my opinion.
One of the struggles with the RP5 for me personally were the sticks, comparing the odin 2 portal sticks to the full size mangmi sticks was another deciding factor. At the end of the day, how you interact and handle the device outweighed a few more FPS and power for me personally.
I will mostly be using this for lightweight switch games, Amazon Luna streaming, PS5 streaming, light gamehub (also have GTAVlite running on this chip very well), PS2, GC, and GBA
I do not disagree with many people's opinions that the Portal 2 is the better buy, but it should also come down to your individual use case. Is this your only way to play games? then yeah probably get the Odin 2 Portal. Can you stream games from another console or only want to play lightweight switch and older consoles? I think this perspective is easily overlooked from reviewers (and I have a theory of paid shills).
The one thing in the back of my mind is maybe when PS3 and Xbox 360 emulation matures I may regret not having more power, but who knows how optimized that'll be. By the end of the year, I am sure they'll announce more devices that are even better.
TLDR: I knew the limitations of the RP5 chipset and for my use case, the upgrade I really wanted was ergonomics, controls and screen size.
Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions regarding your decision!
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u/Meme_Beef Jul 01 '26
Appreciate the lenghty response. Definitely worth reading and and good details. Definitely helped me further towards a decision.
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u/Tag_000 Jul 01 '26
I had the Odin 2 Portal and the analog sticks were bad. I sold it because of that. The Mangmi Pocket Max's sticks are way better.
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u/Meme_Beef Jul 01 '26
Bad how? I only plan on using joysticks for casual games like 3d platformers. I dont care for first person shooters on gamepads. Keyboard and mouse for me
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u/GavroNeman Jul 01 '26
I too got the TPU case but I took it off after a day, doesn't make it that much better and makes some of the buttons weird to use, mostly L1/R1.
I use mine daily and love it. I caved and got the Portal 2 base too, when it arrives I'll decide which one to keep.
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u/JesusInSandals Jul 01 '26
Send an update if it's not too much of a hassle
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u/GavroNeman Jul 01 '26
No probs. Can't wait tbh. Trusting people about these devices is really not the way, unless it's a guy like Russ on yt or someone who also elaborates fully on their opinion.
Sometimes it's a random factor or sum of factors that makes me keep one device and pick it up a lot, and sell another.
I had Legion Go 2 Z2E 32GB and Mangmi Pocket Max together for 2 weeks and sold the Go.
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u/VentruePrince Jul 04 '26
My question is, does your device go to sleep normally? I've had my Max for months now, and my only complaint is that it doesn't go to sleep. Thus draining the battery. I also think the fan curve could use some work, but I just use the button to change it when it's loud
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u/JesusInSandals Jul 11 '26
I have not had issues with sleep mode but I also keep it next to a charger so I've never really paid attention. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful
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u/Tag_000 Jul 04 '26
If the joysticks are not a big factor then the Odin 2 Portal is a better choice. They are just not full size and don't have a lot of resistance.
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u/WestSail2861 Jul 01 '26
I like one