It's been a few weeks since I aquaried an Atari Lynx from a friend of mine. Owing to the fact that it's a Model II Lynx it's a vast improvement over the Model I. Over all it's a pretty good hand held, it's nice a sturdy and despite it's huge size it is actually fairly comfortable to hold. Despite it's status as a failed system, the Lynx does have a spot in Video Game History, being that it was the first full colored Handheld, beating Sega's Game Gear to the Market by two years. One of it's best features is that it produces sound that players can actually hear

However the Lynx has it's fair share of draw backs.

1. It eats batteries like crazy: Both the Lynx I and II take six AA batteries, however the Lynx I only had a battery life of up to four hours, while the Lynx II improved on this, extending the battery life to five or six hours, depending on use.

2. It's size: Both models of the Lynx are huge, and have the look that they could actually be used as weapon. The Lynx is not only bigger then it's rival the Game Gear, but it's also bigger then the Wii, the orginal PSP, the PSP Slim and Lite, and the Xbox 360's Power Brick

3. The Game Library: This was the reason the Lynx ultimatly failed. It was a system that had a lot of potental, but it was never fully realized owing to the weaknes of it's game library, which produced few if any note worthy titles.

Over all the Lynx is actually superior to the Game Boy, in terms of technology, and will appeal to collectors of Classic Consoles, owing to it's historic signifigance as the first colored handheld system. However I would recomend trying to find a Lynx II for two reasons: it's battery life is longer, and it's also far easier to insert and remove the cartridges.