Watch this Nintendo Switch survive a 1000-foot fall

midian182

Posts: 9,662   +121
Staff member

For all the positive reviews, the Nintendo Switch isn’t a device renowned for its durability. There have been reports of the screen scratching when it's placed into the dock, problems with the left Joy-Con controller, and the main unit warping when docked for extended periods. So, you wouldn’t expect the console/portable hybrid to survive a 1000-foot drop – yet somehow it does.

YouTube channel UnlockRiver attached a Switch to a drone using tape and a cord. Once the UAV reached the 1000 feet mark, Nintendo’s console was released and slammed into the concrete parking lot below. The flying debris when it lands suggests the device has been annihilated, but, amazingly, it still works.

Assuming this isn’t some clever fake, because the internet’s full of those, it’s pretty incredible to see that the only damage is the broken left Joy-Con, which took the brunt of the impact. Even the screen remains intact.

Most modern devices, particularly those with screens, aren’t known for their ruggedness. My colleague Tim Schiesser broke his Galaxy S7 Edge when it dopped from about 11 – 15 inches onto the side of a plastic box, whereas dropping my own S7 Edge from about 10 inches left me without a smartphone for a month. The Switch isn’t as delicate as Samsung’s phone, of course, but surviving a 1000-foot fall is unexpected, to say the least.

Despite the video’s revelations, it’s probably best that you don’t start playing catch with your Switch. As GameSpot notes, another YouTube channel, GizmoSlip, broke theirs after dropping it from 5 feet, though it did take 11 attempts, four of which were screen-side down drops.

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'Cos that's what one does with something you absolutely love, first and foremost - drop it from 1000 feet.

Women love that sort of thing. Maybe not from a thousand feet, but that's a trivial detail.

In all seriousness, this is an excellent video that will move units. Transforms the Switch's brand image from being a family friendly console to a family friendly console that is also childproof (see drop proof). If anyone would doubt this, allow me to kindly point out the multi-million dollar protective case industry that exists for mobile devices.
 
Yea... that "1000ft" drop was poorly executed. The planning was probably on focused on how can we make this cool as possible! As Rob already stated, the left controller took the majority of the impact thus acting as a crumple zone as you would see with a car. Although the controller was not design to crumple thus causing the energy from the impact to disperse the left controller pieces into many directions. Another flaw is the tape and rope. This would also affect the results and I'm not going to take the time to write all the details.

In conclusion, the guy giving the switch a durability rating a 9 out of 10 is total BS. Considering that the controller shattered on impact, which is not surprising, I would believe the same or very similar would happen to the main device.
 
Yea... that "1000ft" drop was poorly executed. The planning was probably on focused on how can we make this cool as possible! As Rob already stated, the left controller took the majority of the impact thus acting as a crumple zone as you would see with a car. Although the controller was not design to crumple thus causing the energy from the impact to disperse the left controller pieces into many directions. Another flaw is the tape and rope. This would also affect the results and I'm not going to take the time to write all the details.

In conclusion, the guy giving the switch a durability rating a 9 out of 10 is total BS. Considering that the controller shattered on impact, which is not surprising, I would believe the same or very similar would happen to the main device.

Facepalm.
 
Well 11 falls from FIVE feet broke the screen so considering how ingenious consumers are at finding the failings of devices I expect a lot of broken Nintendo Switch's
 
One has to wonder ..... what kind of ***** would be playing with the thing at 1,000 feet off the ground!!??!!?? I would have been more impressed (or at least entertained) to see how well "he" would have lasted after the same drop! If my kid would have ever done that he would have been limited to playing with a stick and a hoop!
 
What could have been 1 minute video of a drop test was instead 3.5+ minutes of DudeBroGuy being obnoxious and pretending to 'science'. You're indoors and on camera, take your f-ing sunglasses off.
 
One has to wonder ..... what kind of ***** would be playing with the thing at 1,000 feet off the ground!!??!!?? I would have been more impressed (or at least entertained) to see how well "he" would have lasted after the same drop! If my kid would have ever done that he would have been limited to playing with a stick and a hoop!
"This is your captain speaking. uuuhhhhhhhhhh, we are now at 1000 feet. Please throw all Nintendo Switches out of the plane."
 
Controller on the side took the blunt of the impact, not surprising to me. Take the controllers off the sides and drop it again! Oh, but the video stopped there? Disappointment. :( I skimmed the video for the part that actually mattered, and skimmed to the end. Didnt see a second drop test.
 
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