Apparently, only God himself could install the Afterburner without getting dust on it. Before I go further let me say that the quality of the light itself is fine. It's not perfect, but it's about as good as you can expect given the GBA screen's flaws. The mod lights the screen evenly from corner to corner, but there is some mild over saturation. Dark games like Castlevania look just as bad with the Afterburner as they did without it. It's a different kind of bad though; now you can see the games fine, but they just look washed out. It's mostly the launch titles and other early or dark games that suffer from this problem. Most developers are making their games with vibrant colors now, and the newer brighter games, like Advance Wars, look terrific. Still, the fact that you can see your games in complete darkness makes it worth it for even for the dark games. With the mod off, the GBA looks as if the mod isn't there. Direct sunlight overpowers the Afterburner even when it's turned on (so it looks as if it's not there again). Unfortunately, with the potentiometer that comes with the kit, it's not possible to completely turn the thing off. You'll have to use a different potentiometer or add an on/off switch to the installation to completely turn the Afterburner off. Still, turning the potentiometer down will conserve battery life, and supposedly the lowest setting (almost off) consumes very little battery power. Battery life (using Energizer^TM Max brand batteries) was just shy of nine and a half hours with the brightness and sound cranked all the way up.

Now let's talk about the installation process for a minute. The instructions are detailed, mostly well written and very nice to look at. Unfortunately, the kit is missing one thing that should have been included: a tri-wing security screwdriver. This item would have added less than a buck fifty to the price of each kit. To purchase one separately costs 10 to 15 dollars after shipping. Personally, I broke out an electronic grinding device and modified a Phillips screwdriver. It didn't work perfectly, but I used it to open and close the GBA at least four times (do this at your own risk).

The first really difficult part of the mod itself is the cutting. Using either a Dremel^TM tool or an Exacto^TM knife (if you follow the instructions), you'll have to cut a large notch out of the GBA. This will be hidden under the tinted-black part of the front plastic. The cutting was time consuming using a Dremel^TM tool, but it can be accomplished by mere mortals. Another hard part is the placement of the dreaded AR film. I followed the instructions and got this on with no problems at all (although many people seem to be having trouble with this). Difficult thing number three: soldering. The worst part of the soldering is attaching the 44-Ohm resistor to the GBA main board. The connection spot is almost non-existent although I hear it's cake compared to the soldering in most console mods. The most difficult part of the installation deceptively appears easy. You just stick the light itself into the notch you cut out, peeling the protective plastic off of each side at the last possible minute. Unfortunately, the folks at Triton Labs weren't joking when they recommended getting the system all sealed up as soon as possible after this step. The Afterburner attracts dust like a magnet, and every attempt I've made to get rid of it only adds more. Compressed air is the only safe way to remove dust according to the instructions, and it simply didn't work for me. This basically means that you have one chance to get the installation right. If you get dust on the Afterburner, trying to remove it will only make things worse (wish I had known this earlier). While playing games the dust can be ignored, but it basically ruins the visual quality of the games. It's especially noticeable in darker games. Playing the brighter games with the Afterburner cranked all the way up and with lights on (so that your pupils don't dilate too much) minimizes the appearance of dust and gives you excellent picture quality. If you dabble with Afterburner modding, I strongly suggest that you allow a "professional" to install it. At least then you can complain if there is dust in the system.

What we really need is for Nintendo to give us a factory quality installation of this type of light. Until that happens (and it may never happen), the Afterburner is all we have. At thirty-five bucks plus shipping, the Afterburner is an impressive internal lighting solution; just don't try the installation yourself. Repeat: DO NOT try the install yourself unless you can afford to replace the Afterburner (and possibly the GBA) and try again. The chance of getting a perfect, dust-free install on your first try is almost non-existent.