The Nintendo Switch is easily my favorite console ever, and one of the most popular options out there right now. I tend to flip-flop between TV mode and handheld mode pretty often, but the thing about handheld mode is that the screen is only 720p, and the game's visual quality is usually downgraded to use less power while using the battery. But wouldn't it be nice to have a bigger and better screen even when you don't have a TV available?

Enter the Aurga Viewer, a wireless HDMI dongle that allows you to cast the screen of any device with HDMI output, including the Switch, to a PC or tablet via Wi-Fi. It's useful if someone is using the TV or if you're in a hotel room, and it can also come in handy if you want to use a tablet, phone, or laptop, as a second screen for another PC. But there are some big downsides that make this hard to recommend wholeheartedly unless you know what you're getting into.

About this review: Aurga sent us the Aurga Viewer for testing purposes. The company had no input in the contents of this article.

Pricing and availability

The Aurga Viewer is available straight from the company's website, and it costs $79. I couldn't find it at any other retailers, though some alternatives do exist on Amazon.

The good

Extending the screen of almost any device

I'm mostly looking at the Aurga Viewer as an accessory for the Nintendo Switch because that's my main platform for gaming, but this device works with anything that has an HDMI output, and it's super versatile as a result. The Aurga Viewer is basically an HDMI dongle that captures the video feed from a device and then transmits it over a local Wi-Fi network, so you can view it on any almost any other device.

That means if your TV is taken, you can use this little dongle to send the display signal from your Switch, PlayStation, or Xbox to another device like a computer or tablet. It's a great way to keep playing your games on a larger screen if someone wants to watch TV. But its uses go far beyond gaming, too. You can use the Aurga Viewer with any device that has HDMI output, so that also means laptops and desktop PCs.

If you want a second screen for your main PC and all you have is a tablet or a second laptop, the Aurga Viewer lets you use it as an extension of your primary screen. Not only that, but you can even use the input on your second device to control the main one. So if you're using a laptop to extend your PC screen, you can use the laptop's keyboard and mouse to control your main PC. It even supports touch, technically, though I've found this to be hard to use with Windows and Android devices.

There are apps for most platforms

Despite what it may seem, the Aurga Viewer isn't just a wireless HDMI transmitter, and you don't need any special hardware to view the video stream coming from the source. The video signal is broadcast over a local Wi-Fi network, so all you need to do is connect to that network and use the app to see your screen on another device. That app is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, and there even seems to be a version for Android TV, though it requires sideloading, which is a pretty complicated process.

Still, what this means is that you can use just about anything you already have as a screen for your Switch games or another console, or as an extension to your PC. Want to use your iPad as a second screen for a Windows PC? You can do that, while Apple's Sidecar can't. Can't play on the TV but you want a bigger screen than the Switch's? You can use your laptop as a screen. It works with almost anything, so you're bound to find a use for it.

Running Switch games at a higher quality

One thing worth mentioning is that there's a particularly interesting use case for the AUrga Viewer with the Nintendo Switch. The thing about the Switch is that it has different performance profiles for handheld mode and docked mode, so when you're playing on the TV, games can render at up to 1080p (versus 720p in handheld mode), and they can just look better overall.

Because of that, even if your phone has a smaller screen or the size difference isn't that big, there's a potential benefit in using the Aurga Viewer instead of playing directly on the Switch itself. You'll still be getting the benefits of docked mode, but you can use any device as your screen. It's a cool idea.

The bad

Wireless connections aren't perfect

The problems with the Aurga Viewer start with the simple fact that wireless connections aren't the most reliable, especially for high-quality streaming like what you'd want in this case. You're going to be taking a hit in visual quality, especially for fast-paced activities like gaming. You're also dependent on your distance to the device, so the experience may vary a lot.

On top of that, you're going to be subject to some delay, too. There's already a bit of delay when using wireless controllers with the Switch, but when you add the delay of transmitting the screen to your device, it definitely becomes noticeable. On a Windows PC, I found the experience to still be mostly playable if you're not in a fast-paced game. Pokémon Violet worked just fine for the most part.

However, the Android app seems to have a much bigger delay based on my experience with a couple of phones, one of which features a fairly high-end Snapdragon 865 chipset, so it's not like the poor hardware was at fault. It just isn't a fast streaming experience. Maybe if the Aurga Viewer supported Wi-Fi 6 instead of Wi-Fi 5, the experience would be a bit better, but as it stands, it's not good for gaming. Though most of this doesn't really matter if you just want a second screen for your PC. It's also possible to connect the Aurga Viewer via USB to your receiver device, which should be more reliable, but it's also likely to be more cumbersome.

You're stuck without internet

The recommended method for using the Aurga Viewer is to connect directly to the local wireless network it creates, that means whatever device you're using for viewing can't be used to access the internet otherwise. If you were thinking of using this for streaming your Switch footage, you can't really do that unless you're using the wired USB connection.

Aurga does say it supports connecting through your router, so you can still use the internet, but the Windows app doesn't seem to have this option at all, and trying to use it in the Android app, I just couldn't get things to work. Basically, be prepared to not use the internet while using this device.

The Windows app crashes a lot

Finally, the Windows app is nearly unusable. Now, if you keep the Aurga Viewer window in focus the entire time, it works fine, and it's the best experience you can get out of this device. The delay is minimal, quality is decent, and you have a bigger screen.

But if you do anything that takes focus away from the window, it will cause things to glitch out and stop working after a few seconds. In my experience, even adjusting the volume resulted in audio glitches (with some very loud noises) resulting in an eventual crash a few seconds later. It can be fixed by just opening the app again, but I'm shocked that this happens in the first place.

Should you buy the Aurga Viewer?

There are too many downsides with the Aurga Viewer as it is to be able to wholeheartedly recommend it, but it does have some interesting use cases, which might make it worth it if you're willing to put up with the trade-offs. If you want a larger screen to play on your Switch when your TV is being used, this is a way to do that, or if you want to extend your desktop, this makes it easier to do so.

But the experience just isn't amazing and there are big sacrifices you have to make to get it, so I'd steer most people away from it.