Review: Genki Covert Dock 3 And ShadowCast 3 – A Surprisingly Compact Mobile Capture Duo For Your Switch 2

Accessory maker Genki is famous for producing a wide range of Switch-related items over the past few years, and the Covert Dock range has always been one of my personal favourites.

With the original Switch, the Covert Dock enabled me to leave my OEM Switch Dock at home and take my console on the road without the added bulk, meaning I could hook the Switch up to any TV, no matter where I was, with the minimum of fuss.

Obviously, the arrival of the Switch 2 has introduced additional power demands, which render the older Covert Docks obsolete, but Genki has countered this with the launch of its third-gen model. This offers 64W charging (up from 45W on the Covert Dock 2) and can handle 14K/120 video (up from 4K/60).

As before, the Covert Dock 3 ($69.99) has three ports: USB-C (with DisplayPort 1.2), HDMI 2.1 and USB-A. USB-C handles your video input and allows you to connect systems like the Switch 2, Steam Deck, ROG Ally and more; basically anything that handles video over USB-C – it will top up the battery of the connected device at the same time. It can also charge other devices, like your laptop and smartphone. The HDMI connects to your display, while the old-fashioned USB-A is there for charging accessories and the like.

At 116g and smaller than the charger that comes with my Apple Mac laptop, the Covert Dock 3 is pretty much the only charger you need – and it comes with the added bonus of doubling as a dock for all of the leading handheld gaming systems of the day.

Given Nintendo’s penchant for updating its hardware and rendering third-party docks useless, Genki tells us that this shouldn’t be an issue with the Covert Dock 3.

“We’ve had a lot of questions about Nintendo releasing a future firmware update for NS2 that could interfere with Covert Dock 3 functionality,” the company tells us. “We don’t anticipate this being an issue, but we designed Covert Dock 3 to be firmware updatable just in case. We commit to providing firmware updates if needed and would host the file on either the Covert Dock 3 product page on our website, via email, or on our Discord.”

Genki is twinning the Covert Dock 3 with an update of one of its other popular products, the ShadowCast 3 Pro ($89.99). This marks the most significant redesign of the ShadowCast project since it first launched back in 2021. I wasn’t really convinced by the concept then; while the idea of a capture card which is small enough to fit inside your Switch dock was novel, it felt very much like a solution in search of a problem.

However, fast-forward to 2026, and this latest iteration has become much more useful. The ShadowCast 3 can handle 1080p/120, 1440p/120 and 4K/60 video capture, and runs under Genki’s blissfully streamlined software for a hassle-free streaming and capture experience (you can use it with third-party apps too – in fact, Genki is partnering with Camo Studio as its iPad app works brilliantly with the ShadowCast 3).

Like the previous two models, the ShadowCast 3 is small – but the bonus here is that you get an HDMI Passthrough module that provides an additional HDMI port with zero latency for one screen while streaming and recording on another.

It’s possible to pair the Covert Dock 3 and ShadowCast 3 to create the ultimate on-the-road video capture setup, which will be very handy for content creators and video game journalists (like myself) who often need to grab footage while they’re attending conventions or on studio videos.

Genki has always been good at giving its products a unique visual hook with each refresh, and I think these third-gen offerings are the most visually appealing yet. The combination of dark blue plastic and translucent orange is really eye-catching, and I like that the two products complement one another aesthetically when used together.

Both are priced quite reasonably, too – in fact, you can buy both for less than some of the leading video capture options on the market. As a novice video creator, I couldn’t say for sure if the ShadowCast 3 is a match for the leading examples on the market, but it suits my modest needs – and twinning it with the Covert Dock 3 creates a slimline recording solution that does more than enough for me personally.