The Nomad is in my opinion an amazing hand held that unfortunately was doomed to failure from the start.
A small pros/cons list before I get into personal thoughts.
Pros:
Had a library of several hundred games at launch.
Highly adjustable backlit screen with beautiful colors.
Good sound quality.
Comfortable to hold(even though it doesn't look like it would be)
Cons:
$180 original MSRP(apparently there was a $100 price cut after the system sat on store shelves)
Released shortly before 1996 only a couple years before the death of the Genesis.
Bulky for a portable. Especially compared to the handheld champion that was/is the Gameboy.
Devoured batteries
Battery Pack sold seperately
Rechargable batteries not reccomended due to voltage differences
In my opinion while this portable Genesis had many disadvantages compared to the Gameboy the few pros completely outweigh the cons. Especially a decade down the road.
The carts fit snugly into the Nomad so even though they do not fit all the way into the cart slot you don't have to worry about them wiggling around or worry about picking up/putting down the system and jarring the cart.
The ability to turn a dial to adjust screen brightness and color intensity is something that is still not available today. In fact I think after the release of the Nomad it was still another decade before handhelds even had backlit screens out of the box.
One of the most impressive features to me though was the ability to plug a Sega Genesis controller into the base of the handheld to allow for a second player and the ability to plug the system into a TV so each player had their own screen.
If only Sega had the ability to release this unsung wonder a few years earlier it would have had a fair chance of success. But without the ability to play Sega CD games, 32x games, and the fact that the Saturn was coming out on the market Sega killed itself by offering consumers too many choices rather than fully supporting just one system.
Trivia
The Nomad uses the same power supply as the Genesis 2. There is a slight cosmetic difference between the two though. The Nomad power supply is rounded and the Genesis supply is the standard box shape.