Anyone Have "My 1St Leappad" or "Leapster"...Which Is Better for a 3 Year Old?

We have a Leapster for my 3 year old son and another one for my 5 year old daughter. They love it because they feel like they are playing video games -- when actually it is very educational. My daughter started reading at 4 and I do not credit it to me, but I do give a lot of credit to her Leapster!! She has learned phonics sounds, identifying upper and lower case letters, and math skills. They both go through phases where they love to play their Leapster, then they forget about it for a while. It is great for car trips too. I cannot recommend it enough!!

I don't know if they've improved the quality since we got ours a few years ago, but I haven't been happy with our "my first leappad." It seems to have some sort of power issue where it will turn itself off in the middle of a page for no reason (even with fresh batteries.) Also, the cartridges are easily damaged and become unreadable after not very long.

I have two kids, and we've received as gifts the Leapster and the regular Leap Pad, and I'd recommend either of those before the "first leap pad." The leap pad doesn't get used very much, actually, but the quality is better and there are more titles.)

My almost 4 yr old has a Leapster and loves it. He got it for his 3rd birthday. He also has the Read & Write LeapPad (not My 1st LeapPad) and he doesn't care much for that one. I definately recommend the Leapster. I think it has great learning games for 3 yr olds and it is compact and great for travel.

Our daughter had "My 1st Leapad". She loved it. I was most concerned about what she was learning and activities rather then if it's Batman or Cars. She loved it. My friend is now using it for her child and our daughter has the next step up.

My son is 4 1/2 and he got my 1st leappad for Christmas when he was two. He hasn't used it very much but he isn't really into that kind of toy. He likes to play ball or play with trains or cars. We haven't had any problems with it, he just isn't very interested.

I have both for my kids. We started with My First Leappad and then the Leappad, then Leapster. Now I have another child and I would not bother with My First Leappad. It all depends on what you want to do. If your child likes animation, I would say to go with the Leapster.