Leapster - Ault,CO

My son got his leapster 2 when he was 4 & he is now 7 1/2, still loves & plays with it often! it has taken a beating & always works, there are tons of great educational games for their growing ages. I would highly recommend it to anyone : ) Much worth the money!

My daughter recieved the Leapster 2 as a gift when she turned 3. I really don't know the difference. I know with the 2 you can link it to the web and see your childs learning progress. I haven't done this but I though it was a cool feaure.

She is now 5 and still plays with it all the time. The only think ours is laking is the charger. I need to go buy one because the think EATS batteries like crazy!!!

I got her the Get Puzzled game ($9 on amazon.com) and both she and her 7 year old sister love it.

I like the Leapster because it's durable (ours has been dropped countless times) and rather than being just a video game my kids are learning from it.

My 7 year old has a DS and I thought she would never put that thing down but she'll switch between the two. They share with each other. I was suprised that they would even look at the Leapster once the DS came into the picture!

I think it's a good buy and will last him a long time. We don't have a case or anything fancy for ours. If budget is a concern you may want to make that part of his wishlist for birthday or Christmas gifts.

Good Luck!

My son LOVES LOVES LOVES his Leapster! We got it for him last Christmas, and it is honestly one of the best things we have ever bought him! He has most of the games that are pre-school age (got them as gifts for Christmas and birthday), and there isn't a single one that I don't like. They are SO educational, but he has a blast playing with it!

We do limit his Leapster time, but I think we did it the right way. He is rarely (as in every other week or less) allowed to play the Leapster in the house. He plays it when we are in the car, at the mall, grocery shopping, etc. Not only does it keep him from being a couch potato at home during the day, but it distracts him so I am able to get my shopping done with no hassle! It really is a win win for both of us!

I don't remember the difference between them, but I'm pretty sure my son has the Leapster 2 (which is the newer one). I cannot say enough good things about them, and I highly recommend getting one. Educational + fun + a great diversion = happy mommy!

I got my girls (ages 5 and 3 at the time) leapster 2, a game, and the carry case...and it was one of the best things I have bought for them! They each now have about 4 games each, for their different levels and they play them all the time. Its a great thing to have during car rides, DR visits when they need to wait, when its time to quiet down...soo many reasons!

We got ours at Costco during the Christmas season and if I remember right it was around $60 for the gamer, a game (petpals) and the case. Its been 2 years and they still play them at least 3 times a week.

My daughter LOVES her Leapster. I haven't had any problems with hers. I would suggest trying to get the games used....maybe on eBay or CraigsList if you can. That could save you some money. All of the games are educational and fun for the kids, so I highly recommend it.

We bought my son the original one when they first came out, he played it to death (literally). He was still into it, so we bought a l-Max. We also bought my daughter one too. That was years ago (at least 5). I sold his on Craigslist since he feels he is too old and wanted a Dsi. My daughter still has hers, she just turned 8. I can not say enough positives things about the Leapster. Since you mentioned a fixed budget, I would look on Craigslist, you can get one with all the supplies. As far as holding their attention, my nephew (he was 15 at the time) got addicted to The Incredibles game. The only advantage to purchasing a Leapster over the Leapster 2 is that you can get one used pretty cheap.

The Leapster is wonderful! When my daughter was 2 yrs old she received a "hand me down" leapster, I believe it was first generation. Anyway by the time my daughter got it, the leapster had already been through two children. It worked great and she loved it. We eventually passed the same unit off to another child when we replaced my daughters with the Leapster 2. I don't really know the difference as I didn't get a chance to see it all that often. My daughter LOVED the leapster and the games are so educational. When my son came along he loved the leapster too and it was an every day toy of choice. They are durable in that they take the punishment that kids dish out being dropped, being swung around by the stylus, banged into the wall etc. I do highly recommend the battery charger as it will save you money in batteries. This is a great toy choice and for an educational game system it keeps the kids going for years. We never had any problem with our leapster working although I will add that the last time I purchased one was about 2 or more years ago. So it is possible that the quality has changed in that time. If you are concerned about price versus quality check into a used system first (craigslist, ebay, yard sale, consignment shop, borrow from a friend) to see if your child likes it and if it will interest him.
Good Luck

I just got my 4 1/2 year old son the Leapster Explorer. So far he loves it. The graphics are great and he can play the games or watch Leapfrog movies or ebooks i download for him. I like that it adjusts level based on how he's doing so he's never bored or overwhelmed.

That said, the explorer is for slightly older kids than the original Leapster or Leapster 2 and the graphics on explorer are noticeably better than Leapster 2. (based on in-store models).

My advice is to take your son with you to Target and let him play with the demos. If he likes it, get it :)

T.

We got my daughter the leapster 2 last year when we went on a trip (she was just turning 4). She loves it - she is NOT gentle with her toys, and it has lasted just fine and works to this day. If I were buying today, I might get the leapster explorer (they weren't out when we bought hers). Also, target runs sales on these periodically and you can get the games cheaper.

We started with the Leapster (bought it like a month before the leapster2 came out) about 3 years ago - it's still going... The screen is scratched up, but it has withstood being dropped more times than I care to think about and being played with tons. We live about 30 minutes from anywhere, so this is the toy that is brought everytime we go into town. We've collected about 20 games over the 3 years (thanks to birthday gifts and Christmas gifts). Last month Cay turned 7, and we went back and forth on upgrading to a leapster2 that can be passed on to her younger brother or buying a Nintendo DS for her. We opted to go with the Leapster2, knowing that she only has another year or so that it will be age appropriate - but the 1st one held up so well, and all games for the old leapster work with the leapster2 - with expanded play available for the leapster2 (you can download additional games/activities from the leapfrog website). If you can find a Leapster in good condition, there isn't a ton a difference (that I've noticed) between the two, other than the leapster2 can be connected to a computer.

Both my kids have the Leapster 2. I like that I can download their play and see how many questions they get right and how long they are playing etc. Now that our son is older (almost 7) he prefers the look of his Didj although it is too easy to accidently turn off during a game.

The Leapster 2 doesn't plug into the TV. There is now also another option which may be better as the buttons etc are different.

If you sign up at Leapfrog.com you get emailed when they have sales etc and you can get some incredible deals. We bought the rechargable battery pack and have been very happy with it.

We have 2 leapsters for our 2 kids. We bought the first over 3 years ago & it is still going strong. The second is a year old - no problems. The thing I really appreciate about leapster is that they do not change platforms when they upgrade the machine. The first one we bought is an old model. By the time we bought the second for our other child, they had come out with a new one with new games. The beautiful things is that all of the new games and old games work on both machines. Having multiple children growing into leapsters at different ages, I really appreciate that they haven't made the old machines obsolete as they make improvements to the new ones.