Leapad vs Innotab

[CatL]

In a related thread to my other one, we are considering getting DD one of the above for her 4th burthday or Xmas, as her toy camera broke, and she is starting to enjoy games but the mouse on lap top a bit hard for her to use (and I only want her using that with close supervision from me!). We don't have a proper tablet and no plans to get one, and I don't want her to play with my phone.

So, any experience of which to get, and also, do they come with much, or will I have to spend a fortune on apps /games.

we went with the innotab because you can download your own content onto it, plus downloadable games seemed less expensive than the leappad ones

BUT, they're very very slow. DS3 gets a little frustrated with his.

if i was buying again i would buy a cheap tablet. apps are far cheaper to download and it'll be faster to use.

DS has a leappad which is great. I read up before getting one and they seemed to get much better reviews.

I bought DS an Innotab 2 for his last birthday and honestly, it was a massive waste of money. He played with it for about a week and it hasn't been touched since. My two friends who also bought one have reported the same.

Hmmm, I'm wondering what to do now. Not keen on the idea of getting a cheap tablet, as presumably they are less child proof, bith in terms of breakage and accidentally connecting to internet etc. Any other experiences?

I agree they're a waste of money.

DD hardly touches hers, she plays on her DS or on my Nexus tablet more.

If you get a cheap tablet, get a good case for it so that it is well protected when if it gets dropped.

I have an eyepad and there are some strong ones around for that like the griffin (I think!) one that is military grade and I noticed that Costco were selling a schools pack of iPads that also had these covers so good to protect from the rough and tumble. Something like that for whatever you get would protect it pretty well

Thanks - do you think she would play with it if she didn;t have the option of DS or tablet though (mine won't), or is it just not very good?

Ds has an innotab 2 and it does just what we wanted. It's not so great that he can't put it down but it keeps him entertained for a while and is educational. The thought of him on a tablet scares me. He has the rest of his life to stare at screens.

DS got a leap pad last Christmas when he was 5 and he uses it quite a bit as does DS 2 who is 4. He got a £15 token with it which bought 3 games and I've spent approx £20 on additional games over the year. There are often 4 for 3 deals where you can buy games to store on your computer and download when required I.e. before a long journey.

DS does use my tablet but I like the fact that the leap pad is clearly a toy and can be played with completely unsupervised

you don't have to have a tablet internet enabled. you can just use it for apps

Might not be relevant any more but they had innotab3 in Costco for £54 each which seemed a good price given the price the innotab 2 went for.

Thanks for thr tip off cartoad. not decided what to do yet, but will look into costco as not seen cheaper yet.