LEAPSTER - Any Good?

[Gillian76]

Was thinking about getting one for DD1 who will be 6 in Feb.

Opinions please?

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Do you think there'll be much mileage in it if she's 6? Too young?

Haven't investigated it fully but one of her friends has one and she was playing with it just before Christmas.

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We got DD a leappad (for 4-8 year olds) for Chirstmas, she is 7 next week. We are going to add to the collection of books and DS can have it when she is bored with it (he is 3)

I think they are really good and I don't think 6 is too old for one.

She has a leappad and hasn't really been bothered with it tbh. Leapster looks a bit different tho'.

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Ooh off to look! Thanks Amismum!

Oh no, can't find it - maybe it's finished

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My DS has had one since last Christmas. He was 4 back then . He loved it and it's great for when we go on holiday or on a long car journey. He has been quite happy playing the game that came with it for the last year but this year got the Incredibles game for Christmas. It's much harder and has spelling, multiplication etc. It seems really good and although it's too difficult for him at the moment he's loving it. I found the game that came with it really developed his maths skills and he was able to count and add before he started school.

Tesco are doing the new version of the Leapster, the Leapster L-Max for £34.99 at the moment at the Extra stores. The L-Max has a lead for connecting to a TV so others (parents) can see what is happening on TV.

The L-Max is backward compatible with the original Leapster cartridges as a hand held unit, but won't display on a TV, only the built in screen. Only the L-Max cartridges will display on TV and the unit.

DS has had a Leapad and many books to go with it for a while and has hardly touched it, but he hardly puts the Leapster down. Maybe its the portability of it and the better interactivity of the Leapster helps to keep the attention.
All the cartridges DS has are very educational but as they are character based (ie Spongebob, Spiderman, Incredibles etc) he thinks he's playing a game like on a Gameboy. This helps to keep the appeal.

No Tesco Extra nearby, but Asda has that one for £60. I was thinking of getting the pink one from Amazon (just the ordinary older version) for £49. She's a pink sort of girl, although the "gameboy" aspect will appeal, I suspect!

Hi

Ds1 (4) and ds2 (2) have a leapster and I've just bought a leapster l-max from Tesco. Both of them love the games, in particular Dora the Explorer! DS2 manages to play pretty well with the more basic games like shapes and colour matching. DS1 plays the more advanced games - there's still a lot that we've not explored (ie the more advanced number/letter games) but he does like the TV connection bit for the l-max.

The leapster is great for car journeys. Keeps them entertained.

I was a bit concerned with the Leapster initially as ds1 was only 3 but even then he still managed to play quite contentedly.

A good buy!

Do you think the L-Max would be better then? Wonder where the nearest Tesco Extra is???

The Tesco website has a store locator which you can specify the type of store to search for. Phone if you are going to travel to check if they have any, but make sure the person you speak to knows exactly what you are talking about as one of the stores we spoke to didn't seem to have a clue what we were asking for.
We managed to get one put aside for us as we have 2 Extra stores within 20 mins driving from us in opposite directions.
The L-Max can do all that the original can do and at this price is way cheaper.

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The l-max has additional functionality in that you can connect to a TV via a lead. The original leapster is purely a handheld device. Games for the orginal leapster will work in the new l-max but you won't have the TV side of things. I think the l-max has a few design improvements - the link holding the pen is more robust.

I think the l-max is cheaper at the moment - thanks to the offer in tesco. The games for the l-max are about £20-25. Games for the original leapster are £15-£20.

Check here for tesco extra locations
Also have a look on Ebay - may be some bargains or cheap games.

Oop sorry - bit slow replying!

I was in Slough store last week and they had quite a few in stock. Agree with the comments about calling first and some stores not knowing what we were talking about. Also, I was told to call head office re stock levels. When I eventually got through to a thoroughly miserable woman I was told that they do not have stock info and couldn't possibly check anything without knowing the bar code! .

Good luck!

Just to revive a REALLY old thread... Would you get a Leapster for a 2 year old? DD (5yo) has had one for ages now and never puts it down. DS picks it up the instant she puts it down (now does that contradict the previous sentence? ) and I think he would quite like his own. He is only just 2 so maybe he's a bit young? Wondered if anyone had any experience of games he might be able to play. DD has all the older games as she's needs that extra stimulation.