DVD for Car or Something else...

[Claki]

For our drive down to Disney (17 hours plus stops), we're thinking of buying an aftermarket car DVD player. We have one child rearfacing in a convertible carseat and the other is forward-facing. The rearfacing is "immature" and sometimes kicks his mirror, puts things in his mouth, even though he's almost 3. If he has a DVD player monitor strapped to the seat in front of him I'm afraid he'd mess with it.

I'm wondering if I should get a DVD player, or maybe some kind of tablet? I like the idea of only buying digital copies of movies, but then I wouldn't have them to play in the car.

Any recommendations?

 

[Wendybird55]

Well with one child rear facing and the other front facing, are you trying to get something both can watch or mostly for front facing? It's hard for me to visualize where you might put one item for both to watch - unless you position a mirror for rear facing child to see reflection of movie.

Anyway, I am one for tablets...I think they are great...we got a very nice 10" one (ASUS) from Staples for my MIL for $199. I love tablets because you can download movies / music / games and TV shows to keep kids busy. DS enjoys downloading episodes of his favorite TV shows for when we're on a plane.

They also have 7" tables for around $150 or less. If you place a table on the seat facing the child in rear facing seat that may work as there really aren't any visable buttons and such he can push...but there are apps for kids where basically you just touch things to make noises or music and such so if you have one of those apps he can touch to his hearts delight and have fun making noises of changing colors while doing it.

 

[Claki]

Well with one child rear facing and the other front facing, are you trying to get something both can watch or mostly for front facing? It's hard for me to visualize where you might put one item for both to watch - unless you position a mirror for rear facing child to see reflection of movie.

Anyway, I am one for tablets...I think they are great...we got a very nice 10" one (ASUS) from Staples for my MIL for $199. I love tablets because you can download movies / music / games and TV shows to keep kids busy. DS enjoys downloading episodes of his favorite TV shows for when we're on a plane.

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I was wondering about DVD players with one player and two monitors that attach and strap to the car seats. I definitely need to consider tablets too. Thanks for the ASUS rec!

 

[Wendybird55]

Just did a quick check online and there are quite a few 2-monitor portable DVD players listed on Amazon many for under $100. That does seem like a very good value. As far as the younger one touching and playing with the buttons, I see some models have buttons on bottom of front and some on side. Maybe you can cover the buttons with a piece of black tape (to match color of monitor) so your son won't be tempted to play with them.

I think a tablet is a good item for now and future use...great to keep kids occupied anywhere and easy to carry around. But if you're looking for something specifically for this long car trip without spending a lot of money, I think a dual-monitor DVD player would be a good choice...just make sure to get it early enough before trip so you can try it out and see how it sets up in car and if everything works as it should - don't want any surprises while driving.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We use the dual moniter ones for our kids along with headphones. Sometimes DD13 just grabs a book if DD8 is watching something that doesn't interest her. But, other times they both want to watch.

 

[Mouse3Dad]

For our drive down to Disney (17 hours plus stops), we're thinking of buying an aftermarket car DVD player. We have one child rearfacing in a convertible carseat and the other is forward-facing. The rearfacing is "immature" and sometimes kicks his mirror, puts things in his mouth, even though he's almost 3. If he has a DVD player monitor strapped to the seat in front of him I'm afraid he'd mess with it.

I'm wondering if I should get a DVD player, or maybe some kind of tablet? I like the idea of only buying digital copies of movies, but then I wouldn't have them to play in the car.

Any recommendations?

A few that we found helpful during our first 16 hour drive last year.

We made the trip from Ohio last year with our DD6 at the time.

A dual screen DVD player is a great buy. Put any DVD's in a portable CD case before you leave, as it will give you easy access to change the discs and keep the car less cluttered.

Either a retractable screen for the window or a blanket to cut down on the sun glare. Even with tinted windows the cheaper DVD screens brightness can sometimes not be seen by the little ones.

We found a plastic TV tray at Toy's R Us that had side compartments and found this to fit well over the front facing car seat. This allowed for coloring and snacks to be held and allowed for our DD to place the DVD player on the tray when she wanted the screen closer.

Enjoy the drive! I was worried about it, but after everything was done it was a fun part of the trip.

 

[snoopy5386]

Not sure how your car seats are configured, but I am assuming two kids, one on each side and the middle seat empty? I would put the RFing monitor on the middle seat headrest and DD2 couldn't reach it with her feet rearfacing. Bonus, I only had the volume on the RFing monitor so DH and I didn't have to listen to their movies in the front.