Leapster vs. VSmile

[ms.ojo]

Looking for some help. My son is turning 6 next mth and I was thinking it might be time for one of these handheld games. He is in Kindergarten. he thinks V Smile looks better as it has Scooby Doo Software....but I think Leapster looks better. Problem is he likes "Batman" (which is 2nd-3rd grade level including Multiplying!). Possibly the Incredibles (which should be ok for his age group). I just wish they had scooby or Star wars themed things for Leapster. Has anyone bought the Vsmile game? What do you think? Is there much to offer my son going forward or will I be passing it down to DD soon and getting him something diff't. She turns 3 in Nov and my thought was we'd get something for her too so they'd both have a "portable" for long car rides not to mention our plane trip to Disney in Dec!!!!!

I also see Leapster has come out w/ a new L-max which is a leapster that can also plug into your TV (like the VSmile) Not sure how much we'd need that component.

HELP!!!! Experienced Moms and Dads...I need some quidance. FYI - I was staying away from Game Boys as I thought it would be better to have something fun...and a bit educational...and my thought on Game Boys and the like is they're just video games. Feel free to enlighten me in that regard too!!!

Thank you.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Is V Smile portable? I thought it was more of a game console meant for the home?

I highly recommend the Leapster, BTW My 5 year old's had one since his 3rd birthday and it's his favorite toy.

 

[ms.ojo]

Is V Smile portable? I thought it was more of a game console meant for the home?

I highly recommend the Leapster, BTW My 5 year old's had one since his 3rd birthday and it's his favorite toy.

Yes, it is called Vsmile Pocket and it is portable.

 

[mrsv98]

DD (5yo) has had the Leapster for more than a year and she loves it...we do to! It has a wide range of software and the programs are loads of fun.

That being said, if your son has his heart set on a certain game or character, then I would probably get that one since he is much more likely to play with it. Either one is a big investment when you start buying a bunch of games (actually, the games make great gifts from aunties/uncles gparents).

 

[twinmomplus2new]

My 5 year old twin boys have the leapster and V-smile, In addition they have Game boy color.

The Leapster 2 of them... never, ever get used. Both are on a shelf in thier room.
The game boy colors are also never used except on the plane to watch cartoon shorts on them. They never play games on them.
The V-smile gets used about 3 days a week. One boy likes it better than the other. I enjoy the v-smile because its great for number and letter recognition and nothing violent. The scooby doo game is very good for your sons age as well as the Aladdin game. I would not recommend the Toy Story it was a little young for my boys They blew right through the game. I am waiting on the Batman game so far I have seen it advertised but not available.

I am looking at the hand helds for Christmas. But again one child would be far more interested than the other.

 

[Tinks]

Are the Leapster products holding up better now? We went through 2 Leap Pads from way back when because the pens never lasted. They would short out. (not with a spark or anything just wear out and be unreliable quickly) Twice! I never bought it again after having it happen a second time!

Have their products improved?

 

[MinnieM3]

I love Leapster! I have it in my 3rd grade classroom and my DS6 has one at home. I think it's great. Very educational. I had bought the Spiderman and Batman games but they were kinda hard to do and I took them back. The material wasn't hard, I just couldn't get to it because Batman/Spiderman had to go through a city or something before you could get to the problems and I couldn't do it. I don't keep anything for my kids that I can't do myself.

I just saw VSmile commerical yesterday for the first time. Looks cool, too.

 

[corie161]

I'm probably not much help, but we have the actual VSmile game for the TV. The kids do enjoy it, but it hasn't been played much over the summer. That being said, I ordered the Leapster LMax for my son (5) for Christmas. I opted for that rather than the portable VSmile, just for something different and the Leapster seems to have great reviews.

On the other hand, I am thinking about getting my DD(7) a Nintendo DS for Christmas because I don't want her to grow out of the thing to soon, like a possibly with some of the educational software. I haven't totally made up my mind on that yet. Besides I think the Nintendogs game looks interesting. It may not be educational, but I think they sometimes need something just for fun!

 

[EthansMom]

My son is 4 and we just bought him a Leapster about a month ago. He loves it and plays it constantly! He has the Kindergarten, Dora, Letter Factory, Talking Words, and Nemo games. DS plays all of the games, but seems to prefer the Kindergarten one.

I didn't buy the Leapster L-Max because the L-Max plays the regular Leapster games and the Leapster L-Max games, but only the L-Max games work on the t.v. Also, most of the L-Max games seemed to only be more expensive versions of games that were available as regular Leapster games. I think Madagascar is the only game I've seen available only as an L-Max game.

The Leapster goes through batteries and how!!! It uses 4 AA batteries and DS goes through a set in 3-5 days. Luckily, we already had several rechargeables and a charger in the house so I opted to not buy the charging station. However, you have to use a screwdriver to unscrew the battery cover to change the batteries whereas the charging station is a docking port-style where the child could just set in the Leapster and it would charge overnight without removing the battery cover.

I bought the $16 Leapster case. It was well worth the money. DS loves to take his Leapster for the car trip to/from preschool and his case protects the handheld and holds the games nicely. The Leapster L-Max is a different shape and I don't believe it would fit in the case.

Many of the Leapster games have difficulty settings of 1, 2, 3. It's nice to know that the games will "grow" with DS's knowledge and ability.

In addition to the Batman and Incredibles games, there are also SpongeBob, Nemo, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Spider Man-themed games for boys and a Disney Princess and Bratz game that are more for girls. Also, there are the Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade games. Oh, and Math Baseball and Math Missions. And I Spy is coming out in November.

Some games are just educational games. Others, like Nemo, are interactive books. And the Letter Factory and Talking Words are interactive videos. Each game has around 3-6 different games on it. And the Leapster handheld has a few different games pre-loaded on it.

Like I said, my son loves his Leapster. For us, it was a great purchase.

If you decide on the Leapster, Amazon is having a sale on Leap Frog products. Many of the products have Free Shipping and you can use code GEFFRYBDYAAC to get "Buy Two, Get One Free" on Leap Frog products and software through Oct. 1, 2005.

I hope this helps!

 

[ms.ojo]

This has been really helpful! thank you. Any more on the vsmile pocket? I'm leaning that way as it is a lot of $$$...and he does like Scooby so I feel he'll be more inclined to give it a try. But something keeps holding me back and I think Leapster instead. Anyone else want to chime in I'm all ears!!! Thanks again!

 

[Blondy876]

We love the Leapster here. My dd got hers last Christmas when she was 5 1/2. We got her any game without too much worry about the age range. I have to say that this is the first Christmas gift that she has ever received that wasn't broken or lost within a month. I love it and so does she. She takes it everywhere. And she is asking for more games for this Christmas.