Best value & entertainment for car travel

This is kind of a last minute thing. Normally I research stuff like crazy before I make a purchase. But we're leaving for the Outerbanks on Saturday and as I'm packing the stuff for the kids car ride, I'm thinking maybe I can cut down on half the crap I'm bringing if I just buy a handheld electronic thing. So I'm not necessarily looking for the best, but maybe something that's good enough for the money, but won't be a waste because they'll grow out of it in a year. So I was deciding between:

1) Innotab
2) Leapster Explorer (because it's cheaper than the leap pad)
3) Leap pad, if it's REALLY worth it
4) just some random handheld electronic games (I just bought some generic brand Space Invaders and Frogger for ages 6+ and I'm afraid they'll be too hard. But I don't want to open them and test them and then not be able to return them)

background: We're not a very techy family, we have pay as you go phones, we're not into the latest and greatest when it comes to technology. My kids are smart (at least I think so! they know all their letters/sounds/can write and read words) but not very experienced in computers/video games because we just don't have it. And I don't want to have to buy something that I need to buy a bunch of other things in order for it to work (i.e. SD card, separate games, etc)

thoughts?

 

My boys got the leapster explorers when they were 3.5 before we went to Italy. A year later, they still love them. They are able to play almost all of the games with no help, and took to them rather quickly.

As for the Leap Pad, when I bought new games for the leapster explorer, I made sure the games I got were compatible with the leap pad. So if you go that route, I'd advise you do the same.

 

If you just buy the leapster explorer, are all the games sold separately or is there anything that comes with it to get them started?

 

Separate. Check out toys r us and target. They occasionally have sales on them. I'd say do amazon or the leapsters site for bundles, but you need them ASAP.

 

You could always pick up a portable DVD player, they have stuff so you can mount the screen(s) on the back of the front head rests. Honestly I have no idea how much they cost. Then you don't have to worry about buying games too, just take some movies.

My kids have Leapsters and DS's (Nintendo's hand held gaming thingie) and that has done the job on looooong car rides.

 

We do 10 hour driv2-3 a year to see family. We always use laptop, that we mount in the middle between 2 front seats so both kids watch movies.My DH puts about 12 movies and some series, so they are very happy and we really do not hear "Are we there yet" Oh well one day of watching 5-6 hours of movies will not hurt them My two are not into technology also much I think I will be introducing some at Christmas, not sure which one yet.

 

I would go the route of the DVD player too. It's invaluable to us on our long trips to the beach or to canada (which is 2000 miles one way!). We have both the original leapster and the leappad and both are great. But they do take games which cost extra. The leappad comes with a couple preinstalled games, but my dd who was a little over 4 when she got it, mastered the games within a week. So we had to buy more games for her that quickly. Now, she's been playing her older brother's ds for almost a year (she's nearly 6) and she can play any of those games without any help. She's my gamer chick. My older son couldn't play by himself until he was about 7 yrs old, but she picks up on games fast!! :lol:

 

We're borrowing a DVD player, so luckily we'll have that covered. That's probably the most important thing we're bringing! But I wanted to have some other stuff for a break. I know they'll get bored if we just show movie after movie. My son usually gets up and wonders around the house during movies at home, so he's the one I'm worried about more. We're also planning a lot of stops for them to get out and run around to break things up.

It stinks that you have to buy all the separate games in order for anything to work. I'm still not sure if it's worth doing until I have more time to think about it.

 

Something to keep in mind though is that those things are pretty heavy, and can turn into projectiles if you have an accident... so it's really not recommended to use them in the car. Personally I wouldn't just because they want to change games a lot, and they would inevitably end up on the floor... Either way, I researched them like mad, they all have negative reviews, ended up getting mobigos for our plane trip and one broke after a week (no sound). I'm not impressed, and now I have to return it and my daughter is going to be very upset until they send me another one. They love them though... My main issue with the innotab and leappad are that they eat batteries like crazy. Otherwise if you're set on getting something I'd read the reviews on amazon, it's always a good start for me.

 

We ended up with iPod touches because (1) they are lighter, (2) they don't require you to switch out games/shows/movies/etc., (3) all the "kid" options get questionable reviews, and (4) we didn't want to drop $100 each on leap pads that they'd outgrow in a couple years. We got a good deal on iPods at the holidays and have been really happy with them.

 

We have Leapster Explorers and there are games that you can buy online so you don't have to change out the cartridges. The games online are also cheaper than buying the cartridges and I think you get one or two when you buy the Leapsters. My two got them two xmases ago and still play with them and they are fantastic for long trips.

The other thing I would think about is the ipod touch. That would be perfect, you could load a bunch of apps on it and just give it to them on the trip. We would go this route for the next step up, but we already have Nintendo DSs, so we're just going to give those to A&R this year for their birthday.

 

Oh and they're releasing leappads 2 and something else to replace the explorer, so I'd definitely not get any leapfrog stuff for now.

 

I would go with itouchs. My girls love theirs. You can put videos on it, kids books on the kindle apps. There are so many free apps available unlike a game system where you need to pay extra for games.

 

hmmm...so it seems a lot of you have the leapster explorers and are fine with them. I may consider that, since it's cheapest, and maybe I can find some cheap games second hand at the kids resale shop here. And yes, I know I'm mean, but I'm only getting one for them to share. They can take turns in 15 minute increments or something.

I know there will always be something new coming out every year to become the latest and greatest, but like I said, we're not techy people so that doesn't really phase me. I'd rather get them more involved on the computer than keep up with the latest gaming/learning systems.

That said, the i pod touch looks pretty cool, and like the best value if you really don't have to buy games and apps separately (is this true?). But I have a really dumb question. Do you have to buy a separate monthly service package in order for it to work? Like some wi-fi thing, or does it work by itself like the kids gaming stuff would? And am I seeing this right, they're under $200? (I definitely don't need the best model for them).

 

We have the Leapster Explorers and the kids really like them. We have had them for about 2 years now and they still play with them.

 

iPod touches are great too. No monthly fees. You have wifi when you are in areas that carry it. Otherwise-no Internet connection needed. I believe all the games run without Internet. And you can load it up with movies from iTunes and be good to go. I just have episodes of the kids shows on it. When all is said and done, it really is probably the cheaper option. A lot of games are free or cheap cheap. My kids all have one, but they are ones that family members have outgrown and handed down to them. Some have even had water damage and have miraculously come back to life.

You can't go wrong with the iPod touches either. And if I had to do it all over again, I would have taken Rachel's advice when going to italy(and my husbands), and gotten the iPods from the get go.

 

As a said above, my girls have ipod touches. When they first got the itouch's i had the app store blocked, so the only way for me to add new apps was to unlock the adding apps. It was a pain when the apps needed to be upgraded. My girls don't know the itunes password, so they need us to "buy" apps. My girls have pages of free apps. I think the only app we have bought was a 99 cents state stacking app that i loved. Make sure you turn in app purchases off.
There are some apps that require an internet connection to work, but most do not. If you have netflix, your kids could watch the videos. I have also made copies of some of the kids movies for my girls. One of their favorite things to watch is their kindergarten yearbook.

 

Because you asked about value, I'll add that our purchase of the headrest-mounted DVD players (they're synced) was probably one of our best purchases. We don't take very long rides (max 2 hrs), but we take many of them. They have provided many hrs of entertainment and they cost under $200. The quality is great and we already had the DVDs, so no extra purchases. Something to consider if you take a lot of road trips

 

If you only want to get one of something get them a portable dvd player to watch. One will only create lots of fights.

 

Ok, problem solved - for now. I went to the second hand store and found a newer looking leapster explorer and 5 games for 19.99. It seems to work ok. And even if it doesn't last long, I didn't spend too much on it and still should be able to resell the games in the future. And it was perfect because two of the games are girly and two are more for boys, and the last is gender neutral.

I do like the idea of the ipod touch, so maybe I'll revisit that at Christmas.

They're checking it out right now. I already told them that they will each have a time limit in the car and they will take turns sharing. If I hear any whining or complaining over it, it will be put away. I never really buy them two of anything, so hopefully they'll be used to it and understand!