LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game System - Green
by LeapFrog
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Our Price: $88.88 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $17.49 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game System - Green
Customer Review: Great Alternative To Gameboy For Toddlers-OK 4 Big Kids
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been waiting a LONG time for a tool like this! Educational and fun (really, it is!)
We own 2 Gameboy Advance systems that my children play with regularly. Nonetheless, my [...] son cannot get enough of his Leapster! We opted not to get the LMax b/c we wanted it for travel entertainment only.
My son has the newer-square version of the Leapster and it fits his hands very well. The picture is clear and the animation is almost as sophiscated as the Gameboy Advance. The sound clarity is also better than I expected. On some LeapPad products, the voices sound muffled and unclear. Not so with our Leapster.
My 3 1/2 year olds favorite games are Letters on the Loose & Number Raiders. Both games are video game like. I only purchased 2 games and have not found it necessary to buy more -- at this time. Both games have varying levels of difficulty which keep my son occupied. My son is mildly speech delayed and after two weeks of regular play with his Leapster, he can recognize and sound out 60% of the alphabet & numbers up to 20. Whereas prior, he would not name letters or numbers. I KID YOU NOT! He also enjoys the game that is pre-installed, a Frogger type math game that involves matching numbers & letters on level 1 and contains advanced levels with math equations. My oldest son (8) enjoys playing the Math Missions game, although he prefers his Gameboy Advance.
Overall, I believe this is a sound product for a toddler up to a "young" big kid (10). It is educational. It is arcade-like. It is easy to use. The volume can be adjusted! Mom's sometimes compete with the kids to play with it. The cost of the system & the games is less expensive than a Gameboy Advance. As far as batteries...we use rechargeables and they last for about 2-3 week with about 1 hour/day play . Durability...like I said, I have a [...] son...his Leapster has been dropped, and used for 3 pointers and it is still ticking! I try my best to keep it from serious damage & away from liquids..so far, so good.
The bottom line it is a great tool.
Sincerely,
Choosy Mama
Customer Review: **ANOTHER WONDERFUL PRODUCT BY LEAP FROG!**
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this product for my little boy who is almost 4. It is a Christmas gift for him so he has'nt played it other than at the Toys R Us store display. He played it for 30 mins. in the store and I did'nt know if we could get him to leave!!!! He loved it! He knew exactly what to do and loved all the games. I had purchased the Vsmile instead of the Leapster because I thought my little boy would enjoy a game system for the tv better than a hand held game,so a few weeks ago as a Christmas gift I purchased the Vtech Vsmile and 4 games (a great item as well) BUT when I saw the Leapster and played with it I knew I had to purchase this item as well. This is one of the best toys I have ever seen to buy for my child. I could'nt stop playing with it as well! The touch screen pen is amazing- I love how easy it is to use. We have tons of other Leap Frog toys and we love the Leap Pad and My First Leap Pad, but the Leapster tops them by a huge margin. This toy is a must have!
I also purchased Spongebob, Kindergarten, Mr. Pencil Learn and Draw, Dora and The Letter Factory. The Letter Factory cartridge is also a movie! (We have the Letter Factory Dvd and my son loves it! He knows all his letter sounds and we watch it all the time, so I thought the cartridge would be great to have on long car trips.)
Also a great thing for the Leapster I had to purchase was the carrying case and rechargeable battery pack with ac adaptor, it will save buying batteries all the time and the case holds the Leapster in place with 6 cartridges. I can't wait to see the look on my sons face on Christmas morning!
Go try this system out at Toys R Us, you'll have to buy one too!
Another great thing about this, the screen on the Leapster is huge, not like the Game Boy system (which I don't think my son needs since there is no educational value to the Game Boy) but the Leapster has a large screen that is backlit easy on the eyes, great for playing in a car at night and even comes with an excellent game Learning with Leap.
I would suggest this toy for any child ages 4-8! Parents will love it too!
Customer Review: Leapster makes learning fun
Summary: 5 Stars
We got this for our 5 year old for Christmas and she loves it. She kept saying "Thanks mom for getting me a Leapster." She also has a Leap Pad but prefers the Leapster. We also have an old Pixter which doesn't have the color and the graphics that the Leapster has. We have the Dora, Kindergarten, 1st grade, Mr. Pencil cartriges and carrying case. She is in kindergarten now and likes to also play the games on the 1st grade cartridge. She also loves the Dora the Explorer cartridge. Its not as frustrating as a game boy advance where she was always asking for help. Our daughter loves taking it where ever she goes so the carrying case is a must. She likes that she can earn tokens on the 1st grade cartridge for playing (but she is really learning). It makes her feel like she can keep up with her older cousins who play Game Boy Advance. Her older cousins put their names on the name screen so that they can keep track of their "progress". We have some adult friends that love playing the games too. We had it for about a month when she started getting frustrated because she couldn't get the screen to respond to the stylus pen. We put in two different sets of batteries, cleaned the battery contacts and tried to calibrate the screen several times. Everytime we tried to calibrate the screen we had a problem with the lower left target and we couldn't get the center target to respond to the touch of the stylus pen. We finally called Leap Frog and were instructed to return it back to them for a replacement. The tech I spoke with at Leap Frog was very helpful and nice. We must have gotten a Leapster from a bad batch. Our daughter was disappointed that we had to send it back to Leap Frog and she is without it until we receive the replacement. Hopefully the replacement won't have the same problem our Leapster and some of the others out there have.
We would like to purchase more cartridges and the recharger when they become available if we can get the problem with the screen calibration fixed.
Customer Review: Best educational toy my son owns
Summary: 5 Stars
Buy this toy. My parents gave this to my 5 year old over the holidays. Since I opened it, my son has played with it every day and begs to bring it in the car.
I wouldn't have bought this toy myself. I'm a bit skeptical of LeapPad toys. I like them well enough. But after owning both the LeapPad Jr and LeapPad, the alphabet wheel, and countless other LeapPad products, it became apparent they're generally sickingly sweet, patronizing, and a bit boring. My kids learned how to use the toys in "creative ways" that weren't anticipated by the manufacturer. My son used the wand to touch the "go circle" hundreds of times in a row. At that point it was clear that the novelty of a wand worked great, but the LeapPad wasn't really doing it's job.
But somehow the Leapster is a bit different in how it incorporates learning and fun. The default cartridge is great. There's a "Frogger" like game which is a lot like the old video game except the frog needs to land on certain numbers or shapes. I used to pay 25 cents to play that game. There is another game where trains, houses, and other objects are built by dragging shapes onto a blueprint outline. That's also a favorite for my son. I know for a fact that he can not only say the word "parallelogram" perfectly now but he can identify them on site. I thought he picked that up at daycare until I heard his Leapster say it one day. Not bad for a video game.
I can't vouch for LeapFrog quality. I did return one product, this microphone toy, at least five times and still didn't get a version that worked properly. Hopefully not all LeapFrog toys suffer from quality issues. But this Leapster toy is really terrific. Even if I had to buy him the base unit once a year, I'd do it.
Pros:
Fun
Educational
Holds my childs interest for hours
Cons:
Screen clarity
Need to buy the rechargeable battery pack separately
No decent case w/ cartridge storage yet
Customer Review: Color isn't everything
Summary: 4 Stars
I LOVE (the orignial gets 5 stars) the product but was disappointed to learn that this one differs from the original blue red and silver ones.
Another point to note is that in liew of expensive charger they do offer a special package that includes an adapter so my kids just plug in when they can and we will bring extra batteries on the plane. It does work on both the original and new versions. Wow - just realized another differnce...the newer version may be better adapted for batter changes...just a coin is needed to change the batteries while on the original you definitely need a screwdriver and I can't take one on the plane!! This version just earned another star.
I have 3 sons and grandpa doesn't know what to get them for Christmas. Solution, buy them all leapsters to amuse them on the 6 hour plane flights we take several times a year in different colors so they know who's is who's...got an unused red one on ebay, got a silver/blue one on amazon - before amazon listed saw that they had a green one at walmart - sent grandpa right over. Fantastic!!!
Wait - they start playing and we discover that the green one doesn't have 2 of the games (memory and shape builder) that the others have - two that my kids really enjoy. Also they are NOT able to earn "seed" points like the original (definitely motivates my 7 year old). Luckily my kids are good at sharing and my middle one just borrows the original version when he wants to play the other games (note that OLNY the original allows 3 different users plus a guest to log on so progress can be tracted separately if you want your kids to share)
The difference in weight is really not an issue. This version is nice and compact and the game buttons are nicely located. The positioning of the volume and light adjustment button are better positioned on the original but not bad. If they added the other 2 games back as well as the login it would be better.