Leapster or Leapster L-MAX?

[VenusElon]

Is the only difference being able to play on the TV? Do you find that feature useful? I am mainly looking for something to keep 4 year old DS occupied at the doctor's office and while I'm shopping. I'm still not certain which system-Leapster, V-Smile, or gameboy. I'm leaning toward Leapster because of the educational games. Looking for any advice.

[Joolsplus2]

We love our plain old Leapsters... I don't want video games on my TV, so I skipped the L-max (I'd rather have something blaring on TV AND be able to play the Leapster at the same time...I'm a little ADHD...)


Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Tondi G]

we have a regular Leapster and my 5 year old loves it! We got it before the Lmax came out! I know you can play all the games on both (some of the older titles can only be played in handheld mode on the Lmax)... I am pretty sure it is just the plugging into the tv thing that makes them different... check out this comparison..

http://www.leapfrog.com/do/environment;jsessionid=AD2819C6649B256A01AE84DB536 807CF.papp1_1?environment=leapster&ageGroupKey=preschool

The Gameboy is still too hard for my 5 year old but he loves the games on the leapster and I'm glad they are educational! We HIGHLY recommend the Leapster... even got one for our god daughter last month!

HTH's you!
~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[redhookmom]

Forget the Gameboy! It is really not for little ones. We have Vsmile and Leapster. The Vsmile is largely ignored, my children find the Leapster games more interesting. I will use the word educational loosely and report that my son has learned to cound by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s playing Math Blaster. I think that is the name of the game, it is one of the "arcade style" games.

[kboyle]

yeah, save the $$ and get the reg leapster, you don't want to have to watch the video game your ds is playing. the only difference is that you can hook it up to tv and the games are about $5 more...you can play reg & l-max games interchangably on both, but the lmax specific ones have more "xtras" for tv play...not worth it imo.

my neice (7) has a leapster & a gameboy and the gameboy is still a bit too difficult for her. i'd stick to the leapster vs the gb, because it's a much easier to find age appropriate games. while the gb does have early childhood titles, they are still hard games. i purchased a nintendo ds (for a week till dh made me trade it in for a playstation) and while charlie could manuever the characters, he didn't get the concept at all, though he's only 3...BUT he does understand his leapster and how to play games on there.