A great diversion

Author's Rating:

Pros: Amusing, educational, portable, cool colors, audio can be played out loud or on headphones,

Cons: Pre-loaded games are lousy, extra games are a bit pricey. Wary of electronic entertainment.

The Bottom Line: 
A good product, with the exception of the included games. A great toy for long car rides.

Author's Review
We purchased this for my daughter for Hanukah. We found her leappad to be educational and to occupy her in the car, but it is a bit unwieldly. The leapster is definetly sleeker. She loves the pink. The cartridges also seem to stay put, they sometimes fell out of her leappad. The games that this game preloaded with, a Scooby one and a drawing one, were not so great. The Scooby one was lousy and she almost gave up on the thing till we bought her Animal Genius. The drawing game is kind of cool. She liked that she could draw a picture and change the season. However, she quickly figure out everything she could do and got bored. She is excited about the prospect of games with some of her favorite characters such as Dora and Ratatouille. She will get some fo these for her birthday as the games are a bit expensive. We did get the backpack, which go greats with the L-Max and even has a spot for cables. It is also easier for her to carry around and protects the Leapster in the car. The Leapster as definetly made car rides easier. I like that audio can be played out loud or on headphones. The headphones mean that we can even listen to the radio while she plays. The L-Max can hook up to your TV, however we have never bothered, so a plain Leapster might have worked just as well. Overall, this has definetly met our expectations. The big recomendation forimprovement I have would be better games included. I also try to limit time because I worry about the effect of too much electronic entertainment on her brain.