Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas

My personal opinion is that if the difference is only $30 then I would buy the new one. Yes, saving $30 could mean buying an additional game with it, and I am all for buying used cartridges, etc......but as far as the game or unit itself, I would recommend buying new. Good luck!

T.

Three of my four kids have DS's. We bought them from Toys R Us and bought the extended warranty. In the 3 years since we've had them each of them has broken at some point and we used the warranty to mail them back and they sent us new ones each time. (Or, they sent us a gift card for the $ amount and we were able to buy a new one at Toys R Us.) I don't know if gamestop offers the same kind of replacement deal but it was worth it. I also recommend a case for it, and even better is a case that also holds games. Have fun.

I bought these new and they are great and they have had them over 2 years now and the internal batteries are still working well.

If you do buy a used one make sure there are no scratches on the screens and if you buy a new one make sure you put the screen protectors on it right away. A lot of the games require touching the screen with the stylus which is pressed too hard could scratch the screen so you want to make sure the screen is protected with the protectors they sell.

there have been some sales on them that includes a game so you may end up getting a new one cheaper when you consider having to buy a game too. Look around as the specials for Christmas as starting and see where the best deal is. Also they will probably be really cheap on the Thanksgiving sale and since the new DSI is out the old ones probably won't be high in demand.

Out of all the pocket size video games my kids have had, the Nintendo DS has been our favorite by far. The batteries last for a long time between charges and they are a lot of fun. I actually enjoy playing it too. They have been wonderful for trips, hospital or doctor visits, or anywhere else they are going to sit for a long time. They are also fun to play multi players and our nieces and nephew will bring theirs over so all 4 of them can play together and don't have to have the same games for each of them. They link together wirelessly and play off 1 game.
My kids hardly go anywhere without them, even if we are going shopping 30 minutes away they will bring them for the car ride.

I had contemplated getting one for my son for Christmas until my husband said "NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT". He was adamently against it because when he was deployed this was the favorite toy of soldiers to carry around in their pockets and he told me of how they were CONSTANTLY being broken.

That having been said, if you still decide to do it I would recommend getting the LONGEST and most COMPREHENSIVE warranty available (up to and including "oops, mom I dropped it!")

One thing i found out. Some games while will work on the old version and new version of the ds, will not let you go head to head. Our daughter has the old version and her friend had the new. The older games seemed to work ok head to head but the new ones did not. But she could play it on the old system just not share.

If you are getting a new one just get a new one of the new version, they are having lots of sales now on them. But get it sooner than later cause i'm sure come December the prices will double.

My daughters and I have had ours for two years and have never had a problem with them. They've been dropped and everything. I would wait until after Thanksgiving when you see the ones for sale that come with a game. We did that and it was nice for them to have one game to start and then we gave them a $25 gift card to pick a game of their choice out too. We all have one with a different color. I think one reason ours have lasted so long is that we also bought them carrying cases and kits. The case we bought comes with a small case and extra styluses and covers for the screens to keep the screens from getting scratched, and it has game cases to hold the cartridges. They use those when we are traveling and keep the game cartridges in the orininal cases when at home. We love our DS and my girls are thinking of upgrading to DSi's, but they will have to cough up the difference when they do. Hope this helps. Good luck and God Bless.

Make sure whether you get a new or used one, buy a cover to go on the outside of them. Nerf sells a really cool cover. If you drop it, it helps protect the hinges from breaking.