V-tech Smile Hand Held Vs. Leapster??

I was actually stuck in the middle but I decieded to get the Vsmile pocket because I already had the games and she could use them

1 mom found this helpful

My kids absolutely LOVED their leapsters! I got them for them when my son was 2 and my daughter was 5. They played with them all the time until recently when they began getting more into the Nintendo DS (that's 4 years!). I cannot say enough about them - they are great, fun, educational toys that have been through the test of time at my house! I would definitely recommend them!

We have hand held leapster and the games are compatable with leap tv game system. My son loves it, we've had it for a year. We are actually thinking about VSmile (he's 4) but he figures the games out so fast we ar thinking about trying a game for our PSP system

Thanks for posting this ?! I am out to get the Leapster now!

Well the only thing i have had experience with is the vsmile plug in system - and my daughter was never overly impressed with those games - and i honestly wasn't overly impressed with the games or the system myself - Now - we just got leapsters for our kids (they are 3 and 7) and they LOVE THEM - i would strongly recommend the Leapster - there are over 30 games - and they are always coming out with more games every year - plus the games are (in my opinion) better spread out for age ranges - like these games (for the leapster) go up to age 10 - i REALLY REALLY like the leapster

Plus the other thing to think about is that yes your son already has the other cartridges - and they could transfer over - but would he get bored with them sooner??

hope that helps!

S. W

For Christmas 2 years ago (the year it came out), we bought my daughter the Vsmile handheld. She loved it. Right after Christmas, the Leapster went on clearance at our local Sam's Club. It was $30 including 2 games for it. Needless to say, she got that as well. Later, it came down to $15 so my then 1 year old son got one as well (his came with different games; I couldn't have purchased the two games alone for $15). My kids loved both. The nice thing about the Leapster is that it has a stylus which allows it do have games that include drawing and/or writing. The Vsmile doesn't have this. However, the Vsmile uses the same games for the handheld that it uses for the regular Vsmile which is a bonus for it. If you don't mind purchasing a bunch of new games, then I would go with the Leapster since it has the drawing/writing as well. Honestly, they are pretty comparable. In fact, some of the games are quite similar. They both have Thomas the Tank Games and Cars games, for instance. If it was me, I would probably buy the Vsmile handheld and add to his game collection. It would give him a lot more choices in games to play.

Please feel free to email me if you have any specific questions about either one.

Leapster is great. My son is 8 yrs old and he loves his still. I was worried that the games were becoming too easy for him but they are coming out with games that are for older kids. I had to replace it in the beginning but I bought it was when they first came out. LeapFrog has never given me a hard time about replacing parts on any of my son's LeapFrog toys. I love the LeapFrog toys and would highly recommend the Leapster. One thing I would recommend though is the case (for protection and making travel easier) and the charger. It goes through batteries like crazy.

Boy I wish I would have asked that last year. Me & my husband went back & forth last year and we decided to get the vsmile pockets. My girls are now 4 & 5 and the only thing I can say about it is the games are great they like them, but I found that the leapster actually has more games than the vsmile although I did see the vsmile did come out with new games this year. I can say that my kids are tough on things and the games and screens have seem to hold up. My inlaws just told me that they got the girls each the Leapster Lmax's for Xmas. So I will really be able to help after the fact. As of now that is the info I have hop it helps. :)Be sure to let us know which way you decided and what you thought of the product.

Hello A.,
Wow kids grow up fast my son just turned 6 also.Now i do have 2 boys so i got both hand held for trips to MD for the same reason.V-smiles is great but i have to say they love there Leapster.I think the reason for that is when they are done learning math and spelling. There is a game that you can get where they can mix colors and draw, but both are very nice.

Good Luck
H.

We got the hand held V-Tech game for our daughter last Christmas. She was 6. We had already had a lot of the games from the bigger system. So far we have had no problems and she takes it on long car rides. Just bring an extra set of bateries just in case.