We have 2 leapsters for our 2 kids. We bought the first over 3 years ago & it is still going strong. The second is a year old - no problems. The thing I really appreciate about leapster is that they do not change platforms when they upgrade the machine. The first one we bought is an old model. By the time we bought the second for our other child, they had come out with a new one with new games. The beautiful things is that all of the new games and old games work on both machines. Having multiple children growing into leapsters at different ages, I really appreciate that they haven't made the old machines obsolete as they make improvements to the new ones.