My son got a Leapfrog Leappad 1 for Christmas a couple of years ago. Last summer, his 2-year-old sister threw it and the screen broke. These things are somewhere in the range of $75-over $100 depending on what you get and where you get it so we kept using it. After about a week, the screen quit responding to touch.
What's a mom to do?
I went to eBay and used eBay sniper
(ezsniper.com) to put my top bid in at the last moment. I got an untested, unused store return Leappad 2 for less than $25 including shipping.More recently, the same now-3-year-old who broke her brother's tablet became the recipient of another Leappad 2 that I purchased on eBay used (using the same sniping website) for just $16 including shipping.
We have both Innotab tablets and #leapfrog #leappad tablets.
The Innotab tablets have some interesting features but the games are far less complicated and it seems to take much longer for them to load which is frustrating to impulse-driven little ones.
I highly recommend the Leapfrog Leappads (1 or 2) for any parent who is in the market.
The Offending 3-Year-Old at Play
I love the tablet. I love the available downloads. The prices for downloads are higher than those for Innotab from what I've found but you get a lot better quality from the Leapfrog downloads. Their LeapFrog Connect program (which you must download and run in order to download games) is a bit difficult to figure out at first but once you get the hang of it, it's easy- also superior to the #innotab version.
Cool Mom Tip You can turn off the sneak peeks item in the Parent Settings menu of the device. Press and hold the Home and Volume Up buttons for 1 second to see this menu.
I have not discovered a way to check the battery level. I bought about a bazillion rechargables but it would be nice to know how much life is left in the batteries before my frustrated child brings me the dead device. I did not opt for the wall charger- knowing me, I would lose it.
FWIW, the batteries in the Leappad 2 are a lot easier to change out than the Leappad 1. Good design upgrade, +LeapPad
I highly recommend purchasing a gel skin cover- I got mine on eBay for $5 (including shipping) and the second eBay tablet came with the gel skin.
From a comment in another blog- I have not verified this but worth looking into if you crack a screen:
Careful with the screens. My youngest shattered his. However, we contacted Leapfrog and they offered us a ONE TIME replacement of the entire tablet. We just had to send pictures. Two weeks later we had a new one. Possibly refurbished, but better than having to purchase a new one! We love them.
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