This review is dead on. My chief complaint about my employer is a lack of risk, instinct and parental intuition. If the games could be made more hackable or open to third parties, the posibilites would really open up. But they are more concerned with image than taking chances without the aid of a focus group.

Thanks again for a very fair review.

I also agree that your review is right on the money. I bought a Leapster for my 4 (almost 5) year old for Xmas because she isn't quite ready for the Gameboys Advances her older brother and sister play with. And the games it has are pretty much like the ones she plays on the computer, except now she isn't tied down to desktop to play them.

When I bought it at Target last month, one thing that worried me was the total lack of additional game cartridges for sale. Now that I hear that Leapster is a closed platform, I understand why. I hope they won't make the mistake that Nintendo did with the N64 and continue to shun 3rd party development. Nintendo made some good games for the N64, but could not make enough games to really make the console successful.

If the Leapster shows signs of success, this could lead 3rd parties to develop similar games for the GameBoy Advance which could be the end of the Leapster.

I agree with this review! My 6 y/o dd has hardly put this product down since she got it. I agree that more cartridges need to be brought out! This is a great product and has potentional to be very very popular with the younger crowd!

It seems to entertain my six year old quite well but the touchscreen is hardly capable of standing up to her rigerous (sp) use. She got it on Christmas and already part of the touch screen has stopped responding.

I bought 2 at Wal-Mart this x-mas for my son and daughter! i'm very pleased but now thw volume does not work on one of them unless I plug a head set in for them. Is there a recall or trouble shoot group that I might be able to find out more from?

Thanks

larry

www.larryboos.com

I agree,I bought one at christmas for my 5 1/2 year old daughter and by jan 4 the stylus stopped working.I dont think this was made with 4-8 year olds in mind.I exchanged it for another one because my daughter loves it and it really helps her with phonics (Dora the explorer).

It seems that a lot of people are experiencing this defect. I will see if I can find out more about it; I have a contact at LeapFrog I may be able to ask.

I just talked to LeapFrog. They report that many reports of Leapster touchscreen problems just require recalibration. They invite all Leapster owners with such problems to call their customer support line at:

1-800-701-5327

It's open 24/7, which is very cool.

We got a Leapster for my daughter for Xmas. She is now on her third Leapster. The first two had the screen/stylus interface die within a month. It would no longer read the stylus, even during calibration. I returned both to Walmart and the return ladies commented about the large number of these being returned because of the screens. And yes, I've made sure my daughter treats the leapster well. Neither of them had been dropped, scratched, banged, etc. I'm beggining to wonder what's gonna happen when it takes longer than a month to break... gonna be stuck with a bunch of games and a case for a broken Leapster. This is too expensive a toy for its durability.

my son is 3 1/2 and loves this toy! He got if for christmas and has learned a ton from it. He has learned how to indentify all of the letters of the alphabet and he has also learned each sound for them. He is hard on it, hes a boy , hes dropped it etc and it hold up very well. designed well for kids to use. Much better then any game device considering it age appropriate and teaches things. hey kids are bound to want to play some kind of games at least this one they learn with!

This is a great game. I paid nine dollars for it at a goodwill store. My son loves it. He beats the heck out of it and it still works great. The cartriges are inexpensive but there are only 2 games for kids over 7 years old. I hope leapster opens up the market to sub contracting game makers. At the rate Leapster is going now, there will be maybe 10 games total available for christmas '04

I bought the leapster for my child as birthday gift this past week. I had to return it twice within a weeks time to get it exchanged due to calibration/stylus problems. Today was my last & final trip. I got my money back!! I thought the concept of the leapster was great as an educational tool. It's a shame they are having problems with it. I called customer service 3 times regarding the calibration/stylus concerns. They talked me through the procedures (after I tried myself using the directions provided) to no avail. I was then instucted to return the leapster. I asked the rep. if they had many calls on these problems & the answer was "no". I decided to do a search last night on the internet & found an array of complaints dealing with the same I experienced.

I bought 2 of these pre-Xmas for my 3 and 7 year olds. They love them and still play with them continuously. They've been dropped dozens of times, whacked with toys, and I even witnessed a tug-of-war match with one kid holding the pen and the other the main unit. Anyway, they both still work perfectly, and have never required calibration.

Do not assume there is a real problem with the design just because a few who have had a problem all gathered here after finding the site while looking for a site where people with problems can post.

I also wish the'd open it up to 3rd party developers which would greatly increase the number of available titles.

Fred -- thanks for reminding us that this defect has not proven to be widespread. To be sure, those folks having more problems with the device are likely also spending more time researching possible problems online, and thus might be more vocal.

Hey LeapFrog! If you're reading, I'd love for you to comment on the 3rd party developer issue.

We're on our second Leapster. First one returned to WalMart. The second one is now acting up. Calibration can't be completed, and, using the "paint" program on the cartridge that comes with it I can demonstrate a nickel sized area of the screen that is no longer touch sensitive.

This one is going back for good. The problem is we have purchased a few cartridges and the case at ToysRUs. They will likely not take the return back even though we have the receipt (no boxes?)...Wonderful. I can't believe that this isn't a widespread problem.

I think I'll call LeapFrog again and see if I can get some kind of statement out of them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well, we got a thrift-shop purchased unit for our daughter (not being aware of any of the technical issues); so after reading here and elsewhere about the infamous calibration issue (and seeing the tech support number posted by ian a few posts up), I called tech support and explained my problem. They issued an RMA immediately, and said they'll replace the unit...all I have to do is ship it to them via UPS or FedEx. All in all, not a bad deal, considering I only paid $30 for it at the GoodWill store. Still making out WAY better than retail!

Yes, I have to agree that my experience with the LeapFrog call center has been quite good. Quick correction to my comment above; apparently the call center is no longer open 24/7. The new hours are:

5 - 7 M-F (PT)

7 - 4 Sat. (PT)

1-800-701-5327

I'm still not sure how many units are afflicted with calibration issues. It seems to be a minority, based on the product reviews on Amazon.com and Target.com. And LeapFrog does seem to be willing to replace defective units.

I'll see if I can get a more helpful statement out of them about what percentage of units are affected.

We gave our son(5 y/o) a leapster for christmas. He loved the gift, but soon complained that the pen was not writing where he was drawing. We followed the very simple recalibration procedure, but it would only stay calibrated for 10-15 minutes. Exchanged it...same thing, only this time the recalibration procedure would not work. Exchanged it...same issue. Leap asked us to send it back... (confirmed delivery)... 5 weeks later no new leapster yet. In fact, they have called us twice to tell us that it had shipped. When we did not get it, they said they had run out of them and that they had no way of tracking THEIR OWN inventory.

Moral of the story: If you have a problem, return it and get your money back!!!

Agree totally with the review. I bought two for each of my kids a month ago. Now one of them has a defective screen which cannot be calibrated. I am planning to take it back to the store, and get a new one becasue the kids really enjoy playing with them. I am quite disappointed with the Leapster's performance, am hoping future product will be improved.

Are you a little slow? The Gameboy advance SP is the fastest selling gaming device in history. The Gameboy product line are the best selling handhelds in history.By the way Nintendo advertises to everyone not just kids. Nintendo never has to worry about Lepster. Do not make stupid statements until you gather all the facts.

Bruce --

First, we're talking about the merger of education and portable gaming here. Or maybe you didn't realize that.

Second, I have had face-to-face conversations with Nintendo about the Gameboy platform, in which they have made it explicitly clear that they do not even think about anyone under 8 years old when they market the GBA platform. Their marketing and game selections support this. A few developers have looked under this line, but Nintendo isn't targeting them.

Third, the GBA SP is explicitly marketed to older players for their own use, not to parents for their children's use.

Fourth, if you read my entire review through, you'd see that I am suspicious about whether or not the Leapster is as or more useful than the GBA. If Nintendo ignores movements like Leapster, they will suffer in the long term. If LeapFrog ignores game platforms like the GBA, they will suffer in the long term. That was a point I raised in the review.

Fifth, as for whether I'm slow, you might want to note that this is currently the most linked/read review about the Leapster after Amazon.com and Target.com. It's a review for the Leapster, not the GBA. And apparently it's been a fairly helpful one.

We have two kids (3 yrs and 5yrs) and two Leapsters. We also have almost all of the modules. The one we don't have is the Phonics one. Everytime I look for it, it is sold out. Are they making it anymore? We bought both units at Christmas and the kids have played with them everyday. I can't report any problems with systems at all. One of the rubber parts on a stylus was chewed off and I found that a standard "pencil cushion" fit in its place. My wife and I are very pleased with this purchase and hope for additional modules to become available soon.

Darryl -- I'd recommend you call LeapFrog at 1-800-701-5327 and ask about the module you're looking for. They've been quite helpful when I've called.

Thanks for letting us know that you've had no problems. From what I've read here and elsewhere, the screen calibration issue does not affect all the units. Unfortunately, it seems to affect enough to cause considerable total frustration.

We too just gave our daughter one of these for her birthday. Less than a week later we noticed that the calibration of the touchscreen is off. I talked to a service rep and we tried both methods for calibration and neither worked. They have recommended that we return it to the store for exchange. The girl of the phone said that they suspect the stores are mishandling these when they come in and that the calibration goes away slowly. Who knows?

FYI I have an eleven year daughter, she has downs syndrome. She has always wanted a 'game boy' but the screen proved to be too small for her poor eyesight. In addition, the games are too advanced for her. The Leapster is perfect, we have only had it for 3 weeks, the battery life is poor but the overall value is wonderful. I found this site whilst researching additional games.

I'm tired of 'spongbob' (my daughter isn't), Dora holds a little of her attention. I have my fingers crossed that the company might go with 'zoom', 'rugrats' and 'rocket power' inspired games. Thank you for your input.

I bought one a month ago. It had calibration issues, especially in certain areas of certain games. I brought it back, and bought another one elsewhere. It worked great at first, but a couple of weeks later the calibration is off on this one as well. I also had the problem with not being able to hit the center target during calibration. My daughter (4) loves this thing and she'd be heartbroken if we had to get rid of it. Each time I try to play it my stress level goes through the roof, but she seems happy to just skip the parts of the games that don't work/require the stylus. I plan on calling Leapfrog and getting this unit replaced. I'm not ready to give up on it because of how much she enjoys it.

I bought 2 leapsters for my twins 4th birhday. They simply love the leapster. However, I have had nothing but trouble with the calibration on one of them. It will not touch the center target thus causing the unit not to calibrate. When one of the girls play the painting game the stylus brings up the wrong choices making them extremely mad.

I am sure that Leap,Inc. knows that there are a lot of problems with the Leapster and they really should think about exchanging all those defective units. If you go past the 30/60 days after purchase you are stuck with a lemon. Shame on Leap. I will not purchase another product from them.

I bought a leapster for my six-year-old to play with on the 2-day drive to Disney World last January. It exhibited a few glitches from time to time, but nothing consistent. We've never had any problem with her Leap Pad, so I really wasn't concerned. Figured maybe she did something wrong. Hit the off button by mistake, etc.

After our trip, the thrill had worn off the toy for awhile. Just yesterday, after gathering dust for 2 months, my daughter wants to play Sponge Bob and the touch screen doesn't work correctly. This website was my first stop on my way to looking up customer support.

Sounds like we're not the only ones with this problem. Gee, I expected more out of this company than to release a toy with so many bugs. Like many others out there, my daughter would be upset to give up her toy, so I'm crossing my fingers customer support will have some answers for me.

I have also experienced the recalibrate problem. We have had the same problem on 2 differnet units from 2 different Wal-Marts. Basically the center of the screen no longer responds. This happened after about 2-3 weeks on each unit.

I have also called LeapFrog about this and they walked me through the recalibrate both at cartridge and hardware level. Both methods failed.

I am now waiting on my RMA return to see if they have fixed the original issues. The support people both seemed to avoid any talk that this was any type of a hardware problem. Hopefully the new unit that I'll get in 2 weeks will have a firmware or component fix.

I'll let you all know.

My daughter received a Leapster a few months ago as a gift. She loves the thing and enjoys taking it on road trips and playing with it before going to bed. It took about a month, but we finally realized that it was having calibration issues that so many other users were experiencing. I'm glad I stumbled onto this forum, as I would have never guessed this was such as common problem. Thanks for the informative posts.

-Ingi

Folks -- I spoke with a bunch of LeapFrog folks at the recent Education Arcade conference, and they really do insist that this defect was from a single run of units, and that it's been resolved. If anyone is still having any problems getting resolution or replacement, first call LeapFrog's customer service, and if that doesn't help, let us know here and I'll get someone from LeapFrog to share their official word on the matter.

My son received a Pixter for Christmas which we exchanged for a Leapster due to the increased educational experience. What a mistake! In the middle of January, my son started experiencing the infamous calibration problem with his Leapster. We returned the Leapster to the store and received a new one. Now, it too is having calibration problems.

Save yourself alot of time and don't buy a Leapster. Or, if its too late, like me, keep your investment in the Leapster software low. If you aren't having the calibration problem - you will. I'm hoping that the company will publicly acknowledge the problem and do a recall.

I purchased the leapster for my 5 year old son. Unfortunately, after 1 week of use the touch screen is no longer working in many spots. I tried to do the calibration exercise that was recommended but that did not work either. Leapfrog was great when I called the customer service department and they are going to replace it. I am happy with that but in the meantime I have to pay to ship it back and be without it for about 3 weeks. I had hoped to use it during long rides this summer for vacation but at this point we will not have it. I am very cautious about purchasing any cartridges as I am not sure how long the next one will work. I think $80.00 is too much to spend for such poor quality.

We are on our second Leapster, and, again, are experienceing the screen/stylus problems and recablibration does not rectify it. Very, very frustrating. I thought Leapfrog was the kind of company that would be accountable for a problem as widespread as this one is. It is time for a recall.

purchased leap pad at walmart defective did not work. Also not the right product in box. Was sealed when purchased. Went back to walmart to exchange the only ones left on the shelf were returned and open. Can only lead to more defective products. Went to another walmart and purchased a different model of leap pad same thing didn't work out of the box. Retruned to store was told just about the whole lot has been returned. Talked to leap pad said never heard of any problems with them. It's a great idea of a product if it worked. Worst part how disappointing it is to a child. Very sad to offer a product that's defective.

When I talked to LeapFrog in May at the E3 Education Arcade, they told me this was a first-run manufacturing defect. With the recent reports of continuing problems, I'm going to contact them and ask. I'll post some new info when I have it.

it is so sad that a child has to learn at a young age that leap frog is a money rip off. Something should be done to leap frog for defective products. Three times i returned leap frog to store. DEFECTIVE PRODUCT !!!!! LEAP FROG NEEDS TO ADDRESSS THIS ISSUE. QUIT RIPPING OFF THE CONSUMER. LEAP FROG WAS AWARE PEN ONLY WORKED ON LEFT SIDE OF BOOK AND CAN'T STOP SAYING PRESS GREEN GO BUTTON. SAY IT WAS JUST A FLUKE. NOT TRUE.

it is so sad that a child has to learn at a young age that leap frog is a money rip off. Something should be done to leap frog for defective products. Three times i returned leap frog to store. DEFECTIVE PRODUCT !!!!! LEAP FROG NEEDS TO ADDRESSS THIS ISSUE. QUIT RIPPING OFF THE CONSUMER. LEAP FROG WAS AWARE PEN ONLY WORKED ON LEFT SIDE OF BOOK AND CAN'T STOP SAYING PRESS GREEN GO BUTTON. SAY IT WAS JUST A FLUKE. NOT TRUE.

Two comments:

Some people take defective products WAY too personally. The Leapster is a cutting edge product, designed with multiple technologies. 5 year olds, by contrast, are generally unconcerned with 'gentle handling' of most everything, regardless of whether or not something is relatively fragile.

All of that being said, we experienced problems with one of two Leapsters we bought. Calibration would no longer function (couldn't even reach it). We replaced it and have had no problems so far with either unit. Both have received multiple bumps and drops over the last few months. Learn to Draw and Write appears to have some alignment issues, but this appears to be a problem with the cartridge itself.

Could Leapfrog do a better job managing and communicating possible manufacturing problems with the first few runs of the product? Sure. Does almost EVERY manufacturing firm suffer the same problem. Yes. Leapfrog isn't 'screwing' anyone purposely. Address issues and problems you experience in a mature, professional manner and you'll be surprised at the response you get.

We got our Leapster 8-12 months ago, screen is kind of messed up, center of the screen does not work but the outside edge of the screen does. I called the help desk and within minutes they told me to send the unit to them and I would have a new one within 10 days. Awesome work LeapFrog, anytime I get service like that from buying an 80$ toy, you got my business.

Just my 2 cents.

Bought a Leapster for my 4 year old before Christmas 2003. Great item with great potential. However, I have been though 5 of the units. The pen/calibration problem that many have had. Very frustrating for a young child to struggle with this problem. Return all items to store, attempting to find a unit that worked. NO LUCK this route.

Called Leapster directly and they clearly knew there was a problem, however, really danced around the issue. I attempt to speak with the Product Line Manager to bring this problem to the table, however, I was stalled out of speaking with a product line manager.

I finally spoke with a senior Customer Service person, whom, I convinced to send me an advance replacement with a pre-paid return shipping label. I had to post a credit card in case I did not return the "defective" unit. Customer Service person pretty much indicated that nobody that has received a replacement directly from Leap Frog has had additional complaints.

Luckily once I received my replacement directly from Leap Frog, I have had no additional problems for ever 4 months.

There is clearly a bad production run of Leapsters, appears to be early production. Too bad Leap Frog did such a secret job of handling the problems. Luckily the retail stores did exchange without questions, but what price did the retailers pay??

If anyone still has problems, I would suggest get in touch with Leap Frog directly and demand they exchange the item without any shipping costs. They clearly know there is a problem and they should step up to the plate and resolve it. It does appear they know what the problem is and have sorted out in newer units.

What a poor job of handling Customer Satisfaction by a company as large a Leap Frog. They clearly do not understand that someday their end users may become their customer base!!!

I bought my 4 year old daughter a Leapster for her birthday last month and she LOVES it! Thankfully, we have experienced none of the problems others seem to have gone through.

My comment has to do with LeapFrog missing a whole consumer base by limiting the software available for the Leapster to the 4 - 8 year old group. My 11 year old son loves the Leapster and keeps complaining that LeapFrog doesn't make cartridges geared toward older children. I did buy him a LeapFrog iQuest, but all it asks is trivia questions and it doesn't have the "fun factor" that the Leapster has.

Our family doesn't have video game systems or gameboys because I have seen very little if any educational value to them. If LeapFrog would expand their Leapster cartidges to include programs for older children, I would go out and buy another unit for my older son in a heartbeat!

Come on LeapFrog - the rest of us want to play with the Leapster, too!!

We are on our second leapster.

Now the second one is not working. I am frustrated too. My son loves this toy - and it is educationally worthy in my book. So we will try yet again.

A note to "Mike" ( above ) who feels people take defective products way too personally....This will be our third attempt at this product. The statistics then are that this is a very widespread problem. ( One was purchased from Amazon - one at Target. )

I agree with the frustration that some people feel and have posted over this. Perhaps I don't choose to scream - but that's just me. I also believe - on the whole - as parents - and as people - we are all doing the best we can at any given time.... Leap Frog has created a lot of problems for a LOT of people - and takes little responsibility in these cases.

Some advice, for Mike.... " If you can't say something nice - don't say anything at all please."

This situation - for those of us who are parents and trying to do the best we can - is maddening. After all - to some of us $80 is a lot of money ( More when you consider the case and cartridges invested in...) and the last thing we need is to be scolded on post boards like this for not reacting according to your personal mannor or method.

LeapFrog needs to get this problem adressed and be more open to make right wrongs. I think mike has spent too long behind a customer service desk and needed to vent. He too was just doing the best he could I guess.

***Update***. We had had the calibration problem on a unit purchased at Walmart and had returned it to Walmart for a replacement. The replacement unit also developed the same problem after about 3 weeks. I then contacted LeapFrog and sent my unit to them for replacement. This was back on May 10th and the LeapFrog replacement Leapster is still working properly. We did get a song and dance from the Customer Service people when we contacted them about the problem. The wierd thing is that the new unit appears to be identical to the original that I returned to them including the same bios revision number. Hopefully this unit will continue to function because my son really loves it. He has learned alot from using this system. Especially the Letter Factory and Word Factory.

I purchased a leapster from ebay and my daughters told my the screen was not clear and could not be seen. My granddaughter through it because she ws mad at her mother. When I turned it on at night the screen worked great. My daughter stated that it could not be seen in the afternoon. Maybe they need to be bashed around....

I hope you guys could help me out.

I'm living in Singapore. I was planning to purchase a Leapster on Ebay. Someone from Canada is offering it for about US$55. But with all these negative feedback going around about screen callibration, I'm worried that the unit I might purchase will be faulty. This will definitely be a problem for me since I would have to ship it from Singapore which is quite expensive - about US$40 with return shipping.

Can anyone please confirm if there are no more faulty units being sold out there? Or can anyone advise a reliable seller? We have a Leapfrog distributor here in Singapore but they are currently retailing the Leapster at US$175! Please Help!

For our readers: I have sent in another inquiry to my contacts at LeapFrog to see if they have any updated statement about this apparently problem. Hopefully I'll hear back from them soon.

My wife and I bought our 4 year old a leapster in January '04. By now you know the drill... leapster screen went bad. Returned it to Wal mart, in May/ June, yes the new one had the same problem a week later. Thanks to this site, I called Leap Frog, all they asked was if i tried callibrating the screen. I told her yes, i wouldn't complete. She gave me info to send it in. Not three days later I had a brand new one at my front door. It works great!! My son, now 5 has no complaints. Here's hoping it stays working. Kudos to Laep Frog for the speedy return.

This is a non-comment really - just want to say how much I appreciate this website. Recently saw a demo Lepster in K Mart (New York, NY) - it looked really great - none on shelves - store assistant said they hadn't stocked them "for months" ... wonder why?! Will continue to monitor this website for news that Leapster has finally put the bugs to rest. Looks a good and helpful product - if it works .. and longer than just a few weeks. Thank you everyone for all your comments. It's really helpful.

We purchased a Leapster for our 4 1/2 year old about a month ago. He absolutely loves it. We are just starting to have the calibration problems but have had another problem and are currently working with Leap Frog to correct it. Our unit will not turn off. When you press the off button (a sleep mode according to Leap Frog) it comes back on. We replaced the batteries and no change. Another set of batteries and it would go off for about 2 days. I keep hearing voices day & night and it's that machine coming on by itself. LeapFrog says that it is static that keeps turning it on. I am getting tired of taking the batteries out so it will be quiet. We are waiting for information from LeapFrog to send the unit back so they can take at look at it

I've noticed several different model numbers listed for the Leapster. Can anyone tell me the latest model number so I can be sure I'm not getting "old stock". Listed below are the two model numbers I've seen so far.

LPF20200

LF10001

Cindy -- great question. I'll see if I can dig anything up, but in the meantime perhaps readers of this article who are -- or aren't -- having problems could note their model number. As I understand it, the defect was limited to specific manufacturing runs, so perhaps we can deduce the problem units by model or serial range.

I PURCHASED 2 OF THE LEAPSTERS FOR MY GRANDSONS. THEY LOVE THEM. MY PROBLEM IS THE ACCESSORIES ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN THE STORES. I WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE THE EARPHONES AND BATTERY CHARGER THAT GO WITH IT BUT CAN'T FIND THEM ANYWHERE. ALSO, I AGREE THEY NEED TO COME OUT WITH MORE GAMES.

I was looking to purchase a leapster for my 4 year old, but wanted to find out if there were any consumer comments, negatives or positive. The majority of the comments that I have read has turned me against purchasing the Leapster due to the defects that it seems to have. But all in all it seems to be a very good educational tool for the child. It seems that Leap Pad needs to work out some of the defects, before I look to purchase one.

For those who are looking for all of the attachments to the Leapster, headphones, battery charger, etc., Sams Club sells those items.

I bought one in February for my 5 year old granddaughter, which she loved and played with all the time. The calibration went out after 3 weeks and could not be recalibrated - the touch screen didn't work at all. Exchanged it at a different Walmart (hoping I'd get one from a different batch) and the 2nd one is doing fine still. I just bought another one for my other granddaughter as a Christmas present - she's been wanting one for a long time now, but since she's only 3, there weren't many cartridges geared for her age.

My biggest complaint is how long it takes for new cartridges to come out. Very nice to know they'll have more coming soon.

I couldn't find much about new ones on the Leap website, but Amazon had the new ones listed and their release dates.....

Leapster Electronic Book: Finding Nemo

October 1, 2004

Leapster Electronic Book: Junie B. Jones Journal

October 1, 2004

Leapster Game: Second Grade

November 1, 2004

Leapster Game: The Incredibles

November 24, 2004

Leapster Software Spider-Man

December 15, 2004

I want to purchase on of these for my kids age 3 and 5 but, with all the bad stuff said here it makes the desicision more difficult. From all the comments here, it seems that all the kids love the product but, that the adults are frustrated by the problems that have been occuring.

In every case, Leap Frog has replaced all the units to everyone's satisfaction.

My question is, Is it really worth all the aggravation for this product? Would I be better served with a Gameboy that has less bugs to work out?

Hello. I've been researching the leapster for almost a year now and am glad I haven't purchased one for my niece yet. No matter how entertaining a product is, often it is just not worth the stress & heartache nonperformance can cause both adult and kid.

I would *VERY* much appreciate if people would post the model #of their defective unit so I don't purchase one with a defective part - I'm even thinking of buying one directly from leapfrog just to make things easier in the likelyhood of a return.

Alternatively, I'd like to buy one on Ebay. Can anyone tell me if they bought the LEAPSTER DELUXE? Maybe Leapfrog has cured the problem for this packaged product?

THanks for all info and Ian Bogost, well its been months and no rep? Maybe if they get threatened with a class action lawsuit they'd speak up a bit and at least DO A RECALL like other responsibile manufacturers.

Jay:

As I wrote about earier, I do not believe that LF is likely to support 3rd party development on the platform, nor do they seem interested in growing its product base beyond thier in-house products. Their new strategy seems focused entirely on licensed products which, while predictable, is also disappointing.

teresa:

I think if you buy direct from LF, you will likely avoid the defective product. As for the question of whether a GameBoy is better... well, it is differnet. There's more content, but the educational value has to be teased out differently. You might want to also consider the forthcoming Nintendo DS, the successor to the GameBoy Advance, which will have great games for kids including new version of Animal Crossing.

Cindy:

Yes, still no reply from LF. I actually know some people over there and I was contacting them directly, but I too have to conclude that they don't take this matter seriously enough to respond to their customers in a forthright way. That said, the complaints seem to have dropped. Maybe the product has been on the market for enough time that most of the defective products have been returned.

I don't know if the problems have been worked out, but the replacement (exchanged at Walmart) one I got has been fine for about 8 months now and hasn't given us any problems. I don't know how much kids actually learn from it, but I do feel better about it being an educational game instead of just a game. I'm glad that I got it, and just bought a second one for a Christmas present.

For us, it wasn't that much of a bother when the first one stopped working. I had found this site, so I knew of the problem other people had. I just took it back to Walmart and had it replaced.

For those posting about being leery, this site seems to have more people who post about the problems they've had, but not too many about being happy with it. If they didn't have any problems and were happy with the product, they wouldn't have had much reason for searching out a site like this on the internet in the first place. I'm sure this represents just a very small percentage of those who bought Leapsters.

I have bought most of the cartridges for my almost 6 year old granddaughter and she hasn't lost interest in the games yet. My 8 year old grandson likes to play with it also, but I won't get him one because he seems to be a year older than the games / lessons are geared for - but he borrows my granddaughters' as much as she'll allow. If they had cartridges up to 4th or 5th grade, I'd probably get him one too. I got the Disney Pre-K to K cartridge for my 3 year old granddaughter and she likes to play with it, but she's still a bit young to know what she's doing.

I think the Leapster is a great thing and I like how it's small enough to take with them.

For those posting about being leery, this site seems to have more people who post about the problems they've had, but not too many about being happy with it. If they didn't have any problems and were happy with the product, they wouldn't have had much reason for searching out a site like this on the internet in the first place. I'm sure this represents just a very small percentage of those who bought Leapsters.

I agree with this. I just wish LF had been more upfront about the problems. Thanks for adding your positive remarks; we don't want only negatives here.

Just wanted to say that my son has been putting a leapster through unbelievably hard use for about 4 months now without a single problem. He loves it. One educational advantage over the GB-type games (including the TV-based ones) is that the leapster has a stylus which means that it encourages him to develop skills that help w/writing and drawing. I wish there were more cartridges that required use of the stylus and were less focused on using the buttons. My son was very resistant to writing and the practice in using a stylus has been a huge help to us. Ergonomically and educationally, the stylus offers an important alternative to the button based systems.

I do think that the biggest problem with the Leapster system is the lack of cartridges - my son however seems happy to play with the same ones over & over again.

We received two leapsters as gifts for our 3 and 5 yr olds. They love them, but have gotten frustrated with the defects. We don't have the dreaded calibration problem, but every once in a while the leapster turns itself off or goes black and squiggly lines run across the screen accompanied by strange noises. I have always checked the tapes are in securely and I know for a fact that the kids have been very gentle with the units. Since we live abroad, it was not possible to exchange our units. THe problems seem to occur more and more often now and so I am now just hoping that the units outlast my kids' interest in them....Because at 80 bucks a pop, I can assure you that we aren't going to buy anymore!!

Jenn

We purchased our original Leapster from Walmart, and returned it directly to Leapfrog after calibration issues. The replacement they sent also does not work, and they are mailing us a 3rd Leapster. I am thinking of selling the 3rd Leapster on Ebay and replacing it with the new pink/purple one that is available at Walmart .... in hopes that the pink one is from a new run that will no longer have calibration problems. Any thoughts? Has anyone experienced problems with the new pink units? Thanks!

Jennifer

Hi, the UK are just starting to sell the Leapster in the shops just before xmas 04 (i thought this was a new toy ? ) but after reading all the problems i will give it a miss. I cant beleive from the 1st review until the last review on this site nearly a year the leapster is having the same problems.Isnt leapfrog gonna do something,if this gets around the UK the machine will be doomed.

thanks this site has saved me money

Daz uk

I have recently bought a Leapster for my son (October 9 2004. He is going to be seven years in a few weeks so I purchased it for his birthday here in the UK. I have played with it for about an hour after purchase, and have gift wrapped it untill his b/day. I was online just looking for some more information on this product and after reading all the comments, I must admit that I am pretty scared now. I am already tempted to take it back and get a refund now before I begin to experience all the problems I am now hearing about, because I am sure my son will love it, and as previous reviews said, it will not be good to get him into this game and then having to take it away. I like what I saw when I played it and I really hope it works, because if it gives any problems, I am taking it back to the store and I defintely want a refund!! Thank you all for your input, and it has taught me a lesson- be sure to research games of this value (｣60.00) before purchasing. I totally agree as well that there should be more cartridges. Anyhow, I could only afford one, since they cost so much (｣20.00 each). Thank you again everyone and I will be back on this site to let people know the outcome of my newly purchased leapster.

Hi,

I am in Australia where the Leapster is also just being released for Christmas however here is my dilemma - I would love some feedback....

My 3/1/2 year old son is incredibly bright - particularlky in the areas of computers etc. He has mastered (and loved) all of the reader rabbit software etc but is becoming obsessed with his 10 yr old brother's technologies (gameboy, playstation etc). I have brought him a vsmile for christmas but now should I do a gameboy SP (to stop the fighting with his brother) or a Leapster.

The Gameboy is obviously a bit inane (no educational advantages) but I like the rechargable battery, light etc and will last for years (both quality and age appropriateness). We also already have lots of educational products at home. However the leapster (esp the stylus) is very appealing from a parents point of view.

They would serve the same basic purpose (car trips etc) and cost the same?

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? PLEASE HELP! My Indecisivness drives me insane :)

Juliet

Juliet, if you have education software at home etc get the Gameboy sp, its tried and tested and you can get lots of software for it, it looks to me that in 1 year the leapster hasn't brought out much software, whats coming out this xmas is the same games as the USA had last year(if it was such a good kids toy there shoul'd be 100's of games out by now ?), i nearly bought 1 but found this site first thankfully.

I am trying to decide on an electronic gadget for my 5.1 yr old daughter, Vsmile, interact TV, or Leapster. I am currently leaning towards Leapster since she can grow into the game a bit and it is portable. I've read about problems with the writing/art game on Target and Amazon reviews. Does anyone have any feedback on that game?

Wow, I wasn't really expecting all this. I will be returning our 2nd Leapster to the Leapfrog co. this next week for yet another replacement. I was just searching the web to see if there was anything out there about this problem w/ the touch screen not responding, guess we're not alone huh?!!

I have been impressed w/ the Leapfrog products and we have other products that have been very helpful to all 4 of my children. I just hope that this one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch and that they are able to rectify this situation. I think Leapster is the "gameboy" for the younger kids and a worth while product.

I am going to get my 5 year old daughter a leapster for xmas , in the UK we only have the silver console , if i purchase a pink one from the states will i have any trouble with UK cartridges and power adapters.

Gary> I asked LeapFrog, and they said that while the US & Canadian units do have a multilingual chipset (and thus shouldn't have any regional limitations), you should eamil LeapFrog customer support at support@leapfrog.com. Apparently they will have more specific answers.

Does anyone here have any reviews on the VSmile system. I would like to know how the reviews are for this educational tool, because I would like to buy some for my neices and nephews. Any information from anybody would be greatly appreciated.

Have been reading comments. Leapster seems to have operational problems, which most comments were about. However, there were no comments on the educational value. Most were bought just to keep the kids busy??? Am I missing something?? Teacher recommended to help child who has a learning problem. None of the comments addressed this issue.

The amazon site has a lot of customer ratings / comments. Just open each item and scroll down till you get to the "All customer reviews" towards the bottom of the page. A few negative, but it seems most are positive.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=toys&field-keywords=leapster&field-browse=171280&search-type=ss&bq=1&store-name=toys/ref=xs_ap_sai1_xgl21/102-7049215-4642533

I bought one for my granddaughter in February and even with exchanging it after 3 weeks, I'm very happy with it. I can't really say HOW educational it is since I don't know if it was learned in school or from the Leapster. Probably helps her to repeat what she learned in school but in the form of games, therefore remembering better. So far the cartridges have been a bit on the easy side for her and am waiting for some more challenging cartridges.

I bought a Leapster last X-mas when they were hard to find for my 6 year old. Haven't had any troubles with the screen or stylus. And he's a boy and he treats it like all of his toys- kindof rough. So it must really have only been one bad batch. I do feel sorry for those of y'all that had to go through all that frustration.

He has the SpongeBob, 1st GRade, & Phonics cartridges. He loves them! They helped out with the problems he was having last school year with reading and phonics.

I played all of the games thru their entirety to check for educational content and challenge. I think they are great, but not enough of them out there. I'm glad the 2nd grade & other games are coming out this year. Much better than letting them rot their minds on GBAs. Now, if only they had games for the 10 & up range my daughter would be set.

Im sorry but i must be in a minority,that is if a new educational toy is released in the uk after a year in the states without anymore software in a year and also still getting the same problems after a year there must be something seriously wrong with it.

as far as education goes,my son doesn't get to play on his gameboy until his homework is done.

We had the same problems with the leapster when we first purchased it about a year ago? Anyways, we returned it 5 times, and upon the fourth time we contacted Leap Frog. We were re-assured that they were addressing the problem and would gladly replace the leapster if there were any further complications. By the fifth leapster there were NO further complications, (I am assuming that the bad batch ran out, or has come to a slow trickle of remaining ones. Even if there were problems, I have to say that Leap Frog has always stood by us, replaced needed parts, and been willing to go that extra step in making our family happy, without questions, or excuses that you recieve so often from other companies. Yes you may have to return it to get another, yes getting in the car or mailing it off does take 30 minutes of your time, but so does replacing the empty roll of toilet paper. Your not paying out more, its' a return.

I have 4.5 year old twins and back in April I purchased them each a Leapster for their birthdays. Within the first 3 weeks I had to return both units. I exchanged them at Wal-mart. The one is working fine but the other this will be my fourth replacment. They are always happening to the same twin. She is starting to get a complex!!!! I will be contacting Leapfrog on Monday to have them replace this and hopefully, FINALLY get a good one! I would just take it back to Walmart but I no longer have the receipt and I think the Customer Service lady is kind of getting tired of seeing me! I will let you know what happens on Monday!!!

Our family loves this product! My 4 and 8 year old have played them non-stop since last X-mas. My kids have dropped them, tossed them and abused them and they are still working. I would call this a durable product! My only complaint is the lack of games! My 8 year old would love some more challenging games. I won't buy the other hand held games because they have nothing to do with education. My 4 year old would just love more game options. I intend to buy them another game learning system this X-mas but it is not transportable. I do hope LeapFrog will listen to the parents on this matter before the kids lose interest in the Leapster due to lack of games.

ergh! I can't believe a couple of your answers. "Nintendo's not ment for people less than 8 years old" Yeesh. It's sickening what you put. I happen to be a 13 year old. I have been playing Game Boy and Nintendo since I was about 5. The reason I have high math skills? Game Boy. The reason I happen to be the smartest person in my class? Game Boy. Nintendo Game Boy may look like it doesn't teach anything, but It does. Look at RPG's (role playing games) They taught me reading skills. Don't look at it and just because it doesn't have games like "rabbit algebra" or "Spelling with letters" it doesn't have educational value.

so playing Mario has put you the smartest in the class, what kind of school do you go to ?

Someone else has already asked, but I was curious too. Has anyone bought the Leapster Deluxe? What is the difference between it and the regular Leapster?

Anyone know of any stores that are going to have a *great* sale on this after Thanksgiving?

Well, I was going to buy a leapster for my 4 year old daughter for xmas, but now i'm not so sure. It really looks like the chance of getting a defective toy is just too high!

Wow! I had no idea about this "defect". I bought one in December of 2003, and it wasn't working by January. I thought my daughter had messed up the screen. I'm calling Leapfrog on Monday.

My 5 year old girl was also experiencing the same touch screen problems with her leapster. I jut got an RMA # from Leapster and I am sending it back soon for an exchange.

Eventhough this problem existed, I would have still bought another one (if I did not have the option of exchanging) because it is a great toy.

I played Mario Bros and all those games while growing up and believe me, even though they were entertaining, it was a waste of time! The only thing I can say I learned was to press the buttons faster.

We are taking the chance and buying two units from Sam's Club. They have the best deal on the kits (unit, case, charger, and two games). I have read all of the above reviews and am now an educated consumer but the promise of this product is too much to pass up for my 5 1/2 and 2 1/2. I have several friends that have units and are very happy so I will roll the dice. Anyway, if it does break, I will have the best return policy available by purchasing through Sam's Club. Thank you all for your time and information.

My 5 year old son loves his leapster. we have 6 games and he plays them all! it really holds his attention.

Our problem is that it keeps telling us we have low batteries and the game shuts off.

i have replaced the batteries 3 times in 2 days and it still says low battery.

does anyone else have this problem?

what about the rechargeable base? how does that work? does the leapster still need batteries with the rechargeable base?

thanks for the input.

we bought the leapster multimedia unit for my 5 yr old and only had it for 3 weeks and the screen does not work properly and walmart wont take it back or replace it and she is very diappointed and so am i.

dont know where to write too for this rpoblem

it seems to me that something needs to be done but what.....

we spent alot of money for this machine and no one knows what to do...any comments..

as far as this being great i dont think so!!!!!!!!!!

I am trying to decide between Leapster and Pixter for my 4.5 yr old pre-k son. Any suggestions? I am really wanting to get the most educational product for my child, but I also want the "toy" to hold his interest.

If you seriously think I go to a Special Ed school, you're dead wrong. I go to a catholic school and by the way- I'm in the top 10 math students in Saskatchewan. So don't believe that video games make you dumb, or that they make you violent or anything. Plus- Nintendo portables don't break down right away, and the Game Boy Advance SP has an 18 hour battey life, and a lithium ion rechargeable battery, and a backlit screen. So it is easily better.

I'm on my third leapster for my 5 year old son. They are great. But as soon as the screen goes out of whack, that is it!!! Calibration won't work.

Leapfrog support has said "they stand by their product, the number of faulty leapsters is only a small percentange compared to the number of good ones." Why have I gone through 2? And so many others having the same problems?

If you read this I would highly recomend something else. Otherwise prepare to return your leapster until the purchase place stops you.

I see that the company's website advertises a pink edition and a red edition. Other than colour, the only apparent difference is that the pink may be purchased at Walmart (where parents of girls are more likely to shop?) and the red at Target (a boy friendly store?). Does this indicate that the company has created a second generation product that addresses some of the flaws, or is it just about packaging?

This year for christmas my seven year old daughter asked for two things, one being that robosapien and the other being the leapster. As her grandparents have bought the robot that left the leapster, but i wasnt sure if i would be spending my money wisely.

Two years ago i bought the leap frog electronic book, which i felt was good in idea, but lacked in company input. When i say this i feel that more software could have been made available in its first couple of years from release. This is why i am researching into the leapster system, as i felt concerned about what my money was being spent on.

After reading this review and the comments from parents who have purchased the system for their young ones i feel that i have been pushed further away from buying this product.

Lets just hope with ten days left to christmas 2004 my daughter see's another advert which makes her want a product more than the leapster, so i can still make her happy.

I have read the posted comments, and I can relate to the concerns here. We are about to receive our second Leapster. The first one worked GREAT for three days, then we started having problems with the screen. I was able to make it through calibration, but to no success on fixing the problem. I called LeapFrog that evening. The rep on the phone very accomodating and informative... we shipped out our unit to them right away, and we now have a tracking number for our new unit, and it has only been a day since they received the unit from us!!! The company has listened to us, and has acted in a manner that is very honorable. I am hoping for the best with our new unit, I will keep ya posted... but just letting everyone know how great the service was dealing with LeapFrog!

Well folks, don't get your hopes up about the new Pink ones at Walmart being fault free. We opened ours up on Christmas morning, put the batteries in, the opening screen came up perfectly. Then it asked you to put your name in by touching the pen to the letters on the screen. The pen on the screen had absolutely no effect and no letters appeared where they should. So I thought maybe to calibrate it....but that requires that the pen register on the screen and it never did. Gee, didn't get to use it once.....SO glad I bought 4 games for it. NOT.

We just opened a leapster for my daughter for Christmas. The first thing I noticed was that the screen had squiggles and was mottled and cloudy at the edges. Anyone else have this problem? The calibration seems ok but it's almost impossible to read the screen, especially straight on. If you look at the screen at a 45 degree angle it's dark enough to see but still there are dead spots in the field. I guess it's off to Toys R Us in the morning and replace it. Any other suggestions?

Im sorry to hear this especially on xmas day but as i said months ago these things have to many issues to be any good,the faults have gone on over a year but people just take no notice of sites like these its a shame until a day like this.

dont want to offend anyone but it would have been a good idea to check the toy or anything electrical out before the day they are needed !

Unfortunately, we are another victim of the Leapster's poor quality. Our stylus does not work out of the box, and the recalibration program freezes up.

Is there a good alternative with better quality?

Not sure what quality problems the Leapster has, As I have commented here before, I have had no problems with the Leapster that I got directly from Leapfrog as an exchange about 9 months ago. I have only needed to calibrate the screen 1 time since receiving the new unit.

On a side not, I just purchased a Mattel Juice Box for my 8 year old daughter for Christmas. Well I have been on the phone for a few hours today with Customer Supprt to identify a fairly major software problem that will not allow me to download MP3's and pictures to the Secure Digital flash card with the Juice Box software. This was after I spend the better part of 3 hours trying the software on 2 different computers with different operating systems in an attempt to get something to work!!

It seems like these toy vendors just do not get it with the tech stuff, if they release something for the Christmas season, they need to be prepared with a reasonable size support staff to field questions. They also need to to have their web pages ready and updated with useful information to keep the kids and parents from really loosing their minds when things do not work as expected.

I guess the tech world just does not understand their future customer base!!!

I think Lego's, Tinkertoys and anything that does not require batteries may be the best bet for both the kids and parents!!

JamesO

Bought my 5 year old the Leapster Multimedia Learning system. It worked for apprx. 1 hour and now its totally dead. (Yes, I installed an additional set of new batteries)

Just the inconvienance of having to return this item so quickly is a total turn off.

Disappointed in NJ.....

I have also just purchased a Leapster and three cartridges for my daughter's birthday in a few months with little change left from $250 Australian dollars. Then I found this website! Fortunately it is still sealed in the package and I have the receipts, so I am seriously considering taking it back before the problems begin.

In Australia the one which has just been released is the original silver model with the separate starter cartridge (ours is Item number 20200). I have read that the newer model has the starter games built in. Has anyone had problems with the newer model or just the old model with the separate cartridge? I'm worried that Australia has just been sent the older, possibly defective, model in an attempt to get rid of them. We dont have local LeapFrog customer service, so we would have to take our chances with the store taking them back (not much chance of that even with the receipt) or trying to get the Redistribution company to take responsibility.

This sounds like such an awesome toy, if only LeapFrog could iron out the bugs.

My 8 year old daughter just bought one with her OWN Christmas money from Wal-Mart. After 3 days when you turn it on, it immediately turns itself back off. Replacing batteries made no change. Since things had been working properly, she threw the box away, otherwise I'd just return for refund. As it is, we're stuck with this crap.

CyberMage,

I would contact Leapfrog and request an exchange unit. I did this over 9 months ago and have had good luck with the replacement (From Leapfrog). Leapfrog knows which units are from a good batch and only sends these out. It is still possible the "good" units could develop problems, however, my replacement has been solid in 9 months of hard use.

It is possible that Wal-Mart had older stock. Otherwise exchange the unit to Wal-Mart , it they really need the box, unbox the "new" unit and give them the box from the "new" one.

Both my 5 and 8 year old really like the Leapster, we actually purchased 4 new cartridges for Christmas this year. We have a bunch of money in this, however, I like the educational aspect as well as the entertainment for the kids.

Do not know what to offer the overseas crowd as shipping to Leapfrog in the US would be slow and expensive. Customs etc. Maybe Leapfrog has regional support outside of the US??

Good luck,

JamesO

we got a leapster for christmas for my son this year. he plays with it, but i have no idea how he can see the screen. we've thrown out the box (but did keep the bill). if you look at the screen straight on you can't really see, but you can see it better on an angle....should we return it? i've read several comments here of where people said the screen was bad...is it just a bad design? or do i have a flawed product? anyone know?

Bought a leapster for Xmas for my 4-year old. Loves it. Then the touchscreen problems started. Then I found this site. Duh!

Back to Walmart. Refund, exchange?

To Eric's mom -- the screen visibility issue you describe seems endemic to the device... I think it's dim for power saving purposes. I agree that it seems barely visible. However, the visibility doesn't seem to be related to the calibration issues many here compain about... it is, for better or worse, by design.

I purchased 2 leapsters for my three and four year old daughters for christmas. With the excitement of the holiday, we just got around to opening them. One works great, one does not. The poor performer, worked fine for a day or so, but now the color on the screen is barely visable. I have changed the batteries twice, thinking they were defective, but no luck. Has this been an issue? The only possible way to see the screen is to hold it straight up and down, and look downward at it. Not very easy to play at this angle I might say!! Any ideas? I am really happy with the on that does function! However, I have one very disappointed little girl, and one expensivce toy that can't be played (not to mention five extra cartridges)!!

I bought from K-Mart in Brooklyn, , one silver leapstor for my 4 and 8 yrs old Girl and Boy respectively. Only three days of use and the screen can only be clearly seen from a 45 degree angle. I am planning on calling Leap frog and getting it excahged for another one.

I have a second one on order from Amazon.

I have purchased all the cartridges out there about 15 or so.

The toy is great for my kids since it is very educational it off sets the price considering what you'll pay for private classes or tutoring these days.

I am hoping that its manufacturer will iron out all of the errors and perhaps come out with a new model and more challeing games for older kids.

Chuck

I bought one for my daughter and was aware of this site before hand but wanted to take the chance. I got the pink one from Walmart and have had no problems so far. My son likes to play with it and likes teaching my daughter stuff on it.... I have the box and receipt just in case I have to part with it. It has been three weeks... since we have opened it. I do have to agree that the screen can be hard to see. But it is an awesome toy for the kids.

I still haven't opened ours (it's for my daughter's birthday which isn't for a few more months), but I have been emailing the Australian distributor of Leap Frog products. They are confident that the problem will not occur in the product released in Australia, but have promised to replace it, if it does occur, regardless of how old it is.

Bought the leapster for my daughters for christmas. Kids enjoy it very much! Ours is functionally perfect. If I were to design one though, I'd find a way to make the batteries last longer. Game play is highly compromised when batteries are low. My children are not playing it constantly for this reason. We purchased an ac adapter, which is good, but limiting for kids that don't want to sit by the outlet. My kids also enjoy the vtech smile system. Unfortunatly you have to buy an extra controler if you want to play two player mode. My biggest beef about these products is the investment required for more games. These products are for kids that likely don't recieve an allowance just yet, so parents are harassed for more games - since children these days have no attention span. They became easily bored with the leap pad once they went through the books a few times. The leapster comes highly recommended from our family - but get an ac adapter, and hopefully friends could share/trade games to stretch our valuable dollars.

Bought leapster at Toys r Us for Xmas '04 ... our 3 and 5 year old love(d) it ... but it worked for two weeks before the touchscreen stopped working ... outrageous that LeapFrog continues to sell a product which has obviously been defective for a year according to this thread ... and the idea that the defect rate is actually low and the complaints here are biased because the only people who search for a website have a defect doesn't hold water given so many folks that are on their 2nd, 3rd and even 5th one! Shame on LeapFrog.

I just stumbled on this site as I was looking to buy a second charging system. (We own two leapsters and one charging system.) My kids received the Leapsters as gifts last summer. One has always had some problems with the stylus - but last month quit responding altogether. I contacted customer service via e-mail. They sent me a RA (return authorization) within a few days, I shipped it out a week later and received the new unit today(one week after I shipped ours). This product was out of the warranty period and I had no proof of purchase (since it was a gift). I am very happy with their customer service as they had no obligation to actually replace it. Obviously they know they have some problems with this product and seem to be trying to resolve it. I have no doubt that if I have any more problems they will take care of us. We own several leap frog products and this is this first defective product we have ever had.

Interesting that so many people have had the same problems I am now experiencing with my son's Leapster. I bought it for his 5th birthday and, even though he enjoys the games, it hasn't been overly-used. Nor has it been abused. He has no siblings to fight over it with....we noticed the calibration was off a couple of weeks after purchasing it. So we went through recalibration and it worked fine. For a time. The stylus is so frustrating now that my son, as well as myself, have both been tempted to punt kick the thing through a window. It's sad that a toy he loves so much just won't work for him very well. We haven't even had the stupid thing for 6 months. How could they let such an obvious problem go on for so long without letting people know about it? Obviously, these complaints began long before I purchased my son's. *Sigh* I've contacted LeapFrog...hopefully, they'll replace the stupid thing. If not, I don't think I'll be purchasing LeapFrog products ever again. He has LeapPad Plus Writing, too...which wasn't really worth the money. And now, that pen no longer works right, either.

My son's leapster is model 20200 with the separate cartridge. It is only one month old, and there is asmall spot on the screen that never leaves when the toy is on. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you handle it? I have the bill from Walmart, but no box. It was part of the Leapster Deluxe pack with ac adapter, headphones, case, and Mr Pencil cartridge. It was a great one-time price, so if I can return it, I lose out big $$! Any comments?

Sounds like Leapfrog has done some extensive research into the pricepoint for the leapster hardware and are trying to keep the product under that line. The result is that the customers are dealing with inconsistent products from walking the manufacturing tightrope. Maybe they should be bump the price up and deliver a consistent product to those who can afford it. Then, drop the price when they have the manufatcuring problems (and more software titles) worked out. This is a common strategy especially among products that have limited competition. They might be kicking themselves for putting the touch screen in their first release. Probably overkill and would have been better to release that with appropriate software in a later product rev.

Technology moves fast, and I am sure that they will eventually dial it in. It's funny, all the replacements that they have to send out just come out of the comanies pocket anyway. Pays to do something right the first time. Still an important step for educational hardware devices. They have been almost completely ignored. Best of luck to LEapfrog and anyone else entering that market space.

Mmmmmmmm- my daughter's Leapster has quit working all together in less than 6 weeks of very careful use.

Im in Australia and we seem to have no contact details for Leapster here, they won't exchange the product for another as it was a gift and we don't have a receipt. It is in impeccable condition. I am still awaiting a reply from the UK contact centre. Not at all impressed and will be sharing my views openly. All that money on expensive game cartridges out the window.....

I'm in a bind, too. When I bought the Leapster in August of 2004, my son wasn't that interested. He brought it out today, gave it a try, and it didn't work very well. IWhen tried to re-calibrate and boom, it froze up. I could hit the corners, but not the target in the center. When I turned it off and on again, I could no longer sign him in properly.

I have the receipt for the unit, but the warranty is up by a long shot. Do I have any chance of getting this unit replaced by LeapFrog?

Amanda Radovic from Australia.

I too am from Australia. I purchased a Leapster around Christmas (when they were on special) for my daughter's birthday next July. It's still in the box as are several cartridges we purchased to go with it. When I found out about the calibration problems in January (via this site) I started to get worried (obviously the warranty will be well and truly over before she even opens it) and so I contacted Funtastic via email which are the Australian distributors of Leap Frog products.

They said that it was unlikely that the Australian product would have the calibration problem (obviously not true with your example) and that if my unit had the problem they would guarantee that it would be replaced no matter how old it was.

I would hammer Funstatic with emails and phonecalls about the problem. They know about it and should provide the same customer service as Leap Frog in the US, which will replace the unit no matter how old it is, if it develops this problem.

Hope this helps!

I only bought my daughter a Leapster last night and was just browsing the web for some more info... and all I can think now is where is the receipt?? should i take it back?? should i break my daughters heart??? I only hope I have a good one and that i experience no problems as Im in Australia and I wouldnt know where to turn other than where i bought it which by the way was "Toys r us"... My heart goes out to all the people whom have bought this product and have had problems, but surely Leapster should either refund or replace it, provided one has a receipt!!

My only reason for buying this product was my daughter wanted a gameboy but at 6 years old i felt she was too young and i wanted something educational for her! MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A GAMEBOY???? cross ur fingers and toes 4 me and my daughter that this Leapster sees the test of time and lasts and I wish all you out there the same and LEAPSTER needs to acknowledge this problem and deal with it in a proffessional way as without us (the customers) they wouldnt have a business!! BTW.. I have a Leap pad and have had no problems at all!!

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I as playing Dora the Explorer on Leapster and the calibration or using the pen no longer works so I'm asking is there anyone that know how to play games on leapster with a broken pen. Please help us

I had the same problem with the pen/screen not responding and was advised to send back to Leap Frog. I looked at it myself and found that if you remove the batteries, there is a small black (reset) button behind the batteries. Pressed this once and it all works fine. I suggest doing this before sending back.

our leapster also experiences the callibration issues and is very frustrating for my 4 year old. also, we've had a split screen issue were some of the screen is completely missing. has anyone experienced this? i'm not sure how it resulted or if it is a fixable problem. i have not been happy with the quality at all. we have several v-tech games that are 10 years old that still work without any issues and this expensive game starting having problems after only one month.

I had a Leapster sitting on my desk for a long time with the infamous calibration problem. I read here about the black reset button and pressed it while the batteries were in place. Well, all works fine now! Didnt even have to recalibrate the unit. We'll see how long it lasts this time. It may not work for others, but I would try the reset button before anything else.

I bought a Leapster second hand an it wouldn't work. I called the 800 number on the back of the unit and they issued me an RMA for another unit, I'm not sure if it will be a new one or refurbished, but it was nice of them. Also if you look on their website, under the FAQ's, you'll see "what should I do with a defective leapfrog product?" and it says they will replace it.

Here is the link

Anything new on the Leapster situation? We have two that are basically useless. Tried to have a game system guy repair them and he couldn't do anything even with help from the Leapster Service people. Not much luck with trying to return them as they have a date on the back from 2003. We bought the last one in spring or early summer of this year. Must have been old product on the shelf.

My 4yo got a Leapster for Christmas. Here it is Jan. 5th and the touchscreen no longer works on the lower half. The "parent guide" on the website is outdated, and the FAQ instructions don't work. I'm thankful we didn't pay for this toy, but it breaks my heart that my parents did.

I'm calling CS tomorrow.

I called Customer Service and they tried to walk me through the re-calibration of the unit (Home, Hint, B) and it wouldn't respond to the center target calibration. She took my information and said she'd send us a shipping label. We have to send the unit back and they'll send us a new one. I asked her about this being a defect in a certain run of the products but she didn't know what I was talking about. I hope we have better luck with the new one. I've taught my 4yo to be very gentle with her electronic games and she does take good care of them. It's too bad this went bad on it's own so quickly.

Leapster is great, but only because of the lack of software on other platforms.

If MS would just take some of the educational PC titles or get leap to make titles for XBOX it would be ideal!

They could use the real prospect to get the XBOX into the home and then have a market for more games as the children grow and for the adults to play as well.

I just returned the leapster for the second time. Leapster insists this has impacted on 1% of Leapster sales. I find it odd that I got hit twice with this. Anyway, my daughter plays with it constantly and I am pleased that she gets pleasure from using it.

To Ian Bogost:

please, maybe you can give me an advice:do you know if the new Leapster, the rectangular one has been improved? I am tried to figure out if all these problems come mainly with the first Leapster, the triangular one. I am in Italy, LeapFrog products are not sold here, so I have to ask some friends to ship the Leapster to me but reading about all these problems is filling me with doubts also because there is not a customer service here... I will have to ship it back in the US if for some reason the handheld is not working.

I have read in some sites that the new unit has been improved while in other places it is said that only the design has changed.

Can anyone give me more information?

Thank you!

Emanuela - unfortunately I can't say for sure. All signs seem to indicate that the device has been improved, but I still hear about some defects. I think the chances are better now, but not perfect. But again, I really have no way of knowing the truth.

My son rec'd a leapster for Christmas. It's doing something totaly different. The this will not stay off. It comes on for no reason. I mean noones in the room. Has anyone heard of this? The Customer svc rep told me to clean the battery contacts. It didn't help.

If I call back they will give me a number to send it back at our expense and they will replace it.

Thank for your help.

My daughter's Leapster has an orange spot on the screen that grows bigger over time. I assume that, eventually, it will infect the whole screen. This is our second Leapster, and it is the pre-Christmas version as well. We also had the calibration problem with the first one, but not with this one. The orange spot problem has caused trouble with each. Any comments on that problem? Advice?

I have twins that will be 4 in less than a month. I am having trouble deciding between the leapster and the v.smile pocket. Ian do you have any sugestions? I looked for a review of the pocket on this website and couldn't find one. Are there still as many problems with the leapsters now as in the past? I fear that the vsmile won't keep their intrest as well as it sounds the leapster does. Is leapster more entertaining than vtech? One of the boys has moved on from his vtech to playstation already.

My daughter's leapster has suddenly stopped working.

Here's what happens:

Press any button and you hear a beep three times and that's it. Screen stays dark. Tried the reset button to no avail, and fresh batteries as well.

Anyone experience this?

There are 2 different Leapsters (other than the L-Max) available, and I'm trying to figure out why everywhere you read about them nothing is mentioned about the fact that one has a larger screen (3.74" diagonal vs. 3.0" diagonal) than the other. There are 2 different models (hasn't anyone ever noticed?) They are also shaped differently (the larger screen model is wider at the top). I want a pink Leapster for my daugher that has the larger screen, but can only find the larger screen model in green or blue. I read this post but it is so very long that I could only scan thru it and couldn't find the answer. Are the larger screen models going out of production, are the smaller screen models going out of production, or are they both going to be available for the foreseeable future?

The triangular pink one is available at Target online. Are there any other differences - other than screen size and shape. Is there any reason I shouldn't get the triangular one?

My son has the blue triangle Leapster and it would be nice to have the same shape for charging purposes.

We have the same calibration/touch screen problem on the unit my older son got when he was 5. Now my younger son who is 4 is trying to use it and it won't work correctly. Called LeapFrog's customer service and they will not do anything since it has been two years since purchase. I just wish their was an option to play with touch screen or without and just use the arrow buttons instead.

We bought leapster fro our 4yo son. He is completly thrilled with it. It's truly a dream come true. Except after 15 mins of play, it dies. Wife insisted it was batteries. it started "using"batteries at an inconceivable rate.But when I check the batteries with DVOMeter. they are all good. Then one day after yet another new set of batteries, it wouldnt work at all. I took it apart to see if i can see anything wrong. First I saw under the batter pack, two very light depressions in the plastic housing. once apart I found that under the depressions were two (I think) transisters that apear very over heated. the coating on them had melted and had Oozed onto the circuit board. I also smelled the unique odor of buning eletronics. I blew on the board thinking a thermal switch was open. Once back together, i got it to work but not screen (probley my fault)

The worst part was we bought this from a ToyRus that was going out of buisness, ALL sales are final. And the other store wouldn't honor the sales.

I do want another one, cause it seems this is a isolated problem, but after reading this, i know what to look for in the next one. Hope this info helps.

To answer those who have commented on an orange spot on the screen that won't go away - our Leapster recently developed one as well, and I just got off the phone with LeapFrog customer service who told me that it was caused by pixel damage, perhaps from too much pressure put on the screen with the pen. Because our Leapster is over a year old, they can't replace it outright, but have offered me a 50% replacement - I send them a cheque for $40 US, then they send me a replacement Leapster. The replacement would not be new, it would be refurbished. I am currently considering this offer.

I got this for my four-year-old daughter and needless to say, she loves it. I too was also debating between the V.Smile and the Leapster and the L-Max.

For those not in the know, the L-Max has a few advantages, such as having dual-screen capability when hooked up to a TV, and using specifically designed L-Max games. Some standard Leapster games will also project the same image to the TV, but according to their FAQ, due to licensing or quality issues, some won't project to the TV at all, only the L-Max's screen.

Of course, L-Max titles are $5 more because of the dual-screen additions to the title, but titles like Madagascar only are available as an L-Max title (even though it'll work on the Leapster without the dual-screen stuff).

We ended up with the Leapster, since we don't plan on hooking up our big-screen TV to it. But because possibly future titles will be L-Max ready, be prepared to pay upwards of $30, instead of $25 for Leapster titles.

At the LeapFrog Online Store, use SPRINGLEAP15 for a 15% discount till July 1, 2006.

Hope this helps, and hope my daughter's Leapster lasts long enough. Worst case scenario, we can always buy a new one at Target and send back the old one within their 90-day return policy. ;)

I'm having problems with the Little Touch LeapPad, the replacement books are falling out of the LeapPad. They don't even need to be pulled on, just turn the LeapPad over and the book part falls out. Called customer service three times. Twice was put on hold and they never came back to the line. I even bought a second book thinking the first was just a fluke. The second one did the same thing. What a shame, the product is loved by my granddaughter and it has survived being dropped etc. Customer service is a joke. Anyone else with this problem?

I purchased a leapster while in USA for my one year old son here in Philippines. We did not use the product then. But now he is 3 yrs old and is using the leapster but found the calibration problem. I did not know of this problem when I bought the product. I even have 5 cartridges. Sad to say I'm in Philippines already and do not know if leafprog can replace the unit from outside US. I do not even have the receipt.

I have a 4 and 5 yr old. I am stuck between getting the leapster or the L-Max Leapster. I would think that the L-Max would be better. It can be used on the TV aswell. The only thing is that the cost of the games are more. I like that it has a protective cover for the screen. I think that a lot of screen problems could come from getting banged up and dropped. So is one better than the other? Is the leapster good enough? OR the L-Max?

My kids have a gameboy and it was a waste of money and its not educational. They can't figure out how to play the games.

One more thing, I spoke to Customer Service about the games being able to be universal between the leapster and the L-Max. They said that the L-Max have extra series, but the leapster games can be placed on the L-MAX.

I would love for someone to get back to me with their opinions.

Reading some of these comments are turning me off of the product.

Are you a little slow? The Gameboy advance SP is the fastest selling gaming device in history. The Gameboy product line are the best selling handhelds in history.By the way Nintendo advertises to everyone not just kids. Nintendo never has to worry about Lepster. Do not make stupid statements until you gather all the facts.

Hey Warren, what's your deal? You made the same comment, using the name "bruce," on this thread in March of 2004. Maybe your the one that's a little slow!

Comment from Bruce on March 24, 2004

Are you a little slow? The Gameboy advance SP is the fastest selling gaming device in history. The Gameboy product line are the best selling handhelds in history.By the way Nintendo advertises to everyone not just kids. Nintendo never has to worry about Lepster. Do not make stupid statements until you gather all the facts.

I've just discovered today while shopping that the Leapster comes in two different models - the larger screen, triangular one; and the smaller screen, rectangular one.

I'm assuming the smaller screen leapster is the latest model. Has anyone experienced any problems with these, or are most the problems with the older model?

Thanks

WOW! Am I glad I stumbled on to this site!!! I was planning on buying my grand children more games for their leapster which they got last month - but it sounds like they probably won't last until Christmas!!

This is the wrong approach. There's already a hardware platform with a huge installed base- GBA/DS.

It's pointless to have a whole new system just to play a certain type of game. It would be like buying a new (sub-standard) TV specifically for watching the Discovery Channel.

This hardware will neve compete with Nintendo. Why not just create educational software for GBA/DS?

so....i am still confused. i was going to get the leapster because it has more games. reading your posts it seems that i can use the games on both units??? so am i better off buying the lmax?? thanks all for your info, i am happy i stumbled upon this site.

I have seen several sites which had complaints regarding the touch screens on the leapsters and I myself had the same problem today. My daughter turned the thing on and the touch screen was completely unresponsive. I remembered seening a similar problem on Navy touch screens and tried simply using some compressed air, the kind you use to blow out a keyboard, around the edges and it started working again. I believe that if dust , food or something gets in around the edges of the touch screen it disables one of the axis sensors and makes the touch screen inoperative. So before you return that unit, blow out the edges and see if that solves the problem. I also used a couple of monitor wipes to clean around the edges after blowing them clean.

My daughter's unit has worked without problems up to today, a full 2 years from the purchas date. So I am still a fan of the system.

Hey...I fixed it!!! My sons Leapsters touchscreen just stopped responding to the stylus tonight so I unscrewed every screw until I could get to the screen and sure enough there were plenty of crumbs around the perimeter to interupted the light-sensor film..its as good as new and in the morning when he gets into the car for school I will have retained my title as worlds best dad!! i suppose Leapster can't exactly recommend you do this but it worked for me.

My son absolutely loves (loved) his leapster. He recieved it as a christmas gift last year and imagine my dismay when it just completely stopped working 6 months later. With the amount of money we put into the thing ($80 for the leapster, $20 a piece for 6 games, $15 for the adapter) I am at a complete loss as to what to do! Poor quality!