Review of LeapFrog Leapster GS Explorer

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List Price: $69.99
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Absolutely a 5-star product, and so worth the money.

For the past six months, my son has lovingly played with my husband's old, cracked-glass iPod, building an impressive understanding of what each app can do. I received an email from LeapFrog inviting me to have a look at the Leapster Explorer GS. With my son's 4th birthday approaching and without knowing what to give him, I decided to click on the link to the demo video with my son next to me. He said, "Mom, I want that!" So we bought it for him, hoping it wouldn't be played with for three minutes and discarded for the old iPod.

It wasn't. He wouldn't put it down all day. The next morning, he woke up and went right for it and played it all day again, and for at least an hour every day since. (It's been ten days.) If this were nothing but a video game toy, then I would gently nudge him away from playing it after a while, but it's so much more than that. He loves the built-in camera. He'll sneak up beside me, and I'll hear the recorded voice saying, "5-4-3-2-1-say 'Cheese!'" I have to be quick to whip my head around and grin at him. Creativity is further encouraged in the photo lab which allows the child to convert the picture to black and white, alter the saturation, add stamps, and distort the image.

From the LeapFrog site, you can download numerous apps--videos, games, and ebooks. We got one called "Wheel Works" that teaches spatial relations, forces, and motion. His brain is being prepared to understand physics concepts. It also teaches strategic thinking. I happen to be a proponent of education through the medium of video game play. If only we approached the acquisition of all skills the way we do video game skills! Where in life, a child might give up on learning a subject--often, math--when the initial attempt is overwhelmingly challenging, s/he will just start over again with a PLAN when that "Game Over" appears onscreen. This is true in most things that, given time and dogged determination, we could show great improvement--dance, learning a musical instrument, writing well, and so on. Yet, with video games, we set aside self-defeating pre-assessments and just assume that we'll improve incrementally-getting past the cherry board in Pac-Man, then the pretzel board, and so on. I am seeing this in my son because of the Leapster GS. He was so frustrated in his first attempts at playing Wheel Works. Having an education degree, I am well familiar with the practice of "scaffolding" (look up Vygotsky for more on this). I had him watch me complete all the levels a few times; he was raring to go after that, just needing to see that it could be done and seeing me not get frustrated when I had to go back and do something differently, and has been proudly and calmly making more and more progress toward completing all the levels himself! In the future, I will be able to reference this incremental improvement experience when he is frustrated in learning something new.

He has already made some progress in a math game for which we gave him a cartridge. He's learning coin counting, measurement, geometry, and proportions.

After connecting the hand-held to my computer to initialize it, the camera would not open. I reconnected it to my computer, hunted around for troubleshooting info when the LeapFrog Connect software opened, and followed the prompts to "Repair". An update was installed, and the camera has worked just fine ever since. I'm thinking that updates will be rather frequent now (Summer 2012) because this product has JUST hit the market, and software/electronics are often in need of a few updates right after release. We have had to change the batteries twice (takes 4 AAs), and each set of batteries gave about 10 hours of juice. We went ahead and invested in the $39.99 recharging kit.

We're at the beginning of our Leapster Explorer GS journey. I am so thrilled with this product thus far. I love the Little Pim language-learning videos--French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Chinese are available, so far. The ebooks/games/apps feature many levels so that your child will still be able to use them as he or she masters each. I look forward to building a learning collection with each passing birthday, Christmas, and behavioral accomplishment reward opportunities(i.e. a month of top conduct marks from his pre-school teacher). I hope that any of you who have a child in your life who plays with this toy will share your impressions. Thanks for reading!

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I am so disappointed. I set up the Leapster GS last night for my son's birthday. Today, while playing with it, it consistently went blank or froze when using a couple of the apps. The camera feature did not work at all the only way to

'get out' is to power the game on and off. We have the Leapster Explorer and the Leapster Leappad and I have never had these types of issues. Either this was not tested thoroughly or they produced some lemons in the manufacturing process.

Update : There was an issue with the software and Leapfrog customer service gave me information on how to repair the software from the Connect application. It is still not clear to me why it was bugged to begin with OR why the repair files were not downloaded from Connect when I intially set up the GS. The customer service rep said that repair files sometimes don't get downloaded due to internet connection issues?? Additionally, it is not clear to me why instructions could not be found online to fix the error. The customer service rep had no answer for me. I find the Connect application to be tedious and slow, by the way. Anyways, I have upgraded my durability and overall ratings to be more favorable since the problem is now fixed.

For those of you who have the problem I did, Leapster recommends doing the following:

1) Open the LeapFrog Connect application, turn on the Leapster GS and connect it on your computer.

3) Click on the Go button on the name of the child.

3) Click on the Settings tab, Leapster GS and then click Repair

Note, when you initially connect the Repair button may be grayed out. It may take a couple minutes for all updates to download and the Leapster GS to fully connect before these buttons are clickable.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program We first got the original Leapster Explorer and then the LeapPad. Both of those are great. This LeapsterGS is sort of a hybrid between both. It's shaped and styled like the original explorer, but adds camera and video capabilities. It's solid and intuitive for kids to use. BEST of all, the same cartridges for games work on all three Leapfrog games. So, if you spend $25 on one game for your original Explorer, you'll be able to use it on the GS AND the Leappad. That's very cool. And the way the cartridges work, it's easy to change games and start playing.

However, it should be noted there's about a $30 difference between this GS and the LeapPad. For my money, I'd bump up to the LeapPad. Bigger screen, easier to change batteries, and more possibilities for game use. Otherwise, you won't be disappointed with this game. Be sure to get the AC adaptor...these things eat batteries like crazy.

My only big gripe is the box promises more than it delivers. It clearly states "a library of 300 games". Oh. Sounds good, except that the 'library' isn't included, you'll pay for each and every one. Only 3 "apps" are included, and "apps" are not full games. They are short little practice games and/or Ebooks (snooze). An "app" usually runs $20 for two codes (two games or ebooks). So, it'll come with enough for your kid to play with for about a day before you are online looking for the game cartridges (which range from $17 sale to $30). Also, the "apps" are not as easy to install, you have to enter a code via your LeapWorld connection online (installation takes forever!) and then download the app to your game via syncing cable. Not a problem after the first few times, but not as simple as the cartridge.

One great thing about the syncing though is that the Leap toy reports back a report card to your LeapWorld account and keeps tracks of your child's strengths and weaknesses in math, reading, recognition, and problem solving. They can also earn points from playing educational games, and when you sync they can "buy" additional little perks with those points.

Altogether, I've been seriously impressed with all the Leapfrog products (except Tag...hate it) and while the games seem expensive, we've gotten our moneys worth out of all of them in the long haul. We usually buy a new game before a big trip to occupy him during car time. And for what it's worth, Tangled and Scooby Doo and NFL Rush are the LEAST fun of the games. Star Wars, Wolverine, Ben 10, and Cars 2 have been the favorite games for our 5 year old.

I hope you find this helpful.

Honest reviews on LeapFrog Leapster GS Explorer

My boys are really big fans of the Leappad and GS. DS (5) got a Leappad for Christmas last year and my youngest DS got a GS for his third birthday. I know that the age range says 4-9 for the GS, but I feel 3 is fine. Especially if you travel or have an older child with a Leapfrog or other game system. My 3 year old likes the smaller size of the GS, I think it is easier for him to hold.

We have an iPad and iPhones, but my boys like their leapfrog systems better. They still play a few games on them, but like the content from Leapfrog better.

Leapfrog lately has added a bunch of games and other apps to their store. We have really been enjoying them. I usually buy a $20 app card when it gets $15 to $17 on Amazon and wait for some sort of promotion in the App store. You have to check the leapfrog site for sales.

If you already have one Leappad or Explorer in the family you can download games to 3 different Leappad or Explorer devices. There have been only a few games that have been for one device only.

My son loves to play games or watch videos when we take long car trips. Some of my 3 year olds favorites are Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Letter Factory, the drawing app that comes with the device, the camera, and the Letter Factory videosTalking Words and Word Caper.

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We are big leapster fans. We have the original Leapster, the Leapster 2 (star wars edition for the win!), Explorer, LeapPad and now the GS. We know a thing or two about the product line with a combined collection of over 20 games as well.

I immediately noticed the sleek new design. Looks more like the latest video gaming handhelds from the major gaming platforms than an educational device. The new design is helping my boys to grab for this over their other devices. When I asked my 8 year old why he liked it, he said it was "comfy" in his hands. The buttons were placed in similar places to his other devices so the already engrained learning of how to use a gaming platform was easy to transition to the GS. For my younger son, the buttons were large enough for him to also be able to use, though he often ignored the top buttons. The new motion sensor makes it easier for my 4 year old to play some games as he can tilt the screen versus using the arrows to move.

The camera feature is built-in like the LeapPad while the explorer had a camera add-on you could purchase. The resolution is now at 2 megapixals so in theory they should be better. Most of ours are still slightly blurry due to my kids not holding it still during the countdown until snapping the picture. The screen is also bigger than previous models, save the LeapPad, and graphics seemed brighter.

The batteries drain pretty fast with frequent use but you can use rechargeable batteries instead. The area to change the batteries makes it easy for older kids and adults to swap them out somewhat effortlessly, while keeping younger hands safely from getting inside.

If you already own the LeapFrog Explorer or LeapPad, this seems redundant, but if you are new to this platform or upgrading from an earlier Leapster product, this is the perfect way to upgrade.

Please note that we received the Leapster GS and two game cartridges to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions are mine and honest.