Leapfrog's Clickstart/Leapster - reviews/opinions please

Aadhusmom · Nov 22, 2009

I was wondering if any of your kids have used this ClickStart My First Computer ? Or this Leapster2 Learning Game System by LeapFrog . How do they like it? At what age were they able to use it independantly and upto what age did they continue to use it? Would you recommend it? If you think some other similiar product is better then please tell me about that too. This costs a bomb in India and I am wondering if it is worth my money. TIA.

Vanathi.

tikka · Nov 24, 2009

v, I saw them at Odyssey here and I am actually wondering about these too. Esp the hand held. On one hand I do wonder if it wont be as addictive as video game. The comp we decided not and decided to set up a separate log in for DS. All ears about the hand held.

tikka · Nov 24, 2009

V, heard of Gcompris? It is a freeware, but sounds interesting to me.

Aadhusmom · Nov 24, 2009

No, I'll have to check it out.

Ok - I just did and it looks great. But my problem is that the Windows version that has all the activities is a paid thing (comes to 1200 Rs); only the LINUX version is completely free. So now I'm wondering if its worth shelling out the money?

V.

tikka · Nov 25, 2009

V, if it is possible to have both operating systems in your comp - Linux is a freeware and open source - you can instal linux and that could be a separate log in for A, where he does not have free access to the internet. The other good thing about linux is it is largely free of malware problems. We dont need an anti-virus mainly because it is not as vulnerable as windows is. Given how tech savvy you are, it should be no problem for you at all.

Aadhusmom · Nov 25, 2009

I dont know if I am as tech savvy as all that But still this is a good idea - thanks and I will do some work on it.

V.

Nitha J · Nov 29, 2009

Vanathi and Krithika; How much rupees does these cost? Since J is there I was wondering if it is better to bring it from there.
Give me your thoughts
-Nitha

tikka · Nov 29, 2009

the ones I saw ranged from 1599 to 2459. The fridge phonics was 1600 - I think the prices are comparable, not much of a saving, IMO. I have to say I have not seen the merchandised ones - cars, or disney Leapfrogs in Odyssey. The gamer is 2459, I think. I kind of decided not to do the gaming route and I am discovering a lot edu software that works on Snow Leopard, which it did not on Linux... so, I problably may end up getting a good shareware or payware and use our comp and add-on keyboard cum mouse. That costs RS 1800, so very comparable to the Leapfrog stuff.

Aadhusmom · Nov 30, 2009

What's Snow Leapord?

V.

tikka · Dec 1, 2009

V, snow leopard is the Mac OS 10.whatever. The new operating system supports a lot of educational software that Linux did not. Linux has a programme to run some of the windows-enabled software, but it looks like it needs constant upgrades (that I am too tech-unsavvy to do as I discovered last week).
I just discovered this site, you may have already known about this...
Kids Games - Games - Mac - Free Software Downloads - ZDNet Asia