Leapster L-Max Learning Game System

I got this as the big gift for Christmas for my 5 yr old autistic son. It worked for 5 minutes. Now it will not turn on. I went through the checklist of things to do if this happens. Still does not work. My husband and I have to hide it from my son because we cannot explain to him why he can't play it. He screams when he gets frustrated, and he would not understand why mom and dad won't make his game work. I called Leapfrog and got no help since I bought it 4 months ago and the warrantee is only good for 3 months. I spoke with 2 different managers and they just kept repeating the trobleshooting checklist that I had informed them I already tried. It was like talking to a robot. She just kept repeating that checklist. Leapfrog's customer service is a joke in my opinion. They would not help us, or make any exceptions to their policy at all. They would not exchange, refund, refurbish, or offer a credit on their website(where I bought it from). They offered a 15% coupon for a future purchase. I have seen better offers than that on their website. And those offers are available to everyone. Leapfrog will never make any money off my family again. This was an expensive toy. I may as well have thrown $45.00 in the trash. I pretty much did the equivalent of that. Thanks Leapfrog for ruining what otherwise was a lovely Christmas. You will not ruin any more in my household.

After barely touching the original Leappad, I had been hesitant to buy the more expensive Leapster last year. But our fears vanished immediately. He adored it and it has seen nearly daily use with fantastic educational games. When the L-max came out this year, he promised it was all he wanted for his birthday. We weren't sure there would be much of an improvement over the leapster, but it's been awesome. They can play on the TV screen so little sister (age 3) can watch and learn, too. We bought the letters on the Loose cartridge and it is incredible. Our little one can even write most of the letters now, though I think most toddlers would be frustrated by this cartridge. Our son is 6 and it's perfect for him as he's struggled with writing up until now. So some kids might be ready for it at 4, but others might be frustrated if they struggle with fine-motor skills. He recently bought the Spiderman cartridge with his allowance and likes that one, too. The old leapster cartridges work on the l-max, but do not show on the TV. The new l-max cartridges will work on the old leapsters, but just normally (no tv, obviously). The L-max screen is slightly smaller than the leapster's, so that's the only drawback (other than the price). The l-max is easiest to use if you have a TV where you can plug cords into the front. But you can still use them if they plug into the back, your child will just need more help and you may want to leave the cords plugged in.