C
I've seen commercials for the kid tough dvd player - but reviews say the screen is REALLY tiny and it still skips when the kids drops it, so is it really worth the money?
I've seen another one that was the same size but cheaper and not as "tough".
Have you ever bought one for your kids? What brand was it and do you like it?
Suggestions?
Oh - I have two boys who are two and a daughter who is three. So I need one that's durable. They're not that rough with their toys - but they are toddlers. The DVD player is for when we take long trips.
@Pensburg = THANKS! We're taking a trip from MA to NC and need to keep the kids entertained. I did read that the kid tough one has less then 2 hours battery - and the kid to charge it in your car is another $40
Answer
I honestly wouldn't spend any money on the tough kid dvd player that you've seen in commercials getting dropped down the steps and stuff. If you're mainly going to use it for long trips, aka in the car, then I'd suggest just buying a normal portable dvd player. I don't what kind of vehicle you drive so you'd have to determine the best way to secure it in the car. Here's the link for the tough kid dvd player:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10040339
Here's a list of much cheaper portable dvd players that cost almost half the price, that have larger screens, and more battery life:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000590491%204027&name=%2475%20-%20%24100
Because in all honesty I don't see the purpose of the tough kid dvd player for use in a car. Now if they are in the house, that might be a different story with your kids, but if they really want to watch a dvd why can't you just stick it into one of the televisions/dvd players around the house? And save yourself 140 bucks?
Should I get a DVD player installed in my new car (for the kids) or get an ipad?
Betsy C.
I have two kids and they like to watch movies on long car trips. I am debating whether to get a flip-down DVD player installed in the back seat or to invest in an ipad. I plan on having the car for 6-7 years. Will DVD's be a thing of the past by then? Can I get wireless headphones for the ipad?
Answer I have used both flip-down DVD players and my iPad on car rides, and there are a lot of pros and cons to each. I'll list many of them here.
DVD Player Pros:
-They're usually less expensive, for one thing. Most are from $50-$300, while the iPad ranges from $499-$829 (depending on storage size and whether it has AT&T's 3G service or not).
-If you have an extensive DVD collection already and get a DVD player, then you don't have to get or set up anything else in order to see your movies- pop in your DVD and press play!
-DVD players are probably pretty durable in the hands of little kids because many DVD players (at least the ones that I've used) are made of hard metal or plastic (depends on the device though).
-DVD players are also pretty lightweight and portable (again, depends on the device).
DVD Player Cons:
-If the car trip is more than two hours long, you would need to bring more than one DVD, and DVDs can get scratched, broken, and take up a lot of space when in their cases.
-Watching movies is the only thing that a DVD player can do.
-Speaking from my experience only, many DVD players don't usually have a terrific battery life (a few hours).
-And they obviously have very small screens.
iPad Pros:
-The iPad wins hands down on screen size. Its dimensions are 9.56 by 7.47 inches, delivering an incredible HD viewing experience when you see the video in landscape mode.
-The iPad has what's known as in-plane switching technology, which gives it a wide viewing angle so that everybody in the back seat can see the movie- no more shouldering to get a better look at a movie on a tiny screen.
-You can buy multiple movies and TV shows from iTunes for $9.99-$14.99 each (or rent them for 30 days for about $0.99-$4.99 each) and download them directly onto your iPad (either by moving them from iTunes on your computer to the iPad, or directly from the built-in iPad iTunes app), and the iPad will hold them all easily, unlike a DVD player, which can only read one physical DVD disc at a time.
-There are many iPad apps that view videos too, ranging from the ABC Player (shows you recent episodes of ABC shows for free) to Hulu Plus (shows you 2,000+ episodes of many TV series for $10/month) to Netflix for iPad (allows you to stream thousands of movies on your iPad with a Netflix subscription, which costs anywhere from $4.00-$23.00/month, depending on your plan)
-There are also plenty of other options for non-video entertainment on an iPad once the movies are done; unlike a DVD player, you can play incredible HD games (many of them are free), read children's books on e-reader apps like Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iBooks or interactive one book apps such as Alice for iPad, and, of course, listen to iPod
music, just to name a few.
-And the most important pro is that the iPad has a claimed battery life of up to 10 hours without charging, even with videos playing, so it won't die on you in the middle of the car ride (although I've seen it last for closer to 12 hours).
iPad Cons:
-The iPad is a little heavier than a DVD player, at about 1.5 pounds (this might cause your kids' arms to get tired, but you can prop it up with Apple's $30 iPad case).
-The iPad easily reflects direct sunlight and gets VERY smudgy from fingerprints after a while.
-Because it has a backlit screen, the iPad may give your kids eye strain if they view it for too long (although you can turn down the brightness in Settings -> Wallpaper and Brightness).
-It is slippery and its screen or titanium back can scratch or even break from a drop.
-If your kids want to watch the third party video apps or surf the web in the car, you would need the iPad Wi-Fi & 3G, which is more expensive and comes with a hefty AT&T plan of $15-$30/month for 150 MB-2 GB of data.
Unfortunately, there are no wireless headphones for the iPad that I know of, and even if they worked using the iPad's Bluetooth, I wouldn't know how they would work or what you would need them for.
And don't worry, DVDs don't seem to be in any danger of going out of style any time soon (if anything, they face a threat from Blu-Ray discs.)
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