Question for Nintendo DS owners...

[Marianne in TX]

I REALLY would like to get each of my kids a DS for Christmas. However, my dh and I are concerned about durability. How well do they hold up for kids who tend to play *enthusiastically* ;). Do the protective screens and nerf covers do a good job of protecting them?

Edited November 27, 2010 by Marianne in TX

[The Girls' Mom]

My three have had theirs for years, and only one has damage. The hinge broke after the umpteenth time of being dropped on concrete. It now has a nerf cover to help hold it together, and works fine. I think if the covers were on to begin with, it would have never broken.

 

They have been dropped, sat on, knocked around, lost, found, stepped on, etc....

[orangearrow]

My oldest has had her ds for 3 years, and the other two have had theirs for two. The screen protectors and Nerf cases work WONDERFULLY! Except for one cracked hinge on one DS (which took a really, really hard fall and landed right on the hinge area), their ds's look new when you remove the case/screen protectors.

[Tylianna]

I had a DS that had a broken hinge after being dropped. I didn't want a nerd cover because I bought a skin that was neat.

When two if my girls were fighting over it, it snapped in half.

 

OTOH, my oldest (dd9) has had hers for two years and had no problems with it other than losing her stylus a few times.... Which I should buy her the stylus "leash" I had on mine. I bought it on eBay. There is a lady who makes them with beads and you can pick the colors and if you want a word on it.

 

I will look for the link and post it. I is a must-have for kids lol

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=250732582366&index=5&nav=SEARCH&nid=36880773960

 

This is the mobile link. I don't know if it will work on computers or not. The seller is momofjenandjohn and she has a great reputation. I bought from her when she was the ONLY seller of ds leashes. I don't know about the durability of the other ones sold on there.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Tylianna

[Cindyz]

My son got his last Christmas when he just turned 5 and it is like new. We put it in a nerf armor case right away and it has withstood all of the abuse that you would expect from a child this age. :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002M4ZMLY?ie=UTF8&tag=whispesprin0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002M4ZMLY

[Carrie12345]

I can tell you that they do not survive being dropped in the toilet, and that my 12yo's did not survive the 3yo.

 

Other than that, we haven't had any issues with any type of hand held game systems. We still have a few ancient ones floating around here somewhere!

[Mrs Mungo]

OTOH, my oldest (dd9) has had hers for two years and had no problems with it other than losing her stylus a few times.... Which I should buy her the stylus "leash" I had on mine. I bought it on eBay. There is a lady who makes them with beads and you can pick the colors and if you want a word on it.

 

I will look for the link and post it. I is a must-have for kids lol

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=250732582366&index=5&nav=SEARCH&nid=36880773960

 

This is the mobile link. I don't know if it will work on computers or not. The seller is momofjenandjohn and she has a great reputation. I bought from her when she was the ONLY seller of ds leashes. I don't know about the durability of the other ones sold on there.

 

Those are great! I have not seen those before, thank you for suggesting them!!! :D

 

My son got his last Christmas when he just turned 5 and it is like new. We put it in a nerf armor case right away and it has withstood all of the abuse that you would expect from a child this age. :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002M4ZMLY?ie=UTF8&tag=whispesprin0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002M4ZMLY

 

:iagree: My girls don't have a nerf case, but my son does!

[~Jo]

We bought ours at Best Buy and got their replacement protection plan for it. The touch screen stopped working (never been dropped - she is really careful) and it also had a screen protector. They replaced it free - actually they sent us a gift card with the replacement $$ on it. We bought another and another replacement protection plan.

[WarriorMama]

Ours have held up REALLY well to a lot of abuse (my 2-year-old regularly gets ahold of them, and he's a tad...exuberant...lol). And we don't even have protective covers. I should probably get some.

 

For kids the ages of yours, I'd have no qualms.

[TheReader]

My three boys have them and have had them for a few years now (I think 2 yrs). We have Nerf cases on the ones belonging to the 2 youngest boys. All have held up really, really well, and they do take a lot of abuse.

 

I can't recommend the nerf cases enough. They are a definite must-have, I think.

[mom2jjka]

I had a DS that had a broken hinge after being dropped. I didn't want a nerd cover because I bought a skin that was neat.

 

I'm sorry to laugh at your expense, but I just thought your typo was really cute. :lol:

Or maybe it wasn't a typo after all? ;)

 

I'm glad to hear there are protective cases. We just bought a used DS lite for my oldest. She is quite accident prone though, so I'll be looking into a nerf case for her.

Edited November 27, 2010 by mom2jjka

[NanceXToo]

My daughter's not the most careful kid ever, and we've never had any problems with hers!

[Wendy Inman]

My son and his cousin both got them last year for christmas. Cousin is VERY energetic and overactive - his got a nerf armour and has made it through a LOT of abuse and is running fine. We did get the extended warranty just in case though LOL.

 

Alex's is doing great too with just normal amount of usage and no nerf.

[lionfamily1999]

My son and daughter both have ones that has lasted for a few years now, without any of the protective gear. My older nephews (9 and 7) have had theirs with the nerf gear and they have lasted as well.

 

I was really impressed with how well these have held up.