Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Okay. Let's start with the facts: a) I have twins who turn 4 years old tomorrow. b) They always want to play with my tablet (especially the "Birdy Game") c) They need their own tablets so they will leave mine alone. Therefore, I bought each of them their own LeapPad Explorer tablets. After reading some of the reviews about the other Explorer products, I decided to set these up before their birthday tomorrow. So many people lamented the set up process that I knew I needed to get this done before the actual day. I thought I could take them out of the boxes, get them all set up and place them back in the boxes so that they could open them tomorrow. I had no idea what I was in for. The bad: 1) It is a very sad statement about the world we live in that the only way to remove the tablets from their packaging was to completely destroy it (as in totally torn apart and in pieces). I was stunned that every panel of the packaging was glued shut and there was no way to detach it without tearing the cardboard. 2) In order to load the 4th free game and purchase new apps for the tablet, you have to connect it to your computer (trust me, the tablet reminds you several times until you do this) and install the LeapFrog Connect software. Installing the LeapFrog Connect software took 15 minutes with the CD. I'm not sure why. It doesn't appear to be that large of a file. 3) The LeapPads were shipped to me 2 weeks ago and already it has a software update that has to be made before I could get anything set up. Updating the software took over 30 minutes (DSL connection) even though it claimed to only take 15 min. I have now been sitting at my computer for 2 hours and am still waiting for the first one to be completely set up. I keep going back to check the status bar and am completely frustrated by how long this is taking. Oh, and one other thing. Since I bought these before they had been reviewed, I did not think about the lack of an AC adapter. Given the amount of battery these require, I would have expected an AC adapter to be included. I did check out the ones for sale here on Amazon and am confused. The image for the Leapster AC adapter is identical to the one being sold on the LeapFrog site, but on Amazon, it says it does not work with the Explorer. Who to believe? So frustrated before my children even had the chance to play with these. The Good: UPDATE: They are in love! My children have had very little exposure to computers and video games, so they are very much novices when it comes to navigating. That said, this was the last present they opened and they started using them right away. My husband and I have had to do some coaching on the use of the controller, but for the most part we've left them alone to explore it themselves. I purchased the separate Dora game for my daughter and she absolutely adores it. My son loves to play the Monkey Soccer game app I downloaded from Leap Frog. One HUGE plus that I had not anticipated is that when you buy an app from the Leap Frog App store, you can install it on 2 LeapPads! This is AMAZING for us! Now, both of my newly 4 year old twins have identical apps on their devices and I get more bang for my buck. They've had their LeapPads for the past 2 days and they've proven to be one of their favorite presents. We have limited their time on the LeapPads, so our original batteries have not worn out yet. I will be purchasing the AC adapters and maybe even chargers for the car. Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase. Now, if they could just make the setup less frustrating, that would be amazing! Update #2 (19 days in): My children do not use their Leap Pads every day, but I would say they have used them 12 out of the 19 days they have had them. I limit their use to about 30 minutes at a time. Today was the first time we got a message about needing new batteries. So, we got essentially 6 hours or so of playtime on our first set of batteries. I'm not complaining, though. They took pictures, played a multitude of games. I did purchase the AC adapter and plan to see if I can get both of my 4 year-olds to sit at their work table with the LeapPads connected. I will definitely invest in some rechargeable batteries. Update #3 (26 days in): So, we did not change the batteries when we got the warning. So far, we've had at least another hour of play. We're going to see how far we can push this until the batteries die. Update #4: It looks like approximately 8 hours for a set of batteries.