Leapfrog LeapPad2 Recharger Pack

WORTH IT. We were going through batteries daily on our Leap Pad 2 tablets without these chargers. They are battery hogs! Literally every 4 or 5 hours or less. My daughter's Disney princess themed Leap Pad was draining batteries significantly faster than her brother's monsters University one some reason. We thought we got a defective device. We were wasting a bunch of money and trash by using up disposable batteries. A relative bought the chargers as gifts for the kids and immediately we doubled or tripled the battery life off one full charge! Daughter's device no longer gave low battery warning 20 minutes into playing like it did with brand new AA size batteries. Fit perfectly in device, but of course this is a Leap Frog brand product made specifically for Leap Pad 2, not a generic one size fits all thing. It's easy to plug in and doesn't take too long to recharge. I never timed it but maybe 2 hrs or less to fully recharge the batteries. The wall plug is huge, that is the only down side, but it doesn't have the polarized prong that requires you to plug it in only one direction. You can plug the wall part in right side up or upside down leave a spot open for something else in the wall. Yes, they're expensive up front, but depending on how often your child uses the device you will eventually save money on disposable batteries. Not to mention the convenience of extending use time with these. (I think Leap Frog says they should last 9 hours instead of maybe 4 hours we were getting otherwise.) My best friend's daughter has the exact same princess Leap Pad 2 and told me she was going through batteries left and right, so I bought her the rechargeable ones and she has had no problems now. They really extend the use time too. We have taken them on longer car rides and even a cross country trip (East to West coast) by air and as long as fully charged before we left hey never died mid-trip. Totally worth it. Get this!

I got the LeapPad 2 for my 5 year old for Christmas, 2 weeks ago and since that time I have put 6, count 6 sets of 4 duracells ( that's 24 batteries ) in it, in 2 WEEKS!! I had to get this battery set, it will pay for itself in no time. The batteries are ONLY for the Leap Pad 2 . It charges through the power plug on the side and the instructions say it should take 4 hours. The batteries themselves are marked as 2100 maH each so total of 4200 maH , that's not as much as a set of alkalines and there are rechargable batteries out there that have at least 2.5 times more power, AnsMann 2850 AA's for example ( x4 would give you 11400 maH of juice ) , but in order to get the most out of those sort of batteries you need a good charger and a charge cycle (charging them slowly) would take over 10 hours. Looking at the way these connect using and different set of pins inside the Leap Pad 2 I'm pretty sure you would have to take regular rechargable batteries out to charge them,, more $ for a good charger ( I have a little LaCrosse BC-9009 that work beautifully). I would think the the car adapter would also allow you to charge these batteries but I haven't tried it yet. According to the instructions the batteries should be fully charged in about 4 hours but according to my math 4200 maH batteries charged at a total of 700 maH equals 6 hours, so I would let the first charge go longer. To give some perspective I have run high end R/C cars for over 20 years and have learned a few things about rechargable batteries. The down side to this style setup is you cannot FULLY cycle the batteries or condition them if they start to get weak, The upside is the convienence this setup offers, no more taking the cover off and fighting the battery doors. The instructions claim you should get 300 charge cycles out of these batteries before you will start to notice them drop off on capacity, and that sounds about right, that will be well over a year and with having put 6 sets of alkalines in this thing in 2 weeks,, it more than covers the cost of batteries plus you get an A/C adapter so if the batteries do die you just plug it in and your on your way again. Overall it's a great product and I highly recommend it. PS. get the car adaptor, you will probably need it. PSS.. If I do get to the point of the batteries in this kit dropping off and not holding a charge well, I will just put some high end AA rechargables in it and see what happens, but I'm pretty sure the Leap Pad 2 will have been retired by then.

Given the way that LeapPad 2 goes through batteries, this product is a must have. However, be careful when putting the rechargeable batteries in the LeapPad as you can easily shatter your screen in doing so. When we first tried to put the batteries in, we were being very careful and we ended up breaking the touchscreen as we tried to press the batteries into their compartment. The rechargeable batteries are a tight fit and seem to fit only in very specific way (above and beyond their Left/Right designation and form). If you get these, take your time and try and work them in very gently. Do not apply any significant pressure at all! Leapfrog replaced our broken LeapPad gratis on a one time basis which was nice, but I must say their response to our customer service inquiry about the matter was irritating. Here is their response: "We're sorry to inform you that we do not repair the screen or offer a replacement screen for the LeapPad. If the device cracked due to an accident, this voids the warranty of the product. In your case, we'll make an exemption and offer a one-time replacement. " Really? I get that Leapfrog cannot be replacing broken products infinitely, but the "in your case" clause comes across as gratuitous and petty. It's a kids toy, and a not particularly rugged one. Given the price of the product (not to mention the high price for apps), how about just making a one-time replacement standard policy in any case. The "we're doing you a favor" vibe of the response certainly doesn't make me want to spend my dollars on Leapfrog products in the future. A simple "We're sorry your LeapPad 2 is broken, we are happy to replace it free of charge on a one-time basis" would be so much more effective and customer friendly and wouldn't make me feel like Leapfrog thinks I'm scamming them.