Travel with Children - Nintendo DS vs. IPod Touch

6 year old girl is getting one of these soon. I haven't done much research yet. Not primarily for travel but will get used on occasional flights and some 3-hour car rides.

anyone have any opinions?

I'm not an expert but I asked my kids. They said they liked their DS's because of the two screens and some other features the DS has that the other doesn't. I'll ask them again when they wake up.

I suspect most kids would say the DS, while most non-kids would say the Touch.

Funny how that works, eh? :)

Get the DS. No kid will want the iPhone/Touch over the DS. It's the games - they are addictive (e.g. Pokemon, Mario etc). You need some hacking skillz to play the same games on iOS e.g. jailbroken iOS, emulator and turn the carts into ROMs etc.

My youngest votes for the DS. "You know mom, you can play games on the DS and don't need WIFI, and sometimes the Itouch gets stuck. Also, the DS lasts a lot longer, because the battery dies on the Itouch sooner."

I would have thought she'd vote for the iPod because she likes to watch TV shows, but I was wrong.

my kids have the DS, then moved to the DSi, and have graduated to the 3DS; the DS systems wins hands down, they love them, they love them over their PSP's, PSGo's and to a much lesser extent, even their IPT, however the IPT's are great for movies. the older one who has an IPAD likes that better than the IPT for obvious reasons.

When they want music, its IPT/IPAD all the way. My younger one has a boatload of games on his IPT so I think when push comes to shove the DS systems win, but the IPT is not as far behind as I think many have indicated.

We are doing IAD-DFW-SYD and back next week. I have been carefully lining up the 3DS systems, all their DS games, and other electronic devices including their portable DVD players and movies. It will be Best buy in the sky LOL. But the neighboring pax will be quite happy as they will be quite occupied.

They thought it was a dumb question, like how could that be better than a DS??

Be aware that the game chips are really small and easy to lose on an airplane. They're flat and can easily slip between seat cushins, etc. There are various solutions to keeping this from happening so figure out what works for you. I recommend a good carry cover with slots to hold the games.

Also, we had a DS stolen once at a 5 star hotel, fast. She realized that she forgot it and it had disappeared by the time we went back. Again, there were ways of preventing this. I carry my youngests' DS with me and give it to her in the car or airplane. With my older children, I insist that they put them in their backpacks.

Don't forget the new 3DS has only a 3-5 hour battery life compared to 10 hours for the iPod Touch and 4-14 hours on the DS (depending on screen brightness). I like the ability to store games on a big SD card for the PSP... It's a real pain in the behind sometimes searching for the DS carts the kids always seem to squirrel away. Downloadable games are easier to recover.

I'd go with the DSi. They are build to survive the beatings children will inflict upon it. Our original DS is still going despite 5 years of abuse. I did get the kids the 3DS though, with appropriate USB and auto chargers (I'm a hopeless early adopter :) )

Don't forget the new 3DS has only a 3-5 hour battery life compared to 10 hours for the iPod Touch and 4-14 hours on the DS (depending on screen brightness). I like the ability to store games on a big SD card for the PSP... It's a real pain in the behind sometimes searching for the DS carts the kids always seem to squirrel away. Downloadable games are easier to recover.

I'd go with the DSi. They are build to survive the beatings children will inflict upon it. Our original DS is still going despite 5 years of abuse. I did get the kids the 3DS though, with appropriate USB and auto chargers (I'm a hopeless early adopter :) )

10 hours on the IPT battery dang :eek:, I've seen nothing close to that on my son's IPT.

As the OP is well aware, there are powerports on most planes so battery life is seldom an issue any more for us on almost any flight. Either the battery lasts long enough or the plane has the power ports (at least on AA) and pretty much all the premium cabins have power as well.

I have car chargers for everything as well just to cover road trips.

as for the concern about the small (1 1/4" X 1 1/4") size, small size also means that you can carry a lot of them and not take up much space or weight. We use two things to carry them. 1. A very small tupperware container or 2. my son also has a DS carrying case that has a slot on the inside pocket almost like you would have for Credit Cards in a mans wallet except they are DS game sized.

According to my kids, the 3DS is really cool but there just are not many 3DS games that they want. Luckily it also plays in 2D and plays regular games. The 3DS also has and two cameras I believe vs. 1 on the DSi.

I've found the PSP games the most fragile as they break the most often.

PSGo is great b/c they are all downloaded but overall they are the priciest to buy too

My kids know that they can only have one game out at a time (on the plane, in the car etc) and the rest must be stored. I always start the clean up process with them about 45 minutes before landing making sure all games are accounted for. Once off the plane but just outside the jetway we do a final inventory just to make sure. Only once did I have to go back on the plane to get something and boy did they hear it after that, its only happened that one time (knock on wood)

Yes I agree, that Nintendo DS/DSi system is built to withstand the beatdown of a kid, they are well built

My girls are 9 and 12 and have had their plain old DS's for about 5 years and they are still going strong and both play them regularly. The 9 year old played last week for 9 hours straight on a long car trip. She's even met other kids while travelling and "battled" them when they also had their DS's and a Pokemon game with them, a great conversation starter on a plane or train.

Games must be in a case or in the DS and nowhere else is our rule.

At the gate at LAX on Friday i counted 10 kids playing on DS's, didn't see anyone with a ipod touch adults included

My girls are 9 and 12 and have had their plain old DS's for about 5 years and they are still going strong and both play them regularly. The 9 year old played last week for 9 hours straight on a long car trip. She's even met other kids while travelling and "battled" them when they also had their DS's and a Pokemon game with them, a great conversation starter on a plane or train.

Games must be in a case or in the DS and nowhere else is our rule.

My kids will also go up to other kids (age doesn't matter) that they see playing DS games and also play them. Its kind of funny how not knowing them means absolutely nothing when it comes to seeing another kid with a DS system and just going to talk to them, but heaven forbid if I say go ask so and so a question (someone that they don't know) they get all shy and ask me to do it LOL

As the OP is well aware, there are powerports on most planes so battery life is seldom an issue any more for us on almost any flight. Either the battery lasts long enough or the plane has the power ports (at least on AA) and pretty much all the premium cabins have power as well.

No I'm not aware! I haven't seen them yet. I was just on the A380 and we usually fly 777's or 747's (transatlantics). Are they in economy or is this just a premium cabin thing?

I still suggest having them fully recharged before leaving. It's not recommended to do this before the light goes on but we do only before flights. I also bring the recharger (in case of a delay or our bags get lost).

Good to know about the short battery life on the 3DS. Also a salesperson confided that he gets a headache using it after a couple of hours.

I did catch my kids messaging another child on the flight, which is not allowed (no radio controlled toys, etc.) so either explain this and/or keep an eye out for this.

As the OP is well aware, there are powerports on most planes so battery life is seldom an issue any more for us on almost any flight. Either the battery lasts long enough or the plane has the power ports (at least on AA) and pretty much all the premium cabins have power as well.

No I'm not aware! I haven't seen them yet. I was just on the A380 and we usually fly 777's or 747's (transatlantics). Are they in economy or is this just a premium cabin thing?

I still suggest having them fully recharged before leaving. It's not recommended to do this before the light goes on but we do only before flights. I also bring the recharger (in case of a delay or our bags get lost).

Good to know about the short battery life on the 3DS. Also a salesperson confided that he gets a headache using it after a couple of hours.

I did catch my kids messaging another child on the flight, which is not allowed (no radio controlled toys, etc.) so either explain this and/or keep an eye out for this.

On QF, power is in the premium cabins on the 744 however I believe they are also in Y on the A388

on AA, F, J, and Y (to the exit rows) have PP's (for mainline) for the most part, and after the exit row, its roughly every third row, again if one just used seat guru they would know

the caveat at least on AA, is you have a good shot at the PP either not working or shut off

Looks like I'm the only one to vote for the iPod touch! I have 2 kids- turned 8 and 11 a few weeks ago and the itouch is their crack of choice. Both had ds's but when dh got an iPhone last summer they were hooked. The graphics are amazing, the variety of FREE aps is fabulous and the ones they buy are very affordable ($.99 to $2.99). Added to that is the ability to download movies, take pictures and videos and listen to music I think it's a great way to go.

The ds has literally been sitting in a drawer for months while the touch would be played with non- stop if I didn't impose limits (none during the school week and on the weekends only after reading!). Rules are set aside for plane trips.

FWIW peers of the 11 year old only use the itouch but about 1/2 of the 8 year olds use one.

+1 for DS
and i did not ask my kids (since i don't have some...:D)

Looks like I'm the only one to vote for the iPod touch! I have 2 kids- turned 8 and 11 a few weeks ago and the itouch is their crack of choice. Both had ds's but when dh got an iPhone last summer they were hooked. The graphics are amazing, the variety of FREE aps is fabulous and the ones they buy are very affordable ($.99 to $2.99). Added to that is the ability to download movies, take pictures and videos and listen to music I think it's a great way to go.


That was our thinking with looking in to the iTouch, however the kid won out and got a DSi yesterday. So far so good of course but we'll see how long it lasts and whether the educational games have any attractiveness for her. Plus it didn't help that a bunch of her friends have DSis and have already talked about playing against each other. Kids these days :p

I will vote for IPT as well. Last summer, we had a long international For the 9 y.o., IPT was no a no brainer - that is what she wanted. I wasn't as sure for the 6 y.o., especially on durability, so I got the refurbished low end one for $150. He totally loves it, and all his friends have DS's. We have a family iTunes account, so all the games (all cheap) are shared between devices. Plus you get music and movies. Even if you get a few paid games on a regular basis, stil much less than getting a rare DS game.

I finally asked my 9 year old yesterday and she didn't know what a Touch was and said that ALL her friends have DS's.