We are HUGE Leapster fans. All of my children, now 13, 12 and 3 have had a system or more from them. Now, I just got started in the Vtech learning games/toys and the like. I saw this at the store a few times and looked at it, and considered purchasing, except I thought the price was a bit steep. Then, I broke down and bought one, with my youngest daughter's favorite character - Dora. Now for my .02 on the products as far as features and learning tools.
Features: This Vreader is amazing. It has a very beautiful screen, a stylus, and is so simple even the youngest of children will be able to locate their favorite part after a few trys. It is even a bit customizable, kids can choose their avatar from a list of options, choose a background theme, and it's simple to get back to the home screen when a child wants to. There are buttons that allow for page turning or kids can use the stylus. It is really a well built electronic device. Those little ones that use an itouch, or similar device, will navagate this in a breeze.
As a teaching tool: The system doesn't have many game/story options unless there is a cartridge in it, or unless a story was downloaded off the internet (onto a seperate SD card, at a small fee for the story). So, stand alone, the product doesn't do very much in the learning department. When you have a cartridge, like Dora Saves the Pigs for example, there is one story that can be read to the child, and/or there are many learning games that go along with the story. Easy to navigate and fun to play, and kids like the technology of it. The games are similar to the games with a Leapster game, all depends on the level of the game. Once more choices are available, I will be happier.
The reason I gave only 3 stars, is that when I compare cost with the educational value I find that we should be getting more learning and interaction with the device for the price. These are currently selling for close to $60, plus $20+ for a cartridge. That may not seem like a lot to some, but back in my day, to get my parent to buy a $100 nintendo system, that had a game I could easily play for months, was out of the question.