Planning a big driving trip this year, and trying determined what is the best low cost tablet, likely used. So currently they have the Kids Fire 7, they have both been replaced under warranty, the batteries are weak, it doesn't have a slot for additional SD card and the oldest can't get the games she wants. Typically we download movies so they can watch, as we don't have internet in the car. My wife has new ipad, however they have already damaged it and it was replaced under warranty and rather use my wife IPad because she uses it for work, I have been looking at some used options.
Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet $74 (New) or Amazon fire 10 $40-$60 used
Pros:
- Familiarity
- Kid friendly
- Add Micro SD for 1TB of space
Cons:
- Fees for account
- Doesn’t have the availability of some Apps like Ipad or Samsung
Ipad I have been looking at the 1st 2nd and 3rd Gen because they are around $20
- Usability I think is the best and we have multiple charge cords
- Kids prefer them
- Price
Cons
- Used Battery Life ( I have replaced iphone batteries and it’s never the same, I assume is such for Ipads).
- Can you add the latest Apps? 1st-3rd
- You can’t add additional storage with MicroSD, which sucks because we download movies on big car trips
SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab A7 Lite $50-$65 each
Pros:
- Power and Storage
- Usability
- Less kid in a good way, daughter will be able to play the games
Cons
- Used is always a crap shoot
- Probably would not be a good choice for the youngest (2Y)
- Most expensive used
TCL seems to be similar priced but no a preferred brand. I haven't looked into other brands.
I'd recommend the fire. But I hate Apple with a passion, and had an A7 that couldn't even stream pandora let alone play any movies.
My kid has the Fire tablet and it's been pretty great, especially for the price.
We had good luck with DVD players, but that was 15 years ago. Each kid would choose a pile of DVD's and choose what to watch during the trip. Headphones/earbuds to keep the sound to themselves. It was a good solution, but in a time long ago before all content was streamed via internet.
Benadryl
Hands down the best tablet for traveling kids.
The local half price books had used fires pretty cheap a few years ago.
And, if you are willing to twist the software so you can install Google play, you can get a lot of the play store.
slefain
UltimaDork
10/3/23 2:59 p.m.
My kids (ages 14, 11, 7) all have Fire tables. I put a 32gb SD card in each one. I also loaded VLC on them via the Amazon app store. I copy movies/cartoons onto the SD card. Works great. But they also use the tablets all year around.
I had fire 8 tablets for my three girls. They are cheap, but that's about the only plus. If your goal is to play video and apps within Amazon, they are fine. You can't install apps unless you back door install the play store. But for overall use, they are dreadfully slow, and full of ads.
iPad minis are better for kids than the full size, but the oldest iPad mini I buy would be a 4th gen. Any older and you start to lose support for apps, as well as updates. You can buy those for around 100 now. I bought these for my daughters last Christmas on eBay for 110 shipped. They enjoy them so much more than the fire tablets. Those things went in the donate box.
What is the purpose of the trip? If the trip is the purpose, I'd forego electronics as much as possible. That's just me though.
