Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire dvd players for the kids in the car?

Middle of September we are making the trek to Portland to see the inlaws. This time we are driving the 1000 miles/15hrs as we now would have to buy 4 plane tickets now that the little one turned two.

We usually used the laptop on trip but it doesn't fit between the front seat in my wifes new car very well and it is a bit cumbersome. So I was wondering what all there is available and if anyone had any suggestions? I don't want to replace the indash unit with any thing, I am thinking more plug and play type deal.

Jamison I know you had some sort of outfit in your burb when you came out here, any details?

We are also thinking about driving the all nighter while the kids sleep. Haven't ever done that before, I am on crack?

I have an Insignia brand portable DVD player that came with a carry bag and auto adapter. By running the carry strap through the headrest supports it has become my children's (and my wife and my) best friend on long trips.

Good Luck,
Bob

My kids have a sony with 2 screens-and plug in headphones. If I hear any noise, I unplug it from the power. They learned quick

Part
I don't remember what brand I have, but go to Sam's Club or Costco if available and get whatever they have. It may not be the best or the cheapest but it will be a good value for the money and save a lot of time shopping around.
The kids will love it and it'll be good for myour nerves so long as you set rules for deciding what movies to watch in the proper order in advance. The system needs to be set, not the movies, that is.
Have a good trip.
T

My mother bought us a panasonic 1555 (my global traveling brother did the research for her). It's biggest claim to fame is the battery life. We can get 7 1/2 full length movies out of one fully charged battery. In the car where you have a power source, that may not make a difference, but on a long airplane trip with layovers and stuff, it sure does!
M

We recently traded in our truck for a minivan... the upside is that it came with an installed DVD system like this one


The Sony MV7101 - All-in-One Mobile Video System w/ DVD Player, Flip Down Monitor, & Wireless Headphones.

The sound is broadcast over the FM spectrum so you can play it on the regular audio system. This is the first one we've ever had or used. It's nice.

I have stopped a crying fit from a cranky 9 month old by putting on the Leap Frog "Learning Letters" DVD.

As for the trip... I am not so sure I'd want to drive the whole thing in one shot. When you factor in litle kids, the time will shoot up to something like 20 hours. Every stop (including the frequent potty breaks and legs stretches) will add up. Now the I have a little one, I am noticing that everthing takes just that much longer to do.

Another thing to consider is really fair to the little ones to be strapped into car seats for that long? If this is the first long trip, how it goes sets up their persecption of future family trips. Enjoy to adventure of the country that you cross. If possible check out one or two places along the way to break up the monotony... for all.

Do you plan to take the northern or southern route? The northern route through Butte, Montana is about 35 miles longer than down through Boise, Idaho. Google the towns either way to see if there things you'd like to stop and see.

Do you really want to pull into your inlaws driveway tired after nearly a 24 hour non-stop drive with a couple bored and restless little ones?

Hope that helps.

Kevin, thanks for the tips. I know the trip will take longer than the standard 15 hrs if we do it in the day. We plan to take as many potty breaks leg stretchs as possible. We have driven it several times just never with kids. We always fly when we had the kids. We will probably go through MT, Spokane, tri cities route because it is mostly interstate and though somewhat distance farther it is shorter time wise. When we go through idaho we have to drive through the park to get there and it takes forever with all the tourists and slow roads and buffalo jams.

How did you run your route to get the 35 miles farther?

We just thought about driving through the night cause the kids wouldn't be awake through most of it and it would go quicker but your point is duly noted about being tired the next day with rested and bored kids. If we drive during the day we are definately taking it in two days. And if the night is to tough we just plan to stay in a motel somewhere and try again the next day.

I realize your kids are pretty young but here is a suggestion when they get a little older:
Back in the day, we did a lot of trips with our young kids and found one trick that helped a lot. Before the trip we'd go to a book store and buy each of them a new book of their choice. If the trip was an all week long vacation we'd stop at however many bookstores we needed to replenish their supply.
It's amazing how quiet kids are when they are reading. And, it's awfully good for their developing minds.

For what its worth,
Wayne.

I ran it thru Streets&Maps. It is software I picked up at Costco last fall. You can adjust the start time, how long breaks are and at what frequency, etc.. pretty cool and fun too. I like that you can download the latest construction info for across your route.

One thing that helps me make longer drives, at least seem to go be a little faster is to check out some books on tape/cd from the library. Some used books stores carry them as do new book stores.

Every once in a while I will come across old radio shows from the 30s-40s on cd. They were made for the listening audiance. You get into the story and the miles fly by.