Since my ds phat is on the verge of dying I am looking for a new ds and was thinking of getting the XL but have one question, are the screens as bad as some people are saying like the are to pixelated and blurry or should I get an dsi. By the way not really interested in the 3ds.

I've never owned a DSiXL, I had a DSi. But everyone who has owned an XL says they love it and that it's much better than the DSi.
The only problem is, they say they got spoiled by the luxury of the big screen and now anything else, like the 3DS, feels too small.
Weigh those points before deciding.

If your not interested in the 3DS go with the XL. But if your eventually get the 3DS 2-3 years down the road get the DSi the adjustment of screens is a lot easier and I own a DSi so I would know, also the DSi is $20 cheaper than the XL.

i would say DSi. I did get an XL also but that was mostly out of my obsession to own all Nintendo consoles, not out of need. The size of the screens is nice and I used it whenever I played DS in my house(not anymore since 3DS is out). Plus the thing is quite big so it is significantly less portable than the slender DSi. So yeah, go with DSi......but really......3DS would be the better choice if money isn't super tight since it does virtually everything the DSi does plus so much more.

@ChrisS2626: I have never owned a DSi or a DSiXL I still have my Original DS. My friends how do however say the same thing everyone else has said about the DSiXL. Its nice but to go back to a smaller screen after playing the DSiXL takes some time to get use to. The thing is if you use the Original DS for GBA games keep in mind that the DSi series dont have the GBA slot so if you need the GBA slot you might want to look into a DSlite. instead.

I own an XL (but haven't played any other DS consoles). I think it's great, but I wouldn't be taking it out and about very much. As bboy said, it's pretty huge. I'll just be playing it around the house though so it's perfect for that.

As for the screens, well, they don't bother me. I don't quite know what people's problems are with it - maybe that's because I've been playing games since the days of CGA! I'd suggest trying to find someone who already has one to check it out, but I shouldn't imagine it should bother you.

I own an XL and I love it but the others do seem smaller after. I know if they make a 3ds xl I will buy that.

Both are great, look at the 3ds one more time before going with the XL. 3ds is a life changer.

My concern about the 3DS for playing DS games is the resolution scaling. While I know you can play in original resolution, it doesn't seem an optimal solution (from looking at videos on the net, the screens seem tiny!).

Having games scale to fill the 3DS screens wouldn't look great, especially for games using a lot of sprites - it would look quite blurry. You can approximate this effect on your LCD monitor by switching to a resolution different to the monitor's native one, but with the same aspect ratio. It doesn't look very good.

Judging from the OP, they're more interested in DS games in which case I'd recommend getting a DS of some description. I only recently got my DSi XL and made my decision that way - there's heaps of games on the DS I want to play, I could get a brand new XL cheap and decided it would be best to play the games on the system designed for them. (Plus the fact it was the 25th anniversary XL, which was extra tempting!)

The XL has an average of 4 hours more battery life too. Here is a good place to look at a comparison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3ds#Technical_comparison

XL all the way. The screens are bigger and brighter and it's way more comfortable to hold than the DSi. That was truly a nightmare.

The DSi is by no means a nightmare.

I have an XL, and I don't have any problems switching between it and my 3DS. I haven't been able to play DS games on my original DS though, the screen is just so tiny!

It kills my hands

Killed your hands? Was it too pointy? The DSi is kinda pointy as opposed to the XL.

Honestly I say go with the DSi becuase I once was faced with a similar problem. I thought that the XL would be cool but I cannot see myself carrying the thing around. How I figure it if you switch to the XL, then you probably wont like the DSi or 3DS because you'll be too used to the big screens and not want to back.

I think the problem was the face buttons and dpad being too far away from the shoulder buttons. I had to crane my thumb into an awkward position while pressing the lowest buttons.

I have both a DSi and a DSi XL. I bought the XL earlier this year because I wanted the larger size screens for my poor eyesight. It is a pleasure having it large enough to really see, especially since I like using it for drawing with Art Academy, and for playing puzzle games like Soduko. But the XL really is too big for a portable machine. I bought it knowing I would be getting a 3DS, which is now my portable machine. The screens on it seem very small in comparison.

I guess it depends on what you really want it for. Do you plan on taking it out with you ... commuting, or travel? Or do you just want a hand-held gaming machine for home use?

If you carry it in your pocket, the XL probably won't work well. The XL has a bigger hardrive for dsiware games, better precision (because of the size) on the touch screen, I think it also came with a few preloaded games. That being said I only have a DSi and I would prefer it just for portability and I don't think I need any of the other stuff besides the hardrive.

There is no hard drive and they both have the exact same amount of internal memory. 256 MB

Also while the larger touchscreen is nicer for things like Flipnote studio it has draw backs too. For games in a wack-a-mole style game play (berry picking in oregon trail/ MvDK:MotM taping on mimis when they stick out of a pipe) you can get better scores on a smaller screen because you dont have to move your stylus as far for tapping. But that is minor to me.