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Great bouncer!
This has beena life saver so far, my son is only a month old but this is his happiest place other then being held. He's already swatting at the bird and likes to watch the lights. HE plays and sleeps in this and loved the vibraiton. Definitely a good bouncer! As good as the OCean wonders I had prior. Fisher Price knows how to make good baby gear!
[Sunday, October 12, 2008]
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Average usefulness for a premium price.
Time used: 5 months.
Summary: Product works as intended. It isn't great, and it isn't awful.
Should you buy: Maybe. The quality is ok but I think its a bit overpriced.
Childs favorite: No.
This product has been a rather average addition to our collection of distractions for our infant. Our son uses it every day so I consider myself to be well versed in this item.
The Good::
1) The design is somewhat unique, in that the arch can be on or off. We use it with and without the arch about 50/50. The arch has a couple of metal contacts which allow it to get power for the waterfall. When the arch is in, it has power automatically. This is rather nice, there is only one set of batteries for the product. A good design feature.
2) The music and sounds are above average. Some baby items have tinny overused music, like my fisher price smart stages rocker. But this unit has fresh music that I have not heard before and the speaker quality is very good. Its a kind of marimba beat with a catchy rythym. I can listen to it for quite a while before I say "ok, its driving me crazy now". So, thats a real plus.
3) The cover comes off easily for washing.
The bad::
1) When the batteries wear down, sometimes the speaker will "screech" really annoyingly. There is a simple circuit that could have been added, which makes sure that the batteries give full voltage until they completely run out. You know how some things, like cell phones, have plenty of power and then just die? Thats what I'm talking about. Fisher Price apparently did not include this. Instead, as the batteries wear down, the lights get dimmer and the music slows and its just annoying. For $40, I would have expected to see better circuitry.
2) We have a boy, and he's above average in weight. Not a porker, but just above average. The chair keeps leaning further and further down. If you have a kid who is above the 50th percentile for their age, then you might not be able to use hit past 3 months. Soon its not a bouncy chair, its a bouncy bed. I think it could have been designed a bit differently to adjust the supportiveness, so that as a infant grew you could increase the resistance. Anyway, the point is that he will fit the chair for a few more months but the chair is bent over. For $40, I would expect them to have thought of this.
3) The vibration could have an LED showing its on. Occasionally, someone takes the baby out meaning to come back and shut off the chair. But, if you have the chair on carpet and do not have the music on, then it might sit there and vibrate overnight without anyone realizing it. It would have been SO CHEAP to add a little "power indicator LED" next to the switch. I mean, really... so many cheaper items have this (baby monitors, whatever). I feel that for $40 there could have been an LED.
Do you see a trend here? Well, I feel like for $40 there should have been a bit more to it...
Overall, if you are looking for a place to put your baby while you do something else, its fine when they are very very young. As my baby grew he didn't like it very much, he usually went in it because *I* wanted to put him somewhere for a few minutes, not because either of us like it very much. My son greatly prefers his Fisher Price Jumperoo.
[Sunday, October 12, 2008]
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Awesome!!!
