American build quality?
Written: Oct 07 '03 (Updated Oct 24 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Large tub
Cons: Fit and finish, drain location
The Bottom Line: If you're able to accept its flaws, this tub is great for your growing baby.
|
|
|
| chretiensucks's Full Review: Evenflo Infant To Toddler Comfort Tub |
Sometimes you can never get a break. First we got a portable bath tub by Safety 1st. See my review of it at http://www.epinions.com/content_114705403524. In our efforts to purchase a tub with none of the drawbacks of the previous tub, we purchased the Evenflo Infant to Toddler tub. The following is my review.
Assembly and Design
This large bath tub is composed of white durable molded plastic. Compared to our previous tub, this one holds plenty of water. Our baby is now adequately covered with water when we're bathing him. It's the perfect size for resting sideways across the top of our adult bathtub so when our baby is older, we'll be able to use it to hold his bath toys.
Also included is a light blue two position foam padded reclining board. When attached to the tub, one position allows for a shallow recline, the second position for a steeper sitting position. Notionally, this is a great design. Unfortunately the execution is poor at best. The plastic snaps on the reclining insert for the sitting position are almost impossible to lock onto the tub and reminds me of the American made plastic Revell models of old. The pieces just don't fit. If America doesn't want any more jobs exported to China, it better get its act together. Because of the poor quality fit, it's even harder to attach said insert onto the tub when it's filled with water. Once miraculously snapped into place, the reclining insert is now blocking the sensi-temp (tm) drain plug for the tub so once you're done with the bath, you have to either rip (no exaggeration) the insert out or push the plug in from outside the tub.
In the fully reclining position, the board is a little easier to snap in place. It's a perfect position for our two month old baby.
Update When there is water in the tub and the insert is in the fully reclining position, the bottom tends to lift up, come off the snap and float around because the plastic is so light. A few more holes at the bottom of the insert would resolve this problem.
This tub also comes with a sensi-temp(tm) plug that changes color if the water temperature is too high. This is of limited value but those of you without a thermometer will at least not scald your poor baby. Unfortunately, you can't even see the plug when the reclining insert is in. You're better off getting a water thermometer. Ideally you want water temperature to be close to body temperature at 37 degrees. No sensi-temp plug is going to give you that kind of accuracy but even worse is the plug's location. First, it's behind the reclining insert which is difficult to remove when it's in the sitting position. Second, it's high making it difficult to drain the tub completely unless you tilt it towards the drain.
Conclusion
This tub will be large enough to accommodate your bathing needs from when your baby is a few weeks old to when he or she is able to sit on his own. Unfortunately, the fit quality is poor. I really want to give this tub 3 and a half stars but since I can't I'll give it 3 stars because one day I might actually break my wrist trying to get that reclining seat to snap in. A simple redesign which relocates the drain plug to one side or the front and fixes the huge problem with the reclining seat would make this the perfect tub.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
chretiensucks
|
|
Member: joe unpronounceable
Location: GTA, Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
How do people with more than one child do it?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.