Evenflo Easy Comfort Highchair

[curlytop]

Does anyone have an opinion about the Easy Comfort highchair made by Evenflo? I just saw it at BabiesR'US.com and it looks a lot like a Chicco Mamma or a Prima Pappa. Does it fold as easy as the other two? Is it safe? I would love to hear your opinions.
Thanks! :D

[xandismom]

We've had ours for about 6 weeks now. I looked all around for chairs and finally settled on this one. I cannot compare to Peg Perego or Chicco Mama since we've never owned one. But I'll tell you our experiences with the chair. Summary: absolutely love it but wish it cleaned up easier, apparently the same problem as most chairs. Details below.

We bought this because of the combined features of price ($99.00 at Baby Depot), the wheels, the quality, the looks, and most importantly, the fold-up feature. We have a small house, so it folds flat against the wall behind our table. A nice surprise when I got it home: almost no assembly required. Took me 10 minutes max to get my son in it.

It looks sturdy and well-made, not cheapie. We use it without the big tray for our 7 month old because the tray is high for him yet, but it works fine like that for our needs. There is a fixed restraining bar that is a mini-tray that the big tray slides onto that keeps the baby in. On that small tray you can fit a few toys or a teething biscuit, or a few 4 oz jars of food. A bowl will not fit on this small tray -- you'd have to use the big tray, which hangs on the back legs when not in use. Nifty feature, but it tends to fall off when moving the chair. We keep ours on the floor against the wall for now, but probably will keep it on the back of the chair once we start using it. The chair would not be as flat if you kept the big tray on it all the time -- you have to remove it to get it to the really flat position.

If you have a young baby and want to use a large tray for putting bowls, etc. it might be too high for you. But I've read that this is an issue with other chairs too.

The chair pad is big and plush and vinyl -- really comfortable. I don't know how it washes in the machine because we haven't had to do that yet. I wipe it up every day and scrub any stuck on food with a toothbrush, a little soap and hot water. As far as the pad goes that has worked for us for the past month.

The chair adjusts to many heights and reclines easily. It just barely clears our dinner table at the lowest height, so baby can join us.

The major con with this chair is cleanability. But for us the benefits far outweigh this limitation. I can't comment on how cleanable it is compared to other chairs. The straps that hold the baby in are the biggest problem, but as far as I can tell they are the same straps as on other chairs. I keep an empty tartar sauce jar with a toothbrush by my sink and scrub the straps well with the toothbrush, hot water and dish detergent after every meal, but some gradoo still sticks in between the little bumps in the straps. Perhaps a steamer would work well if you have one -- we don't.

From what I've seen on e-pinions it seems that other chairs might have the same cleanability issues. I looked at the Peg and Chicco and they have the same types of straps, though perhaps not as many crevices in the frame. Don't know yet if the straps are removable -- it doesn't look easy if they are. So still seeking a good way to clean them. Any ideas from you experienced moms?

Also, the piping at the edge of the pad is made of what looks like a very sturdy wool/acrylic fabric, which tends to hold the food too. I figure I'll throw the pad in the washer when the toothbrush is not cutting it.

Minor inconveniences:

- Lots of crevices and rivets for food particles to collect in. Again, the toothbrush and hot water for 2 minutes after every feeding cleans the chair quite well except for the straps.

- You have to get the trick of opening the chair from its folded position. You have to use both hands to push a large button on each side and at the same time put your foot on top of the side of the front frame and drag it out while buttons pushed. This will keep you from getting the tops of your feet scraped.

- Sometimes one of the wheel locks might lock itself while your rolling the chair around in the folded position (doesn't happen when it's open). This is because the wheels are swiveling and two of the wheel locks might hit. To me this is a minor inconvenience to have the convenience of wheels and the safety of the locks.

Not too thrilled with the colors, but that was not our first priority. Neutral tans and blues are the theme of most of the chairs, which would fit in with most decors, but rather dull. Would like to see some brighter choices in the pad and dark blue or white frame colors available.

Overall I really like this chair. There is not yet a category for this chair on e-pinions, so hope this helps those looking at it.

[shandrin]

sounds like it has the same problems as the chicco&prima pappa{high trays, hard to clean} the belts on those trap food as well, i've owned both so can speak from experiance, but at least it's ALOT cheaper!
....about washing them{the straps}, call evenflo to ask if they remove and prehaps try the washing machine, hang to dry IF you can get them off, i've done it before with others straps.

[littlenicky]

The Evenflo Easy Comfort Highchair (Woodland pattern) is on sale this week at selected Target stores for $79.99(reg. $89.99). We went to our Toys R Us which is closer and they "Price Matched" it for us yesterday! Yeah...$79.99!!! :)

We will set it up today and give feedback. Initially, here are the pros & cons:

Pros:
- Solid metal A-frame constuction
- Four easy rolling locking casters
- Big and comfortable seat w/ T-bar restraint
- Easy adjustments
- Foldable
- Upmarket styling like the Pappa & Mamma's at the fraction of the cost

Cons:
- Seat is a little far away from the tray
- Larger tray when attached is high
- Safety harness is only 3 point

We tried our little Nickey(7 months, 15lbs., 26in.) in it at the store and she loved it. Since she isn't feeding herself yet, the smaller tray is more than acceptable and the height is perfect. When she gets bigger and starts self-feeding the larger tray should work just fine.
Remember the chair is rated up to 3 years old or 40 lbs., so you need to allow for growth while satisfying current needs. To address the tray distance problem, we plan on picking up a Companion Cushion or Highchair Helper that should make it a perfect fit. Took some time to adjust the safety harness at the store... but once done properly, it provided secure and safe fit. Someone suggested picking up an aftermarket 5 point harness for those who have an issue with 3 point systems... but we haven't seen such a product yet.

So far, so good...
but the true test comes tonight.

[littlenicky]

This is follow-up:

-Took all of 10 minutes out of the box (attaching the minitray with four screws & adjusting the harness) before little Nicky was eating her first meal.

-Love the t-bar restraint that is built in to the minitray rather than the removable large tray. We plan on using just the minitray initially... so this would pose a major negative if it were built into the large removable tray.

-3 point harness along with the t-bar appears to be be safe & secure... but I wonder if 5 point would be better?

-The minitray height-wise is perfect and though there is some distance from the front edge of the minitray to the front of Nicky's tummy (actually about 5" vs. some claims of 8" ) this isn't posing a problem because she likes to sit up forward & hold onto the minitray with both her little hands. So... we won't need the Companion Cushion at this point. The complaints regarding food dropping onto baby's lap due to the tray distance is not unique to Evenflo (happens on Pegs & Chiccos as well). Sleeved Bibs by Bumpkins or Soft Bibs by Baby Bjorn will help minimize the mess.

-The seat cushion is on the "Woodland" is vinyl and is super plush. I don't know if this is machine washable, but clean up so far is a snap. I think some models of the Easy Comfort come with a fabric seat cushion and a plastic liner underneath.

-The casters roll very well on our hardwood floor. No scratches.
Locks on all 4 casters.

-All seat adjustments work well with the exception of the large tray... it's a little tight sliding into the 3 different positions. However, it feels like it will smooth out over time. We will see.
I have heard that Evenflo has great customer service and that another Mom had a defective Easy Comfort tray that was replaced for free.

-The large tray stores on the back and seems very secure.

-I like the neutral color of the high chair and feel that it will age very well without showing premature wear-and-tear. A white highchair seems impractical.

All in all... after 48 hours, the Easy Comfort, functionally, is meeting and/or exceding our expectations. We love the upmarket styling and the value pricing. We tried the Peg and the Chicco.. and see no advantages or features that would justify one to "pay-up". We would recommend purchase.

I wish our local stores carried the Baby Trend that is sold on Amazon/BRU for $89.00. It has a 5 point harness and would have been considered. But to that end, I wasn't willing to risk buying a high chair that Nicky didn't test-drive & approve of first ;)