Best Pack n play

[strike71]

Just wanting some opinions on the best pack n play. I have heard Graco is the best and freinds keep telling me they got the "navy and yellow" one. Obviously they change fabrics yearly so I have no idea which one this is. I do want a full bassinet feature. thanks.

[amp]

We have a Graco PNP, so I can't compare with any other brands. We love ours. It has the full size bassinet and changing table. It also has a canopy (for indoors, not outdoors) that we never used. Ours in in the French Bear pattern.

[mcades]

We also have a Graco, purchased in 2001 - don't know if they still make it. It's the 3-in-1 & we've been very happy with it. It has the full size bassinet & changing table, & an organizer tray that clips onto the side, rather than just hanging pockets. Holds everything for diaper changes - it's our 'downstairs' diaper changing station. I had to search a bit for it back then; found it at Baby Depot (Burlington).

Michelle

[justlearning]

I believe the yellow and navy pattern was called "Princeton" and is no longer manufactured. We have a Graco model that also is no longer manufactured and have been happy with it. Ours has a full bassinet, which we're glad to have. Ours also has a music and vibrating feature that we've never used. I do wish ours had a changing table on top.

[babymama]

We went for the high end PnP (in clarion fabric - olive green, khaki, and red)- including diaper changer, bassinett, canopy, nightlight, music, vibration, etc. I've found, unfortunately, that we
haven't used it much. We set it up next to our bed, thinking we would have him sleep there in the early weeks and transfer him to his crib when we/he was ready. I ended up putting DS in our bed a lot when he was just home from the hospital. So we didn't use the bassinet much (plus he outgrew the bassinet before 3 months when he reached 15 pounds). ONe of the reasons I used the bassinet so little is bc the vibration stopped after 7 minutes. DS would wake up when his massage ended. So that meant if we used the vibration, then I would have to wake up from every 7 minutes to hit the button again (bad news!). We've never used the diaper changer. I found the whole thing very difficult to set up and not very portable (too wide to push through our door frames). A friend of mine loves hers. It was her only diaper changer for the first 8 months or so. So maybe this is one of those again where every family/baby will be different. I can only speak from my experience, and if I had it to do over again, I would have gone for a less fancy pack n play (or maybe even no pnp) and used the $ for a other items. Maybe I'll use it more when the baby is older and can sit up in there with his toys.

Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[strike71]

Thanks for all the input...has anyone bought any of this years models?

Also in the descriptions many say 3/4 bassinet (is this a full bassinet?)

[casey118]

We also have the Graco- it is navy and white gingham (I can't remember the pattern name). I think our was the "5-in-1"- not sure what the 5 is, but it has a full bassinette, changing table, canopy to use outside, and heat reflective panels. It also has pockets on the sides, rather than the hard plastic tray. I picked it out solely on the fabric. I like the full bassinette and changing table. I would have preferred the hard tray to the soft pockets. We never used the canopy. We have used it to travel quite a few times and think it packs up great.

[sadie427]

They might also mean the "zoo lou" pattern Graco from Babie's R Us, that is navy with animals, there is yellow in it anyway. It has a full-length bassinet and is the cheapest one (I think it was 59 or 69$). That's the one we have as the full-length bassinet was the only feature we wanted. My inlaws got a similar one (full-lgth basinet but no other features) at Target that is a nicer pattern IMO, it's a light blue/green/navy plaid.

[Mabster]

We also have the "high end" clarion PnP like the above poster. I love it. Yeah, a lot of the features are a little much, but I have used them all at some point or another. DS is almost 3 months and it's been our downstairs daytime nap area and changing table. Worth it for that alone.

I agree with you, definately go for the full bassinet. 3/4 bassinet that you see advertised is exactly that - 3/4 of the size of a full bassinet. Quite frankly I don't understand why a company would bother making a 3/4 bassinet - doesn't make sense to me.

I've used the vibrate option to calm DD down - she's pretty good once it take the edge off, so I don't have to continue hitting the button. The music we've used 2-3 times. I think I used the nightlight once when we were at my in-laws. The canopy has gone unused, but that's mostly b/c we've only been inside - maybe once the weather breaks we'll take it outside and use the canopy then.

I could certainly live without all the bells & whistles, but it's nice to have them to try every once in a while. My opinion? If you are registering for it, go with the high end one. If you get it, great. If you don't, you can always get a different one when you go to buy it yourself.

[Jennymarie]

We received a high end Graco in the "Colby" pattern (navy and light blue). Can't tell you how it works yet, since baby isn't due till June.

I really liked the fact that this one has a hard tray for diapers, wipes, etc., the full sized bassinet and changing table. It came with the vibrating device and a partial canopy that I doubt I'll ever use, but we couldn't find one that had the first three features without all the other bells and whistles.

[darby24]

The 3/4 is not full, it stops (1/4 of the way). I'm not sure how to post pictures yet, but head to babiesrus.com and check out the pictures of the Colby and the Bently Bear versions. Colby has a full bassinet while the Bently has a 3/4.

I can't help with personal experience, we only have the basic model. No bassinet, no changing station. HTH.