Angelcare Movement Sound Monitor Deluxe

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Angelcare Movement Sound Monitor Deluxe

Only $126.95 @ Amazon

5stars
Rated 5 of 5 Stars by 241 Buyers!

Angelcare Movement Sound Monitor Deluxe

First a small background on myself and the condition this product is supposed to support prevent. I’ve worked in the medical field for over 20 years and I’ve had the misfortune to treat well over a dozen SIDS cases. One of the huge knocks you’ll see against this product on other review sites is that it will do not one thing to prevent SIDS. Such reviews are commonly followed by a personal story when it comes to how the reviewer had a child who passed from physical life from SIDS or they had a friend who had a child who passed from physical life of SIDS, and that they were told by the doctor that there was utterly not one thing that could have been done to save the child…that even whether or not they had been there to witness the child stop breathing, that the child still would have died. I’m sorry to have to break this to everyone, but that’s merely untrue. All of us in the medical profession, from doctors to nurses to paramedics, are taught in our basic training to tell parents this. I’ve told parents this innumerable times myself. Parents are already grieving sufficient when they lose a child, the last thing they need is to spend the rest of their life thinking they could have done something. The truth is that whether or not a person had been there at the moment the baby halted breathing, something might have been competent to be done to save them. We just don’t recognise because each case is different. Remember that SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusions It’s not a illness or other pathological process that “shuts down all the vital organs one by one” (as one reviewer claimed). What this means is that whether or not a baby beneath 1 year old dies for no other identifiable reason, they’re automatically stamped “SIDS,” case closed. A good number of babies who die of “SIDS” are believed to die from such a lot of unexplained sudden apnea, whether it be too a lot of blankets smothering the child or whether the baby merely “forgot” to breath, as so galore doctors believe. whether or not a child suffers numerous sudden amount of time of apnea, a individual who is there immediately might be competent to save them through waking the child or through mouth to mouth breathing. That is medical fact based on years of research. Hospital don’t use $5000 infant apnea monitors for no reason. whether or not they did no good no one would use them. This product, when utilized correctly, functions as a very suited apnea monitor, and at a less expensively price.

All that is my way of saying we love this monitor. With my medical background and having witnessed the tragedy of SIDS many times, I’m hyper paranoid when it comes to our new daughter. I’ll do anything and spend any quantity of cash to make certain I’ve done everything within my power to keep her safe. This product gives us peace of mind and allows us to sleep a small better at night. We’ve had no untrue alarms so far and the sound quality seems just fine. The night light function is beautiful cool too. My only complaint would be it’s not the most easygoing thing to set up initially. Sit down with a cup of coffee and be prepared to play with a lot to get it working just right.

SIDS isn’t the only thing that this motion monitor may prevent. When our son was in regards to three months old, the alarm went off at 2:00 AM. My husband and I rushed to our baby and found that he was limp and wasn’t breathing, even with the alarm blaring next to him. Terrified, I put my hand on his chest and jostled him a little, and he started to breath again. goodness we didn’t have to resort to CPR.) After that our pediatrician monitored our son for a 24-hour period and diagnosed him with reflux apnea. did – and still does – have a real problem with reflux.) Needless to say, I can’t say enough good things regarding this merchandise Thank you, Anglecare/BebeSounds for saving our precious baby!

I researched assorted dissimilar types of monitors before settling on this one. I am beyond satisfied with my bought The motion sensor is amazing. We have not had any untrue alarms. I know it works because the warning alarm (one beep) will go off 10 seconds after I take the baby out of the crib whether or not I forget to turn it off. This monitor assists me sleep sound knowing that my baby’s breathing is monitored. I think I would be becoming a whole lot less sleep whether or not not for this monitor. I read a review of it that said “If you are the type of person to get up and check all the locks before you go to bed, you need this monitor.” That is the one that sealed it for me. I can’t say enough good things with regards to it is The range is amazing. We tested it all the way into my neighbor’s backyard. It never dropped signal. I highly, highly commend this products

I’m a first-time father who’s a worrier by nature, so this product is in such a lot of ways a godsend. It is well made, and well featured, and I may such a good deal of day thank its producers for saving my daughter’s life.

I’m happy but not thrilled with this. For the sake of skimming, here are my concerns in bullet form:

1) I found it quite difficult to set the pad sensitivity ‘sweet spot.’ The sensitivity dial goes from 0-5 (though the manual notes 1-5…perhaps 0 means the pad is turned off entirely, but this isn’t mentioned, I don’t think). When it was set at a more sensitive level (say, 2.5), it would detect motion even with no baby in the crib and no-one within a foot of it (and without an apparent source of vibration). With it set to a lower sensitivity level (1.5), we had lots of untrue alarms. The little dial range in amid these points gets close to the right setting but doesn’t get rid of the problems. This is NOT a deal breaker for me, and I’m certain experience with the product will help – but it is a bit frustrating for me. whether or not you follow the spacing suggestions from the manual, there is a fairly big gap (perhaps 10 inches) amongst the two motion pads. With a 20 inch baby, there’s a lot of the baby that isn’t on the sensor. We just put the pads closer together, but I prefer to set things up so they look precisely as they do in the diagrams provided for fear that I’m using the product incorrectly.

2) I think the instruction manual is AWFUL. This might sound snotty, but 3 people sharing 6 degrees expended expended attempting to get this set up. My wife (admittedly, chock full of new-mom hormones) was in tears, convinced she was an idiot idiot not. if you’re reading this, I love you honey, and think you’re very smart). I don’t point out the degrees to sound cocky, and hope I don’t come all over as a jerk. But we are *not* stupid, illiterate consumers, and despite being fairly vivid people, set up was far from easy.

One problem is simply the formatting of the instructions: I’m used to instructions that use “Step 1″ and “step 2″ style prompts in truth leading you in a direction with an end point. These are more independent nuggets when it comes to what the product may do. Getting it up and running is in truth quite aboveboard – but it’s much easier if you rely on your intuition instead than attempting to follow the guidelines.

3) You have to have a finelooking good memory for turning things on and off! Obviously, if you remove the baby from the crib so you may food it, the motion pads will interpret this as something to be worried about! It would be nice if there was a way to turn off the nursery unit without it causing the parents’ units to sound a warning that the nursery factor is switched off! I wholly realise why it sounds that alert, but if you’re woken at 3am by the ‘need to feed’, remembering to turn off the two parents’ units plus the nursery unit, and then remembering to turn all three back on…well, let’s just say it’s easy to forget!

4) As one or two others have commented, the sound through the monitors is not terribly loud, even with the volume on full.

I would purchase this unit again and don’t intend these comments to put others off buying its I would *highly* commend getting this set up well before your due date so that you’re not trying to get it functioning when you’re sleep deprived and stressed. Perhaps that was my mistake!

Could not sleep without this! I would give it 3.5 stars because you unquestionably have to concede decent time to do numerous trouble-shooting before your baby comes to figure out all the settings and to make sure the sensitivity is just right. We live in an apartment, and if it was set as too sensitive, it picked up the fan in our room as the baby’s motion movement is dangerous because your baby could be dead and it won’t sound because it thinks your fan is your baby), but if it was not sensitive enough, the alarm held going off. Our first night with our baby at home, the alarm sounded many times because she was small and the way the packaging indicates to set up the two sensor pads was not working (it says if you have 2 sensor pads to put one on every end of your fiberboard underneath the mattress). Put both pads next 2 each other on the fiberboard if your baby is a newborn/born early at first is what I would recommend. Make sure the board you get to put underneath the mattress is Hardboard/Masonite, NOT MDF. MDF has a super high amount of formaldehyde in the resin I realized when I did research, and that isn’t something you want seeping out underneath baby’s head over time.

UDPATE AFTER 3 MONTHS OF USE:

note: I even interchanged my angelcare for a substitute and am still having the same following issues.

My baby is now three months old and I’m adjusting my review. I now have another baby movement monitor (the Snuza Halo), and it’s given me some perspective. My angelcare monitor gives me TONS of untrue alarms. As in an average of 1-3 a night. The way you’re supposed to solve this is to up the sensitivity settings. The problem, however, is that I live in an apartment and I have a fan in my baby’s room (supposed to reduce sids peril by 70% so I am unquestionably keeping the fan on in her room).

When I try to up the sensitivity level at anything beyond 1 (the least sensitive) so it doesn’t give untrue alarms, the monitor ALWAYS thinks the fan is somebody moving in the crib. Meaning she could be dead in the crib and the alarm would not go off because it thinks the fan is her moving. I have tried in a literal sense dozens of positions of the fan (even having it outside of the room just blowing into it to circulate the air on an extra low setting WAY far from the crib), and on anything above the lowest sensitivity level (to prevent untrue untrue of the angelcare, I may have my baby wholly out of the crib and the alarm NEVER sounds because it thinks the fan (on the absolute lowest setting WAY far away from the crib and from the movement motion is her moving.

Also SCARY, I’ve noticed that when my husband takes my baby out of the crib to adjust her diaper and often times forgets to turn off the alarm (even with the fan off), the alarm NEVER sounds because it picks up his footsteps in the room as being movement in the crib. This is even on the lowest sensitivity setting it thinks footsteps in the room is baby moving and alive in her crib, even when baby is out of her crib (i.e. if you walk around to check on your baby in her room, even footsteps in the room on the lowest sensitivity setting will prevent alarm from sounding, even if your baby is dead in the crib). This is terrifying. The pads are thus, far far too sensitive, even on the lowest sensitivity level since they are not sounding the alarm when my baby is fully out of the crib for a long time just because her father is walking in the same ROOM as the alarm, or just because a tiny tiny fan set on low blowing into the room from the doorway is on. Yet, with it on this low setting that mistakenly picks up low fans and light footsteps throughout the room as baby being alive, it still randomly won’t pick up my baby’s movements when she is in truth IN the crib often times and I get multiple untrue alarms per night.

I’ve been trying for three months with my husband to resolve this, but being in an apartment and having a fan to prevent sids seems a big detriment to finding the seeming non-existent balance amid either the monitor picking up other movement when baby is not in the crib and never alarming, or the monitor not picking up my baby’s movement when she is in the crib and sounding multiple untrue alarms every night.

My husband and I both have master’s degrees and have expended dozens of hours playing around with moving the sensitivity settings even the tiniest microinch to find the balance, but can’t seem to resolve it.

All that said, I’d rather have a million false alarms a night with the sensitivity too low (because I can’t up it AT ALL because it will then pick up the fan or footsteps in the room and won’t sound if baby doesn’t move) and prevent my baby’s death.

I now have a Snuza Halo alarm and love it is I have only had one false alarm in months, and that was because it fell off her diaper that was too loose. The snuza halo clips onto her diaper (it’s under her onesie, so she doesn’t mess with it), so it CAN’T make the mistake of picking up other movement movement or footsteps) as hers. Because it touches her belly, it monitors her breathing, so it doesn’t sound alarms by not picking up her tiny little movements like my angelcare would. When it’s been awhile among breaths, it vibrates to rouse her, which has took place once or twice when she’s taken a long breath or in a deep sleep. This is SO nice because then if she moves immediately after it vibrates, there is no deafening warning beep (like my angelcare) to wake up baby. If she does NOT move right after the vibration, it sounds the alarm. It as well works way better for travel because you just clip it to her diaper, as opposed to having to have a hard flat surface, installing sensor pads with cords out of the way, etc… Snuza Halo is way more friendly for pack n play use, travel, etc… I would recommend buying a backup battery if you get this one altho because I have heard that battery life isn’t great. Haven’t had difficulties with my battery thus far though.

I originally bought the angelcare with just one sensor pad. It was nice but we had too many false alarms. The two sensor pad unit is a HUGE upgrade for just a little bit more money. Now,we rarely have false alarms and if we do, it’s usually because one of the sensors got moved when we made the bed. This unit is perfective but I gave it only 4 stars because the volume level is a bit low even on the highest setting. You cant hear it over the tv or any other noise, I may not hear her if I’m in the shower. Or if the unit is next to me and someone else is in the shower. Just for comparison, my other intercom (a Sony) is MUCH louder and can be heard over ANYTHING.

This product works great. I had a premature baby (30 weeks) and when she came home @38 weeks I was still concerned about periodic breathing and apnea episodes. The alarm gives me security of knowing if and when she does have a difficultnesses We had the alarm go off various times. It alerted her and she started to breath again on her own. I could tell it actually went off due to apnea because afterward her breathes were really fast to make up for the period she stopped breathing. The monitor is sensitive enough for a tiny baby–mine came home right at 5 pounds. I highly recommend this product to any person who needs the extra security of knowing your little one is breathing.

My wife was extremely nervous that something would go incorrect with our son when sleeping. The motion sensor permitted her to sleep deeply, knowing if anything went wrong a very piercing alarm would wake her. My house is a little long, and has more electronics in it than Bestbuy.

I have had NO interference problems. The device gives rise to no static, uses rechargeable batteries.

I have only one complaint. Now that my son is 15 months, he seems to like to stick to the sides of the bed, causing false alarms. Now we need the sensor disabled so we can use just the audio portion. Well, its not possible!!

So today I was scouring amazon for a monitor without a sensor (audio and/or video). Thats when I came across most units have reception problems.

Since I have a ton of electronics, I am now at a loss on what to buy.

I can see why the manufacturer doesn’t like you to disable the sensor, it’s in all likelihood a lawsuit waiting to happen.

(I could have saved my kid if I knew the sensor was not on, etc).

So if your kid is under 12 months, perfect device, get one today. I am now going to go to home depot and try to purchase a piece of think wood, or something to extend the sensitivity of the pad, rather than purchase a different monitor that will have static or intercommunicating problems.

Graco Playard Reversible Napper Changer

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Graco Playard Reversible Napper Changer

Only $89.97 @ Amazon

4stars
Rated 4 of 5 Stars by 26 Buyers!

Graco Playard Reversible Napper Changer

As a mom of three children, I have had a great deal of experience with playards over the past ten and a half years. This Graco Pack N Play with reversible napper/changer is nice, but I acknowledge Graco could make it better. The pack and play is not too much dissimilar from the current basic model they have. I have the very basic model that features the bassinet and useless toy arch, and this newer napper/changer model. There are a few deviations between the models to make up for the $30 price difference.

The basic model will get you folding feet/wheels which grant the playard to fold up into a bag that is roughly six inches more compact than the napper/changer model. It has the same size mattress, and comfort of set up. The bassinet has poorer mattress aid which will grant the mattress to sag and be uneven. This is because the metal cross supports that run across the bottom of the bassinet insert do not run the length of the playard. The seams of the corners of the playard are in addition visible from the inside.

For a more or less higher price tag, the reversible napper/changer model will get you a more thoughtfully designed bassinet feature. The bassinet has metal tubing that runs the full length of the bottom of the bassinet offering better aid for the mattress. Unfortunately my four month old daughter is above the bassinet weight limit, so I was unable to test how well the mattress kept up with my baby sleeping in it is I may tell you that it was sturdier feeling when I pressed down on it with my hands. Per the owner’s manual for this playard, the changer/napper feature has a 15lb weight limit. Graco’s online product manual incorrectly states a dissimilar weight limit for the changer which is as well cited in another review. The changer/napper feature is nice, but I was astonished to see that it is surface wash only. Babies spit up and at times have leaky diapers. whether or not an accident occurs while your baby is sleeping in the snug napper, you’ll only be competent to surface wash the material. Seasoned moms will tell you that on occasion surface washing just won’t cut it for such a lot of messes. Upon further reading of the owner’s manual, I found it odd that you cant use the bassinet feature while the napper/changer is installed. Since removing the napper/changer is inconceivable without taking off the bassinet to release the napper/changer bracket, I find this highly impractical. It would have been nice whether or not the changer could be employed for a higher weight baby. Ten years ago Graco made an amazing folding altering table that kept babies up to 25lbs that could easily be popped on and off the playard. Surely their engineers may find a better way to incorporate this feature so moms of babies heavier than 15 lbs may conveniently adjust their baby at the playard.

One of the nicest touches on this playard when compared to the basic model are the corners that hold the playard mattress down. It’s a nice little added security in addition to the velcro straps that hold the mattress down to the bottom. This peculiar model in addition does not leave the seams at the corners exposed to the baby.

Total set up time for this playard with the bassinet and napper/changer is with regards to 20 minutes for a seasoned parent. I suspect it will take longer for basi time parents who don’t already acknowledge how to set up the playard. Setting up just the playard alone without the bassinet and napper/changer may be done in when it comes to 3 minutes.

Overall, this playard is very nice. I know I would have loved the altering pad feature when my daughter was a newborn. When compared to the basic model, this one is nicer, but the looming question is whether or not it’s worth spending an extra $30 or so for features that you’ll only get to use for when it comes to three or four months before your baby outgrows its

This is the second Pack ‘N Play I have gotten from Graco. It couldn’t be any having little impact to set up. Just pull it out of the box and push down to snap into place. The mattress fits and snaps snugly in the corners. The bassinet clips onto the top. The changer/napper in addition essentially snaps on the top rails. The instruction booklet has step by step instructions whether or not you need assists Having set one up before, I did not need it.

My former Pack N Play had the bassinet feature, so I put a altering pad down and had been using that as a altering station. Now with this version, they have added the changer/napper. You may use this feature until the baby is 3 months old or 15 lbs. It is very convenient! I keep this downstairs and set out diapers and wipes on the bassinet, or nearby. When the baby wakes, you can just flip the napper over and use the flatter side to change. The napper is cushioned and fleecey. The changer is lined with waterproof material. Be certain to get a sheet for the bottom mattress pad, because it can feel cold without one.

It is in addition very easy to disassemble. Remove the mattress and pull up on the handle. You may have to fiddle with the rails to get them undone. The mattress pad wraps around the unit and velcros together. It fits nicely into the bag that comes with. The napper/changer does not fit into the bag, so you have to bring that along separately.

I like the colors on this playard. They are gender neutral and look nice in any color room of the house. The wheels make it easy to move from room to room. I have no difficulties or complaints when it comes to this merchandise

I love this playard. My son is nearly a month old and has been sleeping in it since we brought him home from the hospital. He has slept in both the napper and the bassinet percentage and seems comfortable in both. The altering table has come in handy in the middle of the night when we’ve wanted to adjust his diaper without going very far. As much as I like this playard, there are two large flaws worth mentioning:

(1) You cannot remove the napper/changing table without taking aside the whole pack n play which is not commodious whether or not you want your child to sleep in the bassinet part but in addition want access to the changing table.

(2) The fabric on the napper is spot clean only, which is not practical if you have a newborn who spits up and occasionally pees past the diaper (we still haven’t figured out how he does this, but it seems to happen in regards to once a day). To remedy this issue, I purchased several flannel bassinet pads on Etsy from the “BabyWolfgang” shop. The fabric is soft so my son sleeps comfortably on them and when they get dirty, I stick them in the washing machine/dryer. They hold up well after such a lot of washings and are a good resolution to issue #2. bonus: I use them to protect my stroller bassinet because they are requiring little effort to wash than taking off the bassinet fabric to wash it and then reattaching it.)

I as well commend using a waterproof pad beneath the pack n play sheet to protect the mattress. I got the American Baby Company Waterproof Porta-Crib Sheeting Pad and it fits perfectly. If you want a super-soft matching sheet, I commend the American Baby Company Heavenly Soft Chenille Porta-Crib Sheet in Celery. I as well like the American Baby Company Organic Interlock Pack N Play Sheet. purchased all three of these merchandise on Amazon.)

Some client reviews mention purchasing an additional mattress to put over the pack n play mattress. I don’t think this is important and it is perchance unsafe. The mattress that comes with the pack n play is all the baby needs and is idealisti in terms of firmness/thickness. Overall this is a very good merchandise

So who’s got time to read reviews…here’ s the skinny:

Nice looking.

Napper is so flimsy, your baby will not take delight in sleeping there.

Changing table leans at a slight angle, and your baby will be pressed up on one side, won’ t receive pleasure from it.

Height of changing table will kill your back if you stand. I sat.

Ever since switching to a different napper and changing table, baby is happier.

This is one product that I can in truth say is worthy and deserving its 5 star rating. If you have a newborn or a baby at any age this is a require to have item. There is a napper for your newborn, a bassinet for your infant and the playard for your infant/toddler.

Set up of this playard was very easy, the instructions were clear but it still took in regards to 20 minutes to get it set up. My baby is a month old and the reversible Napper/Changer is easy to use even with one hand holding the baby. The napper fabric is soft and cuddly and baby sleeps snuggled in. I have extra diapers and wipes in the bassinet below the changer/napper so I don’t have to run into another room to get them. It’s my changing station. The napper is for use only with infants below 3 months of age and unable to roll over and the changing table for babies below 25 lbs.

The toy bar over the bassinet is cute but useless since it doesn’t in truth do anything. The bassinet is for babies below 15 lbs which means that you can begin using the bassinet for your newborn as well if you’re not comfortable with the napper/changer.

The fabric for this playard is as well easy to wipe clean. The push button fold makes it gorgeous easy to fold up and put away and it comes with a commodious travel bag for when you determine to go to grandma’s house. The playard doesn’t take up too much space if you’re crunched for space as well. It’s not as fancy as the others with music and vibration but at this price you actually can’t go wrong.

I’d definitely recommend this not only for the features but also for the expensive

Hi,

Amazing playard, good quality, light, but robust. All good, however, they don’t tell you that you need to purchase at least two covers (I’d recommend 2-3 of each).

Here is what we bought:

First you need the mattress pad, one is good enough:

http://www.amazon.com/Portababy-Play-Yard-Mattress-Pad/dp/B001N45AOI/discount-coupon-00-20

Then you need the covers, preferably 2 of them:

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Pack-Play-Sheet-Pink/dp/B001GVIMRA/discount-coupon-00-20

Then you need the changed cover (important….), at least 2:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A1EN3Y/discount-coupon-00-20

We are expecting introductory time parents and received this product to test from Graco. It was easy to set up and follow the directions (and if there is still any question, Graco has additional aid videos on YouTube-[...]). We really like the napper and changer that can turn over to save space, exceptionally as we live in a little apartment. It takes a little getting utilized to pushing the button and turning it over to either get to the napper or changer side. I’m not certain if I could do it while holding an infant at the same time, but I’m certain it will get posing no difficulty with use and exercises Being that it takes up only half the pack n play, you could set the baby down in the bassinet while turning it briefly. We also like the mobile stars as a good deal of of the portable cribs we looked at do not have this feature. The napper is nice and soft and the changer has a finish that will be easy to clean. After doing a lot of baby product research, this pack n play has a lot of features and is much cheaper than other alike products- you can’t beat the price!

The Graco Pack ‘N Play Playard is “relative easy” to put together. It is not easy enough that my Mother could figure it out, but I was capable poisonous Although it is not too unmanageable to figure out how to put the playard together, it takes numerous time to do it is So this is not something I would be capable to break down and take to Grandma’s house everyday.

While I love the idea of the reversible napper and changer, I find that it does not work well. First, the height at which the change is so low, that I have to lean over a lot to change my dear son’s diaper. I am with regards to 5′ 6″ and I found my back hurting after just a couple diaper changes. Second, when you flip over the changer/napper, the napper sits at a higher position than the changer. This makes no sense to me as you would want the changer higher to protect your back during diaper changes, and the napper to be lower just in case your baby wakes up learns to turn (and without intention off the napper) for the first time when your not around.

One feature I do like is that the bottom platform can be raised. This allows the baby, before he can stand, to lay/nap in the playard. Then when the baby is old enough to stand, you lower the platform to the bottom of the playard as a playpen.

The three positions where you can put your baby, napper, raised platform, lower platform, allow this playard to be employed from birth to toddler. However I just found that napper/changer didn’t really work for me. Currently my son naps using the raised platform and I can see him as a toddler in the lower platform.

PROS:

You can raise/lower platform to work with the age of the baby

It can be stored in a compact carrying case

CONS:

The changer is too low to prevent back aches while changing a diaper

It takes some time to break down/put together the playard

Boppy Cottony Cute Pillow Ringtone

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Boppy Cottony Cute Pillow Ringtone

Only $39.99 @ Amazon

5stars
Rated 5 of 5 Stars by 246 Buyers!

Boppy Cottony Cute Pillow Ringtone

If I could have given this 10 stars I would have. This is perchance the most versatile baby product you will ever own. I employed mine from the moment my baby was firstborn child was born, and knew it was an item I had to keep.

Here’s what I employed it for, and I in all probability didn’t even think of everything:

donut for recovering from child birth (it took me 3 weeks to be able to sit comfortably)

nursing pillow

neck pillow for dad when he was bottle feeding

support for tummy time

support for baby when she’s learning to sit up

snuggle pillow for large brother when baby is laying on her back

I purchased 2 dissimilar covers, including the velour which is like butter. Buy this, you won’t be sorry!!

The Boppy would have 5 stars whether or not the filling didn’t flatten so quickly. My baby is four months and I’m already having to put a pillow below the Boppy for better support during nursing. (Sigh)

I believe every new parent has the “one thing they would not live without,” well the Boppy is mine. I use it while breastfeeding and my husband uses it while bottle feeding. We have as well utilized it for propping up the baby for cute pictures!

Simply put, I’m a initial time mom (4 weeks old today) and I was told by lactation advisors that a boppy was a waste of money, that a pillow or two would work just fine. My sister just came in for her firstborn visit and purchased me one and I am SO HAPPY! Pillows were perpetually shifting and sliding and I was having to hold the baby just so, anyways. Now I’m with regard to fundamentals two handed again and it’s the best!

I need to say, I’m astonished this product gets such swell reviews. I’m a new mom (my son is now 8 months) and I have both the Boppy and the My Brest Friend… I gave birth of course and started out breast feeding right away and am still nursing my son various times a day after 8 months. I found the Boppy to be too cushy for nursing. I’d invariably have to readjust the pillow or place another pillow under the Boppy to get my son at the right level of my breast. He seemed to get a small lost in the pillow; just wasn’t supported very well and held falling in among my body and the pillow.

So, on to the My Brest Friend- I’m so glad my sister-in-law bought it for me!! It wraps around my torso to a complete degree and snaps together as tightly as I want/need it to be (awesome since I have shrank by regarding 25 pounds since he was born). The foam is firm yet cushy and keeps my son well supported and up to the height of my breast. It as well gives me 2 free hands to do other stuff while he is nursing (of course once we are settled in a chair or on the couch)!! AMAZING!!! whether or not you’ve used the Boppy, you are lucky to have one hand free at all while your kiddo nurses. Also, I find it is very helpful to have the pillow secured around my torso beacuse whether or not he falls asleep while nursing, it is actually easy for me to stand up while supporting him and not worrying when it comes to the pillow falling to my feet and tripping me up like the Boppy would.

If you are on the fence among the two products, I’d give the My Brest Friend a try, I don’t think you will be sorry; peculiarly whether or not you plan on nursing for a long time like I have!

To add my two cents to what other reviewers have said, this pillow makes it so much having small impact to get your baby in position to nurse. It genuinely is a must-have for breastfeeding mothers. I like this slipcover too — very cute and easy to care for. Get two slipcovers through, so you can still use the Boppy when one cover is in the wash (and believe me, those can get gorgeous messy somewhat reasonably

The boppy is a well known baby item that is swell to have around the house. However, we and the other moms in our Mommy-and-me group have found that there are better number of things from which only one can be chosen for breastfeeding pillows.

We actually like this pillow for breastfeeding:

Luna Lullaby Bosom Baby Nursing Pillow – Brown and Chocolate Dot

The Boppy is notwithstanding still in truth great to have around the house. One great thing to do is to use it for tummy time — particularly whether or not your little one does not like tummy timy. You can prop them up a little bit in the boppy to make tummy time more pleasurable for them. Just make certain their back isnt arched in a amusing way. Obviously you can not do tummy time in the boppy evermore but in the beginning months it is nice to do and most babies seem to like it better than the hard floor.

Another good use it to use it as a support for when baby is learning to internetsite It wraps around their bum and protects them if they start to tip. Obviously the parent must always be supervising but it is nice to recognise even if the little tips over they will just be halted by the large squishy boppy.

My wife just delivered our initial kid. With her tummy still relatively large and will remain so for the next few weeks, our son rests on the inside edge of the Boppy pillow. Because of the curved shape, he keeps slipping down in among my wife and the pillow while nursing. This can be rather painful when he falls out of position, which is very often.

Our pediatrician recommended MyBrestFriend pillow to us. We’ve used that for a few days now, and that one is much better for us because of the square edge vs the round edge on Boppy.

Being a more spectacular chested woman, it’s been a struggle to feed my newborn because it’s a constant juggling act. He as well has had numerous latching issues. The Boppy assists me keep him aligned the right way and relieves pain in my arm from having to constantly hold him up. I have one upstairs and downstairs

Huggies Snug Diapers Economy Count

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Huggies Snug Diapers Economy Count

Only $49.99 @ Amazon

4stars
Rated 4 of 5 Stars by 983 Buyers!

Huggies Snug Diapers Economy Count

I have applied a lot of diapers amid my son and my daughter. I have tried galore dissimilar brands, and I just love Huggies. I have never had any problems, and I feel they are good quality. The only time my kids ever leaked is when we use generic diapers or the Pampers baby arid dry Cruisers are great, too!). I have perpetually found that elastic waisted diapers work better and fit better, specially with mobile babies!

Little tip I learned: In my experience, whether or not you don’t unfold the elastic around the thigh before you put them on, the diapers will leak. It’s not enough to just open them up and slap them on. When I started wholly opening the diapers before putting them on, I stopped having a problem with leaks. course, when you have a morning diaper that weighs a few pounds, it will leak for a dissimilar different I’ve seen a few reviews from parents who have stated that the Huggies purchased online are of lower quality than what they have purchased in the stores. In my experience, I have never had this problem purchasing from Amazon, and I have never found this to be true. The Huggies I purchase from Amazon appear to be the same great Huggies I’ve always bought from my local grocery store, and local Walmart , and they react the same as any other “store purchased” diapers, with the exception that they arrive on my doorstep.

I like Huggies. I in addition like that I have figured out how to use them. First, you need to make certain to “open” the diapers before you get started to alter your baby. The elastic is folded into the diaper and a gentle tug of your finger will flatten it out. Second, you must make certain that the elastic is not bent inward when you put the diaper on your baby. Follow these two rules and you shouldn’t get a great deal of leaks. (You may be competent to tell that these rules are based upon experience.) Good luck.

I have four children and each one of required a different brand of diaper. First and second babies could wear ANY diaper so I bought the fewer expensively store brand from Sam’s club. Baby #3 needed Luvs. He leaked out of Huggies, Pampers worked, but so did Luvs which were cheaper. With baby #4, Huggies is the only thing he DOESN’T leak out of. This baby wets his diaper all at once with a flood! Huggies is the only diaper than absorbs fast enough to catch it all. I think it’s because the Huggies have more of the ‘gel’ in them to asborb the liquid – this is as well what makes them so nasty and squishy when wet. Pampers could in all probability hold the volume without leaking if he didn’t deliver it so fast! If your baby is leaking out the diaper when the diaper isn’t genuinely wet, this is probably the issue. So my advice to new parents… get a few different brands (including the Snuggle brand from Sam’s) and find which one works best. It varies a lot from baby to baby. Also – I use Huggies overnights diapers at night when my son starts to leak at night. When he leaks out of the overnights at night, we move up to the next diaper size. Saves a bit of $ since there are more diapers per package in the littler sizes.

I’m only giving these a 4, since I too have pulled the tabs off these diapers. Huggies needs to attach them better.

I’ve spent thousands of dollars as a faithful Huggies client and mom of four, but after becoming the size 4 “new” Snug and Fit Huggies, I think I’ll shop around… Even with frequent changing, my 18-month-old is soaking through to his pants — not around the edges, but through the diaper. When I modify him, my hand gets damp from touching the outside of the diaper. Ick!

With the old Huggies, he was fine to sleep through the night, but with these he wakes in a puddle. Guess I’ll have to begin laying out capital in for the duration of one night diapers…

Comparing the new diaper to an old (unused!) one I had in my car, they are importantly thinner, and the outer waterproof layer is thinner. They hold much less water, in a kitchen test.

I may as well just stick him in washable thick underwear, if I’m going to have to wash his pants each time I modify a diaper anyway…

I have a 9 month old son and Huggies have worked out finelooking well on him. He is around 25 pounds and wears a size 5. I have found it is essential to size up and secure the waist to a snug-fit.

I have purchased them from Amazon and find no difference between these and store-bought.

We only have one or two leak throughs a week and they are ordinarily if he’s stayed in a diaper too long. He wears a diaper for around 4 hours during the day and then all night. Sometimes when I remove the diaper I am surprised there were no leaks because it may be heavy!

I think it might be unfeigned that Huggies are better for boys and Pampers for girls due to the difference the placement of absorbancy.

Huggies diapers are the best diapers for boys by design. I heard Palmpers use a more or less different design to fit girls. These are the two premium brands: Huggies for boys, Palmpers for girls.

Now when it comes to the pricey Although the boxes look like in similar size, they are not. The size 3 Huggies sold by costco has 168 (the most recent ones have 174), equated to 144 sold by amazon.com and walmart, target, etc. A simple math showed that we ought to buy from Costco, this is after taking into account sales tax, shipping, etc.

When our son was born, he was 8 lbs, 6 oz, and Pampers Swaddlers Newborn fit him very well. After two weeks, the baby was 9.5 lbs and had outgrown newborn size. The Swaddlers size 1 were not a good fit, too low waisted for him and had a leaking difficulties The Huggies Size 1 baby shaped with gigglastic waistband had elastic in the back so they were better at containing the contents. Fewer leaks, even though still such a heap of urine leaks. Never a blowout leak.

The one gripe – the velcro tabs stick to his fleece sleeper sack so at times you have to check to make sure the diaper is still secure.

Caution – the diapers appear too small to last up to 14 lbs despite the labeling of 8-14 lbs.

I have used Huggies for four years and two children and have been very happy… until recently. The Disney Babies pattern is terrible. The dyes rub off on the baby’s clothing, staining onsies (and all else that touches the diaper) blue. It does not come off in the wash. You will demolish clothing with these.

Lego Ninja Turtles Turtle Attack

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Lego Ninja Turtles Turtle Attack

Only $45.42 @ Amazon

5stars
Rated 5 of 5 Stars by 12 Buyers!

Lego Ninja Turtles Turtle Attack

Of all the Lego sets out there, the Ninja Turtles sets may be be the most fun. It brings me back to my days growing up with the turtles. This set is a very well made, tremendous set (488 pieces). It has 5 figures, 10 Weapons and a ton of other turtle affiliated accessories. This particular set is set up like a training facility with a lot of different areas you may play in with your characters. It has a lot of playability. It is not just a set to build and gaze at like a museum piece. With so a heap of pieces and figures, it will let your child’s vision run wild. Highly Recommended!

Got this for my 6 year old son and he loves how the lair is make to look like it is underground in the sewer.

I bought this for my daughters who are huge ninja turtles fans. This set is not that impressive in terms of size but it is got slots of play options. whether or not you’re looking for a set that is fun to build this is not the best choices This is more of a set to play with once it is finished.

I am a massive LEGO fan, and when I saw that they formulated themed sets based on four of my bestloved childhood heroes….my company was unbearable for at least a month. And man, did these sets delivery This was the third set I purchased, after 79100 Kraang Lab Escape with Mikey, and 79101 Shredder Dragon Bike with the Shred and Donnie. Before I review this single set, I highly suggest becoming these three sets together. It gives you all four turtles, Splinter, Shredder, three foot clan warriors, the Shadow Ninja, and a genuinely cool Kraang dude in a mech walker type deal(and two pizza’s!). You in addition get all of their associated affiliated staff, Mikey’s Nunchucks, 6 Silver Katanas, 3 Black Katanas, 3 Sai, 2 Gold Ninja Stars, a Chain Maul, and a sickle). Combined, this all makes one hell of a playset and it’s my favorite amongst all other sets thus far. And at a total of around $85-$90 for all three at the MSRP, you get a lot.

Now back to the Lair, this set comes with Leonardo, Raphael(both their skateboards), Splinter, Shadow Ninja, and a Foot Soldier. It’s an interesting build, you’ll get two instruction guides. The initial is a small booklet which has you build assorted detail objects which will be placed in your more prominent finished project. These include a video game station with a spot for all the turtles, a bookshelf, a half pipe for skating, a tool rack with a crane arm, a computer station, a spinning training dummy, a Shadow Ninja launcher which sends him flipping action-style into the lair to attack the turtles, and a skateboard rack. The second, much bigger booklet has you building the two main subdivisions of the Lair. Like most sets, this has you building from the ground up. The shorter left side is built first, it mainly features a spot for your training dummy. Afterword you’ll build the taller right section which has three levels. When your done, you may connect the two by clipping them together. All of the detail objects, save for the game station, the halfpipe, and the Shadow Ninja launcher, have spots to place and without apparent effort remove them inside the lair. A lot of work was put into the details here, from a stick of dynamite and an exploding wall downstairs where the Shadow Ninja can launch his assault, to a pizza firing oven, the training dummy which spins by way of a wheel for numerous quick action, a drawing board which features schematics for the turtles bond-like gimmicks and vehicles, and a manhole cover that pops open at the spin of a wheel. Even a in truth nice looking streetlamp and fire hydrant to plainly discern the street level from the sewers. It’s worth noting there are rather a few stickers in this set, four huge ones for the wall designs, the game station screen, the skateboards two top-designs and one more small one. So if you despise sticker placement like I do, best practice a steady hands mundane for a bit before you start this Otherwise, I’ve got not one thing but praise and love for this set.

You’ll notice Lego’s seldom get negative reviews, because the love fans have for them is very deeply seeded in our childhoods. They make shine the imaginations of children and allow adults to feel like kids again. This set, and the turtles theme in common really, in truth outperforms the popular very high popular in that regard. When your done building, you can instantaneously tell this set was made to be played with. You can visualize all the battles that can take place, from a foot clan army invading through the exploding wall, to expertly placed grab bars and handholds for your turtle-figs to launch such a lot of mad ninja attacks. There is so much fun packed in here…that I have to go play with it, now. Get it! It’s awesome.

I originally bought this for my grandson’s birthday, but my sister purchased the same gift and I had to return mine to amazon. He loved the lego set. I loved that returning it was no hassle whatsoever. I had never had to return anything to Amazon before. What a outstanding efficient company.

Finally Lego has fulfilled the dream of having the turtles! The set recreates a lot of the original charm of the turtles, from having pizza ovens to bars for them to hang off. I think my generation (20-30′s) will enjoy this set even more than the children! It brings back amazing memories of actually playing with Legos while watching the movies and wishing they’d have sets like these. I wish they’d trade a set of just foot soldiers to in truth build an intense looking battle.

Lego ninja turtles Heck yeah! I think on my sons birthday he will be excitged to add the ninja turltes to his lego collection!

I purchased this set for my sons and I to put together, but while they got distracted by the Lego TMNT vehicles, I was drawn to the Sewer playset. In fact, I buy a second one just to increase the size and fun. Highly recommended!

Buildability: The directions for this set were easy to comprehend and the assemblage went great. The minifigs for this set are awesome; in particular with Master Splinter. All minifigs are highly-detailed and well designed to look like the cartoon (the new one on Nick). Leonardo and Raphael’s skateboards are a nice touch to the set. This set may be a little off on the brick/price ration, nevertheless when accumulated it looks much larger. Each level has a surprise; the top has the drain cover that lifts, the second has an oven that shoots pizza, and the bottom has a wall that “explodes”. This is a actually terrific set and combined with one of the littler TMNT sets, will provide hours of fun.

Official LEGO description: It’s an intense day of training in the Turtles’ Lair. Instruct Leonardo in the ninja arts with Master Splinter and the rotating training dummy. Then experiment in Donnie’s lab. When the explosion function is triggered by the Dark Ninja and his Foot Soldier minion, it’s time for a turtle-powered ninja battle! Fight in all 3 stories of the Turtles’ Lair with 10 weapons and a pizza shooting oven! Make those villains compensate for trespassing into Turtle territory! When the battle’s over, fire up the pizza oven and hang in the video game station with its flat screen TV. Or climb up to the street with a skateboard and shred the mini ramp!

Minifigs: Includes 5 minifigures: Leonardo, Raphael, Master Splinter, Dark Ninja and a Foot Soldier

Value: I would commend this set for TMNT fans, collectors, and basi time LEGO builders.

Overall rating: 5 stars

For my granddaughter’s birthday, she has not received it yet but has a great deal of lego sets and I am sure she will be pleased.

Step2 824200 Pink Whisper Buggy

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Step2 824200 Pink Whisper Buggy

Only $59.99 @ Amazon

5stars
Rated 5 of 5 Stars by 34 Buyers!

Step2 824200 Pink Whisper Buggy

I purchased this as a gift for a friend’s 2 year old daughter’s birthday. The Mom was competent to effortlessly put it together by herself in less than an hour (we had to separate her into a dissimilar from from the kids so she could put it together as they were utterly crazy in regards to playing on it right away!).

I use to have one of the basi push buggy’s from step2 for my son and may not believe the fantasti improvements!!!

- The wheels are half the size and QUIET! (the buggy we had were huge plastic ones like on the small tikes cozy cozy There is storage space! (I think the last ones that came out before this had storage too)

- EXTRA cup holders – the adult cup holder is outstanding for drinks is a more tall cup so it doesn’t without apparent effort fall out (some sippy cups are too tall for the kid’s cup holders)

- The seat is bigger! Before it would snuggly fit 1 toddler, now it in truth fit TWO toddlers in it (a 2 & a 2 1/2 year old) in it at the same time!

- Floor board is open – before it would have a middle slat so the feet would be placed on either side. This one is to a complete degree open like riding in a power wheels car.

- Extra food space! – Instead of just setting your feet directly on the floorboard, there’s room to stretch out as if there were pedals in a power wheels car so a longer legged toddler or older child can still fit.

- The handle tucks under, as description states, but it’s in addition longer and easier to push it seems. Before you had to lean forward a bit, yet not with this one!

My friend (and her daughter) were beyond thrilled to have this as a birthday gift!! And arriving in pink made it all the more perfective

My son (and I) like it so much, we had to order him the same one in blue – even even though he outgrew his older push buggy almost a year ago! – This one will last him for YEARS I’m sure!

Took a couple of hours to put together. My swell granddaughter loves its Sits in it while watching TV. Very quiet on concrete.

Cute Buggy!!! My daughter just loves her new car. With the weather in the long run starting to break she can drive in style in the neighborhood. The wheels are very smooth and quiet. The buggy is very easy to maneuver with a single hand. It even has mini storage space below the hood to hold a cell phone or house keys. Love it!!!

My daughter love the car BUT let me tell you that this thing was the largest pain in the A$$ to put together. They did not make the holes big sufficient and I had to alter the plastic on the handle.

My 17 months old is in love with her new car, it is genuinely easy to push and she get enjoyment from each minute on its Even at home she plays with. I would commend this for sure.

I didn’t have any disturb putting the car together except for getting the steering wheel locked into place. The clips wouldn’t hold it in so I called step 2. They tried to troubleshoot over the phone with me and ended up mailing me a new steering wheel and collar. Their customer service was great! The car seems very durable, and my 1 year old loves riding in it is It seems very safe. It would be better if the front wheels turned, but I knowingly chose this car because of the pricey

I never realized that these plastic toys could actually be utilized without having to listen the annoying rattling that is prone to these products. I was pleasantly astonished that "Whisper Ride" is an magnificent name for this toy. It in truth is significantly more quiet and smooth than anything I have used before. The assembly is fairly easy and requires nothing more perplexed than a screw driver and a hammer.

The only downside that I found is that the steering wheel "snaps" into place and had a tendency to pop out with a good tug. Being the handy guy that I am, I plainly repelled a screw through the shaft, where it sticks out at the bottom and the problem was solved for good. The best part is that it all remains hidden behind the dashboard so no concerns that the small one can get to it.

Overall I am rather pleased with this product and I heartily recommend this one.

I ordered this for my granddaughter’s introductory birtihday. Her parents says that she loves it is I put 4 stars because it is not even a month since they have it is

My small girl is 14 months and love the steering wheel and has allot of in this car. Now I am a HUGE Honda fan and mad this car look like a Civic. So yes, this car is even more cool!

My daughter LOVES this car! I love it too, it is easy to push and in truth is just so quiet : ) She is so comfortable in it is We got it when she was 17 months, and would have gotten it sooner but it was middle of winter. But she could have sat in it sooner for sure. She loves to go for long walks in this, but also loves to be pushed up and down the hallway in it too.

Fisher Price Little People Disney Princess

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Fisher Price Little People Disney Princess

Only $58.79 @ Amazon

5stars
Rated 5 of 5 Stars by 274 Buyers!

Fisher Price Little People Disney Princess

My hubby and I purchased this palace, the further and added princess dolls (set of 6 sold at Target) and the further and added sets with the princes (sea carriage with Ariel and Eric is adorable!) all for our 2 year olds birthday. We opened the palace and she has not stopped playing with it since. This has become a toy that gets played with each single day. Our 5 year old loves it, too! This castle is a immense hit in our house. It has so a lot of cute phrases and song clips from every of the princess movies. When you place the dolls on the center circle of the dance floor, each princess introduces herself, says a few reputation phrases and then sings a song clip from her movie. Our girls adore this feature. Our two year old claps in excitement and dances along with the songs. It’s so cute. The palace as well inspires the girls to be originative and use their visual sensation while playing. It came in a few easy to screw in and snap together pieces. You will need a small Phillips head screw driver to assemble such a good deal of of its not one thing major. No defects with our pieces. It took us regarding 10 mins to assemble, including peeling the stickers off the sheet and placing them on the pieces. This is a classically sturdy Fisher Price quality toy, it is colorful and fun. Each room or accessory has a sticker that incorporates components of the Disney Princess movies. Example, Rapunzel’s tower has the floating lanterns and a baby Pascal (her chameleon) painted on the wall. Another room is in regards to Cinderella, the bedroom has the three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty. Our girls fully love the castle and all the dolls that we purchased to go with it is Their small imaginations run wild making up stories with regards to being invited to the ball etc. Seeing our small ones happy makes us happy parents. No complaints from this family. whether or not your small one(s) adore Disney Princess the way ours do, our counsel is: buy this castle!

My 20 month old daughter may not get sufficient of the Disney Princess small persons Palace! The music is just a bonus as she spends most of the time playing with the princesses and her other small individuals in all the rooms. This is an engaging toy and she loves its She perpetually enjoyed playing with her huge sister’s barbie house and now she has one just for her!

I’ve been a fan of small persons for years ever since my little brothers played with them as children. They are durable and come with a ton of cool pieces and humans to play with. whether or not your child isn’t old enough for Legos, this is one of the best toys for them in my opinion.

This castle far exceeded my expectations. First: it’s huge. Well over a foot tall and a couple feet wide, little children will love the size. It allows for easy access to all the rooms inside.

Second: the Little Princesses are super cute as you would expect with Little People, but the choices of princesses is right on in my views There are few more universally by little girls loved than Snow White and Cinderella. (You’ll be competent to get the other princesses, like Belle, Ariel, Aurora, Rapunzel and Tiana and even boys like Beast and Charming with other sets.)

Finally: the castle plays music and phrases from the Disney movies that matches the doll your are playing with. So if you set Cinderella on the right place (dance floor) it speaks specific phrases with regards to her, like “I lost my glass slipper”. You still get all the expected sounds from a Little People playset (like the tea pot or door chimes) but the customization is a wow component for little kids.

All four of my kids, aged 2-13, and even the two boys wanted to play with this set. It is a swell toy and I highly recommend it to fans of Little People and Disney.

The Castle design with the Little People Princess figures is adorable. There is no question that most little girls will delight in hearing their favored Disney Princesses speak and sing their theme songs. I find it very discouraging and hindering that there is a acknowledgment problem with the figures. On the sample I purchased Rapunzel now and then thinks she is Rapunzel but rather oftentimes thinks she is Ariel and sings music from Little Mermaid. numerous of the figures don’t seem to trigger the speech and music at all. I think this is a great product concept but I expected better performance from Fisher Price on a $40+ products

Fisher Price is a well known name in my home. Only one of their items did not hold up to my expectations, and that was a book. Everything else I have from them is quality and very durable.

This was not that complicated to build. Make certain you have a screwdriver and as well batteries on hand since the toy does not come with any. It takes 3 triple AAA’s. Having a toddler in the house, I make certain I perpetually have batteries on hand because their (toddlers) toys seem to go through them fast. Make sure you recycle them if you get the disposal ones.

I built this when my daughter went to bed since I knew she would want to play with it before I had it built. The instructions are very easy to grasps When I was done though, I noticed I still had a sticker and a piece was missing, it was the bed. I looked in the box and it was not in theres I think it was overlooked at the factory. Since my daughter did not acknowledge it was allocation of the toy, I figured I would deal with that later. I took the house out the next morning and my 23 month old lit up! She loves playing with this toy! I was surprised, because to me, it looked fundamental principle Well built but not much theres However, she has played with it every day and perpetually enjoys herself. She loves to seat the little people, Cinderella and Snow White, at their chairs and place them at the table and phony food them with the phony fruit plate on the table. She does this a lot! There is a button in the kitchen that has a bird singing. When you open the doors, a trumpet sounds. A side staircase goes up and down on one side. She does not seem fascinated in that though. She loves moving the little people around the house and playing with them.

I will confess that toy was much smaller than I had expected. I place it on the coffee table and she likes to play with it standing up and showing me what she is doing. She has played with it on her carpet in the bedroom but seems to like it in the living room since she spends so much time with it.

Having the extra sticker and no bed I placed a call into the consumer number in the instructions. Fisher Price was very nice and asked for the serial numbers from the unit and sent out a bed. I obtained it today and not only did the bed arrive, but also in the bag was an extra table and two chairs! My daughter was happy!

I already ordered more Little People so she may `feed’ them at the extra table she received. This might not be a lot for a grown adult but my toddler daughter loves it and she has not played with a toy every day like this one. I like that you may add to its It keeps it exciting for her as well.

Quality toy with exceptional customer service! I would highly recommend this toy for your toddler’s imagination to grow and for them to role play.

My 4 year old enjoys playing with the castle. Lots of options for independent, imaginary play which is what we are working on. My only complaint is that (considering the not-so-cheap price tag ) the castle comes isolated easily. If you pick it up by the top, it disconnects and the flags fall off of the top easily. I spend quite a bit of time putting it back together if my daughter picks it up. Ultimately, we are going to have to glue the pieces together. So think with regards to ordering some Krazy Glue along with this item.

Spent a good quantity of time looking over doll houses and castles for a young girl. Settled on this one. Most people giving this “castle” THE HIGHEST reviews are either mechanical engineers or did not assemble this themselves. The directions are poorly written, pictures not easy to see and the parts do not always fit together well. The screws are tiny, unmanageable to place and you may need to budget a huge quantity of time attempting to assemble this. Your child MAY wonder why you are spending hours yelling at their toy while attempting to put it together. Once assembled, it turns out to be somewhat sturdy and our 2 and 1/2 year old daughter liked this castle, the cute figures and the song effects.

This castle is the perfect size for a kid among 2-5 years old. To them it seems utterly massive. The set comes with two statuettes statuettes White and Cinderella), but you can buy additional characters separately. When each figurine is placed on the dance floor, she will say her name, a few lines from her film, and then (best of all!) sing a little sing. My little cousin is already working on memorizing the lines from these two princesses, so I guess I’ll have to look into purchasing the other figurines!

Some minor assembly is required so have a Phillips Head handy, but it’s nothing extreme. You’ll have it together in no time. It took me maybe 5-6 minutes.

In all, this is just an splendid toy. Solid construction, easy to assemble, and tons of fun. Highly recommended!

Sklz Hit A Way Portable Training System

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Sklz Hit A Way Portable Training System

Only $132.99 @ Amazon

4stars
Rated 4 of 5 Stars by 28 Buyers!

Sklz Hit A Way Portable Training System

I have had and utilized this product for 2 years with no issues. It has been applied for team training and warm ups and has outperformed everything out there is Yes, I’ve had to replace the ball, but that’s expected with the quantity of use/abuse this thing takes. It’s perfective because it’s an actual ball. It’s sturdy, portable, and works like a charm. The muscle memory of a “flat plane” swing is phenominal. The kids learn to and want to swing and hit it flat so the ball wraps in an accurate manner and they may keep swinging. Awesome, awesome, amazing piece of equipment. This and the Bow Net Baseball/Softball big Mouth Portable Net, with Pitching/Strike zone target, are 3 MUST HAVES for any person with kids in baseball, softball along with a tee. Many other coaches have ended up buying those 3 after seeing/using my gear. 6 stars!

I bought this portable training scheme as a birthday gift for my 15 year old grandson who is a baseball fanatic. He loves it is When my eight year old grandson was visiting he tried it is He requested I purchase it for him for his birthday which I did. He uses it all of the time.

Their parents agree that it provides swell hitting practise. I was surprised that it appealed to such a wide age group.

Both gifts were a big hit (pardon the pun)!!!!

My daughters (ages 10 and 6) spend hours on this thing. They think it is fun for one of them to go lefty and hit it back and forth like a teather ball. My girls have bettered importantly at the plate from wackin’ this trainer. It took them a few tries to get the hang of how it works and off they went. I take this thing to fastpitch exercise and let the U-10 players use it is I am amazed at how something so simple may ameliorate someones hitting so much. You can either pitch to your kids and chase the ball down the street all day, or purchase this and turn em loose while you sit on the couch. Win Win!!

Amazon is outstanding but this product is not. I ordered the product three times and all three times there was an issue with the productions 2 times the extension pole would not fit into the base pole. The third time the T-Latch was broken.

This product, though a bit heavy (it needs to be for stability) is a swell rudimentary skill builder. Our kids have long swings, this in truth worked to speed up their swings and get their timing down. Our 9-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son’s hitting has greatly improved. It is such a outstanding tool to show the kids how to hit early or late, how to turn on pitches and hit high, low and middle pitches. Although it cannot duplicate the actual speed of pitching, it is outstanding for hand-eye coordination as well as timing and swing performance.

I’ve been using a Hit-A-Way for years, and it’s magnificent for enriching your swing, hand-eye coordination, and getting so many exercise when you can’t get to the court. With the ball pulled down to a lower height, I’m now working with a grandson who is just beginning tennis. A fine productions

For the price, the Hit A Way is definitely made well and provides a sturdy base for the ball. However, unless my girlfriend is hitting the ball, the whole framework will shake and move a few inches with each swing I take. Definitely needs to be fastened to the ground with spikes of numerous sort. It does serve it’s purpose, you will find that whether or not you are hitting the ball correctly it will return at a good speed and you can get a good 6-8 swings in per minute. Overall it seems to be a very efficient tool for little league players and is worth the low cost whether or not you want your son to produce proper techniques

This trainer is very well built, and feels lighter than it’s weight would gives evidence of I’ve had humans from 6 years old to 65 years old attempt this trainer and all were competent to get the hang of hitting the ball within 3 swings. After that, they’re addicted. The path of the ball doesn’t seem natural at first, but you speedily realize that it’s not perpetually consistent, alike to real pitching. Also you get instant feedback on your swing…if you hit too high or low, the ball and cables won’t wind around the pole and thence won’t uncoil with much speed. One you’re capable to modify your swing to hit the ball square each time, the ball will windup and unwind so you can swing until you’re tired without resetting the ball.

Both of my kids are now the top hitters on their teams since getting this machine. They were competent to minimize the bad habits we all tend to acquire with hitting a ball.

This trainer is built to withstand a whole ball club using it, but with the simplicity to use in your backyard. The set up is very easy (no tools required), but collapsing the tripod takes such a great deal of practices The tripod collapses upward and the pole separates in the middle and stores on a peg on the base. An incorporated strap wraps around the all of the pieces and can be pulled, thanks to the on-board caster wheels. This product is very well thought out and is worth the expensive

I am very happy with it! I practice every day and I do not have to go to the field every day.

I in truth like this products It assists with muscle memory so principal to coherent hitting. I like this both for my son transitioning from tee-ball to a pitched ball and my older son who is currently playing pitched ball. Great for warming up and gives great feedback on poorly vs. well-hit balls. Very easy to set up and applied Assembly is a piece of cake.

Unique Ball Tote 50 Balls

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Unique Ball Tote 50 Balls

Only $39.99 @ Amazon

4stars
Rated 4 of 5 Stars by 12 Buyers!

Unique Ball Tote 50 Balls

I liked the lightweight vinyl bag vs. the bulky buckets. Balls are common pressureless balls, could not tell a difference amid this brand and other brands I’ve bought in the past. Durability is on share

ok, the price is good, but equated to wilson and penn balls (which i have applied entirely in the past), these balls are undersized and don’t have as much bounce. i can’t use them. whether or not you are much of a tennis player, i certainly wouldn’t commend them for you. in all likelihood good for pet toys.

Great for practice, no complaints, bounces the same height as a regular tennis balls. Arrived on time, and hits very well.

They are perfect for fetching. My golden hasn’t destroyed one yet (unlike a swell deal of other balls we have had in the past.) Exactly what I was wanting.

This is a outstanding price and a swell gift for our Labrador. I haven’t tried to play tennis with these as we just buy them to take to the dog park, but it is a bargain whether or not your dog is as dumb as mine and looses most of his toys.

I never write a review unless it is a great or a in truth bad merchandise Both are very rare.

These tennis balls are one of my worse purchases each I am a 4.5 shortlisted tennis participants I acknowledge what I am talking about. These balls were intended for my machine. The balls don’t bounce. They are dead. When you throw a pressureless tennis ball to the ground, you expect to catch it on the way up. These balls don’t bounce more than 10 inches. You really have to bend over in order to catch it is I was trying them since the price is inviting. Don’t waste your money, they are worthless. What is even worse. The material internally seems uneven creating a very unpredictable bounce, such a good deal of times even in a different angle. Impossible to play with them! I will stick to the pressureless Dunlop balls, they lasted the whole year last year. The old balls bounced two or 3 times more than these new balls even after one year of service. These are Horrible tennis balls, the worse I have seen in my life. They also feel more or less smaller. I would give them 0 stars if I could.

I ordered these for my 90 lb dog, he hasn’t been able to destruct one yet and he is a power chewer!

Tennis balls are great to help things slide quietly and gently over floors, we applied these in an elementary school but they are also great in nursing homes.

I use old pressurized Penn balls (retired from tennis matches) for practices. They are finelooking dead, so thought I undertake these brand new pressureless balls for once. What a waste of money. They are even more dead than the old Penn. I think they are barely OK for ball machine use but terrible for hitting back and forth with people. These balls have to the full or entire extent different feel from the new pressurized balls so I suspect practicing with them could really screwed it up for me in regular USTA league matches.

Garmin Etrex Worldwide Handheld Navigator

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Garmin Etrex Worldwide Handheld Navigator

Only $166.67 @ Amazon

4stars
Rated 4 of 5 Stars by 267 Buyers!

Garmin Etrex Worldwide Handheld Navigator

I ordered this unit just as it became available on Amazon after conducting assessments of assorted units. Works just as expected. It takes a small getting applied to the menu system, but after playing with it on two dissimilar occasions for when it comes to an hour total, I’ve figured out the more innovative items. Worked outstanding right out of the box, speedily acquiring a full complement of satellites while I sat inside the house (accuracy within 10-14 feet inside). Screen has good color and is clear to read. I like the paperless feature and without apparent effort loaded a gpx file from geocaching.com. I find the the capacity to read all of the logs very helpful. UPDATE: utilized it to search and find severla nearby caches, and it worked great! It was very accurate and brought me to within a few feet of every cache. The receiver allows me to mark a cache found and to include comments. When I returned home, I effortlessly uploadedd my finds and remarks to geocaching.com. I am very pleased with my purchased

The basi review of this unit lamented that, while listed on Amazon, it wasn’t genuinely available yet. That has changed. It’s now available, and I have it within arm’s reach as I’m typing this.

I liked the features listed for the eTrex 20, and awaited the late September release date before upgrading from my old Magellan handheld GPS. The eTrex 20 has so far proven to be everything it was advertised to be – lightweight, easy to use, and with a sensible receiver. One of the elements that motivated me to upgrade was how fast the Garmins that my wife and son have were to lock on to the satellites, against how much longer it took the old Magellan – this one took fewer than a minute to find, lock-on, and determine position, while the older unit would still have been searching for satellites.

One of the basi things I noticed when using the eTrex 20, was the number of satellites it tracked. This new eTrex series has integrated the Russian GLONASS system, along with the current GPS satellites. By tracking both systems, the device has more points of selective selective info to better calculate position.

The micro SD slot is a nice feature, giving the user the ability to expand the memory, even though the built-in 1.7 Gb is nothing to sneeze at. For when it comes to ten bucks, enough memory may be added to store more than enough waypoints for an extended trip away from the computer. The micro SD slot is located underneath the batteries, and thereby protected from the elements.

I’m still learning all the features, and looking forward to putting it through such a lot of paces on our next Geocaching adventure. The only drawback I’ve found so far is that this model line is so new, that GSAK (a utility program applied for Geocaching) doesn’t have a specific protocol for interfacing with it is This is a relatively minor inconvenience, and one I suspect will be remedied in one of the next revisions of GSAK. Until then, I may load Cache data a couple of other ways.

For a bit more money, you may get the eTrex 30 with more features, or for less, you may purchase the base-model eTrex 10. The 20 is a nice remainder amongst them, and I think it’s going to suit my needs rather nicely.

My 30 arrived a few hours ago.

As you read this review, note that Rocker refers to what Garmin has now renamed the Thumb Stick.

Pros:

o The on-screen keyboard is much better designed than the old eTrex (and this issue was indispensable enough to me to recompense for a 450 last year):

…..o Stays in upper case (hallelujah) instead than, with the old eTrex, the primary alpha triggering the on-screen keyboard to alter to lower case and exceptional characters, which then needed navigating to the shift character to restore the keyboard to upper case and numbers.

…..o DONE is having little affect to access as are cursor left and cursor right.

…..o may use the Zoom keys (top left side of GPS) to switch amongst the three keyboards: alpha and numbers, special characters; numbers.

o The display is nice and crisp.

o may load maps to internal memory without using an SD card (56MB of maps tested leaves 1.68GB of internal memory). The old eTrex required an SD card .

o A distance proximity alert may be produced on the 30 using any waypoint or POI as a source (more info info may load maps, waypoints, and routes from MapSource (see Bugs below).

o Smaller than the eTrex Legend HCx.

o Includes place to affix a lanyard (but a lanyard is not included).

o Garmin tech aid was excellent. Michael expended and hour and a half as we researched four issues including the bugs brought up below.

o As brought up by other reviewers, satellite acquisition is fast: introductory power on to location: 45 seconds.

Cons:

o The new interface seems cumbersome when compared to the old eTrex. The old interface was more prompt to navigate with more data being displayed on menu screens, but possibly it will get better with more hands-on time. The new interface seems to have been designed for a touch screen, which the 30 is not. On numerous screens, such as the Map Information page there is a lot of wasted empty space. Tip : Use Setup > Page Sequence to add pages that you want to quickly access using the Back button; those pages will then vanish from the Main Menu.

o Testing gives evidence of that proximity alerts for POI’s loaded using the POI loader do not work. On the old eTrex Legend HCx, POI’s containing speed or distance proximity alerts could be loaded using the POI Loader and the Legend HCx would issue the suitable alerts. The POI Loader works with the 30, but testing suggests that the alert is not issued. This test was for a distance, not speed, alert (speed alerts are of no interest to me, so I’ll leave that testing to an individual who wants that functionality). On the other hand, proximity alerts may be manually devised on the 30 using waypoints or POI’s as sources. This is unquestionably a huge Pro and is listed in the Pros above. When the user gives rise to a proximity alert from a POI, a waypoint is created with the same name with a “1″ appended at the end of the name. So, it appears that to mass load distance proximity alerts onto the 30 will require loading them as waypoints with the proximity distance set, instead than loading them as POI’s. And, it appears that waypoints only help distance alerts, not speed alerts, in the 30, MapSource, and BaseCamp. A minor point: while MapSource may maintain a waypoint’s proximity in miles to 3 decimal digits (0.000), the 30 supports only editing to 2 decimal digits (0.00). And, as we all know, 0.01 mile is approximately 53 feet so this is in all likelihood a non-issue for most applications.

…..o To compound the problem of not supporting proximity alerts for POI’s and forcing the use of waypoints instead, Garmin has removed the capability to delete waypoints by symbol, leaving only the options to (a) delete all waypoints or (b) delete waypoints individually. This means that whether or not I assign special symbols to the waypoints which I want to retain permanently on the GPS while letting temporary waypoints have the default (blue flag) symbol, I may not delete just the temporary waypoints en masse — as the old eTrex would have supported. In order to retain the waypoints which I want permanently on the GPS, I will be forced to either a) delete the temporary waypoints individually in the field whether or not I forget to do it at home, (b) do not forget to delete them in BaseCamp before departing for the outdoors, (c) remember to delete the \Garmin\GPS\Waypoints_dd-mmm-yy.gpx file before departing for the outdoors, or (d) remember to delete all waypoints and then reload all of the permanent waypoints before departing for the outdoors. (I did not realize this until after my firstborn review submission. I would now give a 4-star rating, rather than 5, because of this whole POI proximity alert issue and the lack of delete-waypoints-by-symbol.)

…..o Note that galore of the newer Garmin GPS’s (e.g., 450) say they support proximity alerts, but the functionality is limited to when a waypoint is on the route being navigated. This is a major divergence from the old eTrex Legend HCx, where plainly being the appropriate distance from a POI was sufficient to trigger the proximity alert – even when not navigating. In the case of the 30, proximity alerts in addition work when not navigating (like the old eTrex Legend HCx) but the proximity alert require to be for a waypoint and not a POI.

o Another new mounting strategy to purchase mounts for.

Bugs:

o cant transfer tracks and waypoints directly from the 30 to MapSource as was supported for the old eTrex. In USB Mass Storage mode (Setup > scheme > USB Mode > Mass Storage) only the current track, not waypoints or archived tracks are transferred. In Garmin mode (Setup > scheme > USB Mode > Garmin), the current track and all archived tracks are transposed but the waypoint checkbox is greyed out in the MapSource dialogue box (meaning that MapSource probably does not recognize the waypoint file on the 30). One approach for merging a single waypoint .gpx file and multiple track .gpx files is to drag and drop each .gpx file onto a discerned MapSource session then copy/paste into a single MapSource session. For this to work, you would use USB Mass Storage mode. (Note that trying to drag and drop into a single MapSource session results in only the data from the last drag-and-drop being present in MapSource; it assumes replace rather than add and does not issue an error message.) Garmin suggests that BaseCamp is the future and this problem with MapSource will probably not be fixed.

o whether or not you download maps to the GPS, the Map Information page will display one of your maps plus the two basemaps which come with the GPS. The Map Information page will not scroll beyond those three maps so you are unable to disable any maps beyond those three. My testing suggests that, regardless, all of the downloaded maps are on the GPS and the maps display correctly; the testing by the Garmin tech support person suggests that the maps were not being displayed decently on his 30 – so we have two conflicting stories. The Map Information page is accessed either by (a) Map > Menu > Setup Map > Map Information or (b) Setup > Map > Map Information. Garmin is working on a fix. Hopefully, all of the parties involved are intercommunicating distinctly but I am unsure because Garmin’s suggested interim mend did not resolve the difficulties The fix was to rename Garmin\gmapsupp.img (the downloaded maps) to any other name, e.g., Wyoming.img. After renaming, the Map Information page continued to display only 3 maps, but rather than displaying the name of a map segment (an area of a more prominent map set) it was now (after the rename) displaying the name of the map set. Given that I had downloaded 42 map segments from two dissimilar map sets, the 30 must be displaying more than one of my maps – no matter of whether it is showing map segments (as the old eTrex Legend HCx does and the 30 did prior to the rename) or map sets (as the 450 does and the 30 did after the rename).

o While in USB Mass Storage mode, performing an Eject on Win7 64-bit generates a dialogue box: “An error occurred while ejecting …”. So, the 30 does not power down (as the Oregon does) and leaves the GPS’s display showing the USB-connected icon. This makes me nervous regarding whether all files have been in the right manner closed or whether there is potential corruption. This problem did not go away after updating the 30 firmware and rebooting the computer. No other appliances are encountering this faults Garmin has no other reported incidents of this difficulties I tried dissimilar cables (including the included cable), different ports, and three Win7 64-bit computers but the error message perpetually appears. All three computers are running the latest version of BaseCamp (3.2.2), which means the computers have the latest Garmin drivers (2.3.0.0).

Tips:

o Just like the old eTrex Legend HCx, press and hold Rocker to Mark Waypoint.

o Just like the old eTrex Legend HCx, pressing the Power button cycles the brightness: medium > high > off. The user manual just describes pressing the Power button once then using the Rocker to fine tune the luminance brightness Just like the old eTrex Legend HCx, Menu > Menu will return to the Main Menu.

o Just like the old eTrex Legend HCx, pressing and keeping the Menu button will open the Find page.

o When you primary get the 30, back up all of the files on the GPS to a hard drive.

o Sometimes it is desirable to display the current time to the second rather than just hours:minutes. This can be utile when setting a camera’s time for later automated synchronization of photos to tracks or waypoints. To display the current time including seconds on the 30:

…..o Alternative A: Compass > Menu > alter Dashboard > huge Data Field. The time including seconds will appear at the top of the Compass display.

…..o Alternative B: set the Trip Computer to large Numbers and set one of the two huge number fields to Time of Day (Trip Computer > Menu > Big Numbers > Menu > modify Data Fields > navigate to top or bottom big number field > enter (Rocker) > choose Time of Day from the list > enter (Rocker)).

…..o Alternative C: set the Map to display 1 big number and set that field to Time of Day (Map > Menu > Setup Map > Data Fields > 1 large > Back > Menu > Change Data Fields > enter (Rocker) > choose Time of Day from the list > enter (Rocker)).

…..o Alternative D: use the system information page, but the current time will be displayed in UTC/GMT/Zulu time, rather than local time. Turn off the 30 > hold the enter (Rocker) while pressing the Power button > release the Power button > when the system information page appears, release the Rocker. To exit the system information page, power off the 30 as you usually would.

…..Unfortunately, using the Power button to fetch up the backlight display no longer displays time including seconds as it did on the old eTrex.

…..Some of the alternatives above could be implemented using Profiles.

o A firmware update (2.10 -> 2.20) is available for the eTrex 30 using BaseCamp or WebUpdater. The update adds support for modern geocache logging.

There is more functionality to experiment with (Compass, Altimeter) but that is for another day.

The Etrex 20 is a nice step up from the Legend H. Satellite reception is very sensitive. I compared the Etrex 20 head to head with the Magellan GC…The Etrex 20 locked on to 18 satellites underneath a sky with no obstacles vs. the 5 locked on by the Magellan GC. The Etrex was showing an accuracy of 7 feet (Glonass satellite constellation added to U.S. + WAAS and European satellites allows for this type of accuracy) while the Magellan GC was showing 56 feet. Inside a building next to a window, the Etrex 20 found 14 satellites. The Magellan GC was unable to find any satellites.

The aquisition of satellites is rather fast. From a cold begin out of the box, the Etrex 20 found my emplacement in when it comes to 30 seconds. Once the unit has found it’s location, subsequent aquisition times (given that one hasn’t traveled various hundred miles since last turning it on) is virtually immediate.

Garmin tech on the phone helped me put my identification on the get started up screen.

The unit allows for one to choose the order that screens come disturb I liked the Legend H’s advancement of boot up screen into satellite screen into map screen…I have set my unit to power up on the satellite screen, and then when I am satisfied with the satellites that have been found, pressing the back button puts me into the map screen. Pushing back again gets me into the menu screen.

The basemap is globally in scope for major highways (the Legend covered North and South America as far as major highways are concerned. The rest of the earth consisted of primitive outlines of countries, no highways, only capital cities), and the coverage of towns and cities around the earth is impressive. I looked for the little city of Turfan in the Gobi Desert of northwest China on the old silk route and found it! The world basemap genuinely shows more towns when on the 5 or 3 mile scale than my New York Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World in the U.S. and around the world earth more towns than the NYT Atlas in Mali!). whether or not a dot is not labeled, you can move the arrow to the dot, and the display will differentiate the town (highways can similarly be identified). One can seach for globally cities by direct spelling…the Etrex usually comes up with the intended choice before one spells out all of the letters of the name. When the town is found, the user is free to thoroughly examine the map for the found town’s setting. This is neat for looking up a town that comes up in speech or on the news! The Magellan has street level coverage within the U.S. The Etrex 20 does not include this. That said, downloading and SD cards with street level mapping inside and beyond the U.S. is available from Garmin as well as topographical maps. The Magellan GC does not have downloading or SD’s available.

The color screen is genuinely quite readable without use of backlighting when in a lit environment surroundings can be lowered to none whether or not one wishes to make the batteries last 25 hours). The color screen shows the physical relief of a county at the 3 mile scale and above (white background for 2 miles or less). I like the daytime screen much better than the nighttime screen. I went into settings and made the daytime screen the default screen at all times.

I found that I could go to the trip computer option, and change one of the fields to display battery condition. I have made this a page now…unit now powers onto the satellite page, pressing “back” takes me to map, pressing back takes me to trip computer, and pressing back again gets me to the main menu. swell stuff!

I’m thrilled with this unit.

Updated by internet to version 2.4

Got the North America Roadmap…it has every road in the U.S and Canada, and most in Mexico. The unit allows one to search for an address anyplace in the continent…it will prompt for state (or province), city, house (business) number, and at last street. The unit often times comes up with a list of options before entire entry is completely typed in. You can then see a map of the selected address (and zoom in and out and pan), and if desired, ask it to navigate to the spot. If you wish to search for places of interest such as restaurants in a city far away, go to settings,system, then select the satellite listing and place the unit in demo and exit out . Then select “Where to”, find “city”, and select move to city. Now you can search for places of interest in the selected city, and if desired, navigate to it is Remember to go back and activate the satellites, and WAAS. When on a scale of 300′ or less, the unit displays points of interest, often with business logos! (update Dec 4…this works on the recreational profile. On the automotive profile, one cant move location to the city of interest. In the automotive profile, the special importance and significance is on navigating to the city of interest)

I have no interest in geocaches, and cannot comment on how the unit does with this!

Update 11-24…

At or above the 20 mile zoom, peculiarly 30 miles and up, the topographical detail shown on the physical relief map is quite vivid. Below that zoom level (12 miles or less…and at the higher 20+ mile zooms when there is little in the way of relief to display), I prefer the blank white background allowing for the roadway networks to be highly visible. I just realized that the settings/map menu choice offers the option to not display physical relief at any zoom scale! Until now, I was disappointed to have the blank background only at the 2 mile zoom or less. Nice! I do wish that the option to display highest density of towns/data permitted for even more towns to be displayed in rural areas where towns are far apart.

Update 12-02…

Tech support helped solve the density of towns shown not being as full as I expected when unit is set to display “most” (as in most towns that the unit will display). I was operating the unit in the recreational profile. On the automotive profile, the map will show all of the towns in the data base on the map on the 3 mile scale choice (or dots that the curser can be moved over to call up an id if the map is too crowded), and a good a good deal of towns at the 5 mile scale.

Update 06-11-12…

Version 2.80 made a huge difference on the response of the unit when journeying at a walking speed. I would imagine that folks that use this for geocaching will find this latest version a great improvement. Previously, (even after allowing the unit to get a solid lock on all available satellites with an estimated 1 ordinary deviation radius of 9′ or less) when navigating the last several dozen feet to a target, the unit would lag behind. I may walk 10-15 feet before it would impact the remaining distance/bearing to the target. The lag would in addition result in overshooting the target. The new upgrade makes the unit respond virtually instantly and smoothly, and allows me to “softly land” upon the target down to the last foot! I in addition notice now that after the unit has locked in on the available satellites with most reception bars showing “d” as in good lock, the etrex will discern the elevation difference between being held at eye level vs. being placed at groud level, and then back to eye level. Outstanding!

I have just obtained my eTrex 30 unit, and so far it is perfect and a great improvement over the still astounding eTrex Vista HCx.

The eTrex 30 is for all purposes, the new Vista HCx, both have barometric altimeters and both have compasses, however, the 30 has a tri-axis compass that grant to look at the unit perpendicularly to the ground and it will still mark to the north.

Among the improvements are of course the new hi-color screen (Allows BirdsEye maps, like having a Google Earth in your pocket on the trail!). Wireless transmission of data via ANT+ that as well works with heart rate and cadence monitors. And the most primary geek factor, the reception of GLONASS signals!

One of the new things that I like a lot is that everything now is a file, on the Vista HCx to download the files it was indispensable to use the Garmin serial protocol, now with the 30, only with connecting the unit to a USB port in the computer it is possible to get all the captured data in standard-compliant GPX files. This as well means that there is a 2GB (1.7GB usable) flash storage device in the unit.

Placing GPX files in the rectify folders in the unit as well displays the information within those in the unit, like waypoints or tracks. It is much requiring little effort now. In Linux I use gpsbabel to convert back and forth from galore formats, in specifi I take pleasure in exploring my trips again with Google Earth and it requires KML files, gpsbabel assists to do that precisely.

Also, there is an Alarm Clock on the unit, I just tested it a 4:30am and it woke me at regarding 2 meters from my bed. This is something I genuinely wanted to have in my Vista HCx, as my journeying wristwatch isn’t that loud, and I had to use a Casio journey clock just for that. One fewer device to carry!

Loading maps is now way more rapidly and without delay than with the Vista HCx, having both one for Europe and another locally, takes a few seconds, while before it took minutes

As always, a GPS unit like this, now with a GLONASS receiver, will beat any smartphone on trails and while traveling abroad. Here in the tropics close to the Equator I got a fix gorgeous quick, but not with as a good deal of GLONASS satellites as I wished, that is because that GNSS constellation is best employed way up in the north hemisphere.

The User Interface looks better, with antialiased fonts and beauteous icons, it is now more like a Windows XP UI, while in the Vista HCx with it is fixed color palette, was like a Windows 3.1 UI. The on-screen keyboard seems to be posing no difficulty to use, and looks like a miniature version of those included in smartphones.

Physically, the unit is lighter, more compact (A few millimeters more bulky in depth), requiring little effort to handle in your hand, the rocker is in the right side now, good for right handed, but my muscular memory keeps moving my thumb to the former rocker position in the Vista HCx. The illfamed rubber band applied in the Vista HCx that unglued so without apparent effort with time seems to be replaced with a more solid rubber sides, now attached with screws. The micro SD card is placed like a SIM card in a phone, beneath the batteries.

Now, this is something I have perpetually wanted that was NOT added… An option to LOCK THE BUTTONS! Neither unit has the option to refrain from the buttons to be pressed while having the unit on a backpack or in a holster. I would in truth like an option like in the mobile phones to do that (“Press such and such buttons to unlock”). a lot of times I have put my units in a bag to later retrieve them in a weird configuration screen and with a track erased or so.

I purchased this for backpacking in the Rockies and doing fieldwork in Texas. This review is only based on original familiarization and I have yet to use it much. I’m a little underwhelmed so far, but hopefully will like it more later. PROS: Nice size and good light weight for backpacking. Seems well made and durable. The controls and user interface are reasonably easy to figure out. CONS: The enclosed “Quickstart Guide” is reasonably useless. When you go online and actually find the appropriate real User’s Manual, it’s not much better. The manual for this eTrex20 model is in addition the manual for the eTrex10 and eTrex30, so such a good deal of of the features are not relevant and it doesn’t tell you this. The documentation as well has errors. For example, both guides explained that you need to calibrate the compass. The menus they instruct you to follow do not subsist on my model (“compass>menu>calibrate compass>start” vs. “compass>menu> and four other choices, none of which are “calibrate”). So you will have to anticipate to fumble around such a heap of unless you want to call tech support. Also, Garmin makes a big deal out of this model including their pre-loaded 1:100,000 scale topographic map. Unfortunately, it is beauteous useless. I don’t see how you could use it for any reason. If you want a useful map, you will need to buy their 1:24,000 scale maps at around $100 each. These are not transferable between other devices, so figure the total cost of the GPS and the extra maps you are going to have to buy when you are doing comparisons with other products.

As a minor note, the package does not include a lanyard. Amazon’s advertisement says it does, which is an errors

I’d been hiking and geocaching with my eTrex HC for the last few years, and have constantly been happy with it is The only thing I didn’t like was the very limited memory capacity for maps and geocaches (It only held 500 at a time). Consequently, I’d constantly have to take my laptop on road trips to load in more maps and caches as the trip went on. When rumors of a major upgrage to the eTrex line started filtering out I knew I’d have to check them out.

Having just got back from a two day overnighter hiking and camping in the Hoosier National forest with the new eTrex 30 Worldwide I must say I am VERY impressed. Every change that has been made is for the better. The ability to customize which screens and in what order will appear when you’re scrolling is very handy. The widely expanded range of satellites is genuinely impressive. I only had to wait about a minute for the unit to lock on, and then it is very accurate. The screen is bright and easily readable in broad daylight. The batteries seem to last forever. I put in a 4 gig card to augment the already large memory capacity. After loading in the elaborate topo maps for the entire southern half of the state, and over 1500 caches I can’t see where I’m making a dent in the storage capacity. I’m certain that I’ll find more things to love about this unit as I get to acknowledge it better. The feature where you can plug it into your USB port and then pull a very thorough user’s manual off the unit itself is beauteous slick. I was capable to get it pretty well set up intuitively, but the manual has a lot of stuff I might never have discovered. I as well like the feature that allows this unit to wirelessly “talk” to other Garmin units to interchange information such as maps and waypoints. All in all this new eTrex gives a lot of bang for the buck (the price for what you get is very reasonable! Another nice thing is that it just feels solid. The creative writing of recognized artisti value says it is water immune down to five feet. I don’t intend to drop it in the creek, but I recognise I won’t have to worry when hiking in the rain. Garmin really did a good job here is The unit has all the familiar controls of the old eTrex unit, but with a huge upgrade in functionality and utility. A definite five stars for this productions

First, let me point out that I am only reviewing this unit in terms of how well it works as a bike computer. I have not employed it for any other purpose.

Second, I would also like to point out that if I had been using this unit by itself, that is, the only GPS bike computer I was carrying, it would have taken me much longer to uncover the troubles I have found. As it was, I had another unit (Garmin Etrex Vista HCX) running alongside it and I was able to compare the results from the two units.

Overall Impression:

I really have a very favorable impression of this unit. If only it did not have two “fatal flaws.” It is relatively easy to set up, it has beautiful screens which are very customizable, and it has several different “Profiles” which means you can set up different screens for different purposes. Also, it uses both our U.S. GPS satellites and the Russian GLONASS satellites. Neat!

The Bad News:

But now the bad news: After my primary ride using the Etrex 30, I came across three immediate problems:

1. The main Odometer does not reset when you reset all the statistics. That means you are stuck with using the Trip Odometer to track your daily distance. After the firstborn 9.99 miles, the trip computer gives you only one digit to the right of the decimal place. The main odometer gives you two, but since you can’t reset it, that’s not very useful. After 100 miles, which I discovered on my third ride, you lose all decimal points and your distance increments in one-mile increments.

2. After my first ride, I felt the unit seemed to exaggerate Total Ascent.

3. The unit does not seem to acknowledge when it is stopped. This is crucial in calculating Moving Average.

Main Odometer Reset: This is distinctly something that can be handled with a software modified I don’t recognise why Garmin hasn’t fixed it already. I consider this a vast annoyance, but not a “fatal flaw.”

Total Ascent Exaggeration: It took me a while to pin down where a lot of extra accumulation is coming from but I was eventually able to distinctly demonstrate over and over that even when going downhill, Total Ascent proceeds to increments This is not a matter of the display “catching up” which is common. You often see “catching up” right after you crest a hill and start down. No, this unit proceeds to increase Total Ascent all the way down hills. On one ride over a bridge which has its top about 100 feet above sea level, I saw Total Ascent increase 16 feet by the time I got back down to sea level. Definitely a “fatal flaw.”

Moving Average problems: I discovered, after much examination, that even when my bike is leaning against a fence, out in the open away from all interference and potential bounce sources, that the speed, instead of remaining at 0, shows intermittent speeds of .2, .3, .5 miles per hour. That is, the unit does not know it has stopped. I used to see this phenomenon several years ago when antennas were much less sophisticated and many GPS units had trouble maintaining their locks on satellites. I thought those days were behind us, but apparently not. This intermittent showing of movement, when there is none, is also reflected in Moving Time. On a typical 40 mile ride, the Moving time on the 30 is 2-3 minutes longer than on my Etrex HCX. Two to three minutes of Moving Time causes a tremendous hit on Moving Average.

The Future:

I have reported these difficultnesses to Garmin Technical Support and it will be interesting to see if they ever get fixed. As the unit stands now, about one month after it was released, I cannot commend this unit as a bike computer. Its numbers simply cannot be trusted.

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