Chicco TravelSeat High Chair review
Here's M hooked onto a (round) table at a dim sum restaurant two years ago:
The concept is simple, and one that has been used in the past, though perhaps not in such a well-designed fashion. It looks kind of excessive at first glance, but it quickly became apparent to Jason and me that this mechanism was safer than the other clamp designs we saw out there. You can see that the under-table clamp arm is much longer than in most other chairs, which aids in stability and prevention of falls caused by poor attachment. We have used this chair hundreds of times, and at dozens of locations and have yet to see it budge from its installed location (despite all attempts by the boys to dislodge it). Similar chairs had the same clamp, but much shorter arms (and unprotected metal parts that could damage your table). Theoretically, since our seat never moved even a little bit, having shorter arms might not be a big problem and in fact, would make it easier to transport. But looking at other chairs in comparison, I didn't get the same sense of security as I did with this one. Of note, I believe the weight limit is 33 pounds.
In fact, we took M to an outdoor wedding in June, 2005, and brought this chair along. Another couple stopped us and warned us that they had a similar chair and that it had fallen off their counter top and their baby fell on the floor. I could be wrong, but they probably had a seat like this:
The genius in the design of the Chicco chair is in the clamp, which is shown in detail below. Like other chairs, it has a hand-tightened component to attach it to the table (some chairs were held only by gravity and the weight of the baby!). But the extra long arms that extend deeper under the table are the ultimate in safety design, additionally securing and stabilizing the chair in its place.
To attach it, you slip the chair onto a table (easier on straight-edged tables, but can be attached to round or polygonal tables as well) and push the arm pins up until they are snug against the bottom of the table (it makes a clicking sound when you do this). You then tighten the chair by turning the red knobs on the bottom of the pins. If your table has a significant skirt (>6"), this chair will probably not fit on it. To release the chair, unscrew the red knobs a few turns to loosen the grip, then press the red button to quick-release the pins and slide the chair off the table. It takes some practice to be able to quickly attach/detach the chair but it's quite easy to do and we can pretty much do it in a matter of seconds.
The clamp arms are rubberized, so all contacts with the table are protected. Our dinner table has not been scratched or dented (by this chair) at all. We use it as our everyday high chair at home, and also bring it with us when we go out to eat (which is infrequent). Aside from cooking at home, I much prefer taking out over eating out these days.
You can take the chair apart and the fabric is machine washable. If you have a messy meal, you'll want to launder it, which can be a chore, but most of the time, we wipe it down with a damp towel and wash it every weekend or so. M was pretty good at feeding himself without making too much of a mess. A likes to chew on the chair fabric and it can get messy at times, but I haven't felt that it's been too difficult to keep clean. I really like that we can have the boys up close to the table with us when we eat. It really feels like we are all included during dinner.
Here's A hooked onto our dining table at home (compared with the photo of M above, it's clear how our photos have been so much more vibrant since buying the SLR):
It comes with a zippered mesh carrying bag, but most of the time we just bring it along as is, and toss it in the trunk. To get it in the bag, you have to fold the chair up, which takes a few seconds more, but we don't usually find that we need to keep it so compact (except when we traveled and had to pack it into our luggage).
This is kind of hard to find in stores, and isn't carried by any of the regular online stores I shop at. I believe I purchased it at a Right Start store (not my favorite store to shop at, but I won't get into that now), but I don't think they carry them anymore. If I had to buy this again, I would get it online at either Babies R Us (which for some reason was not available the last time I checked) or Albee Baby (which is where I bought our Tot Block, before I started shopping at Amazon.com). Albee Baby currently has them on sale for about $35, with flat $4.95 shipping for orders under $100 (free if over $100). That's a pretty nice deal for a high chair (they can run up to and over $100). I'd probably buy it there if I needed to buy this chair again soon.
Useful Links
Albee Baby Chicco TravelSeat product site
Babies R Us Chicco TravelSeat product site
Official Chicco TravelSeat product site
