For children from 6 months to 5 years, the Minui Handysitt provides a comfortable place for your child to dine, both at home and away! Not only does it look great, but it's portable and is a responsible choice for protecting the environment! This 5 lb. wonder quickly folds up flat for storage or easy take along to restaurants or grandma's house.
Description: For our review, we tested the Minui Handysitt portable seat with three children, ages 6 months, 2 years, and 4 years. To assist with visual comparisons, we photographed each child from the front and side to show how they fit into this high chair. Note: this product can only be used with children who are able to sit upright unassisted (the company website recommends 7 months of age while the packaging states 6 months).
For the 6 month old, the portable seat cushion (black) was utilized to provide more comfort, better fit, and stability to the seat. A 3-point harness was also used, although we would have felt much more comfortable with a 5-point harness that keeps the baby from leaning too far to the side and not having the muscle strength required to come back to the upright position. For this reason, it is extremely important to not leave your infant unattended, not even for a moment.
As is required in Europe, this high chair has a required safety guard bar to be used for children under the age of 3 years. The safety guard and harness easily attach and detach by unscrewing the height adjustment knobs on the backside of the main support rails. This portable high chair is approved for use with children weighing up to 88 lbs (the typical 5 year old weighs around 45-50 lbs).
First Impression: This is a well-built, solid high chair, especially for its portability. It's sleek and stylish, and it definitely doesn't make my dining room look like a nursery! Compared to cheap plastic alternatives, this one takes the cake on appearances - and eco-friendliness!I love that it is made from sustainably harvested wood! I also love that the wood finish and plastics are non-toxic; I don't have to worry about formaldehyde or other nasty chemicals transferring into my child's meal. It's easy to wipe clean because there are virtually no places for food to hide, which is a problem I've experienced with other brands.
Our Opinions: The company claims any adult can set this up in 30 seconds, well, in reality it took us much longer. It wasn't because it is difficult to figure out or requires assembly, it just takes a really long time to unscrew and screw the adjustment knobs which hold everything together. Plus, those same knobs control the height adjustment, so each time you change out a harness or safety guard, you have to readjust the height as well. Due to this, I wouldn't buy this if you are planning to use it for multiple children of different ages in the same time period (switching it around for the photos wore me out).
Other than that, we were really happy with testing this product! It is sturdy, made of high-quality materials and workmanship, and the construction of it is solid. It's lightweight to carry, folds flat for storage, and cleans quickly and easily. I think the absolutely best part about it is that you can feed your baby, while sitting at the same height, at the table, without any giant clunky plastic furniture in the room. And then just as quickly take it off your chair and store it away within seconds! Ingenius for those of us who want to be parents with style AND convenience!
Comparison: Comparing several brands of the best-selling high chairs in America, the average cost was $110. For this price, you would receive not only a clunky plastic chair with a vinyl cover, but also lots of nooks and crannies in which food will hide over time and turn into a stinky (and probably moldy) mess. As a bonus, your child would also receive, free of charge, exposure to dangerous endocrine disruptors such as BPA and phthalates! And this is on top of the significant air and water pollution resulting from the production of petroleum based plastics and vinyl. You can expect this high chair to be used from age 4 months - 18 months. Then it's time to buy a booster seat...the average dining booster seat in America is $25 and you guessed it, made of the same toxic plastics and chemicals mentioned above. Let's add it up = you've spent $135 and received a mess of plastic, toxins, and limited use.
Now, let's look at the Minui Handysitt portable high chair seat. For $125 on Amazon.com (with FREE shipping), you will receive:
* Formaldehyde-free
* Phthalate-free
* BPA-free
* 3 yr manufacturer warranty
* 45-day money back satisfaction guarantee
Conclusion: Not only is this portable high chair the smarter choice for your child's health and the environment, but saving up to buy one is the smartest choice for your wallet! It's going to be useful to you for much longer, it's construction is superior, and overall, it's just better! And besides, it has a money back guarantee - try it, you'll like it - you have nothing to lose!
UPDATE: We were able to locate and try the 5 point harness straps sold for this model. Unfortunately, they do not adequately restrain the baby from falling over side-to-side as they are attached to the highchair frame only at waist level, leaving free movement from waist up. If you unscrew the wood frame and wrap the straps for the upper shoulder harness around the wood frame back support, you can obtain a more secure fit. However, the baby we tested was very uncomfortable with this harness secured in this fashion. We were unable to find a suitable fit that was both comfortable and secure with the 5 point harness ($35, sold separately).
