Better than its predecessor, still needs work though
Pros:
lights, captivating music, reachable toys, one battery compartment,
Cons:
defective toy bar
The Bottom Line:
This is a good buy for the money. There are no other bouncers that come close.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
This seat is for our 3 month old daughter who weighs 15 pounds. First, I'll point out the pros of this bouncer seat. The music is wonderful. The waterfall is captivating. The colors are mesmerizing. She can sit in the seat for 25 minutes easily. The seat takes 4 D-size batteries. Unlike other bouncer seats we have used, there is only one compartment for 4 D-sized batteries. Unlike its predecessor (the Ocean Wonder Aquarium), the Rainforest bouncer keeps our child AWAKE. If we wanted our child to sleep, we'd put her in bed, not the bouncer. So Fisher Price definitely got it right this time! A++!
The cons is that the seat was used twice before it started to make this loud clicking noise from the bar. Being an engineer, I took it apart and noticed that the gears are designed to click (or skip a gear) if a child were to grab the frog or the monkey while it is moving. This prevents the gears from being stripped or the motor overheating. However, the tension on this "gear skipping" behavior is too sensitive such that after 3 hours of use, the clicking occurs from just the friction of the frogs moving up and down on the bar.
I called customer support about the clicking and they promptly sent a replacement bar. After 2 weeks of using the new bar, it started clicking. Argh! The good thing is that the new bar does it randomly.
We're willing to live with the flaw and the annoying clicking from time to time for the Pros listed above. Once the clicking becomes consistent, we'll call for another replacement bar.
The other con is questionable. There is much debate about the height of the toys on the bar. Being an "infant" bouncer, it is designed such that the child can grab the toys and even pull the rings off the monkey. Our daughter loves it! We do have the Fisher Price "Kick and Play" which is designed for slightly older children in that it provides more clearance between the child and the toys ... hence "Kick and Play."
The bouncer comes with a one-year warranty. So for a year, I can get replacement bars as the clicking becomes annoying. After replacing enough of them, will their engineers will fix the problem? I hope so.