Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Perks:
1) Looks kid-friendly. Neat and colorful. It is oodles better than my first playpen purchase, a bizarre contraption we later discovered is also marketed separately as a dog enclosure!
2) Has a locking gate.
3) Is pretty stable on hard floors when placed on 2'x2' interlocking foam playmats (purchase separately).
4) Has suction cups for hard floors (I haven't used them).
5) Each wall piece is light weight and easily assembles and disassembles.
6) The play wall comes with batteries already installed. Thank you.
7) The bear stickers other reviewers have complained about were not included in my kit (spring 2005). I won't miss them.
Drawbacks:
1) The Playzone is small. I found it less expensive to buy two and combine them, rather than pay for shipping on several extension kits.
2) The battery-operated music is loud and there is no volume control. I taped cardboard over the speaker (located on the exterior wall) to muffle the sound.
3) The mirror is the same flexible mirror found on all toddler toys. I dislike these mirrors because they provide distorted images and are not durable for future generations of kids who will use this Playzone.
4) I wish the gate lock was easier to manipulate. You push a button and slide a latch to retract or release two prongs. Locking the gate can take a second because I have to slightly lift the gate so the prongs extend properly into the holes in the lock. I'll get used to it. If not, wall segments are easy to pull apart and reattach (though that's kind of loud).
6) The gate is not full length top-to-bottom. There is a trippable lip you step over when going into or out of the Playzone.
All-in-all this is the best play yard I've found on the market as of spring 2005. With a few tweaks it could be great.
Update four months later: The Playzone is still great. Our kid can push two segments of gate outward a little at the yellow joints, (this is noticeable because we configure the Playzone in a square shape), but it's not a big deal. We don't bother using the gate door, preferring to just walk/climb over the wall. Our kid enjoys the music buttons on the entertainment panel, but I wish this panel was included in a separately-purchased expansion kit so that the core product was sold at a lower price. Two Playzones combined leave ample room for Mom and Dad and baby to play together. Our cat can jump in and out via a couch placed next to the Playzone (a good thing for us).
I have not experienced a problem with the door hinge that another reviewer mentioned. My door locks when you close the door and move an outside lever that pushes two blue plastic "bolts" from the wall base out and into holes in the door. A locked door shouldn't open when a toddler pushes or pulls on the door. If that happens in your case, yeah, contact the manufacturer.
I envision never needing to lock and unlock the door. While our kid is small, it's easier for us to climb into the Playzone. When our kid grows bigger, we'll just leave the door unlocked.
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Friendly Toys Little Playzone with Sounds and Lights
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