Customer Reviews

Baby Einstein Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My baby was initially attracted to the bright yellow fish and the music box. After 3 months, she started liking the octopus and all the different teethers and rattles on it. This activity mat entertains her. However, there are some quality and design issues - the collar on the octopus has threads coming off. One of the rings with beads also has open screws that rusted after washing the bead ring (washing is essential for the teething baby who tosses her toy everywhere). The rattle on the octopus is a bit cloudy. The mirror on the mat is not great quality. We have the Tiny Love activity mat as well, which is a better quality product. Both these mats entertained our baby from 2 months up.
UPDATE: The good news is that after contacting Kids II, which makes this mat, I was informed the toys do not contain BPA.

I was very disappointed with this product compared to the Tiny Love gym. The fabric is cheap, the music is a dumbed-down version of the classics, and the whale pillow slides out from under the baby. The accessories on the gym leave much to be desired. Do your self a favor, don't get sucked in by the marketing gorilla that is Baby Einstein. It's just mass-produced, on-the-cheap, make a profit on new parents, mediocre merchandise.

I chose this playmat because of the positive reviews. I was disappointed. I received a Tiny Love playmat as a gift, and I highly recommend it over this one. My biggest issue is the cheapness of the material--both the feel and the images. There's little threads hanging out all over it. It's also more complicated to put together compared to Tiny Love. The hanging toys are mediocre at best. There's one rattle my twins really enjoy so I actually tranferred it to the other playmat.

My son adores this baby gym so much that he can go in and play excitedly for over an hour every day. It's wonderful! Lots of toys for him to reach for and grab at, and he is completely spellbound by the octopus. It's a delightful thing to have for the baby. As a comparison, I also purchased the gymini by Tiny Love, and he likes it, but does not love it like he LOVES the Baby Neptune.

BEWARE: The ocean discovery cards featuring real life images of 6 underwater animals have "stickers" on the plastic circles which can be chewed off. Very poor choice of material for this age group which put everything in their mouth. I took these attachments away, but absolutely love everything else about the gym. I would have given it 5 stars otherwise. My son started rolling within a day of using this mat. The colorful mat gave him a great incentive to want to be on his tummy. The octopus is designed very well because it hangs above his head but he can pull it down and it reaches perfectly to chew on. The music is less annoying than most toys.

My little guy has been using this for 2 months now (he's 4 months now) and he really enjoys it. He constantly kicks at the toy bar, which changes the music (I don't know if he realizes that yet though). I like the options for the music and all the loops to put toys on. You can change it up as often as you like, it's really easy. I can usually get 10-20 minutes of time for myself while he's under this gym. My only complaint is that the fabric is so soft and silky that it doesn't work well for tummy time. He just slides around on it. The same goes for the stuffed whale toy it comes with it. It's supposed to be used as a prop pillow but it's slippery and a weird shape to be used for this.

We bought this for our son before he was born, back when we were captivated by all things baby but had no idea how to look for something that actually amuses baby. We set up the toy when our little boy was only one-week-old. At that time, it was hard to tell what amused him or not so we were convinced this was a hit. Now that he is 3-months-old, and starting when he was 2-months-old, we've had to make some major alterations to this to keep it relevant. We had to add more hanging toys and remove a few that came with it. I have no complaints about the lights and music part - its cute and keeps him occupied. But some of the toys it came with are downright lame. I appreciate the attempt to include the bilingual cards for the words "turtle" and "fish" but I don't think they are age appropriate. They're more suited for a one-year-old (who I doubt will be using a playmat). The octopus is okay (saved by the rattle) but poorly constructed. The mirror is more like a funhouse mirror than a real mirror (our little boy prefers real mirrors).

Overall, its fine. It does what it needs to do and has room to attach more toys. However, for the price (we paid $70), I'd like it to come with better toys.

Baby Einstein Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym Baby Einstein Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym

We received this mat as a gift for our 2 month old and it's definitely been the toy that's captivated him the most thus far.

Pros: He really likes the mirror and it is easy to position the dangling toys so that he can hit and kick them, which causes him (and us) endless amusement :) The mat feels nice and there is a lot to entertain him.

Cons: I laundered the mat per instructions after our son was sick on it. It cleaned up fine, but came out of the washer covered in what looks like tiny pieces of tissue, which could possibly be a choking hazard. I've only had to wash it once so far, so I don't know if that happens every time, but it was a pain to clean it up before leaving it to dry. Also, the electronic toy is not my favourite - the flashing lights are fast and erratic and after getting down to my son's level and looking at it from the same distance as he was, I ended up switching it off because it just seemed like way too much stimulation; there was no pattern to the lights and they were sooo much faster than the music it just didn't seem like a good idea to have that happening 6' from my sons eyes.

So in conclusion, using it without the electronic toy, it's a great product. Lots to see and play with and most importantly, my son likes it. As a gift, I'm happy with it. If we'd paid $[...] for it, I'd probably return it and get a mat with a different lights/sound component.

i love this product. my baby is 3 months old and is mesmerized by the octopus, loves seeing his face in the mirror, and enjoys the music and blinking lights. it keeps him occupied for about a half hour at a time and switching the toys around will keep him there even longer. easy to put together but needs extra cushioning for hardwood floors.

We bought this baby gym before my son was born and I put it out in his playroom immediately. Even before he was old enough to fully understand toys, we used it for tummy time. By about 6 or 7 weeks old, he enjoyed lying on his back and staring or occasionally batting at the toys hanging from it.

The first part of this toy he really loved was the octopus. Although I think it's a creepy-looking little thing (my husband and I called it "the genetic mistake"), my baby used to smile at it every time he saw it. Sadly, he is fickle and his love for the octopus was short-lived. However, he's gone on to appreciate other aspects of the baby gym as he's gotten older. Even now at 11 months old, he still plays with the lights-and-sounds portion of the baby gym and will occasionally grab at toys hanging off of it. The turtle rattle is still one of his favorite rattles because he likes to chew and play with all the little dangly things on it.

I will probably put this baby gym away when my son turns 1 next month, but he's gotten consistent use from it for most of his first year of life, making it well worth the cost.