Customer Reviews

DaVinci Parker 4 in 1 Crib with Toddler Rail, Natural

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My husband and I are good students, we did a lot of research before deciding on this crib. Our homework included visits to Babies R Us and Jordan's, reading Baby Bargains, Consumer Reports, and reviews here on Amazon. We chose this one based on (1)Price (2)Quality of reviews/materials (3)Extended life due to conversion options (4)Preference for no drop-side (5)Availablity in a Natural finish.

Pros:
-Shipping was fast! We ordered on 8/11 and it arrived 8/19.
-Assembly was easy! I'm 31 weeks pregnant, and put it together alone in less than 2 hours with nothing but a Phillip's tip in my drill and the materials provided.
-It's sturdy and strong without seeming massive or heavy.
-It's attractive, natural pine and has graceful curves.
-Included toddler rail is terrific and extends the life of the crib.
-Included trundle drawer is nice bonus.
-You can order parts to convert to a full-sized bed, further extending the life of the crib.
-All-wood/metal construction.

Cons:
-Directions could use a little fine-tuning. I'm pretty handy, and they were not so clear. The wooden crib parts are not labeled at all, making it difficult to determine which side was which. I also ended up with extra parts. There were many more locking washers included (20) than were indicated in the parts list (4), and the instructions never told you how and when to use them. I used 4 when installing the metal platform, but didn't use the rest.
-Trundle drawer is pretty cheesy. Not that this should be a selling point of the crib, but it's mostly particle board, the under-drawer support is too short, and the total drawer size is tiny compared to the dimensions of the crib. No wonder they don't show it in the picture! Ironically, this was the only part that had any labels for assembly.
-Pine is a soft wood, and dings pretty easily. It arrived with a couple of dings, and I put a couple in it during assembly. This is to be expected and is a compromise we were willing to make based on the price.

Notes:
-This will be our first child, so we haven't used it yet, nor do we have much to compare it to besides other furniture.
-Someone less handy might have more trouble with assembly.
-Amazon told us it would arrive in January, but that probably was a SNAFU.
-Product is actually made by Million Dollar Baby, DaVinci is a sub-label of MDB. You can find MDB/DaVinci reviewed in the book Baby Bargains (which is an awesome resource, for the record.)

Summary:
Nice crib for the price, which is just what we wanted. Thanks!

When I saw this item online, I thought it looked solid and beautifully crafted. I know however that things don't always look as good when you receive them. This item exceeded my expectations. Not only is the color great, but it is as stable as I thought it would be. My husband put it together, and had no problem. We love that the side is curved so I can get my 9 month old son out easily. I am 7 months pregnant and was concerned that because the side does not go down, that I would have a problem reaching him. I have not had this problem. Also, the mattress will still go down two more levels for when he begins to pull himself up.
The only thing people should know, is that THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE ATTACHED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SPRINGS. We thought the instructions were left out as there was a piece of cardboard attached to the springs, and could not see the instructions. This item sat in the box for days while we tried to get a response from the manufacturer as to receiving a copy of the instructions. I wish someone had informed us of the location prior to our issue. Anyway, great item!

The five stars are earned by the furniture and Amazon. The manufacturer gets zero stars. My husband and I purchased the entire DaVinci Parker set and were very pleased with the appearance, ease of assembly and craftsmanship of the products. However, there were some damaged parts during shipping and we contacted Million Dollar Baby (the manufacturer) to request replacements.

The process is ridiculous. There are no phone numbers to contact. We had to fill out incident reports on each item and include photographic evidence of the damaged parts (good luck on taking pictures to prove pieces are missing), including our original invoices showing our shipping address to prove we were actually the buyer. The website clearly states a response will be issued in 72 hours.

Two weeks later we got an email stating that our request was incomplete and we needed to submit additional information in order to be sent the replacement parts.

In the meantime, we had contacted Amazon regarding the issue. In the time it took Million Dollar Baby to respond another additional furniture set was shipped to us, so we could find the replacement parts necessary and ship back the broken pieces with the replacement to Amazon. Thank goodness we ordered through Amazon or this would've been a nursery nightmare.

- The crib looks great when finished, we took the white color
- The packaging is not good when it comes, the UPS people had a lot of trouble getting it while avoiding things coming out of the box or damaging it
- Had some minor damages because of the bad packaging, I ignored it, but I do have a eye for dings and scratches, and it bothered me for a few days
- The drawer is not of same material, but its not too bad either
- The bolts can be seen, do not cover, but this is the case with most cribs I have seen in market
- Now for good parts, it looks great!
- The wood is great for the money I paid (241), but more than 250 you should not pay
- It was not too hard to assemble, but requires two people
- Open up a large photo of crib from internet to see before start assembly, as the instructions which come with it are not too clear
- The assembly instructions are tagged on to the back of the black frame, so keep an eye for it
- The drawer has a small bar to be attached to bottom, do not tighten it too much, else the drawer can get cracked
- The standard size mattresses fit easily, the crib is sturdy, I moved it etc and feels solid
- Giving 5 starts coz I am happy overall, but they can improve a lot in packaging

I did alot of of research on cribs and found this one to best fit my needs. I am short and the bowed front helps with getting in the crib to lift a baby out. This is something I had not thought of before!
Assembly was fairly easy. My husband and I put it together in 2 hours. The crib is solid, stable and a beautiful honey oak color. One note - the drawer rolls on the floor under the crib and therefore does not have any 'top' to it. This could lead to dust on the items you store in there or a lovely nap place if you have cats! I would definitely recommend this crib and can't wait to watch my baby sleeping in it.

The only major problem I had with this product was that there was a small bolt missing in one of the side rails and when I tried to go through the company to get the piece replaced, they sent the wrong piece and it took over a week. So again I emailed them (because they don't have a phone number to get in touch with them) and it took them again over a week to get the replacement piece to me. That was just completely ridiculous and took way too long to get the crib together.

My wife and I were looking for cribs for our first child, and waffled back and forth between buying an expensive crib at a store, or buying this one from Amazon. We could afford a more expensive crib, but we felt like it wouldn't be a very good investment - cribs are usually sold once the parents stop having children, and we don't really think our kids will care how fancy their crib is. But I was worried that this crib would be cheap-looking or flimsy, and it was hard to tell from the reviews.

After receiving it (no shipping problems) and assembling it (fairly easy, but the instructions could be improved), I can say that I'm very happy with it. The color/stain is very good, and the crib looks great and is very sturdy. It's a higher-quality piece than the low-end cribs provided at the big box baby stores. To be sure, the quality is not as high as a $600 crib, but it is more than enough to look great and to fit into any nursery. If you are nervous about whether this crib will look "cheap" - stop worrying, go ahead and buy this one, you'll be happy you did.

Given the cost of this crib it is almost perfect so I will start with the good points

1) Great finish, I purchased the Cherry finish and it was very close to the images on the website so spot on there

2) Fairly easy to put together, I am pretty handy with some assembley required stuff and it took me about an hour from start to finish to put together by myself. A few steps would have been faster with an extra pair of hands so maybe two people can do in 45 minutes give or take

3) Very sturdy once assembled, I used a framers square during the final tightening to make sure everything was at 90 degree angles and once I got everything in there is no wiggle at all. The only movement is if I move the entire crib as a unit

4) I would have purchased this unit with or without the drawer and really did not consider that as far as value for the money so it is a bonus but not something I really care about, it is open top though so if you use it expect dust to get in there

5) 4 level mattress adjustment, I never considered this a plus until all the other cribs in this price range that I saw only had two level adjustment. Seems to be fairly easy to move from one level to the next as well, just 4 bolts.

Now the only thing that would have made me give this thing 5 stars would be if it had bolt plugs to cover the bolt heads that are visible, I can probably make them out of dowels but it would have been nice and I would have paid the extra $10 or so dollars if it came with them.

Also keep in mind this is made of pine, and while it is solid wood pine is a softer wood, so I expect I will have teeth marks and stratches down the road, but again the value for the money was there.

My wife did the shopping and price comparisons, while my duty was to assemble any of our purchases. Thus, I can't compare this to other products, but I like my first impressions of the product and it meets my expectations.

The crib is shipped in a large rectangular box, not much thicker than a couple of pizza boxes, through some miracle of geometry. I would recommend spending some time to inspect the parts while they are still laying in the box, as it would be nearly impossible for anyone to get the pieces to fit back into the box should it be damaged and in need of return.

I was able to assemble this crib in a little less than 2 hours by myself. It would have been a bit easier if I had someone else to hold pieces during assembly, but nevertheless it was not too difficult. The parts are labeled by small stickers to help with the assembly, but nevertheless it is sometimes a challenge to decipher up or down and the directionality to some of the pieces as it isn't too clear from the instructions. I had to rely a bit on my experience from putting together furniture from Ikea, which is quite a bit more challenging.

This is a sturdy crib - it doesn't warp or rock if I lean on it - so I have hope that it will be long lasting and take some punishment as our child grows.

I hadn't seen this crib in person before I ordered it from amazon.com so needless to say I was worried because shipping something back this large is nearly impossible and extremely costly. Overall this is a great crib. I have not used it yet because my baby isn't due for a few more months but I can say that it seems very sturdy and solid and the cherry finish is beautiful. The instructions aren't fool-proof but after about 2.5 hours we were able to get this crib set up. At first I didnt like the fact that the screw holes were exposed but another reviewer mentioned that the covers/caps for the screw holes could become a choking hazard so now I am happy they aren't covered. The crib was packaged very well and it arrived without any scratches or chips in the finish however we did scratch the crib near one of the screw holes when putting it together. This probably could have been avoided if we were more careful but after an hour or so we were just ready to get it done and started rushing. The included drawer is not great but it works. It is not made of real wood like the crib itself but it seems fairly sturdy and could certainly be used to hold extra bed linens.