We purchased the Cradle'n'Swing Scatterbug in January for our second child. The swings we had for our older one where hand-me-downs and the motors had run out on both of them. One of the reasons I picked this swing over the others was because it had the multi-position feature that our daughter loved at daycare but we didn't have at home the first time. I also picked this one because it was slightly less expensive and didn't have a head rest as my kids tend to have big heads and I didn't want our son to grow out of it as quickly as our daughter did with her swings.
What I like:
The multi-positioning, the various speeds, the sounds (occassionally), the durability(stands up to a 2-year-old stopping it to give baby kisses in mid swing on a regular basis), it sooths our baby right to sleep and is used several times a day. The recline position. After having a baby with reflux, I like the position of the seat on this swing and it seems to help this time around. It's neutral in color. Yeah, it's green but it would work for either a boy or a girl and it makes a decent background for pictures :) It's also portable enough to move from our living room to our kitchen where I am a lot.
What I don't like:
The motor does make a bit of a "motor" noise but it's not terrible (this bothers my husband more than me), the "toys" or bugs are really cheap looking and not very entertaining to look at although our son doesn't really miond. The speeds change as the batteries wear down which is to be expected. We start at the lowest speed and gradually increase it as they wear down and it seems to work just fine.
In regards to other reviews:
Batteries: We've been using the swing for almost 9 weeks and have changed the batteries once (today, actually). I turn the power off every time I take him out of the swing and have tought others to do the same.
Motor being too loud: I mentioned this already but it's not that big of a deal to me. If you're expecting a quiet machine, you need to remember that it's a fairly simple mechanism and even the old crank swings made a noise. Ours doesn't smell like the motor is burning out and the motor has always made the same noise.
Swing speed: For a newborn it seemed a little fast but he has never minded and often falls asleep quickly.
This swing would be REALLY Aweomse if it had an AC adapter and you could plug your MP3 Player or iPod into it to play your own baby playlist, just say'n!