Customer Reviews

Kalencom 2-in-1 Potette Plus, Blue

5 star:		(137)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I found this product while searching on Amazon for a portable potty seat. My 2 year old is pottying training, and while she does ok on "big potties," sometime public ones can be pretty gross (public parks, beaches, gas stations, etc) and sometimes the seats are way too big. I was initially looking for one of those little quad-folding plastic seats but after reading a lot of negative reviews of those (too flimsy, slippery, etc) , the Potette caught my eye. This review is of the Potette Plus, which I understand is different from the original Potette in that the seat is designed to do double-duty as both a self-contained portable potty (used with the accompanying plastic bag attachments) OR as a small potty seat (placed on top of a regular toilet). I'm not familiar with the original Potette seats but my understanding is that they don't have this secondary function. I was a little confused at how it worked, and it didn't look all that portable in the pictures but the price was right and I thought I would give it a try regardless.

When I got the product in the mail I got a better feel for how it works. It consists of a small circular molded hard ring (the seat itself), with two half-moon shaped "legs" that fold either completely inward for storage, straight down to function as legs on a potty chair, or flanged out to function as a potty seat. When stored, it's certainly bulkier than a quad-folding potty seat but it's still actually surprisingly compact. It slips easily into all my diaper bags and it's certainly smaller than lugging along a separate small potty chair, which is what we had been doing before I got this. Figuring out how to put it on a big potty was a little awkward at first. It doesn't "fit" neatly on most potties so it felt a little slippy but I found that I was trying to place it too far forward and if I slid it back just a little bit it would nestle in between the two halfs of the toilet seat pretty nicely. The plastic seat itself is VERY sturdy. I think I could probably run over it with my car without even scratching it. It seems very comfortable for my daughter to sit on. It does occasionally slip a little side to side/back and forth since it doesn't anchor onto the seat like some home potty seats will, so you have to hold it and your child steady on some toilets (which is a good idea anyway). But I've never worried she's going to fall through or into the water.

My daughter never blinked at sitting on this and in fact she'll tell me she wants to "go potty on the red (one)!" She is very comfortable with the product.

I hadn't had a chance to use it as a self-contained potty chair until this past weekend when we went to the beach and she suddenly declared she needed to go. The nearest public bathrooms were really far away and I didn't trust we would make it. Thinking on my feet, I grabbed the Potette out of my backpack, set it up in the sand, opened up a diaper and set it underneath it and she immediately used it without any hesitation. (I would have used the accompanying plastic bag but I hadn't remember to bring any).

I've read a couple criticisms of the size (i.e. the seat is too small) and the sturdyness. First, a disclaimer that my daughter is petite. She's barely two and she's on the small side, so size is not a concern for me. It's actually perfect for her, but but also I think that even a much larger toddler would be fine. It's a smallish ring (I'm guessing about 9" in diameter at the widest part) but they really don't need to have something that big if you think about it. Even if their bums hang over the edges it still serves the purpose fine (much as our grown up butts hang over the sides of adult toilet seats). Regarding the legs, to use them the potty chair position, you do have to push them in and click them into place. If you don't do that then this would be very unsturdy, true. But clicked into place they feel VERY sturdy and I would have zero concerns about my daughter falling. I suspect I could stand on it without it even wobbling, though I don't of course recommend that!

It comes with a thick plastic bag that you slip it into that has been great for storage. I keep a bag of flushable wipes, and a spare bag insert in with the ring. These bag inserts, by the way, aren't that much to speak of. They are a big like a plastic grocery bag with a small very flat square of what I'm guessing is absorbent material like what you find inside a diaper glued in place in the middle. I haven't used one to see how much liquid it would hold but it doesn't seem like it would trap very much moisure. It looks like you could substitute a grocery bag in a pinch as others have suggested but I'd want one that doesn't have any holes!

Bottom line is that I couldn't be more pleased with this purchase and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this heartily to anyone who is traveling with a child or who is looking for an easy-to-tote potty seat for being out and about in public places. This is going on the list of things I recommend to other moms (and dads)!

Words can't express how I feel about this potty. It has and continues to be a lifesaver! I don't like public restrooms and I hate running around looking for one . . . this portable potty solves all that! FYI, I've tried the shopping bags with this and they work. However,I prefer to use Sassy bags (disposable diaper bags)and a paper towel. The trick is to stretch one side of the bag handle and wahlaa, you have a perfect fitting bag!

A great little travel potty for early trainers, but the instructions are not complete.

Pros:
Small size is perfect for babies and young toddlers.
Can be used as either a stand-alone potty or on top of a toilet, giving you options.
Folds up very compact.
You can use standard plastic grocery bags, just put a paper towel or cloth diaper inside.

Cons:
The legs are wobbly in the stand-alone potty position, making me a little nervous if my baby was too wiggly. EDIT: I figured out why the legs felt wobbly. You need to push them UP towards the seat to fully lock them. The enclosed instructions do not say this, but it's very important!!!
The bags that are designed for the potty stink of perfume.

Got this just for its dual purpose of being able to use on a regular toilet and on the go. It is nice that it is small and portable but it is really tiny when you get it on a toilet. It looks more ring like than seat like. This is especially true if you have an elongated toilet bowl. And if you have an elongated bowl the seat actually ends up sitting towards the back making it a little hard for the kid to climb on to. The worst part for boys is that if you/they are not careful the design tends to allow "sprayage" all over the place as there isn't much room between the kids "junk" and the front of the bowl. Have the Bjorn seat in another bathroom that works really well. Will likely get another for home and keep this one in the care for outings only.

I just got this a couple of days ago, but we've already put it to good use. My daughter has just decided to be potty trained, and I wanted to be serious about it. So, a day after she started, we went to a doctor's appointment. I had no clue what to do about going in public with a toddler who wasn't wearing a diaper, so I decided to take our regular potty seat. It was big and bulky and barely fit in my diaper bag (I have a 6-month old, too, so the bag was packed out).

When I came home from that appointment, is when I decided to look for an alternative to the regular potty seat. Someone told me about the foldable seats, and that's what I was going to get. Then I came across the potette 2-in-1. It seemed to be exactly what I needed. We're going on a few trips this summer, and toilets might not always be around, so I really needed something that could be both a potty seat and a potty chair. It's small enough to easily fit in a packed out diaper bag (don't get me wrong, it's still bulky, but I can't imagine it being any smaller than it is), it comes in nice bag to keep everything else around it sanitary, and it's just an all-around great concept!

My daughter has successfully used it as a seat on a regular sized toilet out in public twice already. She hasn't used it as a potty chair yet, but I did have her sit on it to test it out. It's very sturdy.

I can't say enough good things about this product and will be recommending it to all my friends!

UPDATE: It's been a week and we have used this item so many times, and both ways - as a chair and a a seat on a regular toilet. This one product has been so instrumental in keeping the potty training going away from home. We've used it in the car, in a parking lot, in public restrooms, at church, at a park....everywhere! It's a must-have.

This is great for the car if you have toddlers! It fits in the side pocket in the door of my minivan. You can use regular grocery bags with it (no need to buy the over-priced bags they try to sell you with it). Also, if you decide you DO want the bags with the little absorbant pad in the bottom (does not absorb enough to make it worth it), they are sold at babies-r-us for ALOT cheaper. My only complaint about this potty is that it is a bit short, but the compact design would not work if it were taller. A girlfriend of mine has the cheaper Pottette (not the "PLUS") and it seems alot more flimsy. I would pay the extra bit more for the thicker, sturdier legs as well as the grippy feet. I have even used this thing in a pinch inside my van, and it is not ideal, but worked just fine for an adult too!

We got this potty before our daughter was completely potty trained and it made a big difference in her success. We have used up all the refills that came with the potty and I decided to try using regular grocery bags. They do fit, but we needed to find something absorbant to go inside because most shopping bags are not sealed well enough to hold urine. We tried layering paper towels in the bottom with limited success, but what really worked the best was puppy training pads. At first I thought they were a bit expensive, but all you need is a small square. I found I could get 8-10 squares per pad and that's probably close to the price of the refills, if not a little less and I get to reuse the grocery bags and no shipping costs.

Save your time and don't read more reviews. Just buy this portable potty. A life-saver. works perfect in public restrooms and especially on the road, in your car, in cabin, on a hiking trail. Don't need special bags, any grocery bag is fine. And it can accommodate almost any size (yes, even adults!)

I'll cut to the chase.
PROS:
Here's the brilliance of this potty seat:
1) the "wings" (which serve as the base for the seat when in stand-alone potty form) that flip out to put on the adult toilet seat are secure and heavyweight;
2) these same wings have rubberized grippy bits on the ends, which keeps them from slipping around on the adult potty seat;
3) the base of the flipped-out bits can serve as a grip for the child inclined to grab the (*ack*) public seat.

We've used this primarily as a portable potty seat, because we have another portable potty chair in the back of our van. It fits neatly into its plastic bag, and the plastic bag fits very easily with room to spare into our backpack (which we use instead of a diaper bag). But I can see this working well for that function, too.

CON:
1) the hole is small, which makes wiping a newbie a little challenging. (It doesn't bother me, because my child stands to get wiped at this stage.) I suspect some ankle-grabbing would suffice. It doesn't pose a problem for the function, just, potentially, the cleanup.

Overall: win!

This portable potty / potty seat is the best thing we have bought for potty training. We have mostly used it as a seat, but a few times we have used it with the bags as a stand alone potty. I love that it can function both ways.

It folds up very small. We have the smaller backpack diaper bag by Eddie Bauer and it fits into the back pocket with no problem.

The seat itself is comfortable enough and stable enough that my son had no problems sitting on it, even before he turned two. The seat is actually designed better that the potty chair or the bjorn seat that we have in terms of splash-guard for boys.

I highly recommend this for anyone, because you can't just lock yourself in your house while potty-training. However, for people who travel and want to pack light, this is a necessity. I can whip it out in the airport, on the airplane, at my mom's house, in a hotel, wherever, and my son is comfortable enough to do his business in the potty.

Although I haven't used it for this - I can also imagine it might save some bigger kids (or adults) a dark walk to the bathrooms when camping. Just a thought. :-)