Customer Reviews

Kidco Pea Pod Indoor/Outdoor Travel Bed

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

We purchased the smaller sized peapod when my son was about 5 months old. My husband and I travel a lot and we needed a travel bed that was lightweight, easy to set up, and safe for our child. This met all of our expectations.

When I purchased this item, I had seen the reviews about how difficult it could be to re-fold the peapod. So I went out to Kidco's website and found a very helpful document there on how to re-fold it. When the peapod arrived, I practiced opening and closing per Kidco's instructions and it didn't take long for me to be able to figure it out and get it down without thinking about it. After that, any trip we went on it was a piece of cake folding it right back up and putting it back into it's pouch.

One of the things I love about it is that it is lightweight and compact. I can pack it in our suitcase and still have room for everything else I need to take.

It's also durable. Again, we travel a lot with our son (about once a month on average), and it has held up over the last 2 and 1/2 years. No tears, rips, or anything (and it's not like we're gentle with it).

Also, I found a technique that minimized the noise from zipping up the tent (holding my thumb and forefinger on the zipper teeth and zipper pull (where the zipper teeth have just closed as you pull the zipper). For whatever reason, that seems to dull the sound. Eventually my son got used to the sound of zipping up/down the tent and it no longer grabbed his attention. And now that he's older, it's a non-issue as I just put him in the tent, say goodnight, and close up the tent (he prefers it zipped up).

Oh, during that first year once our son started to crawl, we often put the tent out for son to explore and play in a few days before heading off on a trip. That would help familiarize him with the tent again and make it an easier adjustment for him once we went on the trip.

My son is finally getting too big for the smaller sized peapod, so we're going to purchase the Peapod Plus and retire the old one. We loved the old one so we hope we'll love the new one, too.

We love this! Seriously, if you have a baby, you need this! It's lightweight, folds easily and our 9 month old sleeps in it, no problem. WAY less hassle than a pack 'n' play. It's a cinch to fold- I don't know what the other reviewers were complaining about. I am NOT a mechanically minded person, but I folded it up easily without even looking at the directions. It comes with a small pump to inflate the little mattress. That takes about two minutes. Pop open the tent, put the mattress in, cover it with the little blanket/pad, put the kid in, and zip it up. I can move the pod from room to room. She can sleep in our room, the computer room, the sewing room, etc. It's also CUTE! My bigger kids call it the "baby tent", because it looks exactly like a tiny tent. We will be vacationing extensively next month and I'm looking forward to using this super product!

this is good product but small--the instructions say recommended for up to one year, depending on your child's development (we were not able to find that info until we got the product). we sent it back and got the PeaPod Plus, which has been great and goes up to 5 years old.

I just received my PeaPOd Travel bed in the mail and I love it!!
I immediately opened it up to play around with it, check it out and see how easy the set up and take down was.
Beware when you open it up! I vaguely remember reading a review saying how quickly it opens up and to watch out! Unfortunately I remembered too late! It DOES spring out REALLY quickly. So much so that it flew out of my hands - I'm glad that my daughter wasn't around at the time! But, at least I know that I don't have to fool around with it to set up it :)
The quality seems really good. Sturdy fabric and poles, no holes or rips - in very good shape on arrival.
I blew up the mattress with my mouth (I don't want to take the pump with us to Europe, so I wanted to make sure it was manageable) and it took maybe a minute to do. It also deflated really quickly and easily (I pushed on it to get most of the air out, and then rolled it up to get the rest out. Then it was ready to be folded up flat!).
When inflated it fit pretty good into the tent - just a little extra room around the edges. Nothing that I'm concerned about.
I don't plan on using the blanket, as it's a little too bulky for my safety standards with my 10 month old. I think that since they advertise this bed for such a young age, they should give a more appropriate blanket for those parents that do use them. We will just bring our own blanket that she already sleeps with. Plus it will save us more space.
That being said, the blanket was a nice blanket and I'm sure would be nice and warm for those old enough to use it.
As to folding the tent back up: I have read reviews on this bed on so many sites and one thing that seemed to just keep coming back up was how difficult it was to fold back up. Needless to say I was a little nervous about it. I looked at the illustrated instructions once, tried to fold it up and failed. Looked at them again, a little more closely, and then folded it up perfectly with no problems. It took me all of 1 minute (from very start to very finish) and did not take the muscle of a grown man to do (which I had read in several reviews). I was going to bring the instructions along with if I did have problems, just to make sure we could do it again, but I am pretty confident that it will be no problem whatsoever.
I gave the bed 5 stars, but keep in mind I have not tested it out with my daughter and it has not had any wear and tear yet. I am a little nervous about whether my daughter will stay inside it when it's bedtime or if she will flip out if I zip it all closed. I plan on transitioning her into it over the week. If possible I might put the tent inside her crib for a couple naps so that she knows it's for sleeping time and shouldn't play in it or crawl out of it. We'll see how that goes :)

We have twin girls who are now 13 months and we have done four trips with these beds. I LOVE them. They fold down very compactly and appear to be very comfortable for the babies.

They are EASY to assemble and break down. You only need to read the directions once and it is SUPER EASY despite what I have read from other reviews. Trust me on this one......I'm not naturally mechanically inclined.

The mattress is slick on the underside and fuzzy on the top. I agree with other reviewers that the mattress cover slides around too much for my comfort. That was completely solved by putting a standard crib sheet over it. With the fuzzy top, I think you could forgo their mattress cover completely.

Their mattress pad transferred blue dye when they drooled on it, but that stopped after washing it once.

I was concerned that my very active girls might be able to tip over these beds, but that appears completely impossible. It just stretches/bends when they roll around a lot.

I put the girls in these beds for four nights before our trips. Even with multiple changes in where they slept (several family homes on a single trip), they seemed quite comfortable tucked away in their pods. It's like their own little comfort zone in there.

This travel bed has made our lives TONS easier. It pops up in minutes, is probably a little easier to set up than a pack and play (it would be extremely easy if you got the self inflating mattress). My four month old is entranced by the red color and loves laying in it. She rolls over and goes right to sleep. The mesh definitely keeps her cool enough and with it zipped up there is no way she can go anywhere.

Those reviewers who say it takes a lot of strength to get this closed haven't done it right. It takes no strength, but the first few times it does take some patience. I actually went to their web site and watched the little video of the woman folding it back up. After a few tries it was fine. I haven't had any trouble since.

The big issue with this product, as several people have noted, is that the blanket that they provide for over the inflatable mattress isn't attached to anything and slides everywhere. That's a huge hazard for a little person. I took a piece of flannel and sewed it to the blanket to make a sort of "pocket" for the inflatable mattress. I put snaps at one end so we could slide the mattress in and out. That took care of the problem.

This isn't the most expensive product. For the price, I was willing to make the fix. I was also willing to make the effort because this seemed to be so much better than anything else on the market (especially given the price) for people who travel. And it is great not just for plane trips (though that's why we initially bought this). Our daughter can now nap in the park, at our friends house or just about anywhere else there is a space 2 feet by 18 inches. We put it in the basket under our stroller when we walk to friends houses for dinner and put her down there rather than having to lug the pack and play around. Much lighter and much easier.

I would recommend this product IF you have a way to deal with the blanket issue.

These PeaPods are great for travel. We have 8 month old twins and took them on vacation with us. They were small and fit in out suitcase and they twins loved sleeping in them. As long as you use the hand pump that comes with, the air mattresses are easy to inflate and setup of the pod is super easy. Although putting them away takes a time or two. It's just like a sunshade. I LOVE these things and plan to us them on all our future trips.

I really, really wanted to like this product! When I first discovered it, I was excited about the prospect of such a compact travel bed for my 4 month old baby. However, I was not aware that the washable sleeping pad was made out of a slick material (like you find on the outside of some camping sleeping bags). My son did not like the feel of it because it was so different from the feel of his crib sheets. He usually sleeps great, but he woke up several times in the night crying. He also kept us up all night because every time he moved we could hear the swooshing noise from the mattress pad. The next night, my two year old decided she wanted to sleep in the "tent", but she started crying not long after we put her in it because she was afraid to be zipped up. So we unzipped it and she tried to sleep, but every time she moved the mattress pad would make that swooshing noise and wake her up. We eventually just let her sleep somewhere else because it was obvious she wasn't going to sleep in the peapod. I think the concept is great, it just needs a better mattress pad that is made of a different material.

I recently traveled to another city with my 8 month old son. We stayed with a friend, so we wouldn't have a crib or playpen for him to sleep in. After looking all over for a travel bed large enough for my 20 lb baby to sleep in and also compact enough to fly with, I decided to order the PeaPod.

Pros: It was compact enough to fit in my luggage. It comes with a removable inflatable mattress, which zips into a compartment underneath the tent. It does add a bit of weight if you are flying. I considered leaving that part home, but ended up being able to fit it in. It was nice to have the option though. The hand pump is quite light and relatively small, and worked quite well.

Once we arrived I set up the bed easily, but became slightly concerned about the safety. It has no way to put down bedding that doesn't bunch up. The surface of the floor is slick, like a tent, and any sheet or blanket that you lay down, slides around and can become a suffocation hazard in smaller infants. It also seemed uncomfortable for my baby, because no matter how I laid him down, before long the blanket was bunched up and he was sleeping with his face on the floor of the tent. Because this is a plastic-like material, I worried about this also being a suffocation hazard.

In the end, I used it because I had to, but worried every night. My son is just old enough that I was pretty sure he would be ok, but I would really discourage it for use with younger infants. If they made an insert that you could put a bassinet sheet or even a secured pillow case over, I would feel a lot more comfortable (and so would my son!)

In the end, it's a good way to keep a traveling baby from crawling out of bed, and is good for picnics, etc. We will be taking it camping this summer but will try to find a way to make it more comfortable.

I bought this travel bed for my child while going to visit various family members. My child is above average in her height range, and has been able to use this with no problem. Please DO read the instructions and open this AWAY from yourself and others! I go into a room, hold the packed up bed in my hand firmly, slide off the elastic band, and then throw it away from myself. It really pops open pretty fast. :) My brother was getting a kick out of watching me! I place my child's favorite sheet or blanket inside and put her in when she's ready for bed. She didn't get upset about being "zipped" in, she actually liked it when I showed her the silly sound it made by "scratching" your fingers on the fabric. After the first night, she was used to it and she'd crawl in and lay down. She goes to bed in this easier than she does in her crib! Enjoy!