Customer Reviews

Kidco PeaPod Plus Indoor/Outdoor Travel Bed, Red

5 star:		(151)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

We bought two Peapod Plus travel beds in June (one red and one pink). We LOVE them. We were so tired of carting around two packnplays for our 12-month old twins. I put these in the twins' cribs for one week prior to using them for travel in order to acclimate them to sleeping in a different environment. My son fussed for the first two times, and my daughter loved her pod right away. They slept great in them. They quickly adjusted to using them on the floor, too.

I removed the sleeping bag to save for when they are older because it is very bulky, and I believe it could be a suffocation hazard for babies/toddlers. Right now, I put a crib sheet on the mattress (fits perfectly) and stick the mattress inside the tent rather than in the zippered mattress pocket. I found these very easy to fold ( I had to look at the directions the first few times) so I don't understand all the complaints. Great product!

***NOTE*** the pink version is very cute and pretty, but I wish that I had ordered two red/blue ones. The red/blue peapod is much darker inside and better for encouraging sleeping! ; )

I have an active 18 month old who usually sleeps in a pack and play with a playyard crib tent on top when we travel, mostly to visit relatives. I bought the Peapod plus in the hopes of a quicker and easier set up, and less bulk when packed up in the trunk. I think I will like it, though I may have to do a little tweaking.

What I like:
THE SHADES - looks like it will block a lot of light which helps them block out the world in new and exciting places, so they can get their rest. As for the ventilation concern, you can roll up the shades,so I don't think it would be a problem unless you were in extreme heat, or had a newborn (can't regulate their temperature well yet.)
FOLDING- I love how small and light it is, but I was a little worried about getting it folded up again since I had a hard time with similar "pop up" baby products in the past. After I looked carefully at how it was folded up and looked carefully at the pictures I was able to do it after only a few tries.
SIZE - My average size "almost 5 year old" daughter could sleep in it comfortably, so I hope to get a few years of use out of this.

My concerns, or things that could be improved:
ZIPPERS - They are "double zippers" -you can open it from the inside, which means my girl WILL open it - guaranteed! I will probably put a safety pin under the zipper from the outside. I need to know she is safe whether the place we are staying is toddler-proof or not.
MATTRESS - I wish they would make it with a self-inflating mattress but it doesn't look like the inflating will be difficult.
SLEEPING PAD/BAG-This is the biggest problem I have with this bed. The pad/sleeping bag doesn't attach to the bottom of the tent. If you have no problem laying your baby down in a pack and play without a sheet, you may not care. I just hate the noisy, cold, uncomfortable vinyl, and I don't think my kids sleep as well either. I know the sleeping bag will get all bunched up, drool all over the vinyl, scratchy noises waking me up in the night, if not them, as they move around in their sleep..... some reviewers have added velcro... maybe I will try that. But it seems like the manufacturers should have done something (snaps, a zipper, velcro). Others reviewers just put the mattress inside the tent (instead of in the zippered pocket). If you do that, then you can put a crib sheet on it. But then the bed is less stable, more easily tipped by an active child... i will have to do something but I am not sure what yet.

Overall, a good purchase, if I can figure out the sleeping bag issue.

I bought this because we travel a lot and many hotels don't have cribs. Also, I'm a bit phobic about germs especially when it comes to my kids. Pack and Plays are so heavy. This bed is very portable and easy to use, it just pops open. My 2 yr. old loves it. I don't always use the air mattress if its on a carpet but I do on hard surfaces. I also use it for my baby, he naps in it when we are outdoors. It keeps the bugs out and has loops to stake it in the ground. We go to resorts with the kids in the winter and the beds are all so high and the floors are tile. I don't want my little ones to fall out of bed so I put them in one of these on the floor. They are safe, comfortable and it keeps the bugs away from them. This is great for travel but also great just to take to Grandma's house or an outdoor picnic.

We purchased the Pea Pod Plus for a 2 week trip when our daughter was 20 months. Since we found out about the Pea Pod Plus 2 weeks before our trip and knew it wouldn't arrive until right before our trip, we were really nervous about how our daughter would respond (no time to acclimate her to a new bed). Based on the reviews we decided to take the gamble -- we've used a pack n play on many previous trips and our daughter never responded well to it (she sleeps 12 hours straight in her crib at home but barely makes it 6 hours in a pack n play and would also fight going to bed, which she rarely does at home) -- not to mention the weight and bulk of a pack n play.
We hit the jackpot with the Pea Pod Plus!!! It's awesome!!! Our daughter slept in it as well as she sleeps in her crib. Plus it's so much easier to travel with than a pack n play. Granted, it took some special approaches to get her acclimated. Our daughter had no problem going into the tent and lying down, but we couldn't get her to go to sleep until lights were out (no different than at home). Also, we couldn't zipper the mesh "door" up (without crying fits) until she was asleep. So one of us would hold her hand until she fell asleep / settled down (towards the end of the trip this was no more than a 5-10 minute process). I (at 5' 4") could actually fit into the tent in a fetal position so the first two nights I stayed in the tent for about 30min - 1 hr until she was in a deep sleep (I actually fell asleep myself in the tent!)... Then, once she was asleep, we'd zip it up and sneak into bed ourselves. She did not have any complaints during the night that it was zipped after she was initially settled. We left all the mesh windows "open" (i.e., window / door covers were rolled up) to avoid the tent heating up. Definitely always zip up the mesh door with little ones -- one night we did leave the mesh screen "door" unzipped and she crawled out in her sleep and resumed her sleep on the rug for an unknown amount of time before we noticed (EEK)!

As far as folding the tent back up, I can see why people have problems or get frustrated. I did figure it out, but my husband still hasn't volunteered to try and he hides when it's time to fold the tent (he says I'm more mechanically inclined). If you've used a lot of camping equipment or you've got a good "figuring out how things work engineering type mind", you should have no problem. Otherwise, I'd suggest opening the package really slowly so you can try to get a sense of how it is initially folded up (that's what I did) -- it pops open REALLY fast when you open it so you have to keep a very good grip on it to give yourself time to "figure it out". Also, when folding it up, try to let it guide you -- it "gives" a little when you've got it right. The first step of grabbing and bunching all the arch parts is easy. It's the next step of pulling the bottom sections into a compact cylinder that's the hardest and I've gotten stuck on this part too -- that's where trying different techniques until it "gives" a little helps. Best to try to refold it right after you open it up the first time (that's when it's easiest to fold back up) -- practice as many times as possible until you feel comfortable.

We are SO sad- my son's beloved travel bed is broken. He has slept in it about 10 times while we traveled and each time he got a good nights sleep and was contained.

HOWEVER, it is now broken and we can't fix it. The only thing kidco tells you is that you may need to "reshape the frame." Well, our frame definitely needs reshaping, and nothing out of the ordinary happened to the bed. Now it won't fold and it definitely looks out of shape.

It is so frustrating- before it broke I would have given the bed 5 stars! But, something that costs as much as it does should not break even after 10 uses when it is used according to directions.

My 9 month old son HATES the pack n play. Took him to Fort Worth, TX for a week and he cried miserably every night and all his naps.

My hubby and I was dreading the next trip to Seattle, so I went online and found the Kidco Peapod Plus. From the previous reviewers, I went ahead and bought the Peapod Plus. So cute! It came with a sleeping bag, air mattress and a tent. I was able to use the crib sheet to put over the air mattress! I had to air it out for a few days before the trip (to get rid of the plastic smell) and place him in there to get familiar with it.

The first day in Seattle, he cried HARD for his first nap in the tent and then slept for an hour. He also cried HARD for an hour for his night time sleep then he slept thru the night (from 5:30pm-6:30am)! For the rest of the week, he fussed for a few minutes and slept really well on his naps and thru the night. It was just like he was sleeping in his crib back at home.

So, if your baby hates the pack n play, try this. You can adjust how "firm" you want the mattress to be. The peapod was also easy to put up and pack up. I also didn't use the air pump and just blew it myself, no problem. It is light and fits conveniently in his duffle luggage. LOVE THIS PRODUCT

If you travel a lot, like us, this is a great product. I was tired of feeling like we needed a u-haul everytime we travelled anywhere because of all of the gear we had, so this allows us to eliminate the pack-n-play as another piece of luggage. Because this is so soft and squishy, it fits great into one of suitcases. It folds up SO easily- just follow the directions. I recommend letting your child get used to it by letting him play in it or explore inside a few days before your trip. Our son was 9 months old when we first used it. I actually crawled inside with him to show him that it was something fun and he loved that. Make sure to introduce him to the sound that the zipper makes if your child gets startled easily (like mine). We just sat in front of it and made the zipper go up and down for a few minutes so the noise became totally normal to him. Its not a terribly loud noise, its just "different" than what they are used to. It took a couple of days for him to adjust to it for his naps and bedtime, but when it came time to leave on our trip, he was in love. In fact, I think he slept better in the peapod than his own crib. Crazy. So yes, we really love this thing and are very thankful for how efficient it is for traveling light.

Oh, and we were thankful we went with the "plus" so that it can be used as he grows older.

We bought the peapods because we are going to be travelling cross country and figured we wanted something smaller, more compact, and easier to set up than a play pen. The pea pods are awesome! Our 2 year old knows how to scale the play pen, but he can't escape from the peapod! Our 9 month old loves sleeping and playing inside. They come with the air mattress and a sleeping bag. We just use the sleeping bag for more padding, because the kids have their own "blankys". It comes with a air pump, but it's easier just to blow up by mouth we found. The pea pod is simple to take down too. Just read the directions, and it's down in 10 seconds. This is way more convienient than a playpen, and takes up much less space. We highly recommend this product!

This product is great, until it gets out of shape. Then extreme frustration sets in. When it gets out of shape - the plastic covered metal hoops get out of their original shape - it is much more difficult to fold up. The KidCo customer service rep was helpful and said to try and "untwist it" because it seemed like one of the hoops was twisted causing one side of the tent to sag. He said if I could not get it back into its original form, to send it to them and they would try to correct the problem. Then, if they could not get it back to its original form they would send me a new one. Great, but that is a lot of hassle for something that we've had for a month and used on one trip. It seems that others have discovered that it does not retain its original form very well and once out of shape, becomes a gremlin.

We absolutely love this product! It is quick and easy to put up! I was apprehensive about folding it back up again, but it was very simple. We love this bed. We are currently using it for a 19 month old, and I can see us using it for a few more years at least!