Customer Reviews

Playtex Diaper Genie - First Refill Included

5 star:		(199)
4 star:		(118)
3 star:		(55)
2 star:		(97)
1 star:		(237)

 

 

OK, here is what you should know:
Diaper Genie
-put a dirty diaper into a clean bag everytime
-twist the top to contain the smell and section off the mess
-change the bag every few days, this keeps the entire room clean by not having waste piling up around your child
-easy to replace the liners if you follow the directions

Diaper Champ
-put a dirty diaper into the same plastic holder each time (pretty disgusting if its messy as most of the early ones are)
-flip the handle to drop the diaper into the bottom
-to empty it the smell smacks you in the face- its really bad and gets worse as time goes on
-use your own bags

Diaper Dekor
-foot petal to open the container and drop in the dirty diaper
-holds over 200 diapers
-to change this thing requires a gas mask, especially when you have to cut and tie the bag

So the Diaper Genie is the cleanest by requiring you to empty it every few days and putting the dipaer into its own section of the bag each time. It is the only one to completly contain the odor. And its not hard to maintain if you can follow directions.
Yes the other 2 can hold more, but do you want waste around your child, and do you want to change a pail that reeks of excrement. The only advantage of the champ is that you don't have to buy refills, but in my opinion I'd rather spend a few dollars than lose my lunch. And anyone who would choose to keep over 200 dirty diapers in their house, well that's a different story all together.
So its basically what's more important to you- not having to empty the pail as often, or keeping the cleanest environment as possible for you and your baby.

No more diaper stink! The Diaper Genie is a hands-down necessity if you're using disposables. Open the lid, insert dirty diaper into the scented plastic liner, twist the inner lid a few times and the Diaper Genie converts your stinky mess into a neat package - all rolled up like a string of sausages. When the Diaper Genie is full, you simply cut the liner (cutter included), tie a knot, close the lid, then remove the full "sausage" from the bottom. It takes more time to describe than to actually do it. Everyone I know who has a Diaper Genie absolutely loves it.

One thing to watch out for - it seems like Playtex has a production/manufacturing problem, because about half of the people I know who have a DG have had to return one due to faulty cutters or other problems. ** If you get one that doesn't seem to work, take it back and get another one. It's worth the extra trip, honest.

I used the wide opening model for 3 years with no problems. I would give the Diaper Genie all 5 stars if I didn't have to use special refills. My solution was to stock up on them so I never ran out. I never had a problem fitting any of my child's diapers through the opening - even her last diapers, which were size 6. I found the Genie easy to use. It took a few tries to get a feel for where the clips were and then it worked great. I easily taught my husband and mother how to use it, and no one had a problem. Extremely handy that the refill instructions are on the refill ring.

I didn't notice any smells while it was closed. Emptying a Genie full of toddler diapers was definitely smellier than when it had newborn diapers in it. I don't think I ever had to clean the inside, although I did spray it with Lysol occasionally.

We emptied the Genie twice a week, which I found acceptable. If the diapers stayed in longer, emptying it would have been smellier anyway. Once my child was two, I put mostly poopy diapers in the Genie, so I didn't use refills as quickly.

Some helpful usage tips:
1.) wrap up the wipes inside of the diaper. You won't get your hands dirty. If you have a bad blowout and can't wrap it because the sides are poopy, fold the diaper over and put an extra wipe or two on top before you push it down. My husband didn't wrap the diapers in the tight ball like I did and he still managed to keep his hands clean and the pail didn't stink.

2.) Definitely tie a knot at the bottom of the bag... just like the directions tell you.

3.) If your bag doesn't stay twisted, give the Genie a few extra twists - especially if you've got a big mess in there! Another reviewer mentioned 5 or 6 turns worked well. This should prevent the first diaper from untwisting. Also,leave the knotted end of the bag right on top, rather than pushing it down before putting in a diaper. Pushing the knot down makes the diaper sausage link too big, which may cause the diaper link to untwist in bottom of the pail. My husband used to push down on the knotted end and I think this is why the bag sometimes became untwisted when he pushed the first diaper down. I didn't have this problem.

4.) When my toddler had solid stools, I flushed the lump and put the soiled wipes and diaper in the genie. I think this did wonders for stink control within the pail. For convenience, I moved the Genie to the bathroom and found its narrow width is an advantage in a small bathroom.

5.) Before I started a diaper change, I opened the lid. I used the flat surface where the plastic bag is as a shelf to hold the diaper. This kept the baby from kicking into the poop before I could finish wiping. The Diaper Champ, which I've heard good things about, is round on top, so I wouldn't be able to do that.

I'm having twins and will probably get a second Genie for downstairs, as the first worked so well. I'm also considering the Diaper Champ. Knowing that my husband didn't wrap the diapers well has me leaning toward the Genie. Then I wouldn't worry about poop contacting the surfaces of the diaper pail.

This was the greatest thing when I brought my son home from the hospital! No smell. It took us a while to figure out how to use it. I even loved the smell of the refills.
Then my son started on solids. He is now 11 months old and the diaper genie hasn't been used in a month. I can't stand to even open the lid to put a diaper in it, much less empty it. A couple of months ago, I put a Wizard Stick up in the top and two in the bottom to help the horrible smell. This did the trick for a week! After buying 10 refills, now I have to spend that much more on the stick-ups? No way!
We started using a trash can with the scented liner and it smells better than the diaper genie, and we have just finished a week of the stomach flu. (But this method doesn't work for the dog owner or the curious crawler!)
Large capacity-NOT! I never did get more than 20 diapers in mine except for the newborn size. The snake would get balled up if you "twisted" the bag more than three times, which like someone else said uses the refills up to fast.
We followed the directions and used it correctly. IT DID LIVE UP
to it's claims. I was extremely satisfied with it until a couple of months ago-that is why I gave it 3 stars!

1. This product is difficult to use until you get used to it. (My left handed mother kept turning it the other way from us!)

2. Refills can get pricey (You can buy two CHAMPS in what you will spend on a year of refills!)

3. Once the diapers get really stinky, so does the GENIE!

Knowing what I know now, I would not recommend this to anyone who wants to use it past the 6 month point. Save your money and just use a trash can or check out the reviews on the competition!

We've used our Diaper Genie since our daughter started solid food a year and a half ago. Overall the product is superior to conventional diaper pails but there are three big drawbacks - First, we find that after emptying the pail, the next diaper to go in will not stay "twisted" in the liner, no matter how heavy it is or how many times you turn the pail opening. I called the company twice about this and the second time the operator basically admitted that this is a product design flaw. Since the first diaper doesn't stay sealed, this leads to the second problem - ODOR! It wasn't a problem at first but now our Genie absolutely stinks when you open the lid to put in a new diaper. I've tried antibacterial cleansers, bleach, etc. and nothing seems to work. The final drawback is that you really have to read the instructions or, better yet, have an experienced parent show you how to use the thing and how to empty it. It's NOT intuitive!

With our second child, due soon, I am thinking about the Diaper Champ, which is definitely easier to use and requires no special refills.

I love the Diaper Genie and won't use anything else and I have used others. With my first baby I used the trash can and talk about smelling up the whole house. Unless you take the trash out right after a poppy diaper your house will stink!!!! Then I bought a no name diaper pail pretty much it was a trash can with a lid same problem it smelled. I am amazed at how Well the diaper genie holds back the smells.

As for the complaints people listed all you need to do is READ the direction!!! My husband can empty and load new genies bags in minutes. He says it's as easy as changing a bag in a garbage can, if you just follow the direction. And for the complaints that as the baby gets older it doesn't hold the smell back anymore. The problem there is they probably never clean it!!!! Anytime you put smelly diapers in something after months of use it's going to soak up the smells and start to stink. So once a month when the genie is empty spray some Clorox or pine sole in and wipe and keep it fresh smelling as you would any trash can. Since the genie bags keep the pail Very clean, I can see why some would go years and never giving it a good wipe down, but to keep smells from building up spray something in it once and awhile. I will definitely use the genie again with our 3rd baby!!!!!!

My son is six months old and completely breastfed, so we haven't had smelly poops to deal with yet. However, here are some tricks we figured out:

1.) As other reviewers state, the first few diapers do tend to clump together in one "sausage" section. Combat this not emptying the Genie as soon as the old sausage is cut. When the Genie is full, cut off your diaper sausage, tie it off, then push it past the clips, and LEAVE IT THERE. The first few diapers of the next sausage will go in much easier, and will be separated properly. When you're a few diapers into you next sausage, THEN empty the old sausage.

2.) Personally, I think tying knots to begin and end a sausage is a waste of the plastic refill. My husband and I just save the twist-ties off bread and use them to tie off each end of the sausage. This saves the plastic, which saves money.

3.) Don't put wets in the Genie. We keep a plastic grocery sack tied onto the changing table to put wets into. They don't smell, so therefore, they don't need the odor protection of the Genie. We only put poopy diapers in the Genie. This saves money, because you won't be using as much of the refill.

4.) The refills are expensive, but [retail stores] (The brick and mortar locations) ALWAYS have them on sale, and very often have coupons in their weekly circulars good for 1 free refill if you buy 3 others. Take advantage, and stock up!

We've been very happy with our Diaper Genie, and will continue to use it.

We love our Diaper Genie. It probably gets emptied every 2-3 days and it never smells. It was easy to set up and easy to use. After putting together a crib, a swing, a bouncer, an exersaucer, a glider and who knows what else, putting this together was not difficult. The refills are not expensive and are not hard to change. It's basically a three step process and the instructions are on every refill. Even if you read the instructions again, it will take all of 2 minutes. To use it, you just insert the diaper until you feel the clips inside the unit, then twist the top a few times to seal. Close the top and you're done. If you close up the diaper (wrap it into a little "package") before you insert it, there's no mess whatsoever. And did I mention, no smell? I've heard people complain that you have to empty it alot. I guess it's all relative. I empty my kitchen trash more than I empty my diaper genie. I mean, how long do you really want to keep all those dirty diapers in the house? For weeks?

At first, I loved the Diaper Genie. I first purchased the product 5 years ago with my second child. Despite the difficulty in turning the wheel and the fact that the knife did not cut very well, it was great for my newborn. As long as I used small diapers, there was no problem in fitting a fair amount of diapers in the pail. When I started using larger diapers, I was emptying the unit, sometimes, as frequently as once a day. While I was breastfeeding, I didn't have to worry about smelly diapers. Once solids were introduced, the pail didn't work as well as needed to contain odors. It didn't stink up my room, but the closer you got to the pail, the more odorous it became. Boy, what a smelly mess it was to empty the pail. The smell permeated the plastic of the pail, and no matter what I used to clean it, the stench remained; even after I stopped putting poopy diapers in it. The blade inside the rotating mechanism only got worse. I am guessing that was the reason that it never turned very smoothly. I am now pregnant with my third child and have not for a second considered purchasing another Diaper Genie. I will consider another product.

This was one of my must have items before my son was born. Once I had it home, it took half an hour with the user manual to understand how to operate it. I took my husband a bit of practice to figure it out. Still I was pleased with my purchase.

Then my son was born and we started using it. While the Diaper Genie does do a good job of controlling odors, it quickly became more of a frustration than a help.

First of all the liners run out without warning. Not a welcome thing when you have a dirty diaper in one hand and an upset infant on the change table! Second, the Diaper Genie won't twist the first three or so diapers that you put into it. Making it operate like a regular garbage can unless it was somewhat full already. Third, whenever someone else changed my son's diaper, I had to show them "how to operate the diaper pail". This got old really quickly! Forth, when the diaper genie is emptied, the long rope of diapers comes untwisted very easily. I found that I was emptying the diapers into a regular garbage bag to compensate. And this brings me to my last point; buying expensive refills every week or so gets old. The company claims that the refills should last for 2-4 weeks, but they do not. Diapers, wipes and other daily supplies add up quickly on thier own. Essentially I felt like I was constantly re-purchasing my diaper pail.

After four months, I put this thing back in the box and put it in the garage, where it has remained for the last six months. I now use a regular garbage can with a lid that opens with a pedal. It gets emptied every day, along with all the other household trash cans.

In hindsight I should have purchased the Diaper Champ because it uses regular garbage bags that have to be purchased anyways!