Customer Reviews

TOTEaTOT Travel accessory for children

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The idea for this product is great. The problem is with its design and/or choice of materials regarding the buckles.

The buckles are plastic and as such they bend and flex. This caused one of the buckles to regularly separate when any weight was applied to the strap as the outer teeth were not rigid enough to stay in place. They instead tended to bend towards the center of the male end of the buckle causing it to slip out of the female end of the buckle which then caused the car seat to fall off the luggage.

If another material had been used for the buckles or another type of buckle or fastener was used this product would have been perfect.

This product was very disappointing.

More importantly, it is NOT SAFE/SECURE. The product I received had a snap buckle that would just pop open again when a little tension was applied to the strap. This would have meant the car seat toppling forward, maybe even injuring my child. I had to bend the prongs on the male part of the buckle several times before I was able to get the buckle to stay fastened when pulling on the ends of the strap. Even though I eventually got it to stay buckled, I wasn't comfortable using it to tote my child, because I wondered if over time the buckle would bend back again and suddenly pop open, or if it had been weakened by my bending it and might just snap.

Also, it is not as easy to attach/remove as claimed. Adjusting it correctly takes quite a bit of fussing with the straps, and detaching/reattaching (to go through airport security, for example) is a pain. Just unclipping the straps (which for some reason clip on opposite sides of the luggage, so you can't do both at one time) still leaves you with the straps dangling awkwardly from your bag. You then have to tie them up out of the way so they don't get caught in the x-ray machine or in the wheels of the bag, for example.

I also wasn't comfortable with the stress this design puts on the pull-up handle of my rolling carry-on. I have a Samsonite (pretty durable, good quality), but the way the weight of the seat + child pulled on the handle of my carry-on, it felt like the handle might bend or break. If you used this to carry just the car seat itself with no child inside, then it would be okay (but still more trouble than it's worth).

Finally: The straps are thin, much thinner than a seat belt, so the seat tended to move around a bit, even with the straps quite tightly secured and properly adjusted.

I returned the product, and came up with a much better solution using just the built-in accessory strap on my rolling carryon (you know, the strap that most carry-ons have that will let you attach a purse, briefcase, or laptop bag). I used that strap for the top, and for the bottom, I used an American Tourister luggage strap (nice and wide, like a seat belt, with very secure buckles), which I got in a package of 2 for $10.

We just came back from vacation over the holidays and used the TOTEaTOT for the first time. It was a lifesaver! I purchased it right before we went away because I had been agonizing about how we were going to manage all the logistics of maneuvering through the airport with all of the gifts were were bringing along, plus our luggage and ourselves, without losing one of our kids in the process!

It worked just as it promised. It was easy to attach the suitcase to the car seat. Our son was happy as a clam getting wheeled through the airport. We could easily bring his car seat on the plane without having to lug it through the airport! A car seat is a must-have on the airport for a happy child and happy neighboring passengers! We were able to carry our gifts as carry-on because we didn't want to check them, and we brought a carry-on suitcase in case our other checked luggage was lost, we'd at least have the essentials for our little one and the rest of us.

We had no problems with it at all. It had pockets for us to store my son's bottle, and we were able to use the backpack portion of the TOTEaTOT to hold his diapers and some toys. I read another review where they experienced an issue with a buckle, but we had no problem at all, and in fact, I was worried that we were perhaps over-weighing it because all the stuff we had hanging off our roller suitcase (besides just the TOTEaTOT, car seat and our son, like my handbag, and a laptop computer), but again, no problems at all. Just lots of smiles and curious faces in the airport!

I'd highly recommend it.

I recently purchased the Traveling Toddler and the Tote-A-Tot Car Seat Travel Accessories. After test driving both in the house, I returned the Tote-A-Tot as it felt less secure than the Traveling Toddler, mainly because of the use of plastic buckles on the Tote-A-Tot versus metal rings on the Traveling Toddler. The Traveling Toddler is also less expensive than the Tote-A-Tot.

When I put my daughter in the carseat with the Tote-a-Tot, the straps strained when I pushed her around. I was afraid they would pop open at some point.

I was happy with my decision as the Traveling Toddler worked wonderfully on my trip -- see separate review under that product.

I first saw one of these Toteatot's while I was traveling with my husband and children...enviously looking at it as we were breaking a sweat carrying two of our kids' car seats plus our carryon bag and the laptop and holding our kids hands while trying not to lose our minds.

I always remembered it, but not the name. Our next trip was getting close and I searched for it on the web and found it! And I saw some questionable reviews as well. But I bought them (two). What a difference! I had one child to tow, car seat, carryon, and yes all with ONE hand. And my husband had our youngest, with car seat, and another carryon, and our oldest is out of a car seat and walked along side.

We were contained, composed, and not sweating getting through the airports. And the best part was having the car seats on the plane...when we landed, we did the unimaginable! We were able to move our daughter, still buckled into her car seat, from the airplane seat, right onto the rolling carryon and go right down the aisle of the plane and into the airport. It was magical. Zero quality problems. Would highly recomend, unless of course you like the sweat factor traveling with all the kiddos.

P.S. Liked having the carryon luggage with the essentials packed. We've had the lovely experience of landing with lost luggage and that's the nightmare you don't want to live with kids.

P.P.S. Who wants to pay the $$ for checking the extra bags as the airlines now impose? You might as well carryon. And use it as a stroller at the same time while towing your kids.

I am giving this item 3 stars because it did get the job done in that we were able to attach it to my carry-on luggage. Thankfully we also brought a stroller because I would not have been comfortable toteing my daughter in the carseat as I was never able to get it totally secure. The ToteaTot is extremely hard to adjust and must be perfectly adjusted before attaching to luggage. It is cumbersome to reattach at each connection and going through security. We have used it for one two way flight and the mesh pockets on the diaper bag are all ripped up. Despite my complaints, it would have been incredibly difficult to not have had it. I will be in search of something of better quality and design for our next trip.

I think that it's the best option out there for anyone who doesn't plan on more than a couple-few infant/toddler plane trips. A few drawbacks are:

The straps are too skinny. Not a threat at all safety-wise, but just a pain as far as them twisting and adjustments. It's also a pain in the anatomy to adjust the tightness when you first put it on the luggage and then after that even more of a pain when the kid is actually in the seat on the thing. (Once you get it adjusted though, it's great.) Also, the luggage in question should be packed full of clothes or otherwise reinforced. (We used some excess shelves from a cd shelf unit to make the sides of the carry-on rigid enough.) I would suggest lots of in-home prior practice, as once you get it adjusted and get used to how it goes together, it works well, but you need to be familiar with how to attach it, as they will make you break it down to put it through security.

I don't want this to sound negative, as this is a great product. My wife and I researched several options for plane travel and this was the best by far for us. Not flawless, but without any real competition as far as cost/value for anyone who doesn't plan on flying with their baby more than a few times.

I was travelling alone with my 21 month old daughter and needed her car seat on the plane. There was no way I could push her stroller, carry her car seat and diaper bag and my computer bag. The ToteaTot was a life saver. It held her car seat to my suitcase and I didn't need a diaper bag because I was able to use the back pack part of the ToteaTot. Travel was a breeze. On my was home I couldn't get the car seat to sit straight on the front of the suitcase but I think that was my fault because she was on straight and tight on our trip there. My daughter thought it was great to ride in the car seat and she cried every time I stopped moving. People commented numerous time on how neat the product worked. I would recommend this item for air travel.

This product was a lifesaver when traveling with our 35 pound, 2-year old. It worked great! I took other's advice of "practicing" with the hook up and making all the adjustments before going to the airport. It took very little time to unhook and re-hook the carseat. Saved me the hassle of needing a stroller and my son was happy as could be in his own carseat. I had several people stop me in the airport to check it out and ask questions. Though my family had doubts when I showed them what I had ordered, they were believers by the time we go home from vacation! Thanks again! By the way, there are some similar products that we saw in the airport that looked wonderful as well...but they cost well over $100.00, some even over $200. My less than $30 purchase was BY FAR the best for the money!!!!

I tried this and it would not keep my carseat off the ground. The carseat was too heavy or I could not get it cinched tight enough. After fiddling with it for 20 mins with my toddler standing and waiting for me, I just dragged my carseat through the airport strapped to the suitcase with everyone staring at me. No way would I put my kid in it. Waste of money.