Chicco Lullaby LX Playard, Adventure

Comment: We have this pack n play in our bedroom as a bassinet for our new baby. He has been home 2 weeks, and sleeps well in it. We use a waterproof pad and pack n play sheet on it and he sleeps there at night so he is close for feedings. It is very attractive, easy to put together, and good quality. We will use it in the future for travel and as a play yard. I really like the changing table. It just zips on and flips onto the top for use - very easy and all stays together. The supplies hang right next to it and are easy to get to. We don't use the mobile yet, but it is really cute. I looked at and considered a lot of different pack n plays, and have been totally satisfied with my decision to get the Chicco.

Comment: This was given to us as a "hand me down" from a friend. We put it together without directions so I'd say its easy to assemble. We had a VERY standard pack and play ($35) with our first child. this one definitely had more bells and whistles but all in all it has served the same purpose.The bassinet feature is convenient (at least until baby starts pulling up (at 5 months in our case) but I dont feel its worth the extra $140+. Overall rating: Glad I didn't pay for it.

Comment: We are preparingfor our second grandson. We bought this and left it in the box for days. Finally, our first grandson asked what it was. We told him that it was for "baby Dylan". He became very excited and said that we had to put it together "right now." the three of us has it out together very quickly. Ryan is very proud of being prepared for "baby Dylan". We have played all the music and tested the vibration. It's wonderful!

Comment: I love this playard. The best part is the vibration device. It will instantly put my baby to sleep. If she wakes up in the night, I just hit the button and it will vibrate for five minutes putting her back to sleep. My husband and I refer to it as "hitting the snooze button". This has saved me countless hours of rocking the baby to sleep at night. She is now five months and we just put her in her bed awake each night and hit the vibration. I don't know if this will work for other babies, but it has been a lifesaver for my husband and me. It even has a "baby mode" that comes on automatically when she cries. Our vibration unit did wear out and we called Chicco about it and they sent us a new unit. I have purchased two other brands of playards and feel that that Chicco is better constructed. It is just slightly too large to fit through our doorways, so if portability is your top priority, this is not for you.

Comment: This play yard is chock-full of bells and whistles and pretty much does everything except wash your dishes and sort the laundry, which as a new parent I thought would be fabulous. As an experienced parent, I can now say that it's overkill. The biggest problem I've had with this play yard is its lack of portability. It's big and clunky, but the worst part is that if you don't carry all of the accessories, there's a ton of extra space in the bag and the playard moves around and becomes a real pain to carry. To break down the accessories:

Bassinet: Works well, only good up to 15 lbs. like other playard bassinets
Mobile: Attaches to the four corners of the mattress, so if you want to use the changing table you have to take it off. Can't be used when the mattress is in the lowest position
Light/Sound/Vibration Thingy: Vibration is too weak to vibrate the mattress, sounds are annoying, light times out so you might as well just get a night light in the room.
Remote Control: Neat idea, but you have to point it directly at the unit, in a very specific, hard to hit spot, or it doesn't work.
Changing Table: Good as long as your baby fits in it. It goes across width-wise and is actually smaller than the whole width. Our son outgrew it by 3-4 months.
Extra Pockets: Just okay, only room for 2-3 diapers in each.
Carrying Bag: Practically useless unless you stuff it with everything
Padded Mattress: Just barely

Other problems are that it doesn't fit through doorways, which I didn't realize would be something I really wanted until after I had to break the thing down to move it from room to room.

All of that said, it's attractive and nice and roomy inside, so there's plenty of space to play. I also have just used standard playard sheets like the ones made for other brands. It's a great place for keeping the baby safe and occupied while I do chores, but we bought a second super-cheap, no-frills playard to use as a portable crib. I wish I'd saved the money.

*******Update January 4*******
Something else to be aware of--our son is teething and likes to chew on the edge of the playard (and his crib, and pretty much everything else), and his teeth are getting snagged in the fabric around the edges. It hasn't harmed his teeth at all, but he's literally shredding the fabric and it sounds kind of alarming when he pops some more threads. I wouldn't call it dangerous, but it's pretty ugly-looking, and since one of the only things this playard had going for it was being nice-looking, it's definitely a negative. Our cheapo playard doesn't have the fancy fabric around the edges and is impervious to the Teeth of Doom. Once again, I really wish I'd saved the money.