phil&teds Lobster Highchair

We love how compact this travel highchair is. We can put it in the basket of our stroller and whip it out as needed; it could probably even fit in a regular backpack or a very large diaper bag. The foldaway design is genius and we like the fact that it comes with/fits in its own small bag. We sold our Chicco 360 seat after getting this one, since this one is so much more portable.

That said, the two downsides to this otherwise very nicely-designed product are:

1) The included tray doesn't lock to the seat. While it's GREAT that a tray was even included, we would love if it locked into place with the seat so our little one couldn't push it out and overturn/fling it.

2) Because the way it connects to the table are basically two heavy duty clamps, it only works on tables without a lip. We've found we're able to use it only 50% of the time when dining out due to this, plus the regular restrictions when using a hook-on chair (not on a tippy pedestal table, etc.). This is a pretty big downer because not being able to use it in so many instances defeats the purpose of having it and the convenience of its small size.

After owning this for over a month I haven't been able to get much use out of it. Like the other reviews said, it doesn't work everywhere. This seat has more of a clamp than a hook so if the table has a lip it won't fit around it. so far I've only been able to use it about 40% of the time. The tray is also mostly useless. It doesn't clip into the seat. It just kind of sits in between the clamps. My 15 month old knows this so I stopped using the tray to just avoid having to pick up the tray and the food that was on it off the floor.

It does have some upgrades over the Phil & Teds Metoo chair. Extra padding and the storage bag with handle (although a very short handle) are a plus. I had a Metoo for a couple of years and have no complaints. After it was stolen I decided to hold off and wait for this one to come out. But in my opinion you might as well get the Metoo and save a bit of cash.

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I had already purchased the Inglesina Fast Chair. Our daughter has been using the Fast Chair since about four months and loves sitting in it. We get compliments on it when we are in restaurants and its fairly easy to clamp on with big rubber top and bottom clamps to protect tables.

But we decided that we'd probably prefer a snap on table with a tray as our daughter enters the "messy-eating-by-herself" stage. Enter the P&T Lobster. The P&T looks more stylish, is sleek, and has some serious clamp-on ability -I certainly liked it better than the Inglesina. The only problem I had is that my daughter didn't! She's now 8 months old and a little over 26 inches tall. When she sits in the Inglesina she can easily see and manipulate items on the table in front of her, rest her arms on the chair sides, etc. There is still room to grow but she fits in it. In the P&T Lobster, the seat is so deep that she was drowning in it and while her head was still higher than the table top, she could no longer see things as well to interact with them. As a result, she doesn't like being in the chair and we've had to return it.

It's possible the P&T will work beautifully for older children, but for our sizeable 8 month old, it was just too deep.

One last thing, while this chair does have a tray, the tray simply slides in (and back out!) easily and has pretty small sides for holding food in. I didn't see a way to clip it to the chair or cause it to stay put when you have a wiggling kid trying to move everything around. It didn't strike me as a particularly solid or useful tray. I'm going with a tinydiner mat and the Inglesina for now until I find something better.

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I bought this because a local burger restaurant was using them as high chairs for their booths. I really liked how it put my daughter right up to the table so she felt like she was part of the party. So I decided to pick one up for my family. We use it every time we out. The couple of advantages you have to it right off the bat are as I said before, it puts your kid right up next to the table, so you don't have to worry about them sliding under the table. Secondly, it's yours and not a community high chair. So it can only be dirtied by your kid and don't have to worry about how sanitary it is like restaurant high chairs as long as you keep it clean. Thirdly, I don't have to worry about lugging a big high chair or someone having to borrow a highchair when visiting family. My only knock on it is that I wish it had a better way to stow the arms when not in use. Right now they swing around wildly and you have to either hold them together when you carry the chair or use a bungy cord to wrap around them as to keep them together. Other than that I love this thing. Just note, this chair only works on square or rectangular tables, so you need to be conscious of that if you are buying one for your house or when you are being seated at a restaurant.

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I'm a self proclaimed germ-a-phobe, and countless times, I've tried to wipe off a restaurant high chair, only to be disgusted by the dirt, grime, and who knows what else, comes off the chairs that they never, ever clean. I have owned a couple different high chair covers though my 3 children, but my last child happens to be a very active little girl who manages to spin around in the high chair and takes the cover with her, to the point where it's covering nothing and her bare hands are all over the nasty high chair. I got this as a last resort, and I LOVE it. I wish I had this when my other kids were little. I no longer have to worry about other kids germs, slobber, food coming in contact with my baby's little hands! I love that she sits in the booth with me, instead of stuck at the end of the table where people are walking by and servers are passing over her head with trays of food and drinks. So far, I have only been to 1 place where the seat didn't work, and that was because the table was like 6 inches thick. The seat is very easy to attach to tables and my daughter really seems to like it. My only 2 complaints: #1 The tray is worthless. it is easily pushed out by a baby and not even worth having. It might be better when she gets older and isn't so interested in moving it out of the way. For now, I just put down those disposable placemats with the sticky stuff on the back. P&T needs to make it so the tray clips on to the seat clamps. And #2 there really should be a small carrying bag for the seat. I wouldn't stick this in my diaper bag....there's no room for it. So I just have it in a small canvas bag. P&T should have had a bag with something like this. Other than those 2 things, it's great! I look forward to getting a few years of use out of it.