Lightweight Travel Cot

[SpicyTomatos]

Can anyone recommend a lightweight travel cot?

I'm looking for one that I could take on holiday on a plane or pop in a large backpack along with other stuff. Most travel cots seem to include kitchen sinks and weigh more than 10kgs.

I found the BabyBjörn Travel Cot Light which is £200, 6kg and still 49 x 60 x 14 cm when packed. None of those details is ideal - any improvements?

Baby will be 2 months on first use, but I'm hoping to buy something that will last a couple of years.

[LittleTalks]

I looked into this a bit and came to the conclusion that any travel cot that would last until DS could sleep in a normal bed was going to be big and heavy. There are quite a few pop up ones about (Koodi etc) which are v light and compact but aren't suitable as soon as they can pull themselves up. So I guess the reason they are so heavy is to prevent them being able to tip the thing over. The pop up ones aren't all that expensive so I guess it's not the end of the world if you only get 6 months use out of them.

[Heirhelp]

How old is baby?

[SpicyTomatos]

Baby will be 2 months old on first use. He's a largish, very long chap.

LittleTalks - thanks for your response, I will investigate the cheap pop up ones. I agree that it is not without its challenges, but I also hoped that someone had come up with a clever design. I suspect the demand simply isn't there. In one of the Amazon reviews of the LittleLife Arc 2 someone asked why they didn't include a compression sack with it as it would reduce the packed size substantially - instead it converts into a rucksack which is pretty, but not all that useful. As a new parent, I'm finding that a theme!

[FATEdestiny]

Pop up travel cot

[Anatidae]

Phil and teds do a tiny one

[Janek]

We have a little life arc 2, which we took to italy in our normal rucksacks (60ish litres). We took it out of it's own carry bag and packed the poles and tent bit separately, then took a thermarest, rather than the mattress that came with it. It didnt weigh much at all...

[SpicyTomatos]

Thanks for all the advice, I've spent some time looking at the various options, and in case it is useful for anyone, this is a summary:

BabyBjörn Travel Cot Light is the most expensive option, but is very well reviewed. Unfortunately, it is too big to put in most suitcases and is still 6kg, so perhaps this would be a good option for people who have cars, but are still very much space constrained.

Koodi pop-up and the like. These are lightweight although don't necessarily pack that small. They are not suitable for babies less than 6 months though, so out on that count for me.

Phil and Ted's sounds like the perfect option. It weighs very little, packs small and includes a thermarest type mattress. Unfortunately, it is quite poorly reviewed with people complaining that it is hard and time consuming to put up and that it falls apart. The latter point is something of a concern as it was mentioned a lot. Also, they seem to have updated the design recently which is not proving popular.

LittleLife Arc 2 - this weighs very little, looks quite sturdy and can be pegged / tied down. It doesn't seem to be as popular as the other ones, so there aren't as many reviews - it seems to be more highly regarded than Phil and Ted's, but less than BabyBjörn. My concern was that it was still quite balky and came in a backpack.

I'm tempted to go with the LittleLife Arc2 given the comments by Janek about splitting it all out, but it is still £90, so a bit of a gamble for a mini-tent.

Janek - if you read this thread I would be very grateful if you could explain how you used a thermarest, because I'm assuming it is tricky to get one the exact size. Am I right in thinking it came with a bulky foam mattress which you ditched for a small imperfectly fitting thermarest?

[Janek]

Yes, the thermarest was a little smaller than the space for the mattress in the travel cot, there were a couple of inches at the side, and at the bottom with no mattress, but we felt that the worst that could happen would be that dd would end up sleeping on the floor rather than the mattress. There is nowhere that a child could get 'stuck', and a thermarest is quite a 'stiff' thing, so unlikely to smother anyone. But i can't recommend what someone should do with their baby, you need to make your own risk assessment!

[Anatidae]

I know someone with the Phil and teds and they love it - have a look in person if you can.

[SpicyTomatos]

In an ideal world, I'd get to see them all in person in both packed and set up forms, but I don't think that will happen, so it's going to be an internet lucky dip.

[JassyRadlett]

We have tall kids and the Phil and Teds has been brilliant. Always found it perfectly sturdy (and you can anchor it to pieces of furniture to be doubly safe). Yes, quite fiddly to set up but you get the knack.

If the new design isn't great, what about a second hand one?

[Andbabymakesthree]

Any good?

www.kiddies-kingdom.com/cribs/26390-chicco-lullago-zip-crib-light-grey-new.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiA08rBBRDUn4qproqwzYMBEiQAqpzns1i2f8UZx8fiVlmwn8ne8wA0fv49xmeTIaOOObPqRUYaAnRz8P8HAQ#fo_c=164&fo_k=1331b83afd88f9127b9152daa2ac630b&fo_s=gplauk

[SolomanDaisy]

The Topmark Sky folds up really small and is only 4kg. It's only suitable until 6 months though.