How safe is the Globber Go Up Comfort Play?
Happily, the Go Up Comfort Play complies with three safety laws: the relevant EN:71, and international standards ASTM F2264 and F963 (which regulate safety warnings for toys). There’s a basic standard of safety before we even begin.
Let’s look at the frame and materials
The Go Up Comfort Play is comprised of a plastic frame with a rubber seat pad, tough and shockproof polyurethane wheels, and an aluminium T-bar/parent handle.
While the matte plastic finish looks less high-end than the equivalent Micro 3-in-1 Deluxe Pushalong – especially in the neon pink our parent tester, Rachel’s, model came in – this isn’t reflected in durability or stability, both of which were impeccable throughout the week-long testing period and for months afterwards.
How does the Go Up Comfort Play stand up to bumps and knocks?
In walking bike mode, the seat vibrates a fair bit when the scooter is deliberately dropped, but everything remains sturdily intact. The suspended seat design does mean that, in practice, knocks are absorbed well, and there are three seat heights to ensure your child continues to be seated securely as they grow. The Comfort model has a more generous seat than the Sporty version (and added foot rests), and the Play models include a light-up horn.
The weight distribution of the ride-on and walking bike modes is superbly calibrated. At no point does the Go Up Comfort Play feel in danger of tipping forwards, even when our tester’s three-year-old leaned well over the handlebars for momentum (as she did often).
It’s almost impossible to tip the scooter over to the front in walking bike mode, and in scooter mode it’s still quite difficult. When given a good shove to the front or to the side, the rubber ends of the hand grips hit first, which are big enough to take the impact without damage.
It’s important to note that when the parent handle is attached in ride-on mode, the scooter is more top-heavy, and a child should not be left unattended without a parent stabilising the handle.
How stable is the Go Up Comfort Play in motion?
The handles of the walking bike are quite narrow – 25cm across in total, with only 7.5cm allotted to each hand – which reflects the intended age of the user. As a scooter, the handles are much more generous at 28cm across, with 12cm per hand. In practice, these handles are big enough for an adult to use – intentionally, as the T-bar is used as the parent handle in ride-on mode.
The wide front wheel base (23cm) and low ground clearance (2cm from the ground) make for increased stability, which is excellent for this age group, and ensures a good performance on bumpy pavements and damaged asphalt. The low ground clearance does make it difficult to use on any but the shortest grass, however, which is worth bearing in mind at the park.
The baseboard is lightly ridged in plastic, which isn’t as non-slip as some other models like the Oxelo Mid 5 and Mid 9, but our tester’s child didn’t have any problems with slipping.
What about the brakes?
It’s crucial that a transforming scooter like this one makes it easy for a child to learn to brake for the first time. The Go Up Comfort Play’s footbrake at the rear of the baseboard is a long piece of ridged plastic, and is light enough to step on with a small foot.
Our tester’s three-year-old quickly grew in confidence until she could do it unaided. During the brake test, the scooter took 59cm to come to a complete stop, which is useful to know when approaching traffic.
Read next: The best ride-on toys for one year olds and up
Any other safety features?
There aren’t any reflective strips or other features, though this age group is unlikely to be scooting very far from a parent, and of course it’s not recommended to scoot at night.
The Play model we tested did come with a light-up horn, but this is more of a toy than a safety device. In practice, it quickly ran out of battery and was a bother to remember to recharge, so our tester didn’t think it was worth the extra money – the Comfort Play is £15 more than the Comfort.