Cybex Lemo review

Key features

• Aluminium-framed chair with plastic or wooden seating area and footrest

• Can be used from birth with bouncer attachment, from six months with baby set, and indefinitely as a chair after three years or 15kg

• Five-point click-in harness with baby bouncer or baby set

• Comes in six colours

• Complies with EU safety standard EN 14988:2017

Pros

• Transitional-style chair that can be used by a baby, a toddler, a child and then an adult

• Seat height, footrest height and seat depth all fully and independently adjustable

• Stylish and minimalistic design, with different colourways available

• Easy to clean

Cons

• Bouncer, baby set and tray all need to be purchased separately

• Assembly requires screws and an allen key, and disassembly isn’t a convenient option

• One of the most expensive chairs we tested

What are the specs?

• Dimensions: L 56 x W 53 x H 82 cm

• Weight: 8.3 kg

• Materials: Aluminium; BPA-free plastic or ash wood

• RRP: £160 (chair alone); £125 (newborn bouncer); £70 (baby set); £30 (tray); £30 (comfort seat inlay)

• Maximum load (as adult chair): 95kg

How easy is the Cybex Lemo to purchase and assemble?

As with a number of baby equipment companies, Cybex don’t sell the Lemo directly themselves, but through third-party suppliers. The Lemo is available at Mothercare, John Lewis and a few smaller establishments, and there’s a store locator to help you once you’ve decoded their stylishly minimalistic – but not terribly helpful – website.

Mothercare and others sell the baby set, the tray, the comfort insert and the chair itself in a bundle, so you won’t have to go hunting around for all the pieces you’d like, and you can order replacement parts from those same retailers if necessary.

The box itself is 57cm x 63cm x 30cm, and weighs around 8kg – not difficult to lift and able to fit in most car boots. The instructions are illustration-only and a little opaque. Our tester, Katrĩna, spent 10 minutes disassembling the chair after accidentally putting it together in the wrong order, but there are a good number of helpful videos on Cybex’s website as well as instructions for download if you’ve misplaced the leaflet.

Cybex also have various question forms to fill in on their website if you need help with customer service and the Lemo comes with a two-year warranty.

Assembly itself is a matter of inserting four screws into the main frame, screwing them tight using the provided allen key, then clicking in the bouncer or the baby set depending on which stage you’re at. It’s a more complicated assembly than some, but is rewarded by rock-solid stability once you’ve got the chair in place.

How does it look?

Cybex is a German company that, according to its website, makes stylish design one of its three guiding principles. The Lemo certainly lives up to this. Its minimalistic, sleek design should complement even the most Instagrammable of kitchen spaces.

The six different colourways are elegant and eye-catching, particularly with the ash-wood seating option. We tested the Twilight Blue model with the plastic seating and it looked great all the way through. All in all, it’s a highchair that acts as a statement piece, as well as a functional bit of kit.

What’s the Cybex Lemo like to use?

Once assembled, the Lemo looks ready to stay put forever. Its aluminium frame and plastic or wooden seating are very solidly made, easily taking the weight of even the wriggliest of babies.

There’s no need to worry about comfort as the seat height, seat depth and footrest position can all be independently adjusted with an easy clip mechanism, so you can be certain your baby is ergonomically supported as they grow.

The smooth, moulded plastic of the baby insert is comfortable enough, but, if you’re concerned, a cushion insert can be bought separately for around £30 (but we, unfortunately, didn’t test this). There’s plenty of room to get a baby’s legs through the seat holes, but you may find that your toddler is eager to leave it behind, especially as, without the baby set, they can climb into the seat unaided. Katrĩna's 33-month-old toddler loved the added independence here.

Those angled legs are set with small wheels to help you move the chair around one-handed. Dragging the chair around the kitchen didn’t leave any marks on our Katrĩna's floor either.

Once the baby set has been left behind, the Lemo has enough solidity and flexibility to remain comfortable even for an adult, and the longevity this promises goes some way to offset the substantial price tag.

All this solidity does mean that disassembly isn’t quick or convenient, however, so this won’t be a chair that travels with you to the grandparents’.

How safe is it?

Cybex confirms that the Lemo complies with EU safety standard EN 14988:2017, and they have incorporated a ‘Tipping Prevention System’ to stop the highchair tipping over. In practice, this means that the silicone caps on the front legs combined with the small wheels on the back legs make the chair roll backwards slightly when force is applied, instead of tipping over.

Katrĩna found the base very stable and the chair didn't tip when pushed from the side or carrying a similar weight to a child.

In our drop test, the chair survived 10 crashes to the floor without being damaged in the slightest, and scrubbing hard with a new scouring sponge didn’t take off any of the paint. Similarly, the footrest took a child’s weight repeatedly without damage or buckling.

The five-point harness uses a central clip and is easily adjusted to fit well. Once in place, it feels secure with no danger of tiny fingers getting trapped.

Watch out for that open leg design, though, as it’s easy for a crawler to get underneath the seat and bump their head – and with a footprint of 56cm x 56cm, the angled legs could potentially be a trip hazard, so take extra care when walking around them.

Unlike the multifunctional models we tested, like the Red Kite Feed Me Deli or the Chicco Polly Magic Relax, the Lemo doesn’t fold – but without the baby set it does slide under the table like any other chair, which helps.

Is the Lemo easy to clean?

A pared-down design tends to avoid the nooks and crannies that make highchairs so hard to clean, so here again the Lemo shines. The aluminium frame and plastic seating is especially easy to clean in comparison to the wooden Stokke Tripp Trapp, and the seat can be wiped down quickly with a sponge.

Although we didn’t test either, the tray and baby set can be washed in the dishwasher.

Katrĩna used the chair not only for food but also crafts with her toddler, and paint and glitter all came off as easily as the remains of dinner.

During our porridge test, the hardened leftovers came off with only a quick scrub and Bolognese sauce was removed without leaving a rosy stain behind.

Final verdict?

The Cybex Lemo comes with a hefty price tag – £160 for the chair alone, £230 with the baby set and over £400 for the complete set with bouncer and comfort insert – which makes it more suitable for a niche audience.

But if you’re able to invest the cash, this long-lasting, stylish and thoughtfully designed piece of equipment should see you right through the toddler years – and well beyond.

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All prices correct at time of publication