Aqua doodle or off brand aqua mat?

[Ancfib]

I am thinking of getting one for my 2 year old for her birthday right before Christmas, I was also thinking of getting one for my friends 2 year old for Christmas.

The one on agros is Chad valley and it's only £9! Which is amazing. I have been looking at the Aquadoodle Peppa pig one on Amazon for £23! Which is a huge price difference and I'm obviously looking so save where I can! Hence the reason I'm spreading to cost now! Haha

Does anyone have either? I'm worried that my daughter's will wreck the cheaper one instantly. They tend to be a bit heavy handed..

Is it worth the extra?

Following as thinking about getting the same for dd

My first had a crayons branded one.
My second had a generic Minnie Mouse one. Both were fine and didn't have much difference.

I've had a branded one and a cheap one off groupon and there was no difference in the quality,

I found the branded one better than the one I got from lidl.

Get the £9 one

Get the cheap one. We got the branded one and it ended up water stained and then eventually covered in crayon anyway
A 2 year old won't know or care!

We have a cheap one from amazon and it's fine

We've got a cheap one at work, it works exactly the same way as the aquadoodle one and it's actually bigger. I'd definitely go for the cheap one.

Check the sizes. If they're the same size or similar go for the cheaper one.

I used to be a childminder do we had several. The only one that wasn't great was because I didn't check the size and it was about half the size of the others still fine to play with though, but with aqua mats I found bigger was better.

They all end up a bit stained eventually but do usually survive a washing machine wash even though the instructions say not to.

One thing to watch for is the pens, some of the cheaper ones are age 3+ rather than passing the higher safety standards of under 3 toys.

Amazing thanks for all the advice, I'll look into the sizing and check that its age appropriate! :) But I am definitely getting the cheap one now I think !