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Phil and Teds Traveller is the lightest and smallest option we tested, and it fits in a small backpack you can carry over one shoulder with ease. This crib has a unique side panel that unzips for snuggling little ones, and the materials have been Oeko-Tex certified making it one of the healthiest options we tested. However, this product is ridiculously convoluted in its opening and closing method and is more of an assembly project than the competition. Even after repeated testing, it still took over four times longer to set up than the competition. This setup time, coupled with a self-inflating mattress that never laid flat, hurt the Traveller during testing and cost it a potential award for its great portability.
Phil and Teds has discontinued the Traveller we tested. They offer a new, updated version called the Traveller (2021+) travel crib. We are now linking to the newer version and hope to test it soon.
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Our Analysis and Test Results
The Phil and Teds company is an international company and award-winning marketer of products for babies. The company has been making baby gear for over 20 years across three brands including Mountain Buggy and Mokopuna. Phil and teds have received three Red Dot design awards and create a variety of products including strollers, travel gear, high chairs, and car seats.
Performance Comparison
The Traveller must be assembled and disassembled every time you want to use it transport it. Assembly time takes over 8 minutes.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Ease of Use
The Traveller is challenging to use thanks to a ridiculously long setup time compared to the competition. It took us over 27 minutes on our first go which is three times the next longest setup time. Even after repeated efforts during testing we never set it up in under 8 minutes. The rest of the competition can all be set up in under 2:45 after you do them a few times. This could be very frustrating after a long day of travel.
This product has a side zipper that provides additional access to the crib. This somewhat unique feature enables parents to nap with the baby for added comfort or parents can use it as an open play yard to extend the room for play.
The Phil and Teds Traveller is very small and super easy to carry over long distances.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Portability
The Traveller earned a 10 of 10 for portability and is the top performer in this metric. This crib weighs 7.4 lbs folded in the travel bag. This weight is the lowest in the group making it the easiest one to carry over a long distance. It is also one of the few with a shoulder strap which makes carrying it more convenient than those with small handles.
The Phil and Teds Traveller has a unique self-inflating mattress similar to a camping mattress.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Comfort
The Traveller isn't the best for comfortable sleeping. This product has one of the lowest scores for comfort in the group. The Traveller has a unique mattress and is the only one in the review that is inflatable. It self-inflates like popular camping pads, but ours didn't seem to want to inflate fully, and we had to help it by inflating it by mouth.
Even though the Traveller mattress is attached to the bottom of the crib, it still bows up and has trouble laying flat against the bottom which makes us worried about potential safety concerns.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The mattress also had trouble staying flat with the sheet on and it curled up somewhat making a possible gap for entrapment despite attaching to the bottom with clips at the corners. Getting baby into and out of the crib is more difficult than the majority of the competition.
The Traveller earned a blow average score for quality with a flimsy final product.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Quality
The Traveller has an aluminum frame and nylon/polyester fabric. The mesh has a lot of give to it so the baby may be able to press it out significantly, but we didn't have any loose threading on our product. The frame seems sturdy but it shakes easily and pressing on the top bar will move the legs when you don't intend them to.
Eco-health
The Traveller earned an 8 of 10 for eco-health and is only one of only a few products that earned higher than a one in this metric. According to Phil and teds, the updated Traveller is flame-retardant free, and the materials are all Oeko-Tex certified. Given that a significant number of the competition has not made efforts to remove harmful chemicals from the baby gear we commend Phil and Teds for going the extra mile and making an effort. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) retains a list of popular brand name companies and their stance on flame retardants. Phil and Teds is not included on the list, but their website states the Oeko-Tex certification.
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