Baby Joy Travel Crib 2-1 Playpen Review

Baby Joy offers a variety of baby-centric products, including travel cribs and bassinets.

Performance Comparison

Ease of Use

The Baby Joy impresses the most in the ease of use metric, with an above-average score close to the top. While it has a few idiosyncrasies, it is easy to use compared to the competition. This product fits easily in its bag, has one of the fastest setup times, and works as designed with few hiccups during testing.

Set up has few steps, and the most difficult part is threading the Velcro to get the mattress secured. The take-down is a little more challenging than setting up, but it is still easy with three steps. Paying attention to the steps' order is key to accomplishing the task, and you need to watch that the legs don't catch the fabric. While the fabric on this crib isn't machine washable, it can be removed and hand-washed, which makes keeping it clean far easier than those that only allow spot cleaning.

Portability

This travel option comes with a square carry bag with two attached handles. It measures 22"H x 24"L x 7"W when folded in the bag, neither large nor small but a little bigger than the average for the group. It weighs 10.25 lbs in the bag, which is a weight that could be manageable for some and more cumbersome for others.

This crib fits inside the carry bag easily, and it is a size that might fit into luggage or in a carry-on space in the overhead bin on an airplane. We kind of like the idea that you could keep it with you to use for layovers in a crowded or dirty location where a baby on the ground might be less than ideal.

Comfort

The Baby Joy may not be as comfortable for little ones as some of the competition, earning a below-average result in this metric compared to the competition.

The mattress pad on this option has a stiff corrugated plastic board and thin open cell foam on top with a cover that feels like polyester. The mattress looks thick, but the foam condenses easily, resulting in less comfort as little ones will quickly be resting on the harder plastic board.

For parents' comfort, getting little ones in and out is more challenging as the bed rests directly on the floor. While much of the competition has a similar design, it is easier to put a little one into a raised crib than something that requires bending in half. We do like the side access port that allows more comfortable access if you are sleeping on the floor next to your little one, as it allows hands-on comforting without getting up and reaching inside the top.

Quality

The Baby Joy isn't the highest quality in our tests compared to the competition. However, competition is steep, with some products offering certified materials and sturdier construction with greater attention to detail. The quality is on par with the price and about what you'd expect for a less expensive option.

This product doesn't list the materials it uses, which is disappointing. It is also somewhat wobbly when fully constructed, and the fabric is loose. Neither of these seems to affect this crib's safety or functionality, but it isn't as nice as the competition. The zipper on our crib felt a bit flimsy, and after the first setup, the teeth separated. It was a simple fix, but we think this shouldn't happen at all, and we worry larger babies might be able to create a split in the teeth if they lean on the side.

Eco-health

This Baby Joy product doesn't give us much information in the way of materials or what considerations have happened by way of eco-health concerns. The mattress has no tag, and there is no company website that we could find. This leaves the metric of eco-health somewhat unknown.