Philips AVENT Fast Review
The Skinny
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Philips AVENT Fast | |||||
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Awards | |||||
Price | $50 List $49.99 at Amazon | $28 List $30.99 at Amazon | $60 List $59.30 at Amazon | $22 List | $22 List $19.75 at Amazon |
Overall Score | |||||
Star Rating | |||||
Bottom Line | A straightforward warmer that warms quickly and is super easy to use | The lower price, features, and multiple settings are appealing | A higher-price warmer that is easy to use and can heat consecutive bottles but it isn't very fast | Simple and effective warming but requires prep work and could possibly be done with things you already own | Cheaper warmer that is easy to use but doesn't heat consistently or enough |
Rating Categories | Philips AVENT Fast | First Years Gentle... | Chicco Digital & St... | Kiinde Kozii Voyage... | The First Years 2-i... |
Health and Safety (35%) | |||||
Warming Efficiency and Consistency (25%) | |||||
Quickness of Warming (20%) | |||||
Ease of Use (15%) | |||||
Ease of Cleaning (5%) | |||||
Specs | Philips AVENT Fast | First Years Gentle... | Chicco Digital & St... | Kiinde Kozii Voyage... | The First Years 2-i... |
Heat Technology | Water Bath | Water Bath | Water Bath + Steam | Water Bath | Water Bath + Steam |
Measured Time to Auto Shut-Off | 5:41 min:sec | 10:21 min:sec | 7:22 min:sec | 10m:30 min:sec | 3:42 min:sec |
Measured Temperature at Auto Shut-Off | 89.0°F | 83.4°F | 73.9°F | 100.2°F | 54.0°F |
Measured Max Temperature | 116.5 °F | 88.4 °F | 92.2 °F | 117.2 °F | 108.7 °F |
Bottle Compatibility | Designed to fit your baby's favorite Philips Avent bottles and most leading baby bottle and baby food jar brands | Works With Most Baby Bottles | Compatible with a wider variety of materials (glass, plastic, and silicone) | Fits most pouches, bottles, and jars | Compatible with Most Baby Bottles *Safety warning against using glass bottles as sudden change in temperature may cause them to break |
Additional Info/Features | Smart temperature control selects the ideal heating mode, you only need to select the milk volume | Keep warm for 1 hour | Delayed start function | Portable | Some parts machine washable |
Compatible with Glass | Yes | Not Specified | Yes | Yes | Not Specified |
Compatible with Silicone | Yes | Not Specified | Yes | Yes | Not Specified |
Compatible with Pump Bags | Yes | Not Specified | Yes | Yes | Not Specified |
Compatible with Plastic | Yes | Not Specified | Yes | Yes | Not Specified |
Compatible with Wide Neck Bottles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
From Frozen Capability | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Baby Food Heating | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Temperature or Timer Based | Timer | Timer | Timer | Manual | Temperature |
Auto Shut-Off | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Audible Beep | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Consecutive Warming Wait Time | *If you want to warm another bottle or jar/container right away, always fill the bottle warmer with fresh cold water and let it cool down for a few minutes. When switching on the bottle warmer, the progress indicator flashes gradually, indicating the bottle warmer is heating again. *Information via Philips Avent Q&A |
Not Listed | Can unplug unit dump old hot water and refill with room temp water for consecutive heating cycles | Can do a consecutive warming until thermos is out of water | Wait 10 min before heating the next bottle |
LED Indicator for Completed Heating | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Measured Weight | 1 lb 3.6 oz | 1 lb 3.6 oz | 1 lb 8.4 oz | 14.8 oz | 1 lb 2.6 oz |
Measured Dimensions | 5.2 in x 6.0 in x 6.3 in | 5.2 in x 4.9 in x 10.3 in | 5.2 in x 5.1 in x 12.4 in | 3.8 in x 3.8 in x 8.6 in | 4.6 in x 6.2 in x 7.2 in |
Contents Kept Below 113ºF/45ºC | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Keep Warm Function | Yes, up to 60m | Yes, up to 60m | No | No | No |
Our Analysis and Test Results
Philips got its start in 1891 when Gerard and Frederik Philips, a father and son team, established Philips & Co. in the Netherlands. Their original goal was to "manufacture incandescent lamps and other electrical products." In 1895, little brother Anton Philips joined the team, helping them become one of the leading producers of light bulbs. Royal Philips is now a health technology company working toward products for healthy living, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and home care.
Performance Comparison
Health and Safety
The FAST did not do well in our tests for health and safety. Maintaining the nutritional quality of bottle contents largely depends on not overheating the milk. Avoiding burns and scalding mouths is also critical. Temperatures over 104F degrees can cause degradation of the milk nutrients. We ran tests using the hottest settings, assuming some parents will resort to this for faster, warmer times. We aim to identify units that could result in milk that is too hot and result in a diminished nutrient profile.
The AVENT Fast is a water bath warmer with no bottle basket, and the water temps can get high enough to cause pain if touched. We prefer a basket to help prevent burns. Using the instructions, we had a max observed temperature of 121.6 degrees. This temperature is over the temperature you want for safety and comfort. This warmer surpassed 104F degrees near the 7-minute mark in our tests.
Warming Efficiency and Consistency
The AVENT Fast is not the most consistent warmer in the group, but it is not the worst either. These tests use the manufacturer's directions for the settings, and we monitor and track internal content temperature over multiple tests.
At the auto-shutoff point (near 5.5 minutes), the unit has a temperature average of 89F degrees. The range is 76-98 degrees. That is a range of 22 degrees. There is a huge variation between warnings for the same settings and the same starting milk temperature for the same amount of time. This range decreases as it reaches body temperature, and around 6.5 minutes, the range is 93-106F, which is 13 degrees difference. None of the warmers were really consistent, but the key is finding a setting that works for you and creates warm milk that isn't too hot most of the time.
Quickness of Warming
The quickness of warming is where the AVENT Fast shines. At 5 minutes (auto-shutoff time), we got our first reading of body temperature, but the average temperature was still only 88 degrees F. At 6.5 minutes, the average content temperature was 98F, which is the goal temperature for most as it mimics the internal body temperature of breast milk, and the range was 93-106F. So, to be safe, pulling the bottle at 6 minutes should get you a warm enough bottle that is not too hot. No other option was this fast, using the manufacturer guidelines for setup.
Ease of Use
The AVENT Fast is easy to use and earned a higher score in this metric than the average.
It has almost too many instructions, however, and some of the written instructions seem to conflict with the pictograms they also include. This warmer is easy to fill with water and easy to set with a single dial. It has an auto-shutoff and can be completed using only one hand if you need to perform the steps while holding a baby.
Ease of Cleaning
The AVENT Fast earned a lower score for ease of cleaning than most competitors. The manual does not offer text on how to clean and instead relies on somewhat ambiguous icons and pictograms.
The images show dumping the water and wiping it clean. There is no information on using a detergent of any kind or doing more in-depth cleaning. It does offer information on descaling, and the written instructions walk you through the ratio amounts and how to run the unit for descaling. Descaling isn't a long process. If you spill milk inside the unit, you cannot reach the heating element to clean it, so you'll want to rinse it as quickly as possible.
Should You Buy the Philips AVENT Fast?
Maybe. If your goal is to get a bottle warm as quickly as possible, then the AVENT could be your best choice. However, it requires monitoring, and if you are the type to get distracted, it could potentially overheat your bottle faster than you realize. This results in milk being too hot to drink and potential degradation to the nutrition in the milk. It also could result in the potential to cause burns or scald baby mouths. If you only plan to use your warmer for overnight feedings, plan to stand right there (set a timer) and avoid the bottle sitting in the warmer for a prolonged period of time, then this quick warmer could be the right one for your needs.
What Other Bottle Warmer Should You Consider?
The First Years Gentle Warmth Digital is one of our favorite warmers that offers consistent warming and is easy to use and clean. It is slower and requires some patience to warm your bottle to body temperature. Still, with some preparation, this warmer can keep things cool enough to drink and avoid nutritional degradation. It also has a lower price and can save you some money if you don't need the fastest unit possible. If you want a fat warmer with less risk for overheating than the FAST, then the Baby Brezza Safe and Smart is a potential contender. It is more expensive than the competition, but depending on your goals, it could meet your needs.