Baby Furniture Wars: Mobiles (Wind Up vs. Battery Operated)

This is a continuation of our series on Baby Furniture Wars.  If you've made the decision of Playard vs. Crib and chosen playard, you are probably going to want to look into getting a compatible mobile that spins without you standing there all day.  This is my story:

Clark usually sleeps in his Graco Pack 'n Play playard. It came with a mobile.  Three plush (pastel green) turtles hang from the mobile.  Clark has loved those turtles every since he came home from the hospital, especially when they spin.  I can't stand there all day and spin the mobile, even if that's what Clark would prefer. It took me a few weeks, but I realized we needed a mobile that spun on its own.  Such a thing has to exist for a playard, I can't be the first one to think of this.

Babies 'R Us (BRU) would have had an easy sale had they made me aware of the existence of such a product for our playard at the time we bought it.  I was left to my own parental devices to discover the need for a self propelled/spinning mobile and to find a suitable mobile to address the problem.  I did an internet search and found mostly products that were no longer being sold.  I finally found exactly ONE product that fit the description and was available for sale online, the Tiny Love Take-Along Mobile.  Internet rumors abounded about OEM models, but I couldn't find any available for sale online.

My next step was to head out to Toys 'R Us (TRU) because their website sold that mobile model online.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it at my local TRU or BRU stores, though they sold other models by the same manufacture. It was rather frustrating.  I purchased Clark's playard from BRU.  They sell hundreds, if not thousands, per month.  How could they not carry a moving mobiles designed for them? I couldn't be the only who wanted one.

I came home and decided to scour the net again.  I perused Graco's website.  I couldn't find anything that fit the description of what I was looking for.  I sent an email through their website and waited to hear back.  Not being very patient, I went ahead and ordered the Tiny Love model.  To hedge my bet, I called Graco the next morning just in case.  I asked about ordering a mobile that spun on its own.  (Turns out they had gotten my email, but had not yet responded.)  They did have a wind-up mobile available that was compatible with my playard model and took my order over the phone.  Let the spinning mobile wars begin!

Both mobiles arrived within a day or two of each other.  Graco's wind-up model came with three additional plush mobile toys, but replacing the turtles would probably break Clark's heart.  So, I swapped in the turtles from his old mobile.  The arm and support for the wind-up playard was a little hardier than that for the original mobile to compensate for the slightly heavier weight.  It fit nicely to the playard rail.  Though the mobile requires getting up to wind it, the improvement over manually spinning was substantial.  Clark loves the spinning turtles above his crib/playard.

The battery operated Tiny Love mobile did not attach as securely to the rail of the playard as I would have liked.  It was also not as tall/high as I would have liked.  There was also no option to swap in the turtles.  You were stuck with the figures that came with the mobile.  The battery powered model only required me to get up once (to turn it on or off).

In the final analysis, my decision came down to having to chose an imperfect product, whichever I decided to go with.  With thousands of playards sold each year, it's remarkable how little choice there is in self-spinning mobiles for them.  The Graco OEM wind-up model had the better overall compatibility with our playard, appeared safer (attached more securely to the playard), was taller and allowed Clark to keep his turtles.  I still have to get up to wind it up again every so often, but it's better than the original mobile that came with it.

Update: 07/30/2011 - On a recent trip to BRU, I noticed they now carry the Tiny Love Take-Along Mobile on their shelves.

     - Clark's Dad