Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Bouncer
by Fisher-Price
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Bouncer
Customer Review: Such a terrific "bouncer"
Summary: 5 Stars
I origionally purchased two huge swings for my now 4 week old twin sons, and a little over a week ago, I returned them since the boys werent interested, I used the money (well some of it atleast) to purchase this aqarium bouncer, and another entertaining seat.
First of all, I just introduced the toy bar yesterday, and although a bit shocked, my son seemed to really like it, and stared at it for about 15 minutes until I took him out and tryed his brother, who also had the same reaction. I know its entertaining as my friends 5 month old loves his, and laughs for ever while its on. Other than that, the bouncer is GREAT for naps for all four of us (yes, including me and daddy!) The boys sleep so soundly in the Aqarium "vibrator", yea, it doesnt truly bounce at all, but I can bounce them with "mommy power" a.k.a my foot while I am watching television. The vibrations are enough to send them into a deep slumber, so we went out a few days ago to make a second purchase, they are terrific! Even with small babies we are okay with the lapbelt, and some added head support. Its also easy to carry baby in the bouncer from room to room, but do NOT do this with the bar attached, as it has banged my friends baby in the head numerous times. I also wish it was easier to remove the bar, since I had to take the boys out of the bouncer to get it off, but no big deal. Within a short time the boys have already spit up on the chairs, and they wash well in the machine, and niether of ours were ruined after drying them un tumble dry delicate. They are easy to get on and take off. The batteries are also still going (trust energizer, they seem to work well with baby gear) and my friend says she has only changed her batteries 2 times since her baby was born! The bouncer is also well padded, but we keep a small folded washcloth over the battery part, under the cover since it seems a bit hard there.
All in all I higly reccomend this product, and although it doesnt fold, I can "stack them" and place them in my trunk for travel. Every baby needs and deserves one... GREAT "bouncer"
Customer Review: WARNING!!! DANGEROUS PRODUCT!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
We have not had ANY luck with Fisher-Price products. When this P.O.S. worked for about 6 short weeks though, it was a good product. Ours broke without warning, and now the aquarium part does not work at all. We get music, sound effects, and the blinking lights, but no bubbles and fish/starfish movement. It really sucks to see (and hear) the dissapointment on our baby's face as the aquarium suddenly stopped working! Also, our other bouncer, a Fisher-Price 'Flutter & Chime' bouncer, has this plastic bird that vibrates excessively and makes a loud, annoying noise. It is not affixed properly to the product to begin with. We also were dissapointed in the Fisher-Price 'Aquarium Cradle Swing', since the swing goes much too fast, even on the slowest setting. All in all, 3 different products by Fisher-Price, and all fell short in expectations and useability. Bottom line- look elsewhere for a better quality bouncer. Clearly, Fisher-Price quality is not too good on many of their seemingly shoddy products.
UPDATE: 1/2/2006 After taking this thing apart, and fixing the loose connections inside, I have been using this the past few weeks, and yesterday, my 13 pound, 4.5 month old daughter managed to thrust her head over the side of this bouncer, and she hit the floor! Despite tightening the straps to the correct length! Folks, even if you are there supervising your infant, they can thrust themselves off the sides and get hurt. All it takes is a second. This is a FLAWED and DANGEROUS product! There should be some sort of side-guards or higher side bolsters in order to keep infants from falling off the side. I was lucky in this case, since my infant apparently did not get hurt. I am throwing this product out immediately, and destroying it so nobody else gets their hands on it. It's that potentially dangerous! Just read every other review here. So many others have mentioned the same shortcoming. This product should be taken off the market immediately!
Customer Review: Second to my swing, but a great purchase!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great purchase. It is second to my swing in terms of its calming effect on my little one, but is certainly a worthwhile purchase.
Pros:
-- It is easy to assemble and unlike my swing, easily portable. I find that I move it all around the house so that I can station him where I can watch him and still get things done. I can even take it to my friends' houses or outside with me.
--The water sounds, music, lights, and spinning fish have a mesmerizing effect on my little one. He absolutely loves to watch the spinning fish.
--The music has a high and low volume setting that can be adjusted accordingly.
--One of the best things about this bouncer is the calming vibrations. When he's being fussy, I just turn them on and he usually calms right down.
--The sounds/lights can be activated either by a parent turning them on or your baby hitting the toys that activate them. I usually leave it to my son to activate them on his own. When he starts to get a little squirmy, he accidentally activates the sounds/lights on his own and bounces in the chair a little, and then he realizes how fun that is. Sometimes I give him a head starting by starting it up for the first cycle, and then he keeps it going by hitting the toys and reactivating it. He really seems to enjoy bouncing and activating the sounds and lights!
Con:
(This is why I gave it only 4 stars)
-- The only negative thing about this bouncer is that the safety belt, even on its largest setting, is a little tight on my 3 month old. I just wish they could make that a little larger because you have to adjust it to your child's size anyways.
That's really the only change I'd make though. I definitely recommend this bouncer---money well spent!
Customer Review: I really love this seat!
Summary: 5 Stars
This really has been a wonderful addition to our home and our baby always loved this. He would sit and watch the little fishies spin and listen to the music or the bubbling sound effects. He never seemed to be bored! I would feed him in this and after his meal, attach the toy bar and have at least 15 minutes to straighten up and clean up. It worked great for me to catch 10 minutes here and there. Sometimes he would even fall asleep when I would use the vibrating feature.
Luca used this from about 2 months until about 9 months and I changed the batteries 3 times.
I liked having the ability to change the sounds from music to water effects. This bouncer enables you to put it in interactive mode where your infant's movements will cause the toy bar to react with lights and sounds. Perhaps around 5 months,my little guy discovered and really enjoyed this feature. All your baby has to do is wiggle or kick their little feet while seated in this and their little movements will make the toy bar react. You can also switch the toy bar's lights and sounds into a continuous mode. This is great for when your baby is younger.
I was sorry when my son outgrew this because it was something he enjoyed so very much.
Our neighbor is now using it for their 3 month old daughter and they love it as much as we did.
One final and wonderful feature of this is the ease of removing the pad the great way the fabric washes. Mine was always in the washer and dryer and never shrunk or faded! The plastic cleaned extremely well. After 6 months of continuous use and cleaning, this product looks brand new!
Very, very pleased with this!
Customer Review: Functional but Not Durable
Summary: 3 Stars
My little boy loves this bouncer. He's been intrigued by the bubble noises from ~2wks old -- the first time we put him in and turned it on. At nearly 8wks, he enjoys watching the starfish spin; it can occupy him for several minutes. In addition, just having a seat to sit and watch Mommy is useful. However, currently, he is using the Bright Starts Automatic Bouncer more since it actually bounces, putting him to sleep.
Unfortunately, the vibrating motor makes a high-pitched noise and, when we received the bouncer, the liquid level was so low that the fish did not move. Though we contacted Fisher Price, we ended up repairing both aspects ourselves. Customer service was very friendly, but it would have taken 60 days for the replacement check to have been mailed to us; for us to then go out to a store to buy another model -- this particular model has been discontinued; hence, there are no replacement parts available. Also, we were told that Fisher Price thought the bouncer cost less than was paid on Amazon; in order to get our full amount paid, we would have to send a receipt, which was considerably inconvenient since this was a gift from our baby registry. We had thought we were unfortunate receiving a dud. However, we received a second Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium bouncer and had the same issues! Some WD-40 on the motor fixed the high-pitched noise. Adding water/glycerin to the top took a little more work and required a glue gun; however, it was fixable. There are several sets of instructions online; basically, take it apart, use a knife to remove the glue around the seal of a plug, remove the plug, fill with water/glycerin combination, use a glue gun to seal the plug back in place.