Ocean Wonders Musical Aquarium Crib Attachment
by Fisher-Price
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Our Price: $94.98 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $26.98 (click here) Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Ocean Wonders Musical Aquarium Crib Attachment
Customer Review: Some improvements, but some big mistakes in the new model
Summary: 2 Stars
We bought the previous version of the Ocean Wonders aquarium in 2002 for our first child. It served a lot of functions: soothing white noise to fall asleep by, a day-or-night toy by the crib. Our firstborn loved it. Nicest of all, it made the transition to his toddler bed much easier. We wanted our second son (born last september) to have his own, and we were glad to see that a new version was coming out because we assumed the new model would be an improvement. This is not the case.
For starters, the new version is a MAJOR hassle to put together. The old model was one unit with a panel in the back for putting in batteries. Its one thing for battery replacement to require a screwdriver, but this contraption has a seperate battery case that attaches to the rest of it by an OUT OF SIGHT screw that you have to line up PERFECTLY to get the device to work. It took me two hours to find this screw. If that wasn't enough, you have to do this while the batteries are out and while the thing is attached to the crib or you won't be able to get it to stay in place! It is as if the designers were trying to find the clunkiest way possible to set this up.
Secondly, the new model is much bigger and much brighter than the old one. While this makes it more of something to play with, it also makes it useless for soothing nighttime use. The size makes it more than a little intimidating for a newborn, but the brightness makes it useless for nighttime.
To be fair, there have been some improvements over the older model. The sound quality of the songs is much better both in fidelity and tambre (it doesn't sound like a cheezy synthisizer). The ocean sounds (which are the best sounds) are still there and sound good.
Overall, I would not recommend this product. See if you can find one of the earlier model floating around.
Customer Review: We had no problems with it...
Summary: 5 Stars
Our 15 month old daughter has the older rectangular version of this and she stills loves it. It moved from her crib to her toddler bad and she made it very clear that "bubba" was NOT getting her "ish". =) So we bought the new model yesterday without doing any research into it at all. I was very worried when we came home and I checked out the reviews but I have to say that we had no trouble with it.
The battery pack is rather large and I will admit that Fisher Price could have designed it better but at least we can hide it against the wall of the nursery. Attaching the battery pack was easy but my husband helped me with it. We just attached the aquarium to the crib and then he inserted the batteries and snapped the pack on. It kind of snaps into place and then it was easy for hubby to tighten the screws. Ours didn't slide down or anything like some have mentioned. So Fisher Price might have improved some of the flaws or maybe we just got lucky with ours.
Anyway, once we had it up we loved it more than the first one we got. It has better sound quality and doesn't sound as cheesy as our daughter's. It still has the great ocean sounds and plays the classic lullabies. It is also larger so they have added more cute little aquatic creatures and they move around more in this one. It also still has the awesome lighting effects which are our daughter's favorite. It does not seem any brighter than the older one as someone stated so I don't think we'll have any problems with it being more of a distraction than soother but only time will tell. But last night while hubby and I finished up in the nursery our daughter fell asleep in the new crib while watching and listening to this thing so I think we'll continue to love our new "ish" as much as our older "ish".
Customer Review: Just Right
Summary: 4 Stars
We got this as a shower gift 6 months ago. It seems the price has signifcantly dropped recently. Since it is so cheap, I would definatley recommend getting one. There are a lot of gentle song choices, sounds of bubbles, and one of the ocean. Our baby has LOVED watching the sea creatures moving from day one. We've been using it daily and nightly for 4 months now and have not had to change the batteries. We use it on the lighted music movement feature everytime.
Yes, we cannot get it to attach to the crib, which is why I only gave it 4 stars. Since our baby sleeps in a sleep positioner, we have it rested against the bars in her line of vision on the mattress and we have never had an issue with that. At least it's now portable for us.
Sometimes, it is the only thing that will get her to stop crying. She is totally uniterested in mobiles.
I am annoyed that it only plays for 5 minutes. If it played for 15 minutes, then I wouldn't have to go in and turn it on 3 or 4 times and I would pay $100 for the thing. At least they should come up with a remote control. I probably would have to spend a fortune on batteries too, but what price would you pay for only having to turn on a machine to soothe your little one back to sleep in the middle of the night and getting that extra hour or two of sleep?
The perfect solution would be a plug in version with a timer, so no one is annoyed by the battery pack issue, and you could set it for the time you need. If they did that, they would have the perfect.
Fortunately, it works for us just great the way it is. I'm thankful that we have it.
Customer Review: Sorely Disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
My son has used the previous version for 2 years now and LOVES it. We thought with him moving towards a toddler bed and plannig for a new baby, it was also time for a new set of "fishies". I read the reviews on Amazon, but went against my better judgement and bought it anyway.
BIG MISTAKE.
I have to agree with the other reviews, the new version isn't an improvement over the first. It was a huge let down. Before I spent hours trying to fasten it to the crib, I put it together just to see if was as loud as everyone described. YES. Although I have to agree the music quality is better, it's hard to hear over the whizzing and whirring of the machine itself.
And yes, it is as hard to assemble as everyone has indicated. Our crib is against the wall and in a tight area. To try and hold both pieces while I tighten the screws, put the batteries in, and then screw some more was a feat only a Tim Taylor would appreciate.
It seems to me the engineers of this product were trying to keep the batteries out of the compartment shared by the water, but come on, it could have been done better. As someone noted before, they did everything the hardest way.
It's going back today.
And on a side note, it was obvious to me that this product was shipped before it was ready. The box in a box? And the illustrations TAPED onto the inner box??? I paid over $30 for a toy that was released before they even got all the packaging bugs out?! It seems to me that everything about this toy was ill-conceived and rushed.
I expected more from Fisher-Price/Mattel.
Customer Review: A very illogically designed baby toy.
Summary: 1 Stars
This item is poorly designed, painful to attach, and not recommended. If you get one, return it for something less frustrating.
We received this item from my mother-in-law after the birth of our son. When he was 7 weeks, we moved him from bassinet to crib, meaning it was time to get this item attached to the crib.
Problem 1 - Packaging is virtually impossible to open. This toy straps onto the crib and its packaging via these plastic straps with holes that hook into plastic "buttons" molded onto the back of the toy. The plastic is inflexible, and this system is predicated on them being flexible. As a result, getting the package open was a knuckle-busting trip to the toolbox with a lot of four-letter utterances.
Problem 2 - This item fits very poorly on our (and I have to assume other) cribs. We have a very nice Pali crib, which I believe is a popular brand. This should fit along the long side of the crib, so baby can turn his head and look at it. However, the crib's top railing is too wide (or I would contend, this toy's straps are too short) for this to work. So, it can only go on the head/foot end of the crib. Inflexible straps again equal a lot of words not for young ears.
Problem 3 - Battery box goes outside the crib, and is detachable. As other reviews have outlined, this makes installation (more) annoying, and causes reliability issues.
Problem 4 - Toy instructions say it requires 7" of clearance between toy bottom and mattress for safety. This is not possible on my crib, and I suspect not possible on yours either.