Playtex Diaper Genie Twist- Away Pail System
by Playtex
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List Price: Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Playtex Diaper Genie Twist- Away Pail System
Customer Review: Best odor control -- criticisms overblown
Summary: 5 Stars
This seems to be the minority opinion, but having owned both I'll take the twistaway Diaper Genie over the Diaper Champ any day.
Some of the criticisms are valid. It's a little fiddly to use and the fact that you have to use the proprietary refills isn't as convenient or quite as cheap, but I think these criticisms are greatly exaggerated and the tradeoff in odor control makes it a no-brainer for us.
Regarding odor, I can only conclude that those who say the Champ works just as well as the Genie either A) have small infants whose diapers don't smell much to begin with, or B) have no sense of smell. With the Champ, we abandoned the rocker near the changing table. The area reeked. The Champ makes a loud wooshing noise every time the plunger drops. Where do you think that air is coming from? With the twistaway Genie, even when filled to the brim, the area is odorless. There's a slight smell for a minute when you open it to dispose of a diaper, but that quickly dissapates, and when it's closed, it's on lockdown.
Regarding the criticisms, I just don't understand the complaints that it's too complicated. No, it's not quite as ridiculously simple as the Champ, but we're talking a 4 on the 1-10 scale instead of a 2. And personally, I find it easier to empty and refill than the Champ. Also, the complaints about the cost of the refills are vastly overblown. We go approximately three weeks on a $6 refill cartridge. In the same span, we'd use a couple bucks worth of regular garbage bags with the Champ, so we're spending about $4-5/month more on the Genie. It's hardly a burdensome expense, and well-justified, I think.
In sum, unless you're EXTREMELY sensitive to cost or ease of use issues, this is clearly the way to go.
(For the record, I have not tried the Diaper Genie II, but based on the mechanism I have my doubts that it controls odor as well as the original.)
Customer Review: Works great until your baby is on mostly solids
Summary: 2 Stars
I've owned this for almost 2 years. Based on the description, I do believe I have the "new and improved". Here's my opinion:
- Works great for infants. Mine was breastfed and never had stinky poop til he was mostly on solids, about 14 months. I hear complaints about costly refils but I refilled mine maybe 3 times. The trick is to throw pee pee diapers in the garbage can and just put the poopies in the genie. The nursery never smelled like pee so I thought this was a good way to go.
- Once my son was on more solids than breastmilk, about 14-15 months, his poop became too stinky for even the diaper genie to contain. The genie would have only one poopie diaper in it (I emptied the genie every 3 days or so) and it still stunk up the room so bad. I am using the stage 2 refills, or whatever they're called. The genie itself when opened from the bottom to empty was terribly stinky no matter how much lysol I sprayed in there. Now I just use plastic grocery bags or small garbage bags to immediately bag the poopie diaper and throw the tied up bag downstairs in the kitchen garbage can. I've since put the genie away but will probably use it for the next kid in the early months, if I can get the stink out!
Just a note about the diaper champ since a lot of people are comparing the genie to that, they used this at my son's daycare. It stunk too and I consider it unsanity, the way you have to touch it, if that makes any sense. I at least felt the genie was very sanitary, as your hand always touches clean bag and no part of the genie comes in contact with the diaper other than the bag.
All in all, the genie is useful but I wouldn't buy one again if this broke or something. I'd just take stinky's downstairs in a plastic garbage bag and throw pee pees in the nursery garbage til garbage day. If you live in a one-story house YOU DEFINATELY DO NOT NEED THIS. Hope that helps.
Customer Review: A Parent's Best Friend
Summary: 5 Stars
The D.G. Twist-Away is the next best thing to going back in time and making sure the condom didn't break.
In all seriousness, this thing really has it all. I have no idea where the negative reviews are coming from because my wife and I consider this to be the most important piece of baby equipment that we own aside from out daughter's car seat.. and here are just a few of the reasons why:
1. IT IS EFFECTIVE: Works just as advertised. Thanks to the fact that each of the diapers are sealed off from the rest of the system, there is NO smell coming out of this wonderful piece of equipment. The fact that there is no odor along with the fact that this system takes so many soiled diapers before filling up allows us to go almost a week before making a trip out to the dumpster! We almost get surprised when the darned thing fills up.
2. IT IS ACTUALLY FUN TO USE: Maybe my wife and I are just a little too into gizmos, but twisting the handle and then lifting the lid to see that the diaper has magically disappeared is strangely satisfying. We even tossed some polka dot stickers on it so that it would match the rest of the room. (HINT: The D.G. Twist Away systm is a blank canvas.... Get creative!!)
3. IT IS AN INCREDIBLE VALUE: For the convenience and ease of use and downright fun we have with this thing, we would gladly pay at least double what we have paid. Even if what I had heard in earlier reviews about these becoming stinky after a year, we can afford to just buy another one (and we are NOT well off financially by any means).
...And as far as the refills go, they really are not that expensive and they do last quite a while. Again, well worth the price for the convenience.
I could go on and on, but the baby is finally sleeping and I have work and school all day tomorrow... Just go out and buy one; you will be glad you did!
Customer Review: Works well, could be better....
Summary: 3 Stars
My daughter is 11 months old now, and the Genie has worked in her nursery from the very start. It does a good enough job of odor control, when used as directed. It's a bit wasteful -- one of the first experiments my husband did upon emptying one load was to untangle the "sausages" and see how much volume was wasted... about 80% in our instance, which is quite a bit. So because we hate wasting plastic, we're only twisting the lid a few times a day, and after every poopy diaper. The odor is still controlled with the #1 cartrige -- I don't see the need for the toddler ones. Baby is about weaned, with solid food being most of her intake, and while her diapers smell, her nursery does not. Neither does the can, after almost one year.
We do find it hard to go more than two days (or even one) without emptying the can -- it's really tiny. Perhaps the small size is a hint to empty it often, and I can't argue with that. But it's a pain to realize halfway through a change that the pail is full, and now one has to jam that dirty diaper pushing through squishy older ones, even if wrapped. Just plain yucky. Same for the concept of pushing the used diaper deep into the can, past the clamps: i find that a bit repugnant.
So overall, this works for us, but I cannot say it's more than a necessary evil. Other than the need to jam that diaper so deep inside the can, I found the operation easy enough. Despite the heavy looking lid, there is no odor control there, so leaving a diaper too close to the top will impart that "fragrance" to the room. Emptying it is easy and clean, and I did not find that the cartriges added a significant cost to the overall proposition of having a baby: factoring in the diapeys, formula, wipes -- to only list the basic "consumables", the cartriges really don't put a dent in our budget. But what an environmental nightmare to have all that plastic around!
Customer Review: Malfunctioned ALL THE TIME!
Summary: 2 Stars
I have owned the "new & improved" Diaper Genie for 8 months now. I too thought that this was the only one to get so I put it on my registry! At first I liked it because it is odorless, the refills are easy to use and such a great concept (I personally didn't have a problem with buying refills like many others do and complain about - babies cost money, you should know that going into the deal!) I even bought a handmade Diaper Genie cover on Ebay to match my nursery and dress it up quite a bit. The Genie started malfunctioning right away and no matter how many times I turned the knob around and around to twist off the bag to start another link, it would FAIL and the bags or "sausage links" as some call it, would come apart and all the diapers would fall down to the bottom of the Genie. Basically turning it into a small trash can with a fancy lid. I would cut off the bag liner, tie another knot and try it again, I would turn the knob a dozen times but it wouldn't seal right, the next diaper that I lightly would put in there would AGAIN, fall to the bottom. I tried everything I could to keep the diapers from breaking through the twist and nothing worked unless the diaper was very light and empty. I even had several other people try it to make sure it wasn't just me, they had the same problem! For the past 6 out of the 8 months that we owned this, we have just been throwing her diapers in her trash can next to the Diaper Genie! I have had it, I just bought another pretty gingham cover for my new diaper pail that I am going to buy...THE DIAPER CHAMP!
~~~~ FYI, there are several talented moms on Ebay that make Diaper Genie covers, Diaper Champ covers, etc. They are very nicely done and you can get one in different colors and patterns! They even sell matching Changing Pad covers, and bedding items! ~~~~