Nursery product reviews
£199.00
HiLo Chair Review
These days it often feels like true ‘innovation’ is hard to find in the Nursery industry, but then every now and again a product comes along which could restore your faith in fun concepts and smart thinking...here we review the HiLo chair from AGE Design to see if it fits the bill...
Nursery Product Review
Fresh and funky the clever folks at AGE Design over in Canada have created a new concept in highchair design with their HiLo. A new brand with a new product, their rotational high to low chair allows you to use the seat as both a traditional height high chair (the ‘Hi’ part), and as an under table toddler or child low chair (the ‘Lo’ part). In this way the HiLo highchair should last your child from 6 months right up to 6 years.
What’s in the box?
HiLo Chair (requires assembly of seat, two leg struts and plastic mechanism covers).
Tray and tray insert
Fixings and Allen key
Instructions
The RRP of the AGE Design HiLo highchair is £199
Accessories
Seat cushion RRP £19.99
Colours
Black, Raspberry, Portobello (Coffee), Blueberry, Carrot, Chocolate, Asparagus and Pink
The HiLo highchair is a modern high chair system that converts into a children’s chair by the means of clever rotation of the seat itself. It has a detachable tray with insert, five point safety harness and wheels so you can move it about.
How does it work?
There are several chairs on the market that can be used as both a high chair, and then later as an under table toddler chair, but this one is unique in the fact that you can flip it round to give you the two different options in one, and you flip it round to alternate between the two different seats.
When you’re done constructing the HiLo high chair (an easy task – no daddies' required), you will be faced with a plastic moulded seat positioned within a solid wooden frame. To change between one and the other simply stand behind the chair, release the metal pull out knobs on either side of the chair (they are very stiff and you need some finger strength to fully release them) then use your knee to nudge the chair out of alignment. You can then push it all the way round and it locks into position the other way up – double check the metal knobs are fully back in, swap the harness over (just a few clips) and you’re done.
When you first see the seat of the AGE design HiLo Chair you’re going to think ‘my oh my, that looks easy to keep clean’, and you’d be right. The moulded seat has no cracks or crevices to lose lumps of jelly or toast crumbs, and you’ll not be left trying to use a table knife to gouge out cemented on weetabix from moving parts – the whole seat unit is one streamlined, clean cut piece of kit. The material it is made from reminds me of those outdoor toys you can get, hollow and lightweight, yet exceptionally sturdy and hardwearing, I get the feeling you could even take it out and hose it down if you needed to. You can rest assured the seat plastic contains no BPA, PVC or phthalates, and even the wooden struts are covered in a safe water based varnish, so even when it comes to teething time, a quick gnaw will do no harm.
Using the HiLo Chair as a high chair...
The ‘Hi’ chair side of the HiLo high chair has been moulded to make a slightly smaller seat than the kids chair – giving you a more secure and supportive fit for your tot when they are younger. Suitable from 6 months up to about 2 years this is where your child's weaning journey would traditionally start. The seat is a good height – would most likely fit under most kitchen bar counters, and be at a similar height to your kitchen table. With the seat in its ‘Hi’ position there is no footrest for the child – something an older toddler might miss – although for preventing possible escape attempts I know we would actually find this a bonus.
Using the HiLo chair as a junior chair...
The ‘Lo’ chair of the HiLo high chair is an inch or so wider, giving a bit more room for use right up until about 6 years. The seat allows your child to join in at a regular height table, without the need for any kind of booster seat, although the tray still fits the seat in the ‘Lo’ position so you have options there too. A footrest is provided in this position although it is not adjustable.
Harness and restraint
The five point safety harness is fully adjustable in terms of length, and comes with padded waist and shoulder pads for extra comfort – these are removable for washing (thank goodness!). The position of the straps cannot be altered, unless you use the cushion accessory where you can thread the shoulder straps through one of two height positions. A good range of size can be accommodated, and as all the straps can be easily unclipped you can usually find a way of getting your child secured with minimal fuss.
Moving it about...
Wheels are provided on the rear of the seat when in its ‘Hi’ position, and this is handy for shuffling it around the kitchen when mopping up etc, although I would like to see them a little easier to remove for cleaning themselves – a few turns around my kitchen after a heavy weaning session would leave them caked in all kinds of sticky stuff. The chair itself has a small 'footprint', and although it doesn't fold down - it won't take over your entire kitchen either.
HiLo Chair Tray table
The wipe clean tray features a removable shaped insert and fits on both the ‘Hi’ chair and the ‘Lo’ chair. You can use the insert for weaning your baby in the ‘Hi’ chair, and then use the tray without the insert as a little craft table for a toddler, and then remove the tray and push the HiLo chair up to the table for an older child to do their homework. Sadly the tray doesn't go in the dishwasher – but the insert should take the brunt of the mess and can be put in the dishwasher.
The underside of the tray features a sturdy wide seat post to keep your child positioned in the chair and is softly moulded to allow you to slip a child in with the tray attached. To connect the tray to the seat it’s a simple slide on, then hook two eyelet fastenings on to two hooks at the back – very simple non mechanical design, although I think if you are trying to get the tray on a reluctant tot already in the seat they may take delight in pushing it off faster than you can get the eyelet hooked on.
The distance the tray sits from the rear of the seat cannot be adjusted though – so you may find you need to pad out a smaller child’s seat to bring them forward closer to the tray edge – the matching cushion insert does help with this to an extent. The tray isn’t so huge as you’re miles away if you’re spoon feeding, and you can get it nice and close to your own table to keep everyone involved in family meal times.
HiLo Chair Cushions and padding
Lovely simple design to the optional seat cushion, and this adds some much needed comfort to what is quite a harsh seat environment for your littley. Soft padding and cotton covering in a fun and funky striped design (or plain black if you prefer) looks great. Easy to put on – just hook the sleeve over the seat back and thread your shoulder straps through. Whip it off and chuck it in the wash when you need to and it should come out good as new, well the stripes will hide that orange carrot stain anyway...
HiLo Chair Conclusion
The AGE design HiLo chair is a tough cookie to judge. I love it, and more importantly, my kids loved it. But, I still find myself wondering why? Why do I need to be able to rotate my kids chair easily between two settings? Surely there will be a certain age at which I need to change it round, I’ll do it once, and that’ll be it. Am I just being dazzled by the funkiness of the swivelling function? Has the swivelling concept and the smart design made me lose sight of some other important features which have fallen by the wayside - like a footrest for the ‘Hi’ chair and an adjustable tray, the stiff metal knobs for releasing the swivel, and the stiff way of hooking the tray on? Am I really bothered by these things? No. I still love the HiLo Chair regardless, and where I think it really comes into its own is if you have siblings, you can flip it around to use it as a seat for your elder child to do their homework at, a highchair for you to feed your baby, and then back to a craft table to secure your toddler whilst they go bonkers with the glue stick, everyone gets a go and it seems well up for some serious hard work and rough love.
Yes it’s relatively expensive, but yes it’s useful, yes it looks funky, and yes the nifty swivel action is totally cool. It's not just a highchair, it's a piece of design and would look cool in an ultra-modern spacious kitchen. So yes. It’s no one trick pony and if you want an uber cool and parent friendly high chair that will last you an age and you don’t mind paying for quality and a (very slightly gimmicky) swivel function, then the HiLo Chair from AGE Design might be the one for you!
We give the HiLo Chair 4 out of 5 stars
