Good morning! This is going to be another one of those jointly wrote articles; both Bob and I will be walking you through our first product review!For any of you that follow our online store at all, you've probably noticed one of the High Chairs that we carry is called the AGE Design Chair. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a commercial for AGE Design. Instead, we are going to share our actual experiences (good & bad) with one of our flagship products.
We hope that we can build trust among our readers and our customers by making sure they know what they are buying before they buy it!
Okay, so here we go...
HiLo - AGE Design Chair
Details:
-Colors: Blueberry / Raspberry / Chocolate / Portabella / Carrot / Asparagus
-Natural Wood Legs or Dark Wood Legs - Both Pine
-6 months - 6 years of age
-Optional, snap in place, back / seat cushion
-Retail Price $299.99
Style
Seriously, who wouldn't look twice at the style of this chair. I mean even if you don't like it, you still do a double take just trying to figure out how it works. We can honestly say that this isn't simply a chair, but a piece of versatile and attractive furniture, that often doubles as a conversation piece. We have even called it our 70's chair. It does seem to have somewhat of a retro look. No matter how you slice it, AGE Design surely doesn't miss when it comes to the style of this chair!
Functionality
In case you aren't familiar with how this chair works, it's real simple:
1.) Pull out the stainless knobs on each side
2.) Put your knee into the back to rotate
3.) Continue to rotate to the Hi or Lo chair height
4.) Make sure the knobs lock
5.) Enjoy!
It's great for sitting under a standard table, as well as an island counter top. Unfortunately, there is some trouble with the tray when you aren't using it. If you just look at the pic to the right, you can see what I mean. It's pretty large and it's an awkward shape.
However, we often just let it hang off to the side of the chair. This works okay, but it would be nice if they could somehow remake the tray so that it was flatter in future models.
Another anoyance is the fact that the active restraints are only on one side. That means before you flip it, you have to disconnect the restraints and put them on the other side. Although a small recovery for this process is that the straps have an easy connect / disconnect feature. I think I'd prefer to simply have a set on both sides. Another future fix?
Safety
In general the chair seems pretty idiot proof (i.e. Mommy / Daddy proof). It's easy to clean and has very few moving parts, so there's little chance of little fingers getting caught in something. Regretably though, we'd like to point out the passive restraint issue that we've noticed. It's not as much a problem as it is a safety tip.
**SAFETY TIPS**
1.) It is imperative that when your child sits in the seat, you must attach the active restraints. The reason for this is simple; the tray sits back far enough that a wiggly child can easily slip out of it. Again, if you attach the active restraint this problem is prevented. As you can see below, our daughter can pick up her knees, but that's about it. If we hadn't connected the active restraint, she'd be out-a-there!
2) This second tip will only apply if your chair was produced between November 2008 and April 2010. There is a free safety kit that is available to fix a very small separation in the food try. You can click here for more details.
Price
Okay, we realize that the price of the AGE Design Chair is up there. It's hard to defend that. However, when you realize that you will probably be able to give this thing to your kid's kids, you begin to see it another way. We actually have another High Chair downstairs that was given to us at a baby shower. Although it has a bit more functionality, it stays down there because it's just so.....baby looking. For us, the $300 is easily justified. It's also $300 for a chair that, at a minimum, will be used for 6 years; that's only $50 per year by our math. ;)
Summary
Although the AGE Design Chair has some simple design flaws, it really is something that we are proud to own. If you want a chair that you don't mind hidding at your next dinner party, then there may be better chairs out there for you. However, if you are proud of your home's decor and want to add to it with your baby's chair, then this may be the one for you! Of course, there is one last opinion out there that matters, and that's our daughter's. I can tell you that if you ever have the chance to come over, she'll be the first to tell you that this is her chair. Trust me, if she didn't like it, she wouldn't go near it, let alone show it off.
Last but not least, we want to share a special offer for our readers. Simply send an email to patsy@champagnebaby.com with the title "AGE Design Promo" and she'll give you a code for $25 off the AGE Design Chair. That still includes our Free Shipping and if we aren't mistaken, you'll be hard pressed to find a better deal than that!
Thanks again for taking the time to visit our site!
Bob Winchester
Patsy Champagne
