Review: Vital Baby Nappysafe
November 8, 2007 by Natalie · 9 Comments
I recently wrote about how cheesed off I had become with my Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper. Stinking to high heaven and lots of faffing around with cassettes made me refuse to use it after just over three months.
I saw the Vital Baby Nappysafe in use at a friends place and when she described how simple it was to use and cost efficient (no cassettes to buy, just uses normal 18 litre bin liners), I knew that this sounded like the better option. All of this comes at a price though of £49.95 but what you get is a well made, simple to assemble, cost efficient, simple to use product that doesn’t have any faffing around.
Assembly: Instructions are pretty straightforward. Do read them though because initially fitting the white unit on the green base was slightly fiddly but that was my own fault for speed reading… It was refreshing not to have to fanny around with cassettes and just place the bag and voila, done.
In Use : You literally drop the nappy in the pail, lift the handle fully to the back to drop it in, and then flip it forward back to its front position again to seal in odours. I’m a smell freak (so you can understand why the Tommee Tippee thing wound me up…). I won’t say that you don’t get any smell but this is only 1) as you just put the nappy because obviously the pail has opened briefly for the nappy to go in and 2) you have to be practically leaning over it and with your face very close otherwise. To compare to my other experience where I could smell it all day in the room and from what felt like 50 paces, this makes the Vital Baby Nappysafe a winner with me. I like the look of it – It’s in a simple white and green, with green seeming to highlight the vital parts that you use. It feels robust and well made.
Stores: Up to 18 nappies.
Emptying: So straight forward I thought I must have missed something! The trick is to pull the mouth of the bag tightly together as you detach it from the Nappysafe so that you don’t let out odour. It was all very quick and painless.
Ease of Use/Setup – 5/5 Straight forward, no fiddling, no rustling of plastic, turning nobs to twist bags or setting up the plastic bag.
Value – 4.5/5 You might seize up at the initial outlay but when you work out the cost efficiency, it’s just a matter of a bit more upfront but far less maintenance and outlay in the long run. I have searched high and low for deals and there doesn’t seem to be any to be had. Everybody sells them at the same price which is slightly irritating. Everyone likes a deal! It’s marketed as saving around £150 against cassette systems and I can believe it. At around £3.50 – £5.50 per cassette, you could make back the money you spent on this nappysafe within 6 months!
I think it’s well worth the money and if you end up having more than one kid, well it’s bargain central!That’s a 5/5 from me then!
Available from John Lewis. Price is now £39. Updated 01/03/09
Please can you tell me where I can buy this item. John Lewis dont seem to stock it anymore.
They seem to have vanished! Will try and get in touch with the company and see if they can shed some light. Otherwise you’ll have to try ebay.
Oops sorry forgot to put the comment on here but will email you all as well. As suspected, the Vital Nappysafe is not in production as they are looking to produce it a lower price. However they are the same people that make Boot’s nappysafe who they believe still have some so it may be worth phoning up your Boots to see if they can get one in
Thanks Natalie. I have tried absoutely everywhere with no luck!
I’m also looking for this item. Natalie, did you have any luck with getting in touch with the company?
Worth checking out NCT Nearly New Sales too as I am always seeing them there!
Boots don’t seem to offer the Boots nappysafe now either? It’s a shame as a friend recommended the Vital nappysafe to me and I don’t fancy getting one with all the cartridges but they seem to be the only ones I can see available anywhere… John Lewis, Mothercare etc.
Does anyone have any more up to date information about where the Vital (or the Boots) nappysafes are available?
I would try an NCT nearly new sale but as far as I know there aren’t any coming up in my area before my due date.
i have both the cassette version and the nappysafe but i prefer the cassette. I use one upstairs and one down. That said i only pay £1 per proper cassette from my local market so its not too painful and i got the unit for £1 from a charity shop so its not cost me alot to try it. If you have to go for the cassettes check out your local markets or ask on your local freecycle, they must be out there. Good luck.
We have performed a search for a client recently looking for this item and the only place appears to be second hand or nearly new sales. We recommended a Korbell nappy bin as an alternative