Design and Features
The lobster is a portable high chair that attaches to a table or thick surface with 2 large clamps.
It features a comfy padded seat, a five point safety harness, 2 large clamp like claws and a plastic slide-in food tray. It comes with its own carry case and is available in black.
It's suitable for your baby from the time they can sit up independently until 17kgs.
Performance and Drawbacks
The lobster is very easy to assemble. Pull it out of its bag and it folds open. The two large claw clamps are easily attached to any suitable flat surface. Then just slide in the plastic tray and viola, it's dinner time. I particularly love the lobster claws which are so easy to adjust with nice fist size clamps.
The Lobster will attach to any tabletop to 95mm in thickness. However, you need to pick your tabletop with care, no glass, no fold-up tables, no table with any kind of lip and no table with a central pedestal. Also no tablecloths or place mats under the lobster's claws.
The claws are lined with soft rubber strips to prevent damage to your table top. We put it to the ultimate test; the antique dining table (I could have got in big trouble if that had gone wrong!). Luckily it passed with flying colours.
The lobster is the ultimate in portable high chairs. It folds almost flat and slips into a bag about the same size as a medium sized handbag. It only weighs 1.8 kgs so you don't feel like you're lugging around a huge bit of baby gear when you are eating out and the lobster will fit in the under seat basket of any pram.
Despite its mini size the lobster is a solid little high chair and the profile is slim so it's not bulky around your dinner table. It's convenient to leave attached to the dinner table if you wanted to use it every night.
When it gets grubby you can sponge the lobster down. When it gets putrid the seat fabric is detachable and fully machine washable. The fabric is great quality and I imagine it would outlast quite a few tiny diners. The five-point harness is also toddler proof to prevent an escape and tumble.
The one downside of the lobster is the tray. It sort of slides under the claws and it's pretty small. It will fit a drink and bread & butter sized plate but that's all. Also there's nothing stopping your bored toddler picking it up and using it as a frisbee.
Finally you want to make sure your table or bench top can handle the weight of your child. Unless you have a sturdy table top you might find your table gets a little wobbly, especially with a larger toddler.
Conclusion
The phil&teds lobster earns its 5 rating because it's very versatile, it's great quality and it's a reasonable price.
It's a really smart product from phil&teds that's great to use every day or on occasion.
About phil&teds
phil&teds is a New Zealand company best known for its compact inline prams. The company also makes a range of innovative baby gear including the lobster & highpod high chairs.
