Portable cots: mostly good news from a costs test for a change. (Test: portable cots).(Product/Service Evaluation)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2003 Australian Consumers' Association

IN A NUTSHELL

* A far cry from our test almost three years ago, this time we found no serious safety issues--a refreshing change.

* While the introduction of an Australian safety standard for portable cots seems to have had a positive impact on their design, it's still only voluntary, not mandatory.

It's a sad fact that much of the testing CHOICE has conducted over the years on baby products has produced results that are less than satisfactory and often downright scary. We last tested portable cots in July 2000, just after the introduction of a voluntary Australian safety standard. At that point, none of the nine tested cots satisfactorily met all the safety requirements of the standard.

Nearly three years down the track, it seems manufacturers have really lifted their game. Although the standard for portable cots is still only voluntary, manufacturers appear to have taken note, and in most cases the finger entrapment hazards and stability issues we found in our last test have been addressed.

We'd like to be able to say the same for standard household cots. But even though the Australian safety standard for them is mandatory, in the last test of nine that we published in CHOICE (Jan/Feb 2002), only one passed all of our tests, four had minor hazards and four failed several parts of the standard, including some limb entrapment hazards and other fairly serious failures.

This time we tested the nine portable cots we could find on the market and are happy to report that the majority of them complied with the tests in the standard that we think are most important.

NOT...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.