Our little guy is getting really sturdy on his feet now,
so when we were asked to do a head-to-head review
which involved having not one but two baby walkers sent to us,
I jumped at the chance.
When two big boxes arrived he looked so excited that we cracked them open straight away.
The two walkers we were sent were the Leapfrog Scout and Friends walker
and the VTech First Steps walker.
They came in similar size boxes and once assembled are similar size walkers.
But when I say assembled the VTech one requires a bit of self assembly and a set of batteries,
whereas the Leapfrog one comes ready assembled
and all you have to do is unfold the legs and you're ready to go.
While its not a big deal to me having assemble toys,
it was a nice touch that the Leapfrog one is ready as soon as it comes out the box.
It makes me think that this would make a much better gift
as there is no waiting and no effort needed to get the walker ready to go.
On first appearances I have to say that the VTech one was the winner.
It's brighter and more colourful than the Leapfrog one.
The part that lights up is bigger
and it lights up more often than on the Leapfrog.
The VTech one was definitely the one that the little man was drawn to first
and I think it was probably for these reasons.
Once we got down to playing with the activity panels on them both,
I felt that the Leapfrog walker was definitely encouraging his learning and development more.
The different activities required lots of different types of actions
including button pushing, page turning, lever pulling, spinning and sliding things.
The VTech walker has more buttons,
which, while making it easier for a baby to play with,
offers less challenge and less variety of things to do,
For this reason I think that the Leapfrog's activity panel is better on educational grounds.
And the teacher in me definitely likes that it sings the alphabet and counts to ten.
The main purpose of these walkers though is obviously to help babies to learn to walk,
the fun activity panels are just a great bonus.
And when it comes to walking with them the walkers actually behave really differently.
The Leapfrog walker has a rubber trim on the wheels and is a generally heavier unit
which makes it a little easier for the little guy to control and therefore walk with.
The VTech walker is lighter weight and can slide sideways on carpet
making it a bit trickier.
Having said that, a friends baby who is little older and more confident on her feet
seemed to really like the fact that it moved a bit faster.
For us,
and at the stage our little man is currently at,
the Leapfrog walker is a better bet.
It is sturdier, has a wider variety of activities on it and a bigger range of sounds and songs;
as well as it being foldable and having lockable wheels
which makes it easier for him to stand and play with.
The Leapfrog makes up what it loses in the style stakes to the VTech
by being better in all the other areas.
We were sent these items free of charge for the purpose of this review
but this in no way affects our words or opinion.
We were sent these items free of charge for the purpose of this review
but this in no way affects our words or opinion.
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