When I got pregnant, we were living in a townhouse and the dining room was not only carpeted, but extremely small. I needed a high chair that didn’t take up much space, so I looked into the clip-on styles. I was a nanny for a family that used the Phil and Teds Anywhere Chair for both their kids and I fell in love with it. There was only one small issue with it that kept us from choosing it for J as well. So we registered for the Chicco and received it as a gift.
*note: the Anywhere chair has been discontinued, but the lobster chair is extremely similar
Fit
Chicco
The part of the chair that snaps on to the table is long so that it fits past the apron. This became the sole reason we chose the Chicco over the Phil & Teds. It’s incredible easy to affix the chair to the table and tighten it and take it off.
Phil & Teds
The anywhere/lobster chair features a lobster like claw that attaches to a table, but is not functional with a table that has an apron. For tables without it, or kitchen islands, this chair would work best. It is easy to attach to the table by simply turning the crank.
Size
Chicco:
This chair is big. It’s incredibly spacious. When we started sitting J in this chair, we had to stuff blankets and small pillows in it to fill the space. I assumed this was simply a chair meant more for toddlers, but now that J is nearly 18 months, I see it is more a design flaw. The chair wastes space. It made it difficult while BLW because so much food would drop between the gap of J and the table. In addition, there is so much room that even with him buckled in, he can climb out of the chair.
Also this type of chair is generally marketed as compact and easy to travel. Because the frame is long to allow to work with a table apron, it doesn’t fold very compactly and is quite bulky in travel.
using the chair at 5 months required propping him up
Phil & Teds:
This chair sits a lot closer to the table, and is a more functional shape. There isn’t wasted space. It is small and supportive enough to fit a 6 month old, but spacious enough to even a 2-3 year old.
This chair is easier to travel with because of its condensed size.
Harness
Chicco:
The Chicco has a waist strap. It is easy to tighten and buckle into place. However when the baby is small, it’s impractical to buckle them in or else it causes them to sit very far from the table. For a toddler, the buckle isn’t enough to keep J from wriggling out of the seat completely.
Phil & Teds:
A five-point harness is used with this seat, which makes it impossible for a child to squirm out of (unless of course they know how to unfasten seat buckles).
Wash
Chicco:
This chair gets dirty. As any high chair would. But the fabric doesn’t allow a quick easy wipe-clean; we have to launder this seat in the washer. However, it is easy to remove the seat from the frame to throw it in the washer and the fabric washes really well. Our chair is red and hasn’t faded at all from continual washings and it comes clean extremely well.
Phil and Teds:
The fabric used is easy to rinse off in the sink after a meal, which means it doesn’t have to be laundered very frequently. A simple wipe down is all this chair needs to stay clean.
Price
The Phil & Teds lobster chair is priced at $79.99 while the Chicco Caddy Hook On Chair is half the price at $39.99.
Overall
I wish we had a table that didn’t have an apron, and then I would have purchased the Phil & Teds Chair; I loved using it with J when I was nannying. It’s a better design overall and worth the price. The Chicco Hook-on, while it saves space tremendously by eliminating a stand-alone high chair, it is so big that it makes it difficult to use. If you’re purchasing a clip-on chair for the sole purpose of travel, I would definitely recommend even more the Phil & Teds because of how much smaller it is.
pineapple / 12053 posts
we have the lobster for travel and it works great!
grape / 99 posts
Love seeing comparisons like this. We looked at both of these too. We actually ended up with the Inglesina Fast Chair for our kitchen Island. It fits table aprons but it a little more compact. We haven’t tried it with any kids less than 10mo but for that age and older it works well (though nobody was a climber either). I really wanted the Phil & Teds but am pretty happy with the Fast Chair.
guest
I second the recommendation for the Inglesina Fast Chair — we live in an open plan apt and eat at our very long kitchen counter. Our daughter sat in the Fast Chair from 8 mos old until she hit the weight limit at 35 lbs/2.5 years old.
nectarine / 2274 posts
We have the Inglesina fast chair as well, we mainly use it as our travel highchair.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
We have the Lobster and I love it! DD still fits in it, but we have her use high chairs now and DS uses it when we go out!
We’ve had it for almost 2 years now.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
I almost bought a Lobster, but just bought a Joovy. I hope we love it, too!
guest
We also used the Inglesina – Love it!!!!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@LaurenEC: @mamabear57: @erin west: @gina: man you’re all making me wish I had tried that one!! I’m so tempted dice meal time is rough with a toddler who can climb out of his high chair.
squash / 13764 posts
We also have a chicco 360, and I have the exact same complaints that you do–too big, food falls in it all the time, it’s so annoying to clean (and SO annoying to take off and put back on!) and the straps are useless. It’s the only one that would fit our table apron though
pomegranate / 3272 posts
I also recommend the Ingelsina!
coffee bean / 36 posts
We have the Phil + Ted’s lobster chair for our twins and have been very happy with it!