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

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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.

highchair
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.