Wednesday, July 14, 2010

BumGenius 4.0 Review: First Impression

Today is the official ship date for all brand spankin' new BumGenius 4.0 cloth diapers by Cotton Babies. How did I get them today you ask? Cotton Babies one and only retail store is 20 minutes from my house. Pretty sweet.

So, I sent Pete down to grab me a couple while I was at work. That plan was thwarted by a cranky baby and bad directions, but that's ok, they're open til 8pm, well after working hours for me. So, here I am, the proud owner of two BumGenius 4.0 CDs. P.S. Be very jealous about my proximately to Cotton Babies, their store is CDing Mecca. Here's the grand display of the 4.0s as you enter:



Now let's get down to business. Here are the new features in BG 4.0:

  • Available in Snaps
  • New pastel colors: lavender, pale green, and light yellow
  • Replaceable elastic
  • Improved hook & loop closure
  • Accommodates larger baby
I purchased one snap CD in butternut (yellow), and one aplix CD in sweet (pale pale pale green).


For comparison I got out my BG 3.0 in twilight (blue) that's only been in use for about a month. Remember that. Blue = 3.0.


First, a general observation about the new colors. I don't mind pastels. Really, I don't. But these colors couldn't even be called pastel (except for maybe the lavender, but I have a boy so that's of no use to me). You know when you go to home depot for paint chips and they have an entire wall dedicated to "white". I guarantee you can find a "white" paint chip that matches each of the new BG 4.0 colors. They are really, really pale. If you like that, great. If you're worried that the new colors might be a little light for you, trust me, they are.

Ok, now for some comparisons:

Aplix

As you can see above, upon first glance they look pretty much the same. But, it's all about the details, so let's take a closer look.

Aplix on the 4.0 seems to be of just slightly higher quality, the fluffy side seems to have a little more poof than the 3.0 (I apologize if I'm getting too technical on you). The aplix tabs appear to be virtually the same size, the 4.0 might be just s smidge bigger:



Here you can see them with the tabs pulled back, and they look basically the same. At this point I did notice that the sides of the 4.0s appeared to be just a tad bit larger than the 3.0. And again, the fluffy side of the aplix appears to be of higher quality on the 4.0.


Close up of the differences in the size of the sides:



Opening them up it looks like the laundry tabs in the 4.0 are a little bit larger.


I searched and searched for where you would replace the elastic, this gap in stitching was all I could find. So, let's just go on ahead and assume that's some clue as to how you'd do it.


Now, the true fit. X was kind enough to volunteer to be my guinea pig, he actually gets a kick out having his diaper changed, so this was fun time for him. Unfortunately, the light in our nursery isn't all that great, and I didn't want to blind him with the flash, so I apologize for the blah quality of these photos. Oh, and I guess it might be helpful if you knew how big he is. He's 4 months old, 19 lbs 6 oz and 27 3/4 in long. Yes, apparently we make giant babies.

First, the 3.0. These are our most leak proof CDs, we use them as our night time diaper and they fit X wonderfully:


Now, the 4.0. The first thing I noticed was the PUL wasn't pulling tight on the first snap, so I tried the second, and although I know I could have snapped them shut I thought it would be a little too tight. For us, the 3.0 is definitely a better fit right now.


Now, on to the next one:

Snaps

Pete was unusually excited when he found out I got the snap version, probably because X is starting to discover he can pull velcro apart. As far as the snaps go, they pretty much work like snaps, so instead of figuring out something to go on and on about, I'll just show you pictures:




Oh, I thought this was funny. Looks like BumGenius missed a little detail on the snap conversion, the care instructions still tell you to fasten tabs to laundry tabs. Oops.


And finally, the fit. Don't ask me how, but these seemed even looser on X than the aplix. That doesn't make any sense, maybe it was the way he was squirming around as I was trying to get those pesky snaps fastened.


Bottom Line
  • Yay for snaps!
  • The new colors are really, really pale.
  • Aplix is of slightly better quality.
  • The fit will definitely accommodate larger babies, but I think you might have a problem getting a good fit on little peanuts. The irony of that? Cotton Babies claims the new insanely pale pastels were created to market to newborns.

So, would I recommend them? If you need snaps or have a larger baby that's grown out of BG 3.0 definitely go for the 4.0. Otherwise, the 3.0s are just fine (and maybe even better depending on the fit).

25 comments:

The Mama said...

Neat! Thanks for the info.

Squeakersmama said...

Wow - I have absolutely no interest in these diapers, but still found your review to be very informative and interesting. Great job!!

The Weirdieland Adventurers said...

Thanks for the review, its helpful to see it in pictures!

Crow Mountain said...

Great review!
Nothing about them appears ¨better¨ to me - I think I will just stick to my 3.0s until they wear completely out.

kittlesnbits said...

Thanks for the review! I will definitely wait until they come out with their bolder colors and prints before I buy any 4.0s! For now, if I need more, I'll be shopping the 3.0 sales :)

Jenn said...

One thing to add. The velcro appears to be a different material on the 4s than it was on the 3s. I ordered repair kits for my 3s and got the new velcro. It doesn't look different, but it does feel different. More flexible and stronger. I'm going to get 4s with snaps for my toddler (17 mons) and use my 3s for baby number two due in Oct.

Krista said...

Thanks for the review. My son was a skinny miny in the waist when he was born, so I worried how the 4.0 "bigger" size would be on smaller kiddos like he was. A tad worrisome!

Abby said...

Wow! Great review. Thanks for the info!

Mindy said...

Thanks for the review! I went to cotton babies once and once so excited to be in a brick and mortar cd store. I bought a flip and don't like it, but they do have a great selection there. If I buy more BGs, it will definitely be snaps. It's good to have a comparison like this, especially with pics and real opinions about the colors. :0)

Mamahen said...

JUST what I've been waiting for!! Thanks for the review!! I'm going to share this for sure.

Laine said...

Than you so much everyone! I'm just floored by all the hits and responses I've gotten about this review today!

@ Jen: I agree, the aplix is definitely of higher quality. I'm no textile expert, so I can't say if it's a completely different material or not, but it didn't seem to be too much different from my BG 3.0.

jdeemarie said...

I heard that the fit was supposed to be similar to the Flip. Have you tried the Flip?

Lauren said...

My blog is called "Over-thinking Everything"--I definitely enjoyed and appreciated your review. =)

Laine said...

Jdeemarie - I've actually had a couple people mention the flip, but I haven't personally tried them. We use Grobaby/Grovia as our hybrids and love them so much we've never looked into other hybrid CDs!

Becky Wolfe said...

Great review with great pix. It also looks like the 4.0 is a tiny bit trimmer in the crotch area compared to the 3.0. Could just be the pix or how your LO is positioned.
Not a fan of the pale colors at ALL. When every other competitor is bringing out reds & browns & purples... whatever. Hope they fix that "mistake" in their marketing dept soon ;)
Again, thanks for the great review!

Melissa said...

Thanks so much for your review, I sold some of my BG 3.0 so I could try the new ones, but I won't buy them until the darker colors come back. I do not like light colors (my daughter likes to play outside with just a diaper on) I hope the aplix on the new 4.0 hold up better then with the 3.0 and I also hope the laundry tabs are better :) Thanks again!!!!

Melissa said...

Oh and I am very jelous that you are right near a CD store, I don't have not even one near me. The closest is over 2 hours away :( Can you get seconds and used at your store too?

Courtney said...

I did a post on my blog about them today too - and glad to see we came to some of the same conclusions! :)

Maggie said...

About 6 months or so ago I had to replace one of my 3.0's because of an issue with the PUL.CB replaced it with a newer diaper and I could tell the VELCRO and laundry tabs were so much better!

It looks like the VELCRO on the 4.0's....which is awesome. I would tell any mama right now that is frustrated with there 3.0's and doesn't want to go to snaps get the new replacement tabs. They are so much better!!!

Ryan's Mommy said...

Awesome review. I have 30 of the 3.0s and a huge baby (22 lbs at 7 months) and am relieved to learn that the ones I have are a lot like the new ones, so it probably isn't worth it to go buy the 4.0s. Thanks so much!!

I have noticed that out of my 30 3.0s, for some reason there are two or three on which the laundry tabs are made of a different material that doesn't work as well. After several months of use the laundry tabs on these are pretty well worthless in the wash. Thinking about asking BG for replacements.

ellery said...

Thank you for that review! Informative, unbiased, and I love the photos!
Thanks again!! Now all I need is a review like that on all of the diaper lines (which is the best one?!) --- I am new to CD...thinking about omaika?

Post if anyone has any thoughts?

Thanks
C

Peace with Less said...

I wonder if you had adjusted the rise to be a bit shorter if it would have fit better? i don't use bG, but I've found with the Thirsties Pockets that depending on what I've got in them will depend on how I adjust the rise on each baby (I have two in CD right now)

Peace with Less said...

also you didn't mention that crotch width seems to be narrower on the 4.0 than on the 3.0 which was evident with the pictures =)

erin said...

has anyone had problems with the snaps breaking off. I have been using the 4.0 for about 8 months and have had several snaps rip through the fabric on the fasterners.

Unknown said...

The snaps have always stayed on for us- Loving the bum genius 4.0 out of all that we have tried for our Little One =)

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