Product Description

2009 New Model: New Designed Gate/Door(Three steps to open the door: 1) Open the bottom hitch; 2) Slide the slider on the top that protecting the top latch; 3) Lift up to to open the gate). New designed gate makes the playpen safer than old models. Even you forgot to put on the hitch and the kids are trying to lift the gate, the door will remain closed. AOSOM 8 Pc Sided/Octagon Wooden Playpen Room Divider creates a safe, portable play area for young children and pets, and Keep Your Little One Out of Harm's Way with this Customized-Shape Gate.   Product Highlight: Made by solid pine wood; Easy to set up, take down and store; Can be used as room divider or safety gate; Can be used on carpet, tile, hardwood floors; rubber pads prevent scratching the floor; Circular wooden rods, which significantly reduced the risk of injury for your kids; 8 sided octagon playpen with door; 9 rubber pads included to prevent scratching; By removing fences you can adjust to 7,6,5 or 4 sided playpen; 4 wall connectors included, which mount the playpen to the wall Dimensions: Each panel is 35inch Long and 28inch high; Area: 41 square feet with 8 panel octagon playpen; 2 and 1/4 inch between slats. Package includes: 1 one gate panel 7 Sided panels 4 wall connectors 9 rubber pads 1 Assembly tool and 1 Instruction manual

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1082 in Baby Product
• Brand: Aosom

Features

• 2010 New model with new designed gate!
• Brand new in retail packaging
• Can be adjusted to 8,7,6,5 or 4 sided playpen.
• 4 wall connectors included, which mount the playpen to the wall
• Can be used on carpet, tile, hardwood floors; rubber pads prevent scratching the floor

Customer Reviews

Great product, sturdy, looks good, and at a reasonable price
After reviewing pretty much every type of playpen, I eventually settled on this one, even though there were no customer reviews to look at. It was mainly because all the other options looked so crap, and the customer reviews often reflected that the playpens were kind of flimsy and easy for a crawling infant to shift. The pictures of this wooden playpen gave me the idea that it was far more sturdy. And it proved to be just so. I am extremely happy I took the "risk" of buying this one without any customer reviews. It stands up perfectly solid even without anchoring it to a wall, though this is also an option that comes with the package. It comes with 8 panels, but we only use 6, as our room is not huge, but it provides a very nice playarea for our almost 10 month old daughter of at least 2x the size of a regular play pen (the one you also use for sleeping). I would certainly recommend this to anyone. The playpen also "blends in" with the rest of the room, and the wood does not look cheap

Disapointed with poor gate design.
My wife and I purchased the Ansom Wood Playpen for two reasons; it appeared to be sturdier than comparable plastic models and it came with mounting brackets that allowed the use of one wall as part of the enclosure. We are not completely satisfied with the product; however, the only other way we could get something comparable was for me to build it myself. With the high price of pine and hardwood lumber at this time I could not even purchase the materials for less than $50.00 USD more than this product cost, including the shipping. This being the case we decided to purchase it and were able to work around the few shortcomings and still save time and money.

The Playpen consists of seven regular sections and the gated section, and it matches the stated product demission. The construction is pine with 1 inch wide top and bottom rails connected by 5/8 pine dowel stock. All the necessary hardware is included to assemble and anchor it to a wall if desired. The sections, excluding the gate, are designed in a manner that I would find it hard for a child to harm themselves on. The wood is finish sanded well and does not pose a splinter problem under normal use. The sections are connected with counter sunk fasteners that allow the sections to move freely in a hinged manner. We expected this to make the Playpen flexible, which it does; however, it is strong enough to hold back our active 8 month old without the possibility of breaking. Since we have ours anchored to a wall I can not make a comment on the stability of the Playpen when setup in different freestanding configurations. With the exception of the gated section this is a well designed product that will last well under normal use by children under 30 pounds.

We first installed the Playpen in a section of our living room using six sections and the gate. We attached it to a wall which gave us a play area of about 6.5 X 5.7 feet, and is shown in the photo. The gated section has two problems that could be considered a safety issue. The gate is latched at the top by a small diameter wooden dowel (3/8" or 5/16") that is glued into the bottom side of the gate top rail. To latch the gate you must lift slightly up on the gate, align the dowel with the drilled hole, and let it back down. The bottom of the gate is then latched by a swiveling block that bars the gate when in a horizontal position. There are a few issues with this deign. The latching block on the bottom can easily be operated by most toddlers and they can unlatch the gate at the bottom. At the top the gate can be unlatched with a slight upwards and outwards pressure. This makes the gate latches completely unsecured, but is the least dangerous aspect of this problem. If the top or bottom is unlatched while the other is latched a leaning toddler could fall through the gap and get trapped by the back pressure from forcing through with one latch still secured. If both latches open then the child will just be able to get out, which is still a problem but most likely would not be an immediate hazard.

The scenario which concerned me most is if just the top is unlatched by the child pushing or leaning on the top of the gate and if the child is heavy enough or uses enough force one or more of the upright wood dowels could fracture and break loose. Most likely the dowels would break leaving a splintered end which could cause severe injury if a child fell on one. Considering the child would be pushing on the top of the gate, if it broke, then that scenario is not unlikely. A picture of our son, who is now in the pulling himself up to stand stage, pushing on the top of the gate section in this manner is shown. We temporarily used a plastic wire zip tie to prevent the top from popping open.

The other issue is on the hinged side at the lower part of the gate. There is a 1 ½ inch gap between the bottom gate rail and the gate section upright. The edge of the wood is not rounded and leaves a sharp end. This is located right where our son could put his foot in and could result in a cut or abrasion. This gap is shown in the last picture and is just the right size and in the right place to be a hazard.

I considered drilling a hole all the way through both gate rails and purchasing a spring and keeper pin which would replace the top latching wood dowel design, but the gap on the hinged side dissuaded me. We decided to replace the gate section with the last regular panel thus removing the gated section completely. Fortunately my wife and I are both tall enough to step over the Playpen side and safely taking our son in or out.

My wife also pointed out that the edges of the octagonal shaped base supports are a bit sharp. We made sure our play mat covers the inside portion of them and there is no chance he could fall and cut his head on them.

Without the gated section the Playpen appears to be safe and sound, and it is a shame that a poorly designed gate has ruined this product. I hope the manufacture corrects these problems, without them this would be an excellent product. Due to the safety issue with the gate I have rated this product low. I also would not recommend it for a person that can not work with wood and correct the problems with the gated section if used.

great value
we purchased this item last weekend direct from the manufacturer so i cannot comment on the amazon sellers who carry this line, but we are very satisfied with the functionality and value of this playpen. we placed the order on friday and the double boxed package arrived four days later, on tuesday, via fedex. we have configured the pieces to keep our little mischief monkey out of the books and entertainment center so we do not need the gate, but i agree that the gate is a weak point in the design. however, the price was right and the ability to secure it to the wall is perfect for us. fyi, total linear length of the 8 pieces connected together is approx 23 standard feet(or 278 inches).