When we bought all of our furniture for The K Man’s nursery, I didn’t spend too much time thinking about chairs. I mean, one rocker’s the same as the next glider, right?
Wrong.
So, so wrong.
The glider – and accompanying gliding ottoman – that came with the nursery set looked good enough. It was the same sleigh-style as The K Man’s crib, in a lovely dark java colour. Was I over-the-moon in love with it? No. But it moved back and forth in that nice gliding motion…as gliders do. Yet on our 80-year-old hardwood floors and beneath Big B’s weight, the creaking and squeaking became unbearable in its first month of use. It wasn’t long before I loathed even looking at that chair, much less using it.
When we moved to our new house here in rural suburbia, I wanted to give the glider another chance. We purposely put carpet in the bedrooms to make sneaking out of a sleeping child’s room as easy as possible. (After all, once you’ve lived with hardwood floorboards that were new at the tail end of the Great Depression, you appreciate a little underpad.) No go. It still squeaked like crazy. It was banished to the dungeon basement.
I started looking for an alternative, and narrowed it down to the Monte Luca and the TRYP chair by Best. Both were really comfortable and seemed ideal for nursing, but I chose the TRYP because it’s (a) a few hundred bucks cheaper than Monte’s nursery chair, (b) wider than the Luca (better for Big B), and (c) it swivels, rocks and fully reclines.
By the time I’d narrowed it down to the TRYP chair, I was pregnant with Miss Q, so I ordered two of them in a lovely woven cotton fabric.
THE GOOD
Best’s fabric selection is enormous – with more than 700 options, you’ll spend all day with fabric swatches. I found at least a dozen off-whites that I really liked for Miss Q’s room (yeah, a white-ish chair for a baby’s room…I’m a brave woman). In hindsight, we should have gone with microfibre – we have it on our family room couch and it’s so easy to clean. The cotton we ultimately chose looks great but spot cleaning isn’t a breeze.
There are no squeaks whatsoever, even after two years of daily use in The K Man’s case. This includes our now 41-pound son standing on it and pretending to surf.
It’s a classic style, and if my kids don’t end up taking them to their first apartments one day (single tear), we’ll re-cover them in matching fabric and use them in our rec room one day.
There’s a power recline option that allows you to go from the upright to semi-reclined to fully reclined positions at the touch of a button. We tried this model at the store and it was awesome, but quite a bit more expensive, so we passed. I so wish we’d just sucked it up and gone with this option. Trying to access the recline lever once you have a baby comfortably tucked into the crook of your right arm can be a hassle (but I can’t fault the company for my own choice or for being so forgetful that night after night I don’t recline before we get cosy).
The TRYP chair is so comfortable that I often fall asleep in it myself while nursing Miss Q during her bedtime routine. I could probably sleep there all night if it wasn’t for…
THE GAFFE
The TRYP doesn’t lock into place once you’re fully reclined. Inevitably, I fall asleep with Miss Q in my arms, woken only to find myself creeping back into the semi-reclined position. Awkwardly.
Every time I push the footrest down so I can get out of the semi-recline position, the clunking noise that ensues frustrates me to no end. The footrest BANGS back into place – fiercely. Noisily. It’s worse on The K Man’s chair than Miss Q’s. It’s especially annoying when Miss Q falls asleep in my arms and to prevent waking her, I climb out of the chair with the footrest still up, clutching tightly to my not-so-small-toddler so I don’t inadvertently fling her from my arms as I hurdle forwards and catch my balance. I’ve been known to leave that footrest up until morning.
Comfort doesn’t come cheap; although far less expensive than the Luca, the TRYP is still an investment at around $600 to $650, depending where you buy it. But work out the price-per-use: at $700 including tax, if you use it for a minimum of 10 years (that’s 3,650 days – give or take a couple of Leap Years), it’s less than 20 cents per day.
THE GEARS
3.5/5 (with real potential to be a 5/5 if the two main issues are worked out)
Deborah Graves says
I purchased the Trype rocker recliner in June, 2013. The chair was very comfortable. I did not invest in the motorized reclining mechanism and was not very happy that I could not recline slightly or fully without it creeping up. It is now Feb 2016 and the back cushion has caved in or sunk in and the fabric is sagging. I must now use a pillow at my back to be comfortable. I contacted Best Inc only to find out that this is a characteristic of this chair. The back cushion has NO spring or strapping support which is to add to the cushy comfort. The chair is expected to cave in and sag “over time” they said. The chair has been sat in a couple of hours at night to watch TV. The warranty on the cushion is only 18 months!!! At a price point of $600 I did not expect the chair to be in this condition 2 1/2 yrs later…… I don’t believe this to be considered “over time”. I could not find any of these characteristics noted in the description of the chair on Best’s web site. I am very disappointed in my chair.
Mommy Gearest says
I am so sorry to hear this! We used our chairs A LOT for a good 2 years and then we’ve used them intermittently since (about 5 years each) and have had no sagging issues. However, the reclining issue does still drive me CRAZY. For $600, it should recline easily and STAY PUT.
Deborah Graves says
I purchased the Trype rocker recliner in June, 2013. The chair was very comfortable. I did not invest in the motorized reclining mechanism and was not very happy that I could not recline slightly or fully without it creeping up. It is now Feb 2016 and the back cushion has caved in or sunk in and the fabric is sagging. I must now use a pillow at my back to be comfortable. I contacted Best Inc only to find out that this is a characteristic of this chair. The back cushion has NO spring or strapping support which is to add to the cushy comfort. The chair is expected to cave in and sag “over time” they said. The chair has been sat in a couple of hours at night to watch TV. The warranty on the cushion is only 18 months!!! At a price point of $600 I did not expect the chair to be in this condition 2 1/2 yrs later…… I don’t believe this to be considered “over time”. I could not find any of these characteristics noted in the description of the chair on Best’s web site. I am very disappointed in my chair.
Mommy Gearest says
I am so sorry to hear this! We used our chairs A LOT for a good 2 years and then we’ve used them intermittently since (about 5 years each) and have had no sagging issues. However, the reclining issue does still drive me CRAZY. For $600, it should recline easily and STAY PUT.
BCG says
A good glider chair always be based on the view of the application itself. It may not suit you but there are many people enjoyed it.
Mommy Gearest says
That’s true! Just like everything else on my website, my experience is as objective as possible but it’s still one person’s experience.
BCG says
A good glider chair always be based on the view of the application itself. It may not suit you but there are many people enjoyed it.
Mommy Gearest says
That’s true! Just like everything else on my website, my experience is as objective as possible but it’s still one person’s experience.
Anne Rebelo says
I love the thought of this chair but its a huge bummer that the GTA Store is not really a store.. its shop by appointment. Has anyone seen this chair in a GTA store store? (whitby is a bit far. the problem is I work long hours so i can’t get a lot of places on time)
Mommy Gearest says
Hmmm…so sorry! The only place I’ve seen it in person is in the Whitby store. But if you try Andrea Sarlo of RoomsToGrow.ca (she’s in the west end of Toronto – maybe Oakville?), she sells them and may have a sample you can see. Good luck!
Anne Rebelo says
I love the thought of this chair but its a huge bummer that the GTA Store is not really a store.. its shop by appointment. Has anyone seen this chair in a GTA store store? (whitby is a bit far. the problem is I work long hours so i can’t get a lot of places on time)
Mommy Gearest says
Hmmm…so sorry! The only place I’ve seen it in person is in the Whitby store. But if you try Andrea Sarlo of RoomsToGrow.ca (she’s in the west end of Toronto – maybe Oakville?), she sells them and may have a sample you can see. Good luck!
Jessica says
Would you recommend purchasing the ottoman with this glider/recliner? I greatly appreciate any words of wisdom. Thank you.
Mommy Gearest says
Hi Jessica – I don’t know, actually, because I didn’t buy one for either of our chairs. I’d say you probably DON’T need it because if you want to put your feet up, you can just pull out the footrest, which is really easy to do. And if you want to recline mid-feed or something, the ottoman will just be in your way.
Jessica says
Would you recommend purchasing the ottoman with this glider/recliner? I greatly appreciate any words of wisdom. Thank you.
Mommy Gearest says
Hi Jessica – I don’t know, actually, because I didn’t buy one for either of our chairs. I’d say you probably DON’T need it because if you want to put your feet up, you can just pull out the footrest, which is really easy to do. And if you want to recline mid-feed or something, the ottoman will just be in your way.
Ingrid L says
I would recommend any parent or parent-to-be invest in a good quality rocker/glider. We thought we could cheap out on this the first time around by using a hand-me-down all wood version from my childhood. Nostalgia aside the thing was a total nightmare and one week after my son was born we were already shopping for something more comfortable.
We ended up buying an upholstered Dutalier and absolutely love it. We have used it – no joke – every single day for 4.5 years. By far the best ‘per use’ dollar spent (aside from perhaps my UPPAbaby Vista). While it is nearly perfect (ours has a removable cover so when that inevitable baby vomit ends up on the fabric you can just take it off and get it cleaned), I do wish ours reclined. There were many a time that I woke with my neck hanging at an awkward angle after falling asleep nursing or cuddling because our chair didn’t recline.
Yes they are expensive but the $$ is sooo worth it, and it’s a great item that people could collect money for at a baby shower 😉
Mommy Gearest says
If this was Facebook, I’d “like” this.
Ingrid L says
I would recommend any parent or parent-to-be invest in a good quality rocker/glider. We thought we could cheap out on this the first time around by using a hand-me-down all wood version from my childhood. Nostalgia aside the thing was a total nightmare and one week after my son was born we were already shopping for something more comfortable.
We ended up buying an upholstered Dutalier and absolutely love it. We have used it – no joke – every single day for 4.5 years. By far the best ‘per use’ dollar spent (aside from perhaps my UPPAbaby Vista). While it is nearly perfect (ours has a removable cover so when that inevitable baby vomit ends up on the fabric you can just take it off and get it cleaned), I do wish ours reclined. There were many a time that I woke with my neck hanging at an awkward angle after falling asleep nursing or cuddling because our chair didn’t recline.
Yes they are expensive but the $$ is sooo worth it, and it’s a great item that people could collect money for at a baby shower 😉
Mommy Gearest says
If this was Facebook, I’d “like” this.