Question Diono Travel Pal or other organizer?

Athena

Well-known member
http://www.diapers.com/p/diono-travel-pal-197731

Anyone used this? It looks like exactly what we need. Or any other recommendations for something to put between our two car seats in our small back seat that would hold a few things for the kids (e.g. crayons, coloring book). It could be a regular auto organizer, not necessarily a baby item, as long as it fits between the seats and is not too heavy (in case it became a projectile). :) thanks!
 
ADS

Athena

Well-known member
Trying to think of something that would attach in.

Yes, even better. I was figuring if it wasn't too hard or light, it would be okay, but attaching would be even better. :) I want to be relatively safe, of course, but without completely depriving my kids.
 

Athena

Well-known member
I bought one and I will share my initial thoughts in case anyone else is wondering.

The reviews say it's flimsy and it is ... but I don't want anything heavy for safety reasons, so I think I'm okay with that. However, I don't understand why they don't have a solid (covered cardboard) panel insert for the bottom like every other collapsible bin I own. I'll probably be cutting a piece of cardboard to add my own. It does have solid panels on the ends that help somewhat.

It fits perfectly between our two car seats in our small backseat. I think many of these types of organizers would be too big.

It looks like it will fit a decent amount of stuff. It has a bunch of small pockets around the sides that seem useful. However, most of it's space is contained in one large undivided compartment and I think a divider lengthwise along the middle would have been nice. Also I would have liked the sides to come up a bit higher so that those coloring books could stand up more easily.

Finally, I think it straps in! On the outside of the rear end it has this strange panel that fastens (with velcro) down and the only use for it that I can think of is to hold onto that middle seatbelt, as in thread the lapbelt inside it and velcro it down. Does anyone know. I feel like this thing should have had some instructions with it, but there was nothing.

So ... so far my list of pros and cons are:

PROS:
Lightweight (not a heavy projectile)
Attaches to unused seat belt (hopefully not a projectile at all ;))
Many little pockets around the sides for better organization
Fits great between two car seats in small back seat

CONS:
Kind of flimsy
The smaller size that fits our small back seat also means storage is limited.

I think we'll be fairly happy with it. I was just happy to find something that would fit without paying a fortune. But I will be interested to see how it functions once we've used it for a while.

I hope this helps someone. If I remember, I'll report back on how it works out for us and how it holds up.
 

Athena

Well-known member
Quick FYI: I spoke with someone at Diono. She was very nice. Apparently that flap is meant to keep it more secure, by either holding the middle seat belt or tucking it into the seat bight (sp?) or by tucking it underneath the organizer. In addition to having the velcro, it is made of a non slip rubber material.

I see the point of keeping it in place, but I'm not convinced any of these would hold it under the power of a collision. Obviously, I would prefer it be more secure. On the other hand, it is very lightweight and I plan to only put lightweight items in it. I used to be very conservative about letting the kids have anything in their seats, but I've come to the point that I think the benefit of having something to do, especially for longer drives, outweighs the risk of a lightweight projectile, but that is a personal decision.

I hope this information is helpful to someone some day. :)
 

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