Playtex Diaper Genie Elite: Real Reviews by Real Parents

Just a week ago, I had the opportunity to put my current (and very much loved) diaper pail to the test against a very well-known, old favourite, the Diaper Genie.  But, this wasn't the same Diaper Genie.  This was the newest, improved version -- The Diaper Genie Elite!
You can view my thoughts on my review here.
However, I was eager to see what other parents out there thought of this new & improved version and was happy to be able to offer 10 lucky readers a sampling opportunity with Playtex.

Ten readers were randomly selected and sent their very own Playtex Diaper Genie Elite right to their homes to try it out for themselves, all up to their noses in dirty diapers!
Below I have compiled all the reviews submitted by the ten parents that sampled the Diaper Genie Elite and found it interesting that many mentioned a lot of the same things that they loved and did not love about it.

According to the reviews, most testers LOVED:

• The new slim design made for easier placement in their nursery/space
• Lightweight & easy to assemble
• The handy foot pedal which was more hygienic and convenient
• That the odour from dirty diapers were masked completely (no more smelliness!)

What they DISLIKED:

• The cost of the refills (on the pricier side)
• Bags fill up quickly 
• Unable to use regular garbage bags with it

REVIEWS from REAL PARENTS

My overall impression, it exceeded my expectations.  I admit that I was not at all convinced that it would contain the diaper smell.  Prior to using the Diaper Genie I was disposing of used diapers in the bathroom garbage can.  By the end of the day the garbage can smelled and had to be emptied out.  And if I didn't get around to emptying it out, by the next morning the garbage was quite stinky.  I placed the Diaper Genie in my son's nursery, next to his change table for convenience.  His room is very small and my recliner is pretty much right beside the change table. I was sure that I would smell the diapers during the many hours I've spent sitting in his room nursing him.  I've been using the Diaper Genie for 5 days now and am very impressed that it contains the smell, you would never know that there were several dirty diapers in his room.

It is very simple to use, I can step on the pedal with my foot to open it up, dispose of the diaper with one hand while holding my son in place with my other hand on the change table.  He recently started rolling over so I definitely need to keep one hand on him, so it's great that I can open the Diaper Genie "hands free". 

I did have a bit of difficulty assembling it, it did not snap into place very easily and I wasn't sure that I was doing it correctly.  There are diagrams in the instruction pamphlet but I did not think that diagram 2 was very helpful.  It mentions a groove that the hinge has to be lowered into but when looking at the Diaper Genie I did not see an obvious groove.  I was not sure that I was putting it in correctly as it took a few tries before it actually snapped into place. 

Aside from a minor assembly issue, I think it's a great product.  I like that I don't have to empty out a garbage can daily.  The refill was easy to insert and it is very easy to empty the dirty diapers and set it up again for continued use.  The Diaper Genie Elite is a great diaper disposal system and I would not hesitate to recommend it to any of my friends.

~ Lisa

I have had the pleasure of using the Diaper Genie Elite for the past 4 days for both my 1-month old's diapers, as well as my more "powerful" 2-year olds diapers.  When I first opened the box and removed the Diaper Genie Elite, I must admit that I felt that it was a little too large for my liking.  It seemed to take up so much space in my home.  I'm one of those mothers that likes to have personal items out of sight, and preferably hidden in cupboards.  Unfortunately, this was not something that could be hidden in any of my cupboards.

After finding some sort of inconspicuous place on my ground floor (because, after all, that is where I do most of childrens' diaper changes!), I began to fully appreciate the use and size of my Genie.  It is extremely suitable for the many (and I do mean MANY) changes of my one-month old, as well as the less frequent, but much more pungent, changes of my 2-year old.  The extremely strong odours of those diapers completely disappeared once placed in my Genie -- and remained odourless throughout the 4-day period!

I would definitely recommend the Diaper Genie Elite -- it is definitely worth the price!  I wish I had had this unit when my older children were in diapers -- it would have saved me from so many embarassing "smelly" trash can moments!

~ L.K.

I have helped put them together them in the past and found it very hard to get it to snap in place even hubbies to help - the one I received clicked perfectly together which was wonderful.
Very handy to have for messy diapers, very ease of use was great. The room had no bad odours. I would recommend this product the new moms.
I did have a hard time opening the bags that came with it. Both ends were stuffed very far in to the tube so I had to actually pull almost the whole thing out which I'll now have to feed back into be able to use it. I did go get another bag and it opened perfectly. 

~ D.M.

Playtex Diaper Genie Elite is a truly great product - it's functionality and sleek design are simply superb!  Odour is not only contained, but completely eliminated with its innovative air-lock design.  The pedal makes diaper disposal so easy and hygienic.  The pail's design fits in nicely in our baby's nursery.  Thank you Playtex for creating this wonderful product!
~ A.S.

Being a mother of three and on my 3rd diaper disposal system I was thrilled to test out a fresh new one. The Diaper Genie Elite has a slender and tall design, giving it a smaller footprint then most systems, which is great. I do like the foot pedal allowing a juggling mom's hands to be free. Also, I find it traps the odor in quite well.

A few drawbacks are, it tends to fill up pretty quickly, diapers do get stuck at the top and you have to push them down, and the fact that you can't use ordinary kitchen garbage bags with it, is another disadvantage.

But at the end of the day it does the job of keeping a nursery free from bad odor and messy diapers all in a great hands free system.Thanks for my diaper genie :) 

~ M.P.

After a bit of simple assembly upon receiving the unit, the Playtex Diaper Genie Elite system made diaper disposal easier. The foot pedal is such a convenient feature. You step on it, the lid opens and bye bye stinky diaper. The system does a great job containing diaper odours. The double claw seals the bag and saved our noses whenever we disposed of diapers. For our home, the system held about three days worth of diapers before needing to be emptied. That's three days of not dealing with the smelly mess soiled diapers leave behind. For someone who's highly attuned to detecting foul odours, this system has passed the test by keeping the air in our home free of diaper odours. I recommend it to all new moms. Being a new mom myself, I thought only diapers, wipes and a milk pumping system were necessary. Now I would definitely add the Playtex Diaper Genie Elite to the list!

~ A.K.

The diaper genie elite is a great product that eliminates odour & keeps the bathroom garbage pail clean.  What I like best about the diaper genie elite is that it has a stepping pedal that opens the diaper genie top to discard the dirty diaper. Bending over & carrying a baby can be hard for the tall mother (or father) but not too bad for someone who is short like myself - so the stepping pedal is great! As soon as you step on the pedal the top opens & you don't have to push the diaper in like the older version diaper genie!  It is easy to assemble & does not require any tools. It is light in weight & can fit in small areas. What I like most about this product is it eliminates odour & germs and the pedal to open the top! But the downfall is purchasing the refills which can be costly. Overall I rate this product 8/10. 

~ R.C.

The first thing I liked about it was how easy to put it together, 2 easy steps and it's ready for use! I also like the overall look of it, it's nice and slim to fit in any corner of our playroom yet spacious inside to fit a whole day of used diaper from 6 kids in my dayhome. The foot pedal is a plus when it comes to sanitation. The best thing that I love about the Diaper Genie is that it eliminated the smell of used diapers in our playroom, unlike when I was still using just a regular step-on garbage bin. Now I am happy to say that it smells fresh and nice all day long!

I would definitely recommend this product to family and friends.

Thank you again for the opportunity given to me to have and review this product!

~ A.G.

I was lucky enough to get in on this sampling opportunity and i'm thankful for it. We have two change stations in our house...one in the nursery and one on the main floor. We have a competitor's product in the nursery but we had nothing downstairs so we were climbing a lot of stairs.

First impressions were that it was pretty easy to assemble although the pictures in the instructions were not very helpful. I just figured it out on my own. (I'm a guy...that's what we do!)

The Diaper Genie Elite is much taller than the one we have but it also seems more narrow. I'm thinking the same # of diapers will fit in both. Installing the bag cartridge was easy. I was thrown off a bit by tying up the bottom but understand the need for it now. We did enjoy the hands free feature of the foot step and we found that it was holding in the odour pretty well. Now I mentioned earlier that the unit was narrow and that worked for us as we only had a small, narrow space to fit it and its just perfect.

Construction on the unit is great...the top and bottom pieces fit together well and it doesn't look like a trash bin which is a plus. 

My only drawback (and the reason we originally bought the competitors product) is that you have to buy the Diaper Genie bag refills which are quite expensive (compared to buying regular garbage bags at Costco), but if you make the most of each refill, it won't be too bad. 

Overall its been a good experience and we are enjoying the product and based on this, would definitely consider buying one. Thank you so much for this opportunity!!!

~ J.E.

Thank you all for your very honest reviews!
The winner of the $50 Toys `R` Us Gift Card is... Tester A.S!

**Disclaimer: All reviewers received full product samples; however their opinions expressed are their very own.**