Primo PopUp high chair review

Our verdict, if you don’t read another word: the Primo PopUp is our 5 out of 5 folding high chair. It folds to about 4 inches thick with one button, weighs 10 lb and comes out of the box ready to use. We bought it for an Airbnb and have had it about six months. If your problem is where a high chair goes between meals, this is the one we’d point you to.

One note on scope. We cover this chair as gear. When a baby is ready to sit and eat is a question for the AAP and your pediatrician, and how to fit the harness and use the chair safely is a question for the manual that ships with it and the CPSC, rather than a blog.

What the Primo PopUp is

5 / 5our rating

A compact high chair built around its fold. Standing, it measures 28 by 24 inches and 38 inches high, on an alloy steel frame with stable legs and a wide base. It weighs 10 lb, the least of any high chair we own.

The seat is padded leatherette with a 3-point harness. The tray comes off and goes on the top rack of the dishwasher, and the seat cover lifts off to wipe down. It’s made for 6 to 36 months, up to 35 lb, and it’s BPA, phthalate and lead free. It arrives fully assembled.

Why we bought it

We already had a full-size chair at home, the Baby Trend Sit Right 2.0, and that one does almost all the feeding in our house. The Primo was for somewhere else. We bought it for an Airbnb, and a high chair there has one job beyond holding a baby: taking up as little room as possible when nobody is using it.

That shaped how we judge it. We weren’t looking for the most adjustable chair, or one that grows into a toddler seat. We wanted something that folds small, goes up fast and doesn’t feel like a compromise while a child is sitting in it. That’s what it does.

The fold

This is the reason to buy it. Press one button and it folds down to about 4 inches thick in around 10 seconds. Opening it again is just as quick. Folded, it’s close enough to flat that you can slide it behind a door or into a narrow gap.

It’s worth spelling out how unusual that is, even among our own chairs. The Baby Trend folds narrow but ends up taller than it stands. The Graco folds, but not flat, and won’t slide in beside a fridge. The Ingenuity Sun Valley does fold flat and stands up by itself when folded, and it’s the only one that comes close. The Primo is the flattest fold of any chair we own.

If you have a small kitchen and you’re trying to work out which kind of compact chair you need, our best high chairs for small spaces splits the problem in two: a chair that is small while in use, and a chair that disappears between uses. The Primo answers the second.

Out of the box

There’s nothing to build. The box says it’s ready to use straight away, and that turned out to be completely true. It’s the easiest high chair we have ever set up, and we’ve put together six.

That sounds like a small thing until you compare it with a first assembly like the Baby Trend’s, which took some doing. For a chair going to a holiday rental, a grandparent’s house or a second home, where you may be setting it up without the instructions to hand, a chair that just unfolds is a real advantage.

The seat, the tray and cleaning

The seat is padded leatherette rather than fabric. That matters for cleaning, because a wipeable surface lets food come off with a cloth instead of soaking in. The seat cover lifts off to wipe down properly, and the tray comes off and goes on the top rack of the dishwasher.

We’d guess the seat cover could survive a gentle wash cycle, but that’s a guess, not something we’d promise. Check the care instructions before you put it in a machine. For the full routine that works on any chair, see how to clean a baby high chair.

Stability

Folding chairs have a reputation for feeling flimsy, and it’s the first thing we’d want to know about one. The Primo sits on a wide base with stable legs, and it feels solid. The steel frame helps. We’ve had a child of about 25 lb in it, out of the 35 lb it’s rated for, so we can’t speak for the top of its range.

The harness and the age range

Two things to know before you buy.

The harness is 3-point, not 5-point. If a 5-point harness is something you specifically want, the Primo isn’t your chair. Of our folding chairs, only the Ingenuity has one.

The age range is 6 to 36 months. There’s no toddler mode or booster stage to carry it on after that, the way the Baby Trend becomes a toddler chair. That’s a fair trade for a chair this focused on folding small, but it does mean the Primo has a shorter working life than a full-size chair.

How it compares with our other chairs

Against the Graco, the Primo is the better buy if the chair has to be put away, and the Graco is the better buy if the chair stays out but has to be small, with the nicer tray for cleaning. The full head to head is Primo PopUp vs Graco.

Against the Ingenuity Sun Valley, the other fold-flat chair we own, the Primo is better made, lighter and arrives assembled. The Ingenuity has the 5-point harness, a tray that stores on the back of the chair and a lock-on plate. We put them side by side in Primo PopUp vs Ingenuity Sun Valley.

Against the Baby Trend, it isn’t really a contest, because they do different jobs. The Baby Trend was our everyday chair at home for a year and a half. The Primo is the one that folds away. All six are ranked in our best high chair roundup.

Who should buy it

Buy the Primo PopUp if the high chair has to disappear between meals: a small apartment, a holiday rental, a grandparent’s house, a second home. It’s also the easy answer if you dread assembling baby gear, because there’s nothing to assemble.

Skip it if you want one chair to last into the toddler years, or if a 5-point harness is a must. For the first, a full-size chair like the Baby Trend makes more sense. For the second, look at the Ingenuity. Our high chair buying guide covers the rest of what to check.

The bottom line

The Primo PopUp earns its 5 out of 5 by doing the thing a folding high chair is for better than anything else we own. It folds to about 4 inches thick, goes from box to ready with no assembly, and still feels solid on its wide base with a child in it. Its limits are a 3-point harness and an age range that stops at 36 months. For a chair that has to be put away, we wouldn’t look further.