UMGOOGOO high chair review

Our verdict, if you don’t read another word: the UMGOOGOO Multi Functional is a 4.5 out of 5 high chair that we bought for the wrong reason. It’s the best-built of the three chairs we’ve had longest, its wheels make it the easiest to move, and its PU cushion wipes clean. We bought it for the rocking mode, and our daughter doesn’t like to stay in it while it rocks. Buy it as a well-made high chair on wheels. Don’t buy it for the rocking.

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 we set out what they say in when can a baby use a high chair. How to fit the harness and use the chair safely, including in rocking or swing mode, is a question for the manual that ships with it and the CPSC, rather than a blog.

What the UMGOOGOO is

4.5 / 5our rating

A convertible high chair. It works as a normal high chair, and it also converts into a rocking chair and an infant swing. It has 8 levels of height adjustment, a washable PU cushion, a folding frame and wheels.

It’s rated to 33 lb, weighs 14.3 lb itself and has a 3-point harness. Those three numbers were hard to find online, and no safety certification is listed for it. If you like to check the specs and certifications before you buy, that’s worth knowing going in.

Why we bought it

We like rocking chairs. That was the start of it. The plan was that our baby would enjoy being rocked, stay happy in the chair for a good stretch, and buy us some time to work while she was content.

That isn’t how it went. She doesn’t want to sit in it for long while it rocks. So a chair we chose for one feature mostly gets used without that feature, and it gets used less overall than we expected.

None of that is the chair’s fault. It’s a reminder that you can’t buy your baby’s preferences in advance, and that the feature you’re most excited about is often the one that goes unused. We say the same thing in our high chair buying guide, because this chair is where we learned it.

Build quality

This is where the UMGOOGOO is strongest. Of the three chairs we’ve had longest, it’s the best-made, and it feels the sturdiest in the hand. We’d say that even though it’s the one we use least. When the buying guide talks about our sturdiest chair having a wipe-clean pad and the least wobble, this is the chair it means.

We’ve had our daughter in it up to about 20 or 22 lb, of the 33 lb it’s rated for. That’s a smaller share of its range than we’ve tested on our other chairs, so we can’t tell you how it behaves near its limit.

The wheels

The wheels are the most useful thing about it day to day. The UMGOOGOO weighs 14.3 lb and the Baby Trend Sit Right 2.0 weighs 14.95 lb, almost exactly the same. The UMGOOGOO is noticeably easier to move around the house, and that’s entirely down to the wheels. It even beats the Graco, which is lighter at 10.5 lb, for shifting around a kitchen.

If you move a high chair between rooms every day, or roll it out of the way after meals, this is the strongest argument for it. Look at how a chair rolls before you look at what it weighs.

Height and the cushion

Eight height levels is the most adjustment of any chair we own. That range lets it line up with most tables and counters.

The cushion is PU rather than fabric, and that makes a real difference to cleaning. Food wipes off it instead of soaking in, which is the main reason we recommend a wipe-clean seat in our buying guide. We scored it 4 for cleaning, the same as the Baby Trend and the Graco. For the full routine, see how to clean a baby high chair.

Set-up and footprint

We scored its first assembly 3.5, the same as the Baby Trend, and everyday set-up after that a 4.5. The frame folds, though a chair with this many moving parts is never going to be the compact option. We gave it a 4 for footprint. If space is your problem, our best high chairs for small spaces covers the chairs we own that fold small.

The harness

It has a 3-point harness, like the Baby Trend, the Graco and the Primo. Only two of our six chairs, the Stokke Tripp Trapp and the Ingenuity Sun Valley, have a 5-point. If that matters to you, check before you buy. Which harness your child needs is a question for the manual and a standards body, not a blog.

Our scores

The 4.5 is our overall judgment, not the average of those columns. The columns don’t weigh the same, and a chair’s everyday use counts for more than any single feature.

How it compares with our other chairs

Against the Baby Trend Sit Right 2.0, our 5 out of 5, the UMGOOGOO is easier to move and has the wipe-clean cushion. The Baby Trend has the real toddler-chair mode and was the one we reached for every day for a year and a half. If you’re choosing one chair for the kitchen, the Baby Trend is the safer bet. Our everyday chair now is the solid beech Stokke Tripp Trapp, which is in a different class again for how long it lasts.

Against the Graco, the Graco is smaller, lighter and quicker to put together, with the nicer tray for cleaning. The UMGOOGOO rolls more easily and adjusts further. All six of our chairs are ranked in our best high chair roundup.

Who should buy it

Buy the UMGOOGOO if you want a well-made full-size chair that you’ll roll between rooms, and you’d like a wipe-clean seat. If your baby turns out to love rocking, the extra modes are a bonus.

Skip it if the rocking is the only reason you’re interested, because there’s no way to know in advance whether your baby will like it. Skip it too if you want a 5-point harness, a listed safety certification or a chair that folds small.

The bottom line

The UMGOOGOO is a 4.5 out of 5 because it’s a good chair: the best-built of our first three, easy to move on its wheels and easy to wipe down. It isn’t a 5 because the feature it’s sold on, the rocking, depends entirely on your baby, and ours said no. Buy it for the chair, not for the swing.