This is a review of a new product by Procter and Gamble - Pampers Cruisers. These are available in sizes three through seven. For this review, we will be taking a closer look at size three. These are available in quantities of 25, 84, 140, and 174, with prices that range from $8.97 for a small bag to $49.99 for a large box of 174. We found the best price per unit was a box of 140 at a cost of around 40 US dollars. If you purchase a box of 140, this will bring the cost per change down to a reasonable 28 cents from 48 cents when buying a small bag of 25.
The outer shell of the diaper features two designs. The first design is simple stripes with an elephant on the tape landing zone, and the other design has colorful swooshes with the Pampers heart on the tape landing zone. The outer shell has a wavey texture to it that is soft to the touch. Much like other Pampers diapers, these do not have a back indicator and instead note the size along the front waistline. Oddly this diaper does not feature a wetness indicator on the outer shell. This is the only time we have seen a major brand exclude this very common and useful feature, with the exception of “eco-friendly” diapers.
Pampers branded diapers do not have stretchy waistbands like other brands. Instead, they rely on very stretchy rear wings that wrap around your baby's waist. To date, these have more stretch to them than any other diaper stretching from 12.25 inches to 17.5 inches. This diaper also has a very wide front waist measuring 12 inches, partly due to the extra-large front wings.
The bright purple sticky tabs are shorter than other brands, at just over 3/4 of an inch in length. We found that they do an excellent job at sticking to the tape landing zone and have good performance when placed on other parts of the outer shell of the diaper. They have poor sticking power when applied to the front wings, as they are not designed to stick to that area of the diaper. If you find that you are placing the tabs on the front wing, this is an indicator that you need to move to the next size up.
The absorbent padding has a light scent to it that is not overpowering. The inner padding has a simple and smooth texture to it that is soft to the touch. We found that the padding was much shorter than other manufacturers at just 10 inches. Because it is so short, the distance from the front waistline and the absorbent padding is the largest measured to date at 2.5 inches. The same can be said about the large gap between the back waistline to the absorbent padding measured at 4 inches. Although short in length, the padding is wide at 3.5 inches in the front, middle, and rear of the diaper. The standing leg gathers are tall at 1.5 inches in height and run nearly the length of the padding at 9.5 inches.
Total absorbency was lower than other brands at 519 grams (32 percent lower than the average brand). This is significantly less than Pampers Swaddlers that measured in at over 800 grams. We believe this is due to a combination of a short absorbent padding and the second thinnest padding measured to date at just 4mm. Time to absorb 50 ml took much longer than the average diaper at 18 seconds, although moisture did spread very well across the absorbent padding. Oddly the second wetting test absorbed quickly at just 26 seconds, which is much faster than other brands. More importantly, the moisture meter shows that this diaper does a good job of keeping the top sheet much drier than other brands after our tests. Overall, the absorbency performance is rather great for daytime use, but we do not recommend these for overnight.
This is the only non “ecofriendly” diaper that does not have a wetness indicator. Has a light fragrance that does a good job at masking odors. Super stretchy rear wings that give it a total stretch of 17.5 inches tab to tab.
We like the very stretchy and flexible rear wings. We found the sticky tabs to stick very well to the tape landing zone. Although the total absorbency is low, the performance is very good at pulling moisture below the top sheet, keeping it very dry after our moisture tests. This is the second thinnest diaper tested to date, combined with a very soft touch this should make it very comfortable for your baby.
We disliked the short absorbent padding that held significantly less total moisture than other brands. We found it odd for a major brand to not include a wetness indicator. The rear waistband does not have any stretch to it.
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