Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I’ll say the concept is great. It sounds like a magical device. It is well made, easy to put on, easy to adjust, compact for travel, and well packaged. Any normal consumer (like myself, haha) will breeze through the 3 and 4 star reviews thinking that we must be weak or too sensitive or something. Well tonight, 4 adults alternated using the piggyback rider to carry a 50 pound 4 year old before, during, and after an outdoor summer concert in 90+ degree heat. She walked some, but she also had to be carried quite a bit. We all almost died. Our backs are broken. I’ll touch on the areas that I feel haven’t been touched on enough. 1. After a few minutes and a couple hundred steps your arms will go numb from the shoulders down. I think this is normal based on all of our experiences. Sensation will return within half an hour or so after taking the backpack off. 2. Your child will probably clutch at your throat as he or she gets used to standing on the platform and holding onto the shoulder straps. This can be frightening at first. 3. You will probably do ok initially, maybe you will even walk a mile or more, then suddenly your upper back will be in a constant spasm. 4. For this reason, don’t use this product without another adult around. When your back spasm begins you will need immediate assistance to remove the child from your back, otherwise you will have to lay down on the grass to unbuckle the child yourself as you experience the tortuous spasms. 5. It’s pretty hot to have a human furnace strapped to your back in summer. Get ready for your upper back to boil like lava. 6. If you don’t adjust the bar properly for your body, it’s very easy to get off balance and fall backwards because of the extra weight. Also a warning: your kid will probably love riding on this. You will feel pressured to appear as if you are having a great time while your kid is strapped on to your back in the piggyback rider. Your kid will be super comfortable once they get used to it and will also look adorable. People will smile and point and wave and ask questions and assume you are a super-strong athlete and also an amazing parent. You will feel obligated to smile and pretend you aren’t actually dying of pain as they high-five your 50 pound 4 year old. Your kid will then get excited and begin to swing and dangle from your backpack like it’s a jungle gym. You will curse under your breath. Later you will be laying in bed at 1 am with horrible back pain and then you will ALSO write a three star review for this product even though you liked the concept a lot. One helpful thing I learned is that if my shoulders are hurting really badly, I can reach behind my thighs / butt and hold up the bar with my hands. This takes a lot of the weight off the back and shoulder area and offers temporary pain relief. All in all, it’s a unique idea and I would like to try it again with a lighter and less hyperactive child. It was great having my hands free. I’ll probably use this product again and I’ll probably complain about it again. When it’s said and done it was better than carrying 50 pounds of dead weight in my arms and my daughter loved it.