This is not a paid review, I'm just responding to the standard Amazon request for review. I purchased this as a brand new grandma so that I would have a cramp in my house, and my daughter would not have to drag her traditional portable crib that she purchased for her house. Hers is a commonly known brand. I wanted something lighter weight and what I really loved was the zipper in the front. I knew it would be difficult for me to bend over the crap to lift a heavy baby in and out. So far we have only used it when she visits during the day. We have had it for about three months. It's really easy to set up and to fold back down, thoughI do struggle a little with getting it all finally packed back into the bag because I have a little arthritis in my fingers. It's pretty easy to push the safety straps through the holes in the bottom of the crib to attach them to the legs. Originally I found a little bit to fold it all back up because of the angles of the legs when you flip it upside down and fault.
I have only one complaint "“ I had purchased the fitted sheets that were recommended on Amazon and when I got them home and washed I found that the little button hole holes in the sheets that are for the safety straps are in the wrong place. So I can't recommend the sheets. I went to the manufacturers website and purchased the sheets they were selling for twice the amount of money and found out I got the exact same sheets with a little button holes in the wrong place. So far I have not found a fitted sheet that has the buttonholes in the correct place for this crib.
I am going to try and get a newton baby mattress, the breathable one, but it appears that it may not be a perfect fit for this crib. It would be my only complaint that this complaint is not exactly the same measurements as the standard American porta crib and so American porta crib but trust sheets do not fit this mattress pad

I cannot say enough good things about this product. But I'll try. Before I get to the construction, I'll mention that this is a long-overdue review, because this company was as generous to us as customers as a company could reasonably be. Thank you, Guava!

First, the construction - it's lightweight without being flimsy, and fully opened, the mattress rests directly on the floor (which yields a much more even sleep surface than products that "suspend" their mattress floors). Our son used this as his primary bed for an entire year (from about six months to a year-and-a-half), since our shoebox Queens apartment didn't have room for a full size crib. Still, it was nicely spacious for him, and the sidewalls were just high enough for him to eventually pull himself up, but not climb over. The zipper is low enough that he couldn't maneuver the side flap open from the inside, but when left open, it was a nice way for him to independently enter and exit the crib. We traveled a fair amount during that year, and it's a PERFECT fit for the overhead luggage compartments on all but the smallest commuter planes. The mattress folds around the frame, and protects it well during transit. It's totally easy to clean - even the mesh - and we learned this through some serious baby messes...

But now the customer care story: my 6'3" husband was vacuuming one day, tripped over the cord, and fell INTO the crib. It's strong, but not that strong; two legs snapped. Incredibly, we'd just received a new twin mattress for our son to transition that very day, so he did have a place to sleep that night. But we still were dependent on the Lotus for travel. So we contacted Guava to purchase replacement legs (they're not designed to come apart, but can be unscrewed if you really want to). They immediately made it clear that we would not be charged (and yes, we told the truth about what had happened), and assured us that the new legs would be at our home by the end of the week. But it gets better: the next day, we got a call from them, apologizing that the legs were no longer the same design, so they'd already put an entire new frame in the mail to us, which arrived about 42 hours total after my husband had squashed it!

Fast forward another year. Our son is two-and-a-half, and visiting his grandpa with his father. He's still happily sleeping in his Lotus.

Pros:
- lightweight
- cheaper than the BabyBjorn, which we initially purchased and later sold on Craigslist
- better than the Bjorn for someone who is short (I'm 5'2"), because the sides are shorter
- easy to set up and take down
- like the idea of the side zipper, which is another reason we prefer this to the Bjorn
Con:
- wish the zipper was a double zipper that functioned more like a tent zipper. It's quite noisy when you zip it back up, which is a problem when you've just put a baby to sleep in a foreign place. If they designed this more like a tent zipper, you would have the capability of only unzipping it halfway, cutting the distance the noisy zipper has to travel by half.

I didn't buy it through amazon, but I'm writing a review because I want people to know how awesome it is. My husband and I both have our immediate families living in other states than our own and needed a crib to take to both New York and Minnesota that our one year old son would be comfortable in. So many of the regular cribs are ridiculously heavy and bulky and are not comfortable. I am so happy I came across the Guava Lotus when I was researching mobile cribs. We can take it on the plane when we travel as a carry on which saves us money. Also since it sits on the ground, the age of use goes higher. I can easily use this crib till my boy is three. He can still use it afterwards for fun. We currently use it in his room like a fun fort. I drap a blanket over the top and open the side and he runs into it all the time to play in it. It is so easy to set up and carry around. It's a bit pricier than other cribs but it in reality has saved us so much hassle and money.

The only downside is that as my boy hit two, I knew the bed would be a little too flat for comfort. It has a bit of padding that is perfect for infants and past 1 years old, but by two maybe not as comfortable , depending on the child. We found an easy solution. We happen to have a large roll of bed top foam that my sister in law gave to us. We cut the foam to the size of the crib and slipped on the waterproof casing from the original bed. It worked perfectly to give my kid a more comfortable bed while extending the life of the crib. The foam still fits in the bag with the frame of the crib for easy travel . If you are willing to do go the extra mile to be creative to make it more comfortable, you can make it last longer .

The best baby gear item we have! For traveling and adventuresome families, you can't go wrong!