We don't tend to zip her in unless there's mosquitoes, but ours is a heavy sleeper anyway so the zip doesn't really wake her up. The Little Life Arc 2 is a completely enclosed travel cot, designed to keep mosquitoes and creepy crawlies away from your baby if you are travelling in hot countries. Only two complaints are it's side-entry, which can be hard to put a sleeping bubs into (as opposed to the LL which has top-entry), and the zip is quite loud if you're zipping them in.

Littlelife's Arc 2 is also fire retardant although the instructions clearly state you shouldn’t set it up near any fire hazards, something to be aware of if using inside a larger tent on a campsite. You have a legal right to reject faulty goods within 30 days of receipt and get a refund, including postage back to us.During the summer it would make a great shady spot, but unfortunately our tester wasn’t sent the separate sunshade to try this out. Taking the cot down is easy as you just do everything in reverse, but we would suggest packing the poles and ground pegs away as you go.

Bought it with a view to travelling, as can be easily packed in a holdall - particularly small if you leave the mattress behind and use whatever else you have available underneath it, or just stick it on the sand at the beach - you can get a sunshade for them. Overall, it blends in well whether indoors or outside and doubles up as a handy shelter from the sun. As mentioned before, assembly is quick and easy, and there is a fairly thick, and soft mattress which is very comfortable for all age groups.

Unfortunately, the instructions I had didn’t quite match the product as they’ve updated the colours but, once I’d figured it out, while a little fiddly, it wasn’t too difficult. The cot itself is made from green tent-style material with grey mesh sides and a fully zipped grey mesh top panel. It took a few minutes for our tester, Ruth, to work out what was what, but once everything was laid out in front of her it was easy to make sense of it all – after sussing out all the parts, it took her around five minutes to assemble.

Toggles around the zippers ensure curious little fingers won’t be able to undo the zip and open the cot themselves. INTELLIGENT DESIGN: Designed in the UK by the LittleLife team, specialising in long lasting, quality products. Finally, make sure you bring your child’s favourite comfort toys or blankets to create a familiar sleep environment. Once inserted, the ends of the poles are fixed in each of the four corners, causing the poles to bend and create the tent shape.

Our kids are very fair, and we spend a lot of time outdoors – at the beach, on the side of football pitches and more – so some kind of sunshade was going to be a good option for us. When my youngest was using the cot, we used the top-opening zip, so that it opened similarly to a regular cot and we put the baby in from the top. The only tricky bits I have found are putting the fitted sheets on (they are a bit tight) and putting it up in a confined space. Of course, Little LIfe provided instructions, and sure enough, when we actually read the instructions the Arc 2 was up in a few short minutes. Although the Arc 2 is very light, it could be less bulky if the mattress was made as an inflatable mattress.

It has been designed to look more like a miniature tent than a traditional travel cot and is put together with poles fed through an oversheet.

The foam mattress is fixed down with three strips of heavy duty Velcro and this stayed in place even with my energetic toddler and wriggling 13-month-old Hannah playing in it. When we’re abroad it’s reassuring to know that Rosie is sleeping safely, protected from bugs and mosquitos, thanks to the mosquito mesh. The mattress is thin, as some of the other reviewers have commented - it also takes up the bulk of the space in the bag. The poles don’t stick out far from the edge of the tent - in the past I’ve used an older model Phil and Ted’s and tripped over the legs on my way out of the room - waking baby.