Diaper Genie Essentials Review

The Diaper Genie Essentials (formerly known as the Diaper Genie II) has been a long-time favorite in the diaper pail category. In our sniff tests, it contained odor better than all of the other five diaper pails that we reviewed. While some of the other pails areslightly easier to dispose of a dirty diaper (with baby in one hand, and diaper in the other), they do so at the cost of less odor control. The proprietary refill cartridges add a cost you'll want to consider, but the system contain odors better and is easier to change when full. Since your diaper pail will be inside the house, we consider odor control to be the single most important consideration. The Diaper Genie's unmatched odor control earns it our Editors' Choice winner.

BabyGearLab Editors' Hands-on Review

The Diaper Genie is our Editor's Choice winner for best diaper pail for one main reason. It outdistanced the competing diaper storage systems in our most important test: the Stink-Containment Test. For more details about this test, you can check out our "How We Test" section.

It's Diaper Disposal-Time That Matters

Sealed, all six of the diaper systems we tested did well with containing smell, but when the lids were raised to dispose of a dirty diaper, it was another story. That's where the Diaper Genie left the competition in the stinky dust. 

We think that the Diaper Genie does so well at keeping the stench down because of its Push-N-Lock clamp feature. This clamshell-like clamp helps thwart the big dirty diaper aroma from coming directly up at you when placing a dirty diaper inside. Though the clamp means that you need to push the diaper through, we've found that you really only need to push it through about two-thirds of the way, because the clamp's spring-loaded mechanism is so tight that it ends up sucking the rest of the diaper right down inside. You do get a tiny whiff of stink when the pail is already occupied with #2, but it is minimal compared to the other pails. Even the more expensive Diaper Genie Elite scored second in our odor containment test. 

We found that the drawback of the hands-free foot pedal pails like the Diaper Dekor Plus and the Safety 1st Simple Step is the open throat of the diaper pail — the very feature that makes it super-simple to just drop the diaper in the pail — has the nasty side-effect of bringing a sizeable stinky whiff up and out. Then, to add injury to insult, when your foot comes off the pedal, the lid swoops down ensuring that if you didn't smell the lurking stink at first, there will be no way that you can miss it now that it's been fanned into the room by the lid. The hands-free system of the higher-end Diaper Genie Elite even includes a double lock design to help seal in odor, but in our testing we found that this wasn't as effective in smell containment as the Essentials.

Diaper Genie Best-Practices
There are three steps to Diaper Genie's one-handed operation:

• Lift the lid

• Push the diaper down through the Push-N-Lock clamp

• Close the lid.

Our research showed that some parents feel that this second step is a deal breaker, citing that if a diaper really full of #2 needs to be pushed through anything, said contents may ooze out of the diaper getting onto your hand as you push it into the Diaper Genie. We admit that even the most tightly wrapped diaper will leak once in a blue moon when pushing it through the clamp. However, we feel this occurance is so few and far between that we are willing to endure this rare misgiving. 

What we do really like, however, is that when disposing of a dirty diaper, it does not touch the plastic clamp or pail directly. It only comes into contact with the refill bag. For maintenance purposes, this is fantastic. One of our complaints about our Best Value winner, the Diaper Champ is the plastic receptacle which receives each dirty diaper. This receptacle gets filthy easily and needs to be cleaned with regularity if you want to keep the microbes and stink at bay. A footnote about the Diaper Genie is that as with the Diaper Champ Deluxe, toddlers may become very interested in this contraption. So, when emptying a bag of dirty diapers, do not be surprised to find your child's toys or other household items intermixed among the detritus. Consider yourself fairly warned.

Are the Bag Refills Worth the Cost?
Based on our tests, we say Yes. 

Even though the Diaper Genie system requires using their proprietary refills, they work great for several reasons. The multilayer odor barrier film technology in them basically means that there are 5 layers to the lining which helps seal away odor. In our opinion, Diaper Genie's refill lining really does contain odors well, unlike Diaper Champ's multilayer refill system. When a Diaper Genie bag of dirty diapers is collected and left out (instead of putting it directly into the trash), it really is difficult to detect any odor. In addition, it is very easy to change a bag of dirty diapers from the Diaper Genie. Because all of the dirty diapers are sitting in a sausage shaped sealed container when you open the system, there isn't that overwhelming whoosh of horrid stench you are exposed to with several of the other pail systems that we tested. Our Best Value winner, the Diaper Champ, has this problem in spades. The child-proof scissors in the interior of the Diaper Genie are used to cut the refill film in a snap and if you keep the seal with your hand while tying the film off, odor is minimal. Then to prepare the bag for its next use pull the film the full length of the pail and tie a knot. The refill cartridge is also a cinch to replace. The impact of these refills on your wallet? Each Diaper Genie refill costs around $6.50 each or $18 for a 3-pack. 

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare $3?
What does all of this really cost, you ask? Well, compared to pail systems that utilize regular kitchen trash bags, more. But, in our opinion, not that much more. Over a 4 year span, one child will go through an approximation of 5,000 diapers. We estimate that you will spend $190 in refills (taking into account that the system will fit less as the child grows and needs larger diapers). This puts the total cost of ownership for the Diaper Genie at about $225 or $.15 per day. In comparison, if you were to use regular kitchen trash bags with our best value winner, the Diaper Champ, you would spend about $45 on bags with a total cost of ownership of $80 (versus $180 if using Diaper Champ's proprietary refills). Basically, this comes down to a difference of about $3 per month between the Diaper Genie and the Diaper Champ (with kitchen trash bags). For superior odor control and easier, less stinky bag changes, this seems so worth it to us. And, considering that this diaper pail will be inside your home, typically inside baby's nursery, it just makes good sense if the budget will allow.

Take home point: if you are looking for the best diaper pail to control the stink, search no more. In our testing the Diaper Genie Essentials is the best at odor containment. It is our Editor's Choice.

How We Tested Diaper Pails

How We Test

Let us tell you, testing diaper pails in an thorough, hands-on, manner is not a pretty process.

While we tested the products in normal use, we found that using the diaper pails one at a time did not provide us adequate information to give side-by-side ratings and comparison on the key metric of odor control. So we developed a torture test that sought to stress test all the products in an identical manner, at the same time, and allowed us to really compared performance side-by-side.

The Nasty Business of Sniff Tests
In order to test diaper pails on the critical metric of "odor control" we developed our own sniff test procedure. To do so, we dressed up in a style reminiscent of a Hazmat suit (see photo above). Here's the basic outline of the process:

• Collect a large amount of fresh stinky poo-poo

• Mix it up to assure that each pail is tested with a similar mix of "test material"

• Divide the test material into equal weight portions

• Place each pail's test material on the center of a small paper plate

• Put the plate with test material in the pail, inside the manufacturer's recommended bags

• Allow the pails to sit undisturbed at room temperature (we tried different time periods, 1 hour, 4 hours, 8 hours, and 24 hours, and found 4 hours allowed us the best opportunity to measure differences)

• Perform sniff tests with the pail closed

• Perform a diaper drop sniff test (opening the pail to insert a new dirty diaper inside)

We performed this sniff test three times, each time using a different source of "test material." 

Scoring was based on averaging the judges' assessment of odor control, comparing each diaper pail to the others. Each product was given a rating on odor control relative to the competition on a scale of 0-10, where 10 is best. 

Although these tests were admittedly subjective in nature in that they were based on the sniff test opinions of human judges rather than readings from a scientific measuring device, we feel they were fairly conducted across pails and provided us a reasonable way to test and compare each product's performance. 

In the end, we felt this testing process was successful as it allowed us to detect significant differences in each pail's ability to control odors.

The One Hand Rule Applies to Diaper Disposal
To test each pail on the metric of "Ease of Diaper Disposal" we used only one hand to insert a dirty diaper into the pail. One hand operation is key as there are many times where a parent needs to have baby in one arm, and dispose of the dirty diaper with the other.

Each product was given a rating from 0-10, with 10 being the easiest to use.

While we found that those diaper pails which include a foot pedal are moderately easier to use than those without, all of the diaper pails we reviewed could be operated with one hand without difficulty.

Ease of Changing the Bags
We also tested the difficulty in changing the bags, rated on a scale 0-10 with 10 being the easiest to change. Part of the scoring on the bag changing included whether you were subjected to a nasty stink as part of the bag change. 

Estimation of Total Cost of Ownership
We attempted to estimate the total cost of ownership for the diaper pails by calculating the approximate number of bag refills used assuming that 5,000 diapers are disposed of (our estimate of a single child's output over four years). The calculation factored in variance in size of diapers from newborn to later stage diapers (the diaper bags can hold more than 2x the number of newborn diapers as compared to later stage), and the approximate number of diapers in various sizes that will typically be used over four years. 

We used approximate street prices for diaper bag refill cost calculations, and also assumed "economy-minded" shopping habits such as buying the less expensive per refill multi-packs (such as the 3-refill pack available for the Diaper Genie). 

While we don't claim to be able to exactly predict your total cost of ownership (your mileage may vary), we do believe our estimates provide a reasonable basis for comparison.