LittleLife Arc 2 Review: “probably the best bit of travel kit we have”

If you enjoyed festivals, beach trips and impromptu weekends away, pre-baby, you might think those days are behind you. Lugging a heavy travel cot around when you're also wrangling a small child can be off-putting when planning your next trip. But as our tester found, it doesn't have to be this way.

The Littlelife Arc is a lightweight, 3-in-1 travel cot, beach tent (when bought with the UV shade) and playpen, which is easy to put up and comes with a backpack carrier so it's ideal for parents who like to travel light or who take public transport. Read on to find out what our mum tester, Eloise thought of the Littlelife Arc when she tested it with her 11 month old son.

Testing the LittleLife Arc 2

This Littlelife Arc 2 was tested for Mother&Baby by Eloise and her 11 month old son on a recent holiday to a festival.

After 11 months of avoiding holidays abroad knowing all the stuff I would have to cart around, I finally bit the bullet and booked a trip to Lisbon with my son Marlo who is 11 months old. Armed with my bullet point list of things I needed, at the very top was a travel cot… cue the Littlelife Arc 2. A compact and lightweight tent-style travel cot that can triple up as a play pen and a beach tent when purchased with an additional UV covering.

I tested the LittleLife Arc 2 cot for a few weeks prior to my holiday because at festivals I tend to have a nice sit down whilst my partner does the tent part and so I figured I’d better practice in case I needed to be a tent expert for this! Spoiler alert, it’s mega easy.

The cot itself is made from grey tent-style material with mesh sides and a fully zipped mesh top panel. The asymmetric design is formed when two poles are slotted through long pole sleeves across the top of the cot and although that sounds complicated it really isn’t, and it took me 5 mins to whip it up as the instructions are very straight forward. Once both poles are threaded through you have to bend them into arcs to give the cot its unique structure. At first, I felt like I was forcing the poles but the cot feels robustly made and the poles went into place smoothly. The poles are 2.6m when fully extended so I needed quite a bit of room to assemble the cot and so you might want to do it when you aren’t near your child or other breakables. RIP my fave vase.

The foam mattress is fixed down with three strips of heavy-duty Velcro and this stayed in place even with my energetic crawling baby wriggling and playing in it – I had a go in there too and it didn’t budge. It felt quite thin - similar to an adult’s camping mat - but Marlo slept happily, and I had to remind myself that small children don’t need thick mattresses like heavier adults. The mattress sits on the floor which means the Arc 2 has no weight limit and will therefore last you a long time - until your toddler is too tall to fit in. The mattress is standard cot size at 70cmx120cm and comes with a sheet.

The Arc 2 is geared towards parents who want something compact and easy and having previously lugged a heavy fold out travel cot to a weekend away this one was a dream through the airport and then on various trams to get to our Airbnb. The heavier fold out cot I used previously involved some back breaking moves to get my child into bed, the side entrance the Littlelife Arc 2 was a game changer. Thank you to the back protectors at Littlelife!

I did wonder if children would be able to unzip the cot in the middle of the night and escape but there’s a very secure safety toggle to the outside of the zip. I have inadvertently raised the Artful Dodger (he has taken two phones from bags and successfully removed four watches from unknowing wrists at playgroups) so this pickpocket of mine was a pretty good tester, but it foiled him. Phew.

Once unzipped the mesh panels at the top and sides fold away and my baby loved playing inside the cot, crawling in and out using it as a den or a ball pool. I really liked the mesh panels as they give good visibility and provides protection against mosquitoes and other undesirable bugs out in the wilds or humid countries.

The cot can be used indoors and outside as there are four tether straps on the corners of the cot and tent pegs to secure them to the ground which is great for picnics and for use as a beach tent. The Arc 2’s floor print is 85cmx133cm although if you were pegging it down, you’d need slightly more space with the tether straps.

Final Verdict

Overall, the Arc 2 is great for travellers who need a lightweight travel cot which won’t take up half the car boot or weigh you down on the train or plane. It’s excellent value because it doubles as a play tent and sunshade for summer fun. It is probably the best bit of travel kit we have – it’s just so easy. I love that it complies with British Safety Standards which gives me peace of mind and I am not worried about mozzies biting him. It’s also feels robust. This is a cot makes you feel like you’re a traveller who happens to have a baby, not a parent lugging an entire nursery around whenever you leave the house. It's not the cheapest on the market, but I feel it’s worth the cost when it comes to offering so much.

About the author

Rebecca Lancaster is a Digital Writer for Mother&Baby, drawing on ten years of parenting her two children to help others navigating their own parenting journey. As a freelance writer, she spent ten years working with leading lifestyle brands, from travel companies to food and drink start-ups, and writing everything from hotel reviews to guides to the best British cheeses. She’s particularly interested in travel and introducing her children to the excitement of visiting new places, trying different foods (less successfully) and experiencing different cultures.