LILLEbaby vs Ergobaby Baby Carrier Comparison

LILLEbaby and Ergobaby are two extremely popular baby gear brands. With a wide array of product offerings, versatile weight ranges, and a variety of child-carrying options, both brands are solid choices when hunting for the ideal baby carrier for your little one.

To gather firsthand information and study the most popular carriers for babywearing, we purchased fourteen different carriers from a variety of brands to determine the best baby carrier. Among these fourteen, we purchased one LILLEbaby product and two Ergobaby products: the LILLEbaby Complete All Seasons, the Ergobaby Omni 360, and the Ergobaby Omni Breeze. These carriers were similar in style and structure with a few key differences.

LILLEbaby and Ergobaby Options

LILLEbaby Carrier Choices

LILLEbaby offers several standard carrier options, in addition to two sling options. Here are the carrier options we found for this brand:

Version	Child Weight Range	Carry Options	Accessories
LILLEbaby Complete All Seasons 6-in-1	7-45lbs	6	Sun hood, pocket
LILLEbaby Complete Airflow 6-in-1	7-45lbs	6	Sun hood, pocket
LILLEbaby Complete Original 6-in-1	7-45lbs	6	Sun hood, pocket
LILLEbaby Complete Luxe	7-45lbs	6	Sun hood, pocket
LILLEbaby 3-in-1 Carryon Airflow	25-60lbs	3	Sun hood, pocket
LILLEbaby 3-in-1 Carryon Airflow	7-45lbs	6	Sun hood, pocket
LILLEbaby Seat Me	7-45lbs	5	Sun hood, pocket, detachable hip seat

The carriers vary in price, but many are decently affordable and offer a wide range of carry styles and weight carrying capabilities.

Ergobaby Carrier Choices

Ergobaby offers multiple carriers as well, also including a hip seat and a baby wrap:

Version	Child Weight Range	Carry Options	Accessories
Ergobaby Omni 360	7-45lbs	4	Detachable pouch, sun shade
Ergobaby Omni Breeze	7-45lbs	4	Detachable pouch, sun shade
Ergobaby Omni Dream	7-45lbs	4	Detachable pouch, sun shade
Ergobaby Aerloom	7-35lbs	3	Zippered Pouch
Ergobaby Embrace	7-25lbs	4
Ergobaby 360	12-45lbs	3	Sun shade

The Ergobaby products tended to be a little higher priced, but still offered a good weight range and a variety of carrying options.

Specs Overview

Here are some summary specs for the LILLEbaby and Ergobaby products that we tested.

Value – How They Compare

The Ergobaby carriers are the more expensive of the products we tested, with the LILLEbaby carrier pricing out around the $100 range and the Ergobaby carriers around $50 to $100 more expensive.

Though none of the three carriers are the cheapest on the market, we personally believe that the versatility, comfort, and range of child wearability make the carriers worth the higher price.

LILLEbaby All Seasons Complaints vs Our Experience

When researching these products, we read all of the customer complaints geared towards the LILLEbaby All Seasons and compared those complaints to our experience.

To read more of our opinions on the positives and negative of the LILLEbaby All Seasons, see our full review:

• LILLEbaby Complete All Seasons Review

Criticism	Our Experience
Hard to set up	We had trouble getting the carrier set up the first time. We ended up having to look up a video online to get help setting it up as the provided instructions are not very clear.
Straps are bulky	We did feel that the straps were bulky and tended to bunch in the back due to their size.
Uncomfortable material	We agree that the material was not very soft.
Chemical smell	We didn’t notice any chemical smell when using this carrier.

Ergobaby Omni 360 Review

Ergobaby Carrier Complaints vs Our Experience

We also reviewed the critical customer complaints for both the Ergobaby Omni 360 and Omni Breeze and compared them to our experience. Here are a few of the complaints for each carrier.

To view our ENTIRE criticism and experience table, check out our full reviews of both carriers:

• Ergobaby Omni 360 Review
• Ergobaby Omni Breeze Review

Criticism	Our Experience
Too Bulky (360)	Though this was bulkier than some carriers that we tested, we did not feel that it was uncomfortably large.
Material is hot (360)	The material is less breathable than mesh carriers, but we did not feel that it was too warm.
Pulls on back (360)	We didn’t feel that this carrier pulled excessively on the upper back area.
Scratchy material (Breeze)	We do agree that the mesh polyester material is not as soft as some of the others we tested.
Straps difficult (Breeze)	The straps are a little bulky and it takes some practice to use them effectively.
Baby is uncomfortable (Breeze)	Our test subjects seemed happy and comfortable.

How We Researched and Tested

We performed extensive testing with each of the baby carriers, scoring them on the following categories:

• Comfort (Adult and Child)
• Usability
• Versatility
• Design Quality

For all carriers that allowed their sizes, we tested the baby carriers with the assistance of a one-year-old and three-year-old.

Comfort

Parent Comfort

In our testing process, we tested each carrier to gauge its comfort level for the adult wearer. We took various factors into consideration: the fabric’s softness, the padding around the shoulder straps, the lumbar support quality, the fabric’s softness and breathability, and how well the carrier distributed weight.

Here’s how each carrier ranked for parent comfort:

All of the carriers were pretty comfortable. They all have lumbar support pieces which provide extra back comfort. We did feel like the waist belt of the LILLEbaby was so thick, it was difficult to move or bend. Even just squatting was difficult.

The adjustable shoulder straps are thickly padded for both brands of carriers. This definitely helped with the comfort, but made them a little cumbersome. The LILLEbaby’s shoulder straps were almost excessively padded, making them difficult to wear.

Both the LILLEbaby and the Ergobaby carriers offered the option of wearing the adjustable shoulder straps in either the standard parallel “H” layout or a crossed “X” layout. We felt that the crossed layout provided more security to offset the strap bulkiness.

The Ergobaby Omni Breeze and Omni 360 had great weight distribution. The LILLEbaby did as well, but there was a little bit of pulling in the front from the style of seat.

Child Comfort

To test how comfortable our child test subjects were, we put them into each carrier. We checked how soft the material felt, how their legs were positioned, whether or not they seemed happy and comfortable in the carrier, how soft and comfortable the seat was, and how much padding the carrier had overall.

Here’s how each carrier ranked for child comfort:

The Omni Breeze and Omni 360 had more customizable seats than the All Seasons with adjustable Velcro tabs.

The All Seasons has a wide and narrow seat setting only. It does have an option for a fetal carry, but only if you purchase a separately sold pillow insert.

All three carriers did pretty well in helping keep baby’s legs in the ergonomic “M” position.

The Omni 360 is made of soft cotton material, the Omni Breeze is a mesh polyester, and the All Seasons is a combination of cotton and mesh polyester.

The Omni 360’s cotton felt a little softer than the All Seasons’. The thick cotton could make the carrier a little warm, but the mesh inner portion helps provide breathability.

Usability

We measured the usability of each of the carriers based on its overall user-friendliness, time to set up, and how easy the instructions were to follow. These were the usability ranking results:

The All Seasons scored much lower in usability, scoring the lowest out of all the carriers we tested.

The All Seasons uses fabric loops and buttons to adjust the seat size. Though good in theory, it is time-consuming and difficult to make the adjustments.

The narrow seat adjustment is easier, by simply snapping the fabric pieces together. The wide seat adjustment requires sliding the fabric pieces over each end of the waist belt and buttoning it into place. This takes a little more maneuvering and you have to remove the lumbar support piece before sliding the fabric into place.

The Omni 360 and the Omni Breeze were much easier to set up than the LILLEbaby All Seasons. The color-coded Velcro tabs are highly customizable to a child’s individual size and very easy to adjust.

The All Seasons took several minutes to set up the first time. The instruction manual, particularly the portion about seat adjustments, wasn’t very clear, so we ended up watching an online video to figure it out.

Here’s how long each carrier took to set up the first time:

Versatility

All of the carriers had solid weight ranges, each accommodating children from 7 lbs to 45 lbs. All of the carriers will last your little one from the newborn stage well into their toddler years.

Ergobaby brand carriers generally have a wide weight accommodation range, with a few smaller capacity carriers like the Ergobaby Embrace.

LILLEbaby seemed to have the best range, with all of their carriers holding either up to 45lbs or one, the LILLEbaby 3-in-1 Carryon Airflow, even accommodating larger children from 25-60lbs.

Both brands of carriers have an impressive variety of hold styles. Here are the carrying options for the carriers we tested:

Version	Carrying Styles
Ergobaby Omni 360	Inward facing, outward facing, hip carry, back carry
Ergobaby Omni Breeze	Inward facing, outward facing, hip carry, back carry
LILLEbaby Complete All Seasons 6-in-1	fetal carry (with infant insert), infant inward facing, toddler inward facing, outward facing, hip carry, back carry

Though not labeled as an individual carrying position, the inward facing carries for the Ergobaby carriers can also be adjusted for a newborn (no infant insert needed) and older baby or toddler based on their sizes.

The Ergobaby and LILLEbaby carriers were some of the only carriers we have encountered that offer hip holds, a more unique carrying position that we liked.

The carriers are accessible to adults of varied sizes. The LILLEbaby All Seasons can accommodate up to 52 inches, with an optional extender available for purchase to allow up to 61.5 inches.

The Omni Breeze and Omni360 waistbelts can accommodate 25.5 inches to 55.25 inches.

Design Quality

We measured the overall design quality for each of the carriers based on the support and security the carrier offered, as well as its size and design components. Here’s how the carriers ranked overall in design quality:

All three carriers have good support and security for baby. An adjustable headpiece is included for a smaller baby or newborn who cannot support his own neck.

We felt that the seats on the Omni 360 and Omni Breeze offered better leg support for baby rather than the extra soft structure of the All Seasons.

Though all three carriers are a little bulky, the LILLEbaby All Seasons seemed to be the bulkiest, between its thick shoulder straps and extra wide waistbelt.

The strap and buckle systems are almost identical for both the Ergobaby carriers and the All Seasons, with standard buckles on the shoulder straps, waistband, and behind the shoulder blades.

The Omni 360, Omni Breeze, and All Seasons all required putting baby into the carrier before buckling the shoulder straps behind the shoulder blades. It is difficult to buckle the straps with a little one already in the carrier, especially if you are wanting to use the crossed “X” pattern for your straps.

Each Ergobaby carrier that we tested included a baby sunshade and detachable pouch on the waistband, as well as small pockets on the front of the waistband.

The LILLEbaby carrier also included a baby sunshade, as well as a small pocket on the front for items like pacifiers or a cell phone.

Something the All Seasons offered that the Ergobaby carriers did not is a zippered opening at the front, which allows you to uncover the front of the carrier to a mesh underside, providing more breathability.

Comparing LILLEbaby and Ergobaby Carriers

Of the one LILLEbaby and two Ergobaby products we tested, we felt like the LILLEbaby All Seasons was almost a combination of the Omni 360 and Omni Breeze. Its combination of cotton and mesh provides softness but also breathability. It has thickly padded straps and good lumbar support on the waist belt, just like the two Ergobaby carriers.

LILLEbaby vs Ergobaby

Both LILLEbaby and Ergobaby are trusted baby gear brands, and their baby carriers are no exception to this. We loved all three of the carriers we tested, though all came with pros and cons.

Here are some of the pros and cons to both carrier brands, based exclusively on the three products we tested:

LILLEbaby Pros	LILLEbaby Cons	Ergobaby Pros	Ergobaby Cons
Lower price	Hard to set up	Easier set up	Higher price
More carrying options	Straps are bulky	Seat very customizable	Straps are bulky
Can open in the front for breathability	Less customized seat adjustability	Softer fabric	Hard to put baby into carrier
Good lumbar support	Seat adjustments are difficult	Detachable pouch	Smaller lumbar support piece

All three carriers scored very well in our overall testing process. Ergobaby and LILLEbaby all have multiple options for baby carriers of different styles for parents wanting to find the perfect product for their and their child’s babywearing needs.

Between the wide weight ranges both brands offer, the multiple carrying options, and bonus accessories, you are sure to find a stellar carrier for babywearing in either the LILLEbaby or Ergobaby brands.