Silver Cross Voyager Co-Sleeper review

It’s designed to offer an easy setup, with handy extra features such as height and incline adjustment, with the stylish feel that you’d expect from a premium brand.

Tested by

Danny is a first-time father to 2-month-old daughter Olivia.

First impressions

We had already used a Moses basket for her first week before moving to the SnuzPod 3, which we found contributed hugely to an improved sleeping pattern for Olivia and us. So, we were keen to try the Silver Cross Voyager as it offered more space, while the height and portability features were also very attractive.

This is Silver Cross – perhaps one the most well-known of all the heritage brands in the UK, so I wasn’t surprised when the Voyager turned up very well-packaged and easy to remove.

How easy is it to build?

Super easy. I basically built it without the instructions as it’s very intuitive and mostly clicks together. There were a couple of areas I had to double check, such as clicking the wheels in correctly.

The instructions weren’t particularly clear here – as I discovered in my Cosatto Wowee review, there’s an annoying trend for manufacturers to leave out any written instructions in favour of pictures alone. Most of the time, it’s no issue but when you do need to check something it can be very frustrating trying to work out what the diagram is showing you.

How does it compare to other bedside cribs?

At first glance and initial setup, the Silver Cross Voyager outclassed our existing SnuzPod. It was easy to build, more stylish, more flexible, seemed comfy and had the added bonus of being portable. All of that was true, but largely undone when we put the Voyager into co-sleeper mode to find it didn’t really fit our bed.

How good the Voyager is will largely depend on how important a co-sleeper is to you and whether it will fit your bed snugly and in a flush manner.

What age is the Silver Cross Voyager suitable for?

The Silver Cross Voyager is suitable from birth to 9kg or around 6 months old – or when the baby can sit up unaided.

How firm is the mattress?

The mattress if firm, but because it was deeper than the SnuzPod’s, Olivia seemed more well-supported and arguably slept better on it.

How easy is it to fix to your bed?

Putting the Voyager into co-sleeper mode is easy. Simply remove the bar from inside the fabric and unzip the mesh to drop it down ready to attach to your bed.

A set of straps is provided to attach to your bedframe or run around the divan. There is just one (lengthy) set of straps, which we found were much too long for our bedframe resulting in most of being left in a bundle on the floor – although this does mean it's likely to fit a wider ranger of bed sizes.

There are a range of heights (seven), but our bedframe sits quite low and the Voyager manual advises that the baby’s mattress should be at least 1cm beneath ours. Right away that removed most of the height options for us to meet this recommendation. It also meant that the storage area underneath was rendered useless because the crib itself was so low.

We also found the crib was “butting up” against the bedframe, pushing it away. It was still level, but it created an awkward gap between our mattress and Olivia’s and she didn’t feel as close or easy to access as when in our SnuzPod. Any gap may also prevent you using the Voyager in co-sleeper mode for safety reasons – Silver Cross advise that you should not use the product if there is any gap between the bedside sleeper and the adult bed.

How easy is it to access your baby?

Compared to a regular crib or moses basket, the Voyager makes it very easy to access your baby. But we’ve had experience with other co-sleepers and personally found the Voyager too low in comparison to other products and it did not fit our bed as snugly.

This is, admittedly, nit picking, and it still provided excellent access compared to a more traditional setup.

How easy is it to see baby?

In standalone crib mode, the mesh fabric makes it really easy to see your baby and this is a big plus over our current SnuzPod which does have a mesh window but isn’t as clear as the Voyager’s.

The Voyager’s co-sleeper mode is still better than a regular crib, but the lower setup compared to our SnuzPod meant my partner would have to sit up to pick up our daughter rather than just lean over.

Breastfeeding mums may find this more problematic too because the Voyager’s co-sleeping setup makes leaning over to breastfeed that much more difficult, whereas we found our SnuzPod to be at a much more comfortable height.

How portable is it and how easy is it to store?

This really is the ace-up-the-sleeve for the Silver Cross Voyager. Its portability is unrivalled thanks to the wheels allowing for easy movement around the house and its lightweight build which makes it a breeze to pick up. The collapsible design means it’s simple to fold into the travel bag for a quick weekend getaway.

That also makes it easy to store and it will take up less room than other cribs. This is a real bonus if you’re planning to have more children and want to store the Voyager away for a while.

Does the Silver Cross Voyager have a rocking function?

The flexible design means it can rock forward and backwards, but this isn’t something we used that much or found that useful.

Does it tilt?

The Silver Cross Voyager includes an incline function. This is handy if your baby is struggling with congestion or reflux, however it’s worth noting you should not use the incline feature when the Voyager is in co-sleeper mode.

We tested the tilt feature in the standalone crib mode and found you can easily adjust it with one hand, which is useful if you’re holding your baby too.

The tilt feature wasn’t something we used on a regular basis as we preferred the co-sleeper mode, but we can absolutely see the benefits.

How comfy is the Voyager for your baby?

To us, this is the ultimate test of how good any crib is. Despite some of the issues we had getting the Voyager to fit snugly with our bedframe, Olivia did seem to sleep incredibly well in it.

She was only around 2 months old at the time of testing, so her sleep patterns were prone to change, but I’m confident that the Voyager contributed to this improvement. What more can you ask for from a crib?

How robust and durable does it feel?

While the Voyager is lightweight and flexible, as opposed to the rigid wooden design of something like the SnuzPod, it is very sturdy. In fact, the flexible nature of the main structure means it’s a little more forgiving to the odd bump compared to a solid wooden unit.

How easy is it to keep clean?

The mattress cover and other fabrics are all easy to remove and machine washable.

Does the Voyager have any built-in storage?

There is a “shelf” underneath the mattress, but we found this unusable when fixed as a side-sleeper. This was because the Voyager needed to be lowered to fit our bedframe meaning Olivia’s mattress effectively rested on this shelf.

If your bedframe or divan is taller, then you should be able to store blankets and muslins etc. We did however miss the end rails from our SnuzPod which allows us to hang blankets or sleeping aids on the outside. This means they are within easy reach during the night, so it’s a shame the Voyager doesn’t have this built into the design.

Are there design elements you found particularly useful?

The collapsible design and portability is the best feature of the Voyager from a parent’s perspective. It genuinely can double up as a travel crib and save you buying a separate product for this purpose.

If you do travel, it also means your baby has continuity when it comes to their sleeping place

What would you have wanted to know before getting this crib?

We would have wanted to know that a bedframe, particularly a low one like ours, would undermine a lot of the excellent ideas and features of the Silver Cross Voyager.

Because of the way the Voyager had to be adjusted to fit our bed, we lost the ability to use the storage area and the crib itself could not sit flush against our mattress which resulted in it being a little lopsided.

What’s in the box?

• Voyager co-sleeper frame with fabric exterior/covering
• Deep-foam mattress
• Storage shelf
• Wheels
• Travel bag
• Instructions

What are the additional accessories you can buy?

• Co-sleeper sheets

Who would this be most useful for?

The Voyager is ideal for any parents who want a co-sleeper that can also double up as a normal crib and travel crib. If you intend to travel a lot with your baby, I can see the portability of the Voyager being invaluable as an “all-in-one” product.

However, those with bedframes should be cautious as the Voyager may not fit alongside your bed in co-sleeper mode the way you would hope. If this isn’t a problem or you intend to mainly use it as a traditional crib, then it’s still an excellent buy.

Is it worth the money?

The Silver Cross Voyager is comparable to other popular cribs and co-sleepers on the market such as the SnuzPod 4.

Even on this benchmark, it offers good value for being stylish, easy to set up and use, and has additional height and incline adjustment some competitor products don’t offer.

If you want a co-sleeper and you don’t intend to travel with it much, or the portability is not important to you, then I would argue there are much better, less portable solutions out there.

If you do intend to travel with your baby (up to 6 months) regularly, then the Voyager offers you that option as well as being an excellent all-round crib.

Where can I buy the Silver Cross Voyager?

It's available from Silver Cross.

MadeForMums verdict

As an “all-in-one” product, offering versatility, portability, and good overall access to your baby in co-sleeper mode, the Silver Cross Voyager excels in all areas. It also features top class materials, and the mattress comfort cannot be questioned.

Judged as a co-sleeper alone, the Voyager lets itself down. It promises so much, and does a lot well, but when it came down to the main event (being a co-sleeper), it basically didn’t fit our bed properly and some of its best features were compromised.

For those looking to move the crib around a lot or travelling regularly in the first half-year after birth – the Silver Cross Voyager is perfect. For others, the fit of other co-sleepers might be the better option.