Kids & Family
I Loved My SNOO, But I Bought It Used. Here's the New Alternative I'd Consider.
If Facebook Marketplace hadn't come through for me, I don't think I would have automatically bought a brand-new SNOO.
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I need to start this article with something that makes it slightly inconvenient as an affiliate article:
I genuinely loved my SNOO.
I'm not going to suddenly tell you it was terrible because I can't make money if you buy one. That's not what I want The Practical Pine to become. If I'm going to tell you what I'd actually buy, I also have to tell you when I loved something even when there's absolutely nothing in it for me.
But there's a pretty important detail about how the SNOO ended up in our house.
I bought it used on Facebook Marketplace.
I had researched the SNOO while I was pregnant and really wanted one. I was significantly less enthusiastic about paying full price for something our baby would use for a relatively short period of time, so I did what I tend to do when I want something expensive and would prefer for it to be less expensive.
I went hunting.
I found one on Marketplace that I felt good about, the price made sense, and I was completely comfortable buying it secondhand.
And, annoyingly, I loved the thing.
We Used the Hell Out of That SNOO
Sawyer slept beside our bed in it, and I loved having him right there. I liked the smart soothing aspect of it, and it became such a normal part of our sleep setup that when we traveled, apparently leaving it at home wasn't an option.
So we took the legs off and brought it with us.
To our family cabin.
To Yellowstone.
To a friend's house.
Apparently finding a bargain on Facebook Marketplace was where my practicality ended.
Ben calls this overpacking.
I call it being aggressively prepared.
Either way, we got a lot of use out of that bassinet.
But Would I Have Bought the SNOO New?
This is where my recommendation gets more complicated.
If I were pregnant again and found another used SNOO in good condition at a price I liked, I would absolutely consider buying one secondhand again.
I already know I loved it.
But if I couldn't find one?
I don't think my automatic next move would be paying full price for a new SNOO.
I'd start researching what I could buy brand new for less money while still getting some of the smart bassinet features I actually appreciated.
And that's where the HALO BassiNest Connected 3.0 gets interesting to me.
Why the HALO BassiNest Connected 3.0 Is the Alternative I'd Look at Now
Important disclaimer before the internet comes for me: I have not personally used the HALO BassiNest Connected 3.0.
Sawyer slept in a SNOO. That's the product I can give you firsthand experience with.
What I can do now, though, is look at the HALO through the eyes of someone who has already survived the newborn stage and knows which smart bassinet features actually appealed to me.
HALO's Connected 3.0 has AutoSoothe technology that can respond when a baby cries using customizable rocking, vibration and sounds. It can be controlled through the HALO app or directly from the bassinet, and it has a 360-degree swivel and lowering side wall for bedside access.
Those are the kinds of features I would care about now.
Not because I think technology magically makes newborns sleep. It does not.
Because at two in the morning, convenience becomes extremely valuable.
The Bedside Design Would Matter More to Me Now Than It Did While I Was Pregnant
This is one of those things I don't think I fully appreciated until I actually had a newborn.
When you're pregnant, a bassinet is a piece of nursery equipment.
Then you have the baby and realize you're interacting with that bassinet approximately 700 times throughout the night.
The HALO swivels 360 degrees and has a lowering wall designed to make it easier to reach your baby from bed.
That is the kind of boring feature pregnant me might have skimmed past while obsessing over smart technology.
New-mom me understands immediately.
I loved having Sawyer right beside me. If I were shopping again, easy bedside access would be very high on my list.
So, Used SNOO or New HALO?
For me, this comes down to what you're comfortable with.
If you find a great used SNOO, you inspect it carefully, you're comfortable with its condition and buying secondhand baby sleep gear doesn't bother you, I completely understand going that route.
It's exactly what I did.
If you can't find one, the used options around you look questionable, or the thought of putting your brand-new newborn into someone else's bassinet makes every cell in your body scream absolutely not, I understand that too.
That's where I think the HALO becomes much more interesting.
You can buy it new and still get smart soothing features without your only choices being “find a used SNOO” or “buy a brand-new SNOO.”
I like having a third option.
What I'd Do If I Were Pregnant Again
I would probably still open Facebook Marketplace first because apparently this is who I am now.
If I found a used SNOO that I felt genuinely good about, at a price that made buying used worthwhile, I'd consider doing exactly what I did with Sawyer.
If Marketplace didn't come through, though, I would not panic and immediately spend SNOO money.
I'd look seriously at the HALO BassiNest Connected 3.0.
And if I simply wasn't comfortable buying used sleep gear at all, I'd skip Marketplace entirely and start there.
That's not me saying the HALO is identical to the SNOO. I haven't used the HALO, so I can't make that comparison honestly.
It's me saying that after actually having a newborn, I have a much better idea of which bassinet features mattered to me and which things I was willing to pay for.
Turns out experience is considerably more useful than the 46 browser tabs I had open while pregnant.
Who knew?
Want to Look at the HALO I Mean?
Still Building Your Registry?
If you're currently researching bassinets while simultaneously trying to figure out which other 900 things your baby supposedly needs, read:
“What I Wish I Knew Before Building My Baby Registry”
And if you want my bigger guide to what we actually used, what I'd buy again and what could wait, read:
“What You Actually Need Before Baby Arrives (and What Can Wait)”
I promise there are significantly cheaper things on that list.
Some of them are literally dog poop bags.
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