Playtex Diaper Genie Elite vs Diaper Genie Complete
It’s not a secret that I’m not a fan of the Playtex Diaper Genie Elite. Five years, two brand new Elites, multiple jams, and seven badly designed pieces of plastic failing causing a door to break have caused me to dub it the Fail Pail.
I should note, I have friends who have these and have experienced none of the problems I have, however based on the traffic to the fixing it page and the emails I’ve received I’m not the only one who’s had these problems. I should also note that the Elite has been discontinued by the manufacturer so HAH.
My second fail pail broke finally to the point I couldn’t fix it. This is, of course, after purchasing a 12-pack of Diaper Genie refills. I decided to try the Diaper Genie Complete. The Complete lists itself as their most advanced system and really tries to sell the fact that it’s pre-assembled 
(which the Elite was as well).
The Diaper Genie Complete feels more like a tank than the Elite. The Diaper Genie Elite was a neat idea with extremely weak plastic pieces that enabled the door to move. This mean if a diaper was logjammed in there by your significant other and you stepped on the pedal to open the lid chances were you were going to bust a pin.
The Diaper Genie Complete doesn’t feel like this is the case, however it seems to have a harder time getting the diapers past the air lock. The Elite sucked ’em in, the complete I’ve had to push through several times. Same opening, different experience.
In five years of using the Diaper Genies I had never had a bag break issue. This streak was ended due to the Complete. I’m not sure what caught and tore the bag but I had one split dropping a ton of diapers on the floor. This was a one time thing and has not happened again. I did some forensics and could see the bag appeared to rip and split, but I was dealing with diapers everywhere so not sure what caught it.
The Complete doesn’t appear to store as many dirty diapers, and their new air-tite clamp doesn’t seem to work as well as the now-broken ones on the Elite do. With the Complete I find myself pressing the foot pedal repeatedly to get the thing to pass a diaper and then have it close properly.
That said I haven’t had a single time where the Complete has malfunctioned and the lid gets stuck up having popped off the pusher requiring a late night flashlight Diaper Genie repair.
