Appearance, Size, and Features

Performance and Fit

Price and Final Thoughts

The Bambino Magnifico is Bambino's new flagship product pre-released in November 2016: a thick, high-capacity "hybrid diaper" that utilizes a stretch waist system with hook-and-loop refastenable tapes on an otherwise all plastic-backed diaper. Bambino has sent out samples of test versions of this diaper as early as a year prior, held a contest to choose the name, and held a separate contest wherein artists could submit a proposed print and the final design was chosen by a community vote.I am reviewing the S/M size Bambino Magnifico as shipped in November 2016. The S/M size is listed as fitting waists of 26"-46" and the L/XL size is listed as fitting 36"-56".Bambino products are sold in white semi-translucent packaging with a label on the side. The prints are visible through the white plastic packaging. The Magnifico packaging is longer than for Bambino's other products, and contains 10 diapers per bag.The Bambino Magnifico has an all-over dinosaur themed print by the babyfur artist Wen. Three different color dinosaurs holding the numbers 1, 2, and 3 are arranged in a pattern with dinosaur prints, eggs, and trees. The landing zone is transparent and textured to grip the tabs.To test their dry thickness, I stacked three diapers on top of each other and placed a heavy book on top of them, and measured their height. Together, the 3 diapers had a height of approximately 10.9 cm (4.3 in). Thus, the dry thickness of a single folded diaper is 3.6 cm (1.4 in).This diaper is noticeably thicker than the new versions of other Bambino products, and in fact, measures similarly to the previous version of the Bellissimo.I measured the dry mass of 3 diapers using a kitchen scale, and measured them at 678 g (1.49 lb), for a mass of 226 g (0.50 lb) per diaper. This diaper is therefore both thicker and heavier than the new versions of other Bambino products.I stacked 3 diapers each of the Bambino Magnifico, Bellissimo, and Classico next to each other to visualize relative thickness amongst the three products. The Magnifico is notably thicker than the Bellissimo and Classico. The Bellissimo and Classico appear roughly the same in thickness to the naked eye.The Bambino Magnifico's tapes are a novel feature among ABDL diapers. They use a stretch waist with hook-and-loop tabs. Instead of having two tapes directly attached to the back of the diaper, the tabs are part of a wider elastic panel, which itself stretches. The hook-and-loop tabs can be refastened and unlimited number of times without losing their effectiveness.This is the system that has become standard on modern baby diapers – stretchy tabs that adhere via hook-and-loop. After getting to try it out, I did find it to offer several real advantages. My impression is that it gave a much more comfortable, relaxed fit without the constant tightness around the hips of stretched plastic, though I was not as confident in the seal around the legs. The tapes stretch much farther over the center than what is typical in order to get a snug fit.The fact that the tapes were truly refastenable, with none of the typical loss of stickiness that makes itself known hours later as the diaper fills and shifts about, is itself a significant improvement. There's no need to worry and fumble about getting it right the first time, and you can reposition it a dozen times if that's what it takes to get the fit just right.Whole panel pulls out from a more compressed footprint in the package. The tapes themselves are tapered and measure 6.5 cm (2.5 in) at the wide end and 3.5 cm (1.4 in) at the narrow end.The plastic backing is the same as on other Bambino products. The plastic backing seems thick and rigid, and feels very smooth with an oily-like texture. It crinkles a bit, but is not notably crinkly.The inside of the diaper is all white, and the padding is arranged in an hourglass shape that is wider in the back than the front. The padding is soft and fluffy rather than feeling overly dense. The diaper has standing leak guards and an elastic waistband in the front and back.With the diaper outstretched, it measures 76.0 cm (29.9 in) in length, 49.9 cm (19.6 in) in width at the front wings, 31.0 cm (12.2 in) in width at the center, and 22.0 cm (8.7 in) in width between the leak guards. It immediately stands out that the front wing is much narrower than other diapers. The stretch waist feature replaces this width when the diaper is worn.To test the capacity of this diaper quantitatively, I ran a test to simulate use. I put a diaper on and then repeatedly poured water into the front of it in 100 mL increments and sitting down in a chair for 30 seconds each time to give the diaper a chance to absorb the liquid, pace the process, and see if it would leak when sitting. By 800 mL of water, the diaper had swelled enough that it took effort to close my legs. At 900 mL, the front felt constantly wet. At 1100 mL, I started to feel wetness at the leg cuffs. At 1600 mL, my legs felt forcibly spread. At 1700 mL, started to feel like I was sitting in a puddle. At 1900 mL, the diaper was sagging quite a bit while standing and it felt like I was sitting on a thick towel. At 2000 mL, the diaper began to leak on my chair, and I ended the test.This diaper was thick to begin with and thick while wet, with thicknesses comparable to the older versions of the Bellissimo. The relaxed fit from the stretch waist caused it to sag noticeably by the end of the test.After the test, I measured the diaper and it had expanded to roughly 10.6 cm (4.2 in), about 2.9x its original size.To gather qualitative data for this review, I put on a fresh diaper and wore it while going about ordinary activities. The diaper lasted a total of 5.5 hours. I had several large wetting and some minor wettings, but did not flood the diaper.I have a 36" waist which puts me in the middle of the very wide size range for S/M size. I felt like the diaper was large relative to mediums, which I normally wear in other diaper brands including other Bambino products. The stretch waist fits differently than standard tapes, with the tapes stuck much further towards the center of the panel. While they list a waist range all the way down to 26", I have difficultly imagining how this diaper wouldn't be too large to tape correctly on someone who normally wears small sizes.The tapes didn't budge, despite me fiddling around with them quite a bit when trying to figure out the best fit. Tapes are no longer a major problem on ABDL diapers; however, the hook-and-loop system really does offer something above and beyond the functionality of typical tapes on a plastic landing zone. The fit is always right when you can infinitely readjust it.I'm a bit less sold on the stretch waist. It is clearly more comfortable to wear, but the seal around the legs doesn't seem as good, at least as the feature is implemented on the Bambino Magnifico. The back of the diaper in particular is much looser in this system, and the diaper sags much more than I'm used to as it nears capacity.I expect that we'll see other ABDL diapers come to market with one or both of these new features; the tapes in particular seem like a clear improvement. The implementation on the Magnifico is an effective proof-of-concept, but I suspect that there is further improvement that could be made.I purchased these diapers from bambinodiapers.com . They are available at 130.00 USD for a case of 40, $38.50 for a bag of 10, or $13.50 for a sample pack of 2, including shipping to the US. At the case size, this comes to $3.25/diaper.This is a very expensive diaper, certainly far above what is typical for other diapers of similar capacity. The price increase is outsized not only relative to ABDL diapers from other brands, but outsized relative to capacity even versus Bambino's other products.To my mind, this is a question of whether the new tape and stretch waist system is worth paying an extra dollar for every diaper to have. For some people, honestly, the answer might be "yes" – it's a real improvement, and really comfortable to wear – but for most ABDLs, it's likely not. If you're fortunate enough to not need to be price-sensitive about diapers, it could be reasonable to conclude that this is just a more enjoyable diaper to wear than other products on the market. It has capacity in line with "premium" diapers, though not as high as the top diapers available, combined with a unique fit and a unique all-over dinosaur print.I would recommend that people at least give this product a try. The tape system is very promising and I think ABDLs are going to be interested in seeing it on more diapers going forward. I can describe it in text and give pictures of it, but what makes it better is a question of feel and experience, and for that, you're going to have to try it for yourself.