The Best Travel Potty

Manufacturer-published listing specifications, compiled 25 October 2026. Packed volumes below are computed from those published dimensions. Only three of the four publish a weight. Prices on the buy buttons are live.

Unusually for this section, all four fit

Most of the bulky child gear this site measures does not clear a carry-on box. The travel high chairs clear the published box at one US carrier out of eleven, or none. A travel crib is a checked item by definition.

Travel potties are the exception. Run against each carrier’s published carry-on limit, on all three sides, all four of these clear all eleven US carriers. The largest is 15.35 in on its longest side against a 22 in limit.

So fit does not decide anything here, and this page does not pretend otherwise. What decides it is how much of the bag the thing eats, and that varies by a factor of eight across four products that do the same job.

The four, as published and as computed

Why the OXO is in a different size class

Three of these four are tubs with legs. They collapse a little, but a tub is a tub: the Ingenuity publishes 5.83 in of depth, the Nuby 6 in, the My Carry Potty 5.51 in. They pack like a mixing bowl.

The OXO publishes 0.99 in. It is a flat folding frame rather than a container, which is why it needs a bag to function as a standalone potty — the bag is the container. Folded it slides down the back of a bag like a laptop, and at 123 in³ it takes less room than a toiletry bag.

What “2-in-1” actually means, and why it matters abroad

Three of the four publish a second mode: the potty opens out and sits on top of a full-size toilet as a toddler-sized seat. That is not a marketing extra on a trip. A newly trained toddler faced with an adult-sized public toilet seat is the most common way a trip undoes months of progress.

• OXO Tot — published nonslip grips, and published to sit on both round and elongated bowls. Bowl shape is the detail that catches people out: a seat that only fits one shape is half a feature.
• Ingenuity — published to fold its legs out and sit on an adult toilet.
• Nuby — published detachable legs and a seat-attachment mode.
• My Carry Potty — no second mode. It is a sealed one-piece potty, and that is the cost of the sealing lid.

The consumable nobody prices in

A bag-based potty is a razor-and-blades product. The frame is bought once; the bags are bought forever. Published inclusions differ, and the difference is real:

• Nuby publishes 20 disposable bags in the box — the largest starter supply here, and the one thing it genuinely leads on.
• Ingenuity publishes a travel bag and liners included.
• OXO sells its refill bags separately. The travel bag is included; the consumable is not. Budget for it from day one rather than discovering it on the first morning of a trip.
• My Carry Potty publishes no consumable at all. The sealing lid is the whole product.

None of this appears on a spec sheet as a cost, which is exactly why it is worth writing down before you buy. A potty you cannot use because you ran out of bags in a rental apartment on a Sunday is a potty you carried for nothing.

Packing one for a flight

• It is not a liquid, a battery or a restricted item. A plastic potty carries no checkpoint rule of its own; it is simply volume, which is why the packed figures above are the whole story.
• Put it in the checked bag if you are checking one. At 23–37% of a carry-on box, three of these four are a meaningful chunk of cabin allowance for something you will use on the ground.
• The OXO is the exception. At 4.4% it is small enough to live in the cabin bag without a decision, which on a family trip is worth more than it sounds — see packing for a family trip for how the allowances actually add up.

Which one, and who should skip it

• Flying, carry-on only: OXO Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty. Published 0.99 in folded, 123 in³. Skip it if you will not reliably keep refill bags in stock.
• Road trips, or nowhere to bin a bag: My Carry Potty. Published sealing lid, no consumable. Skip it if cabin space is tight — it is 37% of a carry-on box and does not fold.
• A first travel potty, cheaply: Ingenuity My Travel Potty. Published 0.964 lb, bag and liners included. Skip it if you want the flat-packing trick, which only the OXO does.
• Nuby Go Potty: see the skip note on its card below — the Ingenuity is lighter, smaller and cheaper for the same function.