Pushchairs vs travel systems vs strollers... Confused!

rockabelle

Hi
I'm expecting my first baby in July, and starting to think about what things I need to buy (as it might be good to get some things in the sales). However, I'm totally confused about prams etc - are there just lots of different names for them, and they're really all the same thing, or are there significant differences between them all? And if so, what are the differences?

As far as I can tell, this looks like the most expensive item that I'll need to buy, so I'd like to get it right! Any advice hugely appreciated.

Belle

fran2491

lol get one of these it does it all ;-) http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=maclaren+techno+xlr&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1093&bih=470&wrapid=tlif132567466548110&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=2323357160479700826&sa=X&ei=sTAET-L3BIeo8AOVrsWmDQ&ved=0CIoBEPMCMAU#

i made the mistake of a big graco travel system with my first,with my 2nd to start with i had a mamas and papas pilko pramette was nice but very heavy,then changed to this with the car seat what a god send and its still going strong 3 years on ;-) by far the best money iv ever spent:D

Charlie23

Go and try them all out in mothercare, so another store with LOADS of different ones. Make sure it fits in your boot, That it's easy for you to move around, fold it, lift it, try and carry it.

I've had a stroller - i hated, i know lots who love them.
I've had a big pram - i LOVED it but it's too big and heavy for me at the moment.
I've got a 3 wheeler - I LOVE it, it's brilliant.
I love prams/pushchairs with big proper wheels others hate them.

Prams/pushchairs are a personal choice, it depends on how much you will use it, whether you will be walking lots or in the car lots.

lizzywig

I felt exactly the same as you, I think it took me about 2 months just to figure out what everything was. We ended up getting the Mamas and Papas Sola travel system, it's amazing, for us only downside is that it's ever so slightly wide and struggles to fit through my parents front door but does fit with some brute force!

Basically a travel system is a frame that can have different attachments (buggy, pram and car seat) attached to it. In our case we bought the buggy (travel system frame and buggy style seat), a pram (lying down) and car seat. I debated over whether to get the pram attachment as the buggy could be used from newborn but she loves lying down in it and I can wrap her up really cosy when we go out for long walks (which after Christmas we need to do lots of!!). In order to attach the car seat to the frame we had to purchase adapters but this is amazing because if we're going to the supermarket we can put the car seat in the car, the frame in the boot and just attach the two together no fuss. If we only had a normal pushchair we would also have to take a car seat. On top of all of the above (which you don't have to buy) we got a base unit to go in the car, the car seat just clicks in and out of this, no seatbelt fuss.

What you need to work out is 1) what is important to you - will you be using a car lots, or will you primarily just need to use the buggy part, in which case this may work out cheaper for you. How important is money because travel systems are expensive. BTW we bought all of the above through M&Ps when they had a deal on, but we got the pram bit off ebay brand new which was £50 cheaper.

Now that we've done it this way I would recommend it to anyone, but I can't imagine it would be suited to everyone's needs. If you don't have a car you will still need a car seat for when you go in other people's cars....unless you won't be doing that either.

Good luck!! I hear Maxi Cosi is supposed to be good too.

Kira000

One of the best things we did when thinking about baby purchases, was DH getting a Which? subscription for online - which online has an entire and regularly updated baby section, including a good section on pushchairs/prams. It really helped us decide which features were important to us, and which makes/models we should be looking at.
As it is, we ended up with the M&P Sola, like the user above, as it got really good reviews and was versatile enough for our needs.
We also used our Which?, to decide on things like sterilisers, breast pumps, cots, car seats etc...

Gillyx

Basically what everyone else has said, think about what you do in every day life. Do you walk most places? use public transport? Use the car? Do you have space at home or is space limited?

In the Mothercare catalogue there is a little diagram thing that asks all these questions and points you in the right direction to what would best suit your needs, maybe you could use that?

Remembering things like newborn babies should be laid flat as much as possible, and not in car seats for longer than 2 hours at a time.

Good Luck

Raspberry_beret

We also have a M&P sola (seems like the pram of choice for MSE-ers!). I haven't used it yet (only 27wks pg) so can't say what it is like though. It does really help to go and try some out - the sola wheeled round so easily. I wanted one that has a carrycot (so it can be converted into a pram), forward and backwards facing seat, easy to wheel, lightweight.

cord123

I had a silver cross 3d... spent a fortune and then changed after about 12 weeks cause it was so heavy! The carseat was really heavy and basically i hated it! You need to think that the baby will only want to lay down for say 3 months max then after that, if they are anything like my son, they will want to be able to see what is going on. It is nice to be able to have them facing you so you can see them.

You need to play around with a few and see what you think... x

dizziblonde

Our list of priorities (we're kind of working down the short list - although I had my eye on the 3D but everyone today's saying it's too heavy - gah!) are:

I want the whole travel system from one brand - can't be bothered faffing around paying for adaptors to hook Maxi Cosis onto frames and stuff - more stuff to get wrong and I've got the memory of an amnesiac goldfish at present!
I want a GOOD lie-flat option - not just a car seat substitute
Nothing tank-sized (cousin had one I swear was only missing gun turrets mounted on it)
Something that doesn't require a MSc in Ikea construction to put down and put up - having had much amusement watching one of the neighbours' hubbies take an hour to figure out how to fold theirs down to get it in the car boot
I'd love parent facing at least at the start
Adjustable height handlebars - prob more of a factor for me than others - hubby's 6foot7!
A shopping basket you can actually get into to put things in - see loads where it looks like you're going to have to be lying on your stomach posting shopping in there
Not that vile snot-green/diahorrea-yellow mix that seems to be the fashion at the moment

I think in reality we'll be heading into getting a stroller territory in the end - just for sheer ease of getting it put up and down - but that's my short term pram/buggy/tank checklist I'm working on.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Don't forget to check that the handles are high enough for you to push it along standing upright. Many are so short that you have to slouch or adopt the strangest leaning forward posture to be able to move them.

Nothing beats being able to stand upright and walk normally with the things. It makes shopping, walking the dog, going to playgroups, everything so much nicer.

dizziblonde

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Don't forget to check that the handles are high enough for you to push it along standing upright. Many are so short that you have to slouch or adopt the strangest leaning forward posture to be able to move them.

Nothing beats being able to stand upright and walk normally with the things. It makes shopping, walking the dog, going to playgroups, everything so much nicer.

Yeah - think this is going to be a big factor in our choice to be honest - especially with the in excess of a foot height discrepancy between me and daddy dearest! Hence the adjustable handlebars being quite high on our wish list!