Pushchairs vs travel systems vs strollers... Confused!

Sammy85_2

We have the Mothercare My Choice 4 wheeler travel system. It is excellent.

We chose it because:

• It has a pram that turns into a pushchair when the baby is older - no need for a separate pram and pushchair attachments.
• It fits a maxi-cosi car seat with no need for additional adapters.
• We felt it "drove" the best when we went and tried out the ones in mothercare.

If we are going out for a long walk the pram is excellent as the baby can lie flat and be all snuggled up in her blankets (half the time she doesnt even know shes been out). Its not a big pram and the front wheels are "wobbly" rather than fixed meaning that it turns on a sixpence. Great when you're wheeling in and out and round the clothes rails in a shop!

I was really annoyed when looking at other travel systems that you needed adapters to fit a car seat onto the chassis on the majority of models. I could just imagine going on a trip out and then finding once we had gotten there that we didnt have the adapters and therefore couldnt fit the carseat onto the wheels. Meaning we would either have to go home for them or carry the baby about in her carseat (which is heavier than you think!)

Handle bars are fully adjustable up and down (necessary because of the height diff between me and hubby)

Finally - we bought ours 2nd hand. After deciding which one we wanted we looked out on ebay and the freeads for a good one to come up. Ended up paying a quarter of the price they are new and its in excellent barely used condition.





Carseats - if your car is compatable then seriously consider getting an ISOFIX carseat and base unit. We have the maxi cosi pebble and the family fix base unit. The base unit stays fixed in the car and you just clip the carseat in and out and its dead simple. They are dearer because of the cost of the base unit, but in my opinion, well worth it.

I had to use the carseat on its own in my husbands car yesterday and he doesnt have ISOFIX and it was a pain in the backside having to strap the car seat in using the cars seatbelts.

Oh, and you should only have a baby in a carseat for a max of 2hrs at a time as they need to be laid flat for back development. The maxicosi pebble has adjustable positions when used with the family fix base meaning you can use it for up to 4hrs at a time for longer car journeys.

Aimless

My one bit of advice is to make sure you see it in real life before ordering. I spent hours online, found something that ticked all my boxes and had great reviews. When I went to the shop, I hated it! It felt cheap and wobbly, and even with the instructions and both hands, I couldn't work out how to fold it up. Instead, I stumbled across a special offer on a Silvercross Linear Freeway, tried it, and ordered it almost instantly. I can fold it, it feels strong, it just fits in the car, and it faces both ways. It also folds from pram to pushchair, so no carrycot to buy, and comes with most accessories.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

My wife and I are also expecting our baby for July OP, so SNAP

Some good advice above but just wanted to reitterate from above:

a) I too have been told that baby should be layed flat as much as possible and not be in car seats for longer than 2 hours at a time. The appeal of the car seats clipping on to the travel system frame and not having to disturb baby dwindles somewhat if your journeys are likely to be 30 mins each way then a trip to town of >1 hour would need a separate cot attachment anyway...

b) also to add that the £1 trial of Which? is useful although I complained to them as most of the newer systems haven't been reviewed on there yet so its all a bit out of date, plus at £10 a month after I find it a bit expensive.

Hope this helps and if you find any bargains then let me know. We ordered the John Lewis travel system that was down from almost £300 to £135 in the sale (cot attachment was also down from £100 to £50 or something like that) but we are sending it back and it doesn't feel very sturdy at all... thought i'd found a bargain....

Gillyx

talking about sturdyness I was shocked at some of the travel systems, at how unsturdy they were :eek: whether they were shoddily put together by the shop or just rickety it put my OH off, which is the main reason why we settled on the pram we did eventually order, because it felt strong. It came already built and didn't have to be put together.

Armchair23

You will be my friend for life if you decide to stay away from the ENORMOUS travel systems that force me into the gutter every day

Sometimes it's easier to accept that one product (with all it's variations) just can't do everything. Also that babies sizes and when they sit etc., doesn't always quite work to plan.

I loved the Maclarens, I don't have a lot of space (regularly used to get travel system wedged between front & kitchen door with me and baby crying). I sometimes had use of a small car and I regularly used buses and trains.
The Maclarens really do fold with one hand and are light. Mine didn't lie completely flat but was fantastic for what it did.

Definitely wheel them around in the various combos and be warned it's really embarassing to buy the wretched thing after agonising and then realise it won't fold small enough for the boot !

Lifes_Grand_Plan

On the strength of the mentions above of the M&P Sola, I popped down to M&P tonight.

The Urbo is beautiful, the Sola is lovely and the Luna is ok too...

Having checked Which? reviews I was about to open my wallet and part with some cash, then I read the user reviews on the Urbo and Sola and was highly disappointed.

Have any Urbo / Sola owners on here read the Which? user reviews and have any comments on the faults listed?

superskintmouse

Hi we bought the mothercare my 3 its really light and same as the my 4 has a pram that converts into a puschair and car seat goes on frame with no additional adaptors, both the puschair/pram and car seat can face either way the height is adjustable on the handlebar its very manouverable and not too heavy. the only other thing i would consider is if you want the carry cot option so you dont have to have a moses basket. i think the mothercare brochure has a flow chart in it that helps you decide what type is best for your needs which we found useful. i would def try them all and see what you like first.
Good Luck x

AlternateMe

When you're preggo you think about money and what is best long term etc and so you get tempted into all singing, all dancing travel systems. When you've had the baby, you smack your forehead and downsize. Travel systems are so unnecessary- you will VERY rarely use the car seat on the pram- it takes two secs to put baby in the pram, seriously don't bother.

Make a list of what is important to you. Remember to think six months down the line; so the point when your baby is HEAVY, and you have tons of shopping bags too... not just when they're titchy. Then prioritise and narrow it down from there.

For me, my priorities were... 1. parent facing. 2. lightweight (I lived on a second floor flat) 3. fold in one piece/no seperate carrycot.

I ended up getting the Bugaboo Bee Plus, absolutely extortionate at almost £500 however 18 months down the line we still completely love it, 2-3 year old bugaboos sell for £300+ so taking into account the resale it's not that bad at all. Plus it is literally in amazing condition so will do for number 2 as well. A cheaper alternative but still rather fab is the M&P Urbo.

Oh and I have friends who LOVE their Babystyle Oysters, which are really bargains at under £300. It would have been useless to me because of the weight but they are great prams. FYI, M&P do great sales throughout the year and especially instore- they often have prams with 30-40% off- and Mothercare have a babyplan where you get 10% off and pay monthly before baby is born, which is a big saving.

AlternateMe

Oh and...

The 3D is like pushing a tank. It's lovely for the first six months, redundant after that.
Extending handlebars- the bugaboo bee plus and the babystyle oyster both have great extending handlebars.
Maxi Cosi really IS the very best car seat on the market... you can't beat them. Well worth splashing out on, and then the adapters to fit on your buggy imo.

Life's Grand Plan- 2 of my friends have the Urbo and are happy, one has the newer version which is MUCH better. M&P are fab with their follow up care, my friend had a fault with her wheels and took it into store 7 months old and they just exchanged the chassis there and then.

MrsManda

Thanks for this thread - I'm finding it useful

Our baby is due beginning of June but we're not looking to buy anything until after the scan at the end of January due to me having additional risk factors for severe malformations - it should be alright but...

Does anyone know whether there are any websites which have decision tree for prams to give an idea of which designs may be best?

Like dizziblonde there's a foot difference between my OH and myself so will need adjustable handles.

Want to have the ability to lie baby down but also to sit them up to face me/face outwards as baby gets older.

Needs to be light enough for me to carry/fold myself in order to access public transport as I'll be a stay at home mum and cannot drive but also sturdy enough with a decent suspension so we can go on long walks without the baby getting shook too much.

I think as soon as we know things are alright we'd going to go to Kiddicare for an explore - I think it's the nearest baby store to us which is big enough to have multiple models to try. Luckily my inlaws live quite close so we can see them at the same time