Maclaren Techno XT

First new buggy I have bought and one side has completly snapped after less than a years newborn use - maclaren are not prepared to replace or repair very unhappy as feel there must have been a fault for it to break so soon. Cost £195!!!

We bought the XT buggy to use for our baby from birth but then bought a second hand parent facing buggy for £100 when our child was 14 weeks old as our baby seemed to hate not being able to see us. When she was a sleepy newborn it was fine but when she was maybe 8 weeks and bit more aware, she cried and every outing was stressful.

Our baby is now 32 weeks and soon coming up to 8 months and the XT has been used so much in the last month and for hours at a time!!! I keep it in the back of my small car and use it when I go out away for the day or when I go shopping in say a mall/retail park thingy.

Things I love:

- great reliable brand I'm not embarrassed to wheel about and neither is my DH.

- Black is great looking and love the reflective wheel trim not it gets darker earlier in the day during winter.

- Very light to fold and carry.

- Light to push one handed and say carry a basket in the other.

- Reclines fully flat for newborn and older sleeping baby.

- It is cheap. We got ours for £160 plus £50 for footmuff at mothercare. At john Lewis it is £200 for just buggy.

- Big wheels are great for when we go over slightly rough footpaths which are a bit muddy on our local forest walk.

- Adjustable handles for me and DH who is a bit taller than me.

- Feels like a solid and sturdy buggy. We tried a mothercare lightweight fold up and it seemed so flimsy compared to this one.

- The sun visor comes right down.

Things not so keen on:

- Wheels are made out of quite hard plastic rather than a rubbery type if you know what a i mean and so sometimes can sound quite clattery!!

- Our baby is seated quite low down.

- You have to adjust the back rest with two hands. The silver cross pop can be adjusted with one hand!!

- The basket is a bit small but I know that they are on every umbrella fold up.

These strollers are ubiquitous on the streets of my home town, Brighton.

I chose this over other strollers because it lies flat for your child to nap (or from birth), and it has extending handles for the taller pusher! It's quite expensive (195 in a shop, or 160 online), but I found a 2nd hand one for 50 quid so am pleased with that. It does all the normal Maclaren things, with a hood extension that unzips so you can push the hood right down when the baby is sleeping. As I said, it reclines to flat for naps and you can pull out extensions at the front so baby's legs can be supported while lying down. It's narrow enough to get through any door and pretty much turns on the spot so is very manoeuverable. Without the cosy-toes it umbrella folds and goes in the car boot, we managed to get it into a friend's Nissan Micra.

Mine was 3 years old when I bought it and I bump it up and down steps and use it every day and it's holding up well. Excellent for taller people who need the extra handle height. I love it and would recommend to everyone.

I bought this 8 months ago and have used it from day one for my baby. The muff adds warmth and comfort. I flew around the planet with the Maclaren and the baby and it was SO easy to fold it, carry it and use it on different road surface types. baby loves it, it fits into our small car. The raincover/ wind protector is excellent as is the sunshade. The make and model is so popular that airline ground staff (wherever baby and i went) knew how to open the buggy and set it up for us as soon as we came out of the aircraft (as opposed to the more expensive/ fancier models). Baby sees enough of me and kind of likes staring at other things, so i did not want a me-facing one anyway. If you want VFM, go for this.

I am so delighted I bought this not any of the other, flashier things out there. It's light but sturdy, you can steer one-handed and the drop down lid is amazing for sunshine. Don't worry about it not being forward-facing, it's GREAT.