twin buggies...help!!

[rubyred84]

hi everyone,

would love you advice on buggies for twins from birth. we are looking at the following, but all have their pros and cons! we would like a side by side which takes car seats and can do multi terrain basically!!

bugaboo donkey
pros: looks great, does everything we need it to, has carrycots, front and rear facing etc
cons - expensive, huge, won't fit through a doorway with carseats, the reviews I've read say seats are extra small and most outgrow them by 18 months

mountain buggy duet
pros - fits through a doorway, takes car seats, great for off-road
cons - seems fiddly (laying seats flat etc needs straps loosened/tightened, seats are narrow (some reviews say their kids can't sit in the seat with their arms by their sides!)

Bumbleride Indie twin
pros - seems to do everything we want it to!
cons - hardly anyone in the UK has one so hard to read reviews as the US version is different to the UK!!

the only tandem we might consider is the babyjogger city select, any feedback?

basically I want to be able to be out and about after I've had my twins as soon as I can, in the car, walking the dogs, shopping etc. If only I could borrow a set of twins and each buggy for a week to see how I get on!! xx

--------------

Hello!

We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the product recommendations are a little out of date. We've spent weeks speaking to parents and testing out double buggies. Read our double buggy reviews for a list of the best products on the market, including the best double buggy for twins.

Hope this helps!
MNHQ

[TwiggyHeart]

I don't have twins myself but a friend does and she had the Donkey......it's an absolute beast!. She ditched it after 9 months as there were places she had to totally avoid due to not fitting in doors or between cars etc. a friend had the City Select, great but long and heavy! Have you thought about the baby jogger city mini?

[Shadow1986]

I had the city select as I didn't want a side by side as too hard to get through doors, round the shops etc. It served me fairly well while they were in the car seat stage, but isn't a brilliant pushchair to push for walking etc. I found it front heavy and pulled towards the road :-/

Once out of the car seats we sold it and got an out and about which is brilliant for walking....

I know a lot of twins mums who have changed their pushchair after about a year. It might be worth getting a second hand pushchair base for the Car seat stage and then later on getting something like the out and about!!

[2015isgoingtobeBIG]

Have you actually tried any of them in person? We went to John Lewis and tried them all including folding them down to put in the car boot. The mountain duet was huge when folded and was never going to fit in the boot, the city select was too long for me to maneuveur (and interesting review from pp about it) and the donkey looked fab but I hated the extendable bit of the handle that wasn't covered in any kind of foam so really uncomfortable to push (I seem to be the only person who this bugs looking at online reviews!) We also decided anything we had to take to pieces to put in the car was one additional stress we didn't fancy although I acknowledge you would get slicker at this. We've gone for the baby jogger city mini double which folded in one move and fitted in our boot. You can't add car seats but I decided I was more likely to be walking in the early days as DH will have the car for work and if we were going anywhere by car it was unlikely we would then use the pushchair at the other end as we'd be travelling to family. Yet to try this all in practise but I'd really recommend trying them fully if you haven't already

[rubyred84]

I very briefly tried the bugaboo, mountain buggy and icandy peach in mothercare, but only to push around. as I say it seems like the bumbleride does everything we want, but will have to drive over an hour to test it!! the car issue isn't such a big thing as I am due a new car soon so can swap to something with a much bigger boot, but each pushchair has their own pros and cons...so confusing!

[minkGrundy]

I would second the possibility of 2nd hand and swapping when they get bigger. If you particularly like walking then an out and about is great. You need something light and manueoverable yet robust when they get bigger because you will be pushing two children, it gets quite heavy by the time they are two!

[slightlyinsane]

I have the city select, so far (9 months) it's been great. I've been through my fair share of pushchair's over the past 10yrs and it stacks up well against all the single ones and far out performs the stupid graco double I had (really hated that one). I can see myself getting a side by side in a yr or so (not broken that news to dh yet) but at the moment they bjcs is good for us. Only thing that is driving me bonkers is having to pull it backwards up the gravel drive.

[maltravers]

I had a second hand lie flat pram (with new mattress) then Nipper out n Abouter which was great and seemed to be the favoured buggy for twin mums round my way. It's light (relatively speaking) and easily collapsible. I tried a maclaren double but had to sell it on after a few days as unmanoeuvrable

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

No personal experience but a close friend has been very pleased with this one. She had the single version previously for her older child.
twinsuk.co.uk/products/101696/Baby-Jogger-City-Mini-Double-GT-/

[NetballHoop]

We had the Mountain Buggy (I think it was the Urban double) and it was a godsend. The straps are very quick to get used to.

The tyres are able to cope with rough terrain so you can use it on proper walks and you can fit a buggy board if, like us, you forgot contraception while dealing with very young twins. It saw our twins right the way through to no longer needing to be pushed.

It is quite big though, so do try and fit one folded into your car before you buy it. It did fit into our VW Sharan if that helps.

[Tftpoo]

It's horses for courses really, depending on your lifestyle (e.g. do you mostly walk or drive, storage space, etc). I think you'll find people who love/hate any model of buggy. FWIW, I have the Donkey (and a Maclaren Twin Techno) and love it. We walk from home a lot and rarely use the car during the week so it's perfect for us. Very manoeuvrable, light to push and you can easily push it one hand round Tescos with a basket in your other hand. It's good on muddy paths as well as in town. I love the fact that you can have the seats facing you or facing out - when they want to sleep, having them facing you is great because you don't have to stop every 2 mins to see if they're asleep yet. My twins are 14months yet and still seem to have plenty of room in the seats so I can't see them growing out of it for a while yet. I wanted a side by side and accepted that it was never going to fit through our door although there's really very few places that I have found I can't fit through. Car seat attachment does make it a bit wider which is a bit annoying but not much of a problem for us as we don't use the car very often. We are flying abroad at Easter so have bought a second hand Maclaren which can be folded up easily to put in the hold.

[neversleepagain]

I had a second hand icandy until my twins were 12 months then bought a second hand Nipper, I love the Nipper. It is great for exercising as pushes so well. Really disliked the icandy. If you visit your local twins group there will be a selection of buggies to try out. The Nipper is most favoured at our group.

[ireallydontlikemonday]

I had the donkey and it really was a fantastic pram but ditched it at 12 months for a BJCM twin. The clipping the seats on and off and it taking most of my hall up when folded started to get on my nerves.

The resale value is excellent, think I got about £900 which nicely covered the BJCM and the next stage car seats.

Mine are 4 in August and I still use the BJCM quite a bit if we actually need to get anywhere in a hurry and it's still in good nick.

Personally, I cannot stand the McLarens, they are really hard work to manoeuvre. Friends with twins who have the Nipper 360 love it.

[ireallydontlikemonday]

Oh and I met someone in the US with the indie twin when I was still looking at every twin buggy that went past. Amazing - can you get them here now?

[rubyred84]

yes the indie twin is in the UK! Im south east and will need to drive to Chessington or Twickenham to try one at independent baby shops, but they also have the mountain buggy, nipper and baby jogger which all seem to be popular on this thread. I'm happy with just using carrycots when they are tiny but hubs in convinced that we will need the car seats! thanks for all the feedback ladies!

[BloomingOrBallooning]

We have the nipper for our twins. It was our only side by side option that would fit through the inner porch door on our house, but I love it. It doesn't fit our car seats but we live in town so can walk most places without taking the car.

[Rootvegetables]

We have the nipper here and totally love it, it comes with new born inserts as well which we used from when they were tiny, I wanted the carry cots off when we went out one day and they never went back on.

[passmethewineplease]

I've got the Babyjogger city mini double. I love it. The fold is amazing. So simple. (I didn't want to be faffing about with two little ones) they lie flat and the heads are fab. I used a carrycot for youngest DC. I love the look of the bugaboo donkey but just looks like to much faff.

[JellyTipisthebest]

Have you tried the carseats in your car? you may find the ones you want don't fit. I am a childminder but have nannied for twins. I would get a out and about and a decent single for the times when you get one to one with them. Carseat get quickly to heavy to lift.

[Pengweng]

I have a Nipper 360 double and it's amazing! I bought it second hand for £80 from gumtree when the girls got too heavy for their shitty cosatto. Most twin mums i know have a nipper or a Mountain Buggy (which is slimmer but i've never not been able to get my nipper in anywhere). My girls are 3 in August and one is pretty big for her age and has no problems in it. The only thing i've heard is some people saying their kids don't like that the seats are slightly reclined as they are fabric seats that you slide down gradually.

[Diamondsareagirls]

I've had the cityjogger select from birth and I've been really happy with it. I find it a lot easier to get out and about (you don't realise how ridiculously narrow a lot of shop doorways are pre-twins). It is easy to use and folds down to a much more realistic boot space size!

[Helish]

Another fan of the nipper here. Looked at the Donkey but couldn't justify the price. The nipper is brilliant, fits through most doors and easy to get on buses etc. v light and DH regularly runs with ours. Most twin mums locally use the nipper or mountain buggy, or swap to them after a few months

[stinkingbishop]

We had the Nipper for ours from birth. It's hefty, but very manouevreable, and rugged enough for cross country (DP takes them running in it). As soon as they were ready though, we got the McClaren Twin Techno as an easy to fold up/down city pushchair. It's become a bit his and hers - I use the McClaren, he uses the monster!

I really second whoever suggested going along to your local twins' club and 'practicing' with their buggies and twins! They'll love it! And you may be able to pick up something secondhand through them.

Oh, and boots - you can have the biggest car in the world (we've got an S Max) - but some of these, because they don't fold flat, take up practically the whole space. You really need to try them. And don't forget to check your own front door width - I didn't, arrrrgh!!!

Good luck .

[DayLillie]

I have 21yr old twins who don't need push chairs anymore!! .

However, I found pushchairs a nightmare - I had a total of 5.

I had the secondhand side by side one that was wonderful for them to lie down in, but was a nuisance for getting through doors and I found I wasn't getting out enough.

Then I got a new tandem one, that had just come out. They could lie down in this when they were small and went in sitting as soon as it was practical. This was ok for the first 10 months, then because of their combined weight it started to get heavy and hard to manoeuvre. One day, they were both leaning over the same side, as we went over a curved dropped kerb, and the front end started to tip over. There was nothing I could do to stop it going, except push on the handle with both hands and push the front with my foot. Thankfully, we did not all go over. After they got to about 14mnths, the hair pulling got unbearable. I sold that one as it was still very nice.

After that, we tended to use the mcclaren twin tourer umbrella fold. This was invaluable for keeping in the car boot, for those times when you would just pick up a single baby and carry it, but can't because there are two............. Much scope for biting the arm of the one next to you, although hair pulling is on a more equal footing.

When they were about 3 and we needed to take DS to school, we found the twin tourer was getting a bit knackered and they got cold feet, so they went back into the old side-by-side one, with blankets and covers on, just for this.

I also had the single Silver Cross and mcclaren tourer from DS which we used from time to time.

I thought I was just useless at choosing the right push chair, but really, it is just having the right one for the job at the time. This changes all the time. Most of the mothers at twins club had multiple push chairs too.

Probably best not to overspend on a particular one.

[toomuchtooold]

We have/had the Mountain Buggy Duet. Loved it, goes through every door and they still fit in it at nearly 3. Tiny turning circle and really easy to push. Like a PP said, only downside is that it folds down quite big - it basically folds to the same footprint as when it is unfolded. Used to be a squeeze to get it into a Volvo V50 estate, now got a Grand Scenic and it's the first time we've been able to get it in the back of the motor without grazing the back of our knuckles....

[quesadillas]

Has anybody tried the Phil & Ted's Verve or Vibe? I'm in the very early stages of looking, but this fits some of our requirements. I don't want a side by side because I'm convinced I'll never go anywhere (I don't drive and use buses quite a lot) so I'd prefer a tandem.