Uppababy - vista or Cruz

[Diggerpom]

Hi,
After spending seemingly hours looking at travel systems / pushchairs for our first baby I think we have decided we want to get an uppababy, but cannot for the life of me choose between the vista and Cruz. I think I've narrowed it down to a few key questions but have no idea how to weight the importance of each as its our first so looking for some insight from any one with experience please! The things I can't decide on are....

• how important is it that we can use the bassinet for overnight stays? As only the vista one is suitable for overnight sleeping (breathable base)... We will need overnight something occasionally but would a travel cot be better? ( as an aside, can anyone recommend a good travel cot that doesn't look like a mini prison :-)

• how small an age gap between children would there need to be to warrant converting it into a double (again only the vista converts)? I guess the question is how long can you future proof it before eldest child wouldn't need to use a pushchair...

• how bulky is the vista on public transport? I can't drive so although it will go in the car occasionally will mostly be for on trains and buses in London and I'm worried it might be a bit wide.

• does anyone with the vista get annoyed with the bar that goes across the basket? I've been advised to get a big a basket as possible but the vista frame goes across the middle of the basket so it doesn't seem as big / convenient as the sales assistants tell me.

• do I need a bumper bar as the Cruz doesn't come with one and has to be added as extra?

Thanks in advance for reading and helping with my questions, it's a different world and I'm fairly clueless still !!

[whitewineforme]

I can't help personally as don't have either, but there's a couple of old threads on the pushchair board that might help with some of your questions, here's one of them:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pushchair_chat/1716070-Uppababy-Cruz-or-Vista

I'm sure someone more helpful than me will be along soon though, there seems to be a lot of love for the Vista!

[scissy]

So I have a Vista, after choosing between the two.
The bassinet - how often do you think you'll be going away? DD grew out of hers at 5.5 months, I think we were away once in that whole time so we didn't really use the feature. A travel cot will also last a lot longer, as you'll have to get one once the baby has grown out of the bassinet for overnight stays anyway.
Don't know about the age gap sorry.
The vista is quite wide, saying that I don't live in London so can't comment how it would be on London transport. It fits fine on our local buses, however it takes up either the whole pram space (where you could theoretically fit 2 v. small strollers) or the wheelchair space.
I find the bar across the basket useful actually. The basket is so huge, the bar acts as a kind of divider making it easier to access stuff either from the front or the back - I regularly fit my entire shop + changing bag (+ kitchen sink) under there, it's a lot easier to find stuff knowing it hasn't settled into a massive confused heap! However you only get the full benefit of the basket once you've gone into pushchair mode as it's harder to access with the bassinet on top.
Bumper bar is useful to attach toys to, but irritating to have to take on/off each time you want to get them in/out. Although it was cute when she first started sitting up and was pulling herself up on it.
We went with the Vista in the end because it's better for going off-road occasionally which I need to do round here, however that's probably not going to be so much of a problem in London.

[TombOfMummyBeerest]

Hi OP,

I have a Vista and would honestly be lost without it. The bassinet was awesome as we went away a lot during DD's first 4 months and never bothered with a travel cot. It's also great to use as a space for changing baby when there is no changing area available. Only issue is that, yes, it is bulky on the bus at this stage.

Don't have a second DC yet, but the fact that you can convert it to a triple buggy is pretty great.

The toy bar isn't too much of an issue, and the bar across the basket has never been a problem. The basket is very roomy!

HTH!

[Ihateparties]

Hmmm okay...

If you travel often then a travel cot will probably be needed at some point anyway so whilst the overnight carrycot is a useful feature it would not be a deciding one. For me that is, it may be for you if you think you'd use it loads.

I personally think the vista is way too wide for London transport.. but I know there are those that disagree and use them with few issues.

Age gap - very tricky to predict. Whether you want or need a double is so child, parent and lifestyle specific. My only very rough guide would be under 2 yrs gap and they make life very much easier. Also the vista is an awkward double because you can't use the bassinet and rumble seat at the same time and the rumble seat is nigh on impossible for a toddler to nap in it's so bolt upright they fall forwards. If I was futureproofing in this way then the vista wouldn't be my first choice.. I would be looking at the icandy peach blossom and oyster max.

The bar across the basket is fine imo, doesn't really impede anything much. I had a brio smile which has the same frame and basket as the Vista and it was brilliant to have that much storage. Again it's not a deciding factor for me, as long as a basket is big enough that will do. You may need extra capacity for specific things though.

Love a bumper bar. Only 1/3 kids has actually had an opinion on them, dc3 loves one. The other 2 never cared. Who knows. Available even if as an extra sounds fine.

Imo you won't really know for sure what your actual preferences are until you start living day to day with a pushchair. Best thing you can do at this point is do your best to be clear on what features are the priority.

For this reason I wouldn't limit myself to one brand, uppababy are excellent quality so whilst you won't go wrong you may also be missing out on something that would suit you better.

[Tiggywunkle]

I agree about not future proofing - the Vista is limited as a tandem pushchair - look carefully at the pros and cons eg where does a toddler sit with a newborn, and if your eldest still naps, then the rumble seat isnt suitable. The iCandy pushchairs are better if you want to future proof for any age gap, or the Oyster Max.

I found that I couldn't get as much shopping as you think under the Vista, so I agree with you. Plus some of mine fell out of the low edge at the back.

The Cruz basket is way better, but the suspension / feel is really hard. The Vista is much nicer to push, and for this alone, I would choose the Vista over the Cruz.

I just find bumper bars annoying TBH so thats no deal breaker especially if you can add one on if you want.

I would definitely choose the Vista over the Cruz even though a big basket is a major plus for me!

[DoItTooJulia]

Never owned or even tried a cruz, but I have the vista and a Maclaren techno xt. The only reason I mention it, is that we took ds out in the Maclaren the other day and were shocked at how crappy it felt compared to the vista!

It made me realise just how great the vista is. We love the basket size, the carry cot was lovely, cozy and great if he fell asleep in it, we could just take him up in it, so not just for nights away! It lasted till ds was 6.5 months, so great value.

The bumper bar is great, we missed it on the Maclaren.

The one thing is that it's wide. The Maclaren was much easier to get about in smaller spaces, so I'm guessing the same will be true for public transport.

Let us know what you go for!

[Diggerpom]

Thanks ladies, no matter how many times I go and look at them, nothing beats first hand experience. Seems like another trip to John Lewis is in order....