How easy is it to assemble?
The Joolz Aer comes straight out of the box ready to unfold and go, with no assembly needed. The box is itself a Joolz feature, with eye-catching instructions for turning it into a toy airplane for your child.
Its accompanying instructions are minimal, but adequate and clear. Visual assembly instructions are available on the Joolz YouTube channel if needed and are straightforward to follow. The care instructions also couldn’t be simpler as they are presented in bullet-point form.
Attractively, Joolz offers a lifetime warranty on the Aer to make sure you get even more value for your money.
How comfortable is it?
For comfort, the seat is generously padded, a detail buggies of a similar size often skimp on. It’s worth noting that the seat is unusually long and well-suited to a tall child. Adele found the seat had lots of space around the sides for her three-year-old, who wouldn’t outgrow it any time soon.
The handlebar is covered in leatherette for the comfort of the user. It isn’t extendable, but proved a suitable height for both the taller (6’1”) and shorter (5’6”) parent in our tester’s family. Neither found they needed to compensate while pushing by bending or stooping.
Rather, the Joolz Aer pushes very smoothly, with no undue effort expended in pushing at all.
How safe is the Joolz Aer?
Our tester’s overall impression of the Joolz Aer is that it’s engineered to a very high standard. She hung her changing bag on the handlebar when her three-year-old was sitting in the buggy and asked her to jump out. In both instances, the Aer stayed put.
Adele also found the five-point harness exceptionally simple to use. All buckles clip in separately, which makes it very easy to work out what goes where and means there’s nothing fiddly to contend with. You just pull the straps at the shoulders to adjust, which is both smooth and straightforward to accomplish even in a rush. The straps sit snugly so there’s no worry that your child might wriggle out and make an escape.
The brake feels absolutely secure. Set between the two back wheels, the user’s foot doesn’t have to fit into a small space when braking as with similar-looking lightweight buggies like the gb Pockit Plus All-Terrain, which we also put through testing.
Our tester found the brake easy to operate and had no concerns when running a hill-stop test. Since it doesn’t require kicking to release, it doesn’t present any issues for open-toed shoes.
When it comes to sun protection, the Joolz Aer is fitted with a generous UPF50+ sunshade which unzips to offer even more protection, revealing breathable mesh that allows you to see your child. Our tester found it shaded her three-year-old well from the hips upwards.
Are there any extra features?
The footrest is roomy and sturdy enough to be considered a notable feature of the Joolz Aer.
A thin pocket at the back of the seat also offers a handy place to keep your phone and keys – and maybe passports and boarding passes at the airport if you plan to take the Aer on holiday.
There’s also a bumper bar for younger babies to give added peace of mind and a carry bag for storing the pushchair when folded, a particularly useful addition when travelling.
The rain cover covers everything on top and in front effectively during a downpour, and folds up small to fit in the pouch at the back of the seat (if you’re not already using it) or in the main shopping basket. When needed, you just Velcro it onto the buggy without any hassle.
Many will also appreciate Joolz’s other eco features. In addition to fun, reusable packaging, the black option is made from recycled plastic bottles found in the ocean and, for every pushchair sold, Joolz plants a tree.
What’s the storage like?
The shopping basket on the Joolz Aer is outstanding and it was one of the main things our tester noticed on first impression.
Its deep scoop shape ensures things won’t fall out and you can fit two small carrier bags worth of shopping in there, in addition to an average-sized changing bag. It’s also quite sturdy and feels like it could take a good weighing down.
This is a buggy made for shopping with an overall storage capacity of 5kg.
How does the Joolz Aer fold?
As well as being awarded Best Luxury Lightweight Buggy 2020, we’ve also selected the Joolz Aer as this year’s easiest to fold.
It’s a dream to fold and unfold one-handed in one fluid movement, which makes it particularly useful to store and to use on public transport.
The mechanism is incredibly intuitive – you simply press two buttons on the handlebar, then lift and click to unfold, or collapse then click to fold. An automatic lock clicks on one side once the buggy is folded, which means it’s ready to carry straightaway.
Without consulting the instructions beforehand, our tester was able to quickly get to grips with the folding function.