to think that prams have got out of hand?

[Pandora2016]

I'm current up duffed with my first, so will need to buy a pram.

I naively thought it wasn't much more than a small bed/chair on wheels business.

No. They are now called 'travel systems' and can cost almost as much as our car.

What fresh hell is this and how the bloody hell do you choose one??? Babies don't vary that much surely??

Thinking that a lot of this is sales spin......

Why is the brand called 'ICandy' is it supposed to be like 'eye candy' or is there a connection to Apple products?

I really wish I had listened to a friend that advised us to invest in a good buggy rather than a travel system. I loved my urbo2 but it had a design fault and they couldn't repair it so we were refunded after 5months. We went for a simple buggy - Silver Cross POP and couldn't be happier, so much lighter and easier to take around!

I have the silver cross wayfarer travel system, it looks really nice and is a pretty good price. You can get it from most baby shops and mothercare and toys r us tend to do a good deal where you get the car seat for free. I've popped the link below so you can see it.
www.mothercare.com/Silver-Cross-Wayfarer-Pram-Pushchair---Black-Chrome/psD5462-1,default,pd.html&loadMoreCurrentStatus=1&returnCgid=prams_pushchairs&returnSrule=null&start=10&returnScrollPos=0

I did far too much research for our buggy, and I have to say, I bloody love it. We've had it two years, taken it through many muddy fields, over pebbly beaches and into London a fair few times. It's stood up so well.

I often take it with us because it's got enough storage space in the basket to fit a week's shopping and some extra just for luck. It's easy to steer, comfy for my dd.

Basically I love it.

I used a sling lots when dd was little, but as the carrycot doubled up as a moses basket I got my money's worth.

It cost £400 - reduced as we took the display one. Price per use has to be around 30p now!

I absolutely swear by my bugaboo. It cost us £1200 6 years and two babies ago and was worth every penny. It had a proper flat pram for newborns, the chair could face in or out, the handle could swing round if you wanted to turn the baby mid-walk, it was very light and I could push it round John Lewis fully loaded with one hand.

When my second got a bit older I bought a £30 'buggy' from kiddicare to take on holiday and it was the biggest heap of shit I have ever seen. It had no structure to the seat meaning DS was always slouched and despite being very light was actually really, really difficult to push. After a few uses I got so annoyed with it I took DS out and just left the bloody thing in the middle of Boots.

So, from extreme to extreme, I do think you get what you pay for.

I don't think it's too ridiculous to spend lots on something you use for several hours each day for a few years (provided you can afford it). A £1000 Bugaboo depreciates much less than a £1000 car.

I hate prams too, OP. Glad we don't need one anymore.

I had long babies so both were out of carrycots by 3 months. Get one with a proper lie-flat position just in case.

And I never bothered with the clip-in car seats either, we had nice big comfy ones which stayed in the car.

I love prams and have bought a series of 2nd hand ones from eBay for the course of 3 babies. They have all been largely a waste of time and money and I am the subject of much mirth amongst my family who recognised after pram no.6 that I needed help.

If I had baby no.4 a pram would be my first thought, well before other practicalities. I'm a lost cause.

Prams are like cars in that you'd be foolish to buy one new when there are so many good second hand ones available for a fraction of the price. I have a Baby Jogger City Mini and I LOVE it. I bought it for £105 from eBay. It is suitable from birth and will last me until dd no longer needs it. So my total pram spend is £105. The only things I needed on top of that were a (new) maxi cosi car seat and BJCM adapter, and I also got a second hand Manduca carrier (£46) which I also LOVE. So many people seem to spend a fortune on tank like prams which they then switch for a Maclaren when they get too bulky. I am very pram smug with my Baby Jogger!

Oh, fwiw, the babycity jogger mini has been fab and practical and the only one I'd buy again.

We bought the candy silver mint (had to get it from the US as silver mint (WTF colour name is that?!) wasn't available in the UK yet.
And I LOVE IT. Absolutely love it. Worth the money, but we had grandparents help toward the eye watering cost, which was really lucky!

I'm about to get the Venicci travel system for £540.

Really good quality and I'm so glad my niece let me test drive hers first 😄 I was about to spend a stupid amount on something else.

It won the 2015 mumsnet awards too I think?

the size of them is a madness and the wheels stick out way to much. why do they need to stick out so much. i think the seats are probably standard. its the frame and wheels makes traveling on buses difficult

Also agree single handlebar - particularly if you plan a DC2, being able to push a buggy one handed so you can hold the walking older DC's hand is important, so many mums with the umbrella strollers around here (old, high curbs) have to trust the older child to just hold on to the buggy rather than be able to hold their hand as they need to use both for the buggy.

On a similar theme, if you plan a 2nd DC relatively soon, make sure you can actually put a buggy board on the frame - so many you can't because of where the break is.

It's expensive, but if you can use it daily for 3/4/5 miles of walking for 3 years with DC1 and then another 3 with DC2, it's a work horse that is worth it. I genuinely think my buggy did more miles last month than my car. If I'd got something that was hard to push, I'd be more likely to get in the car and drive than walk with the buggy and have a bigger arse

Not pram related, but for goodness sake, OP, don't dress baby in a red shirt for away missions!

Aha yes I was you this time last year. We went with a Cosatto and it won't fit in my sodding boot but he's still in the carrycot at 6 months and old ladies compliment its colourfulness everyday. So, you know, just go with the one you hate the least. And check it fits in your boot. That's really really really important.

Ghostspirit - makes them easier to push and a smoother ride. (I don't use buses, so not an issue).

We spent £1500 on the Stokke Xplory pram, accessories and car seat when DS2 was born. Essentially we spent a shit load of money on something he lay in a few times, puked on twice and which was sold on Ebay not long after.

Buy a sling and a reasonably-priced pushchair. The only thing I'd ever spend that money on again is a great-quality car seat. And only because I had a huge smash with DS2 in my car and his solid car seat and isofix meant there wasn't a scratch on him while the car was written off.

OP "how do you choose one?"
Which? has pretty comprehensive reviews

I bought the travel system for my first. And bought a few different ones after. But the best pram I bought was £30 on eBay. Was a 3 wheeler off roader type with big wheels and was brilliant. The boys all loved it and felll asleep in it from 3 months to 3 years! I had to take it to the tip after they had outgrown it and I was almost fighting the tip man who was being kind and taking it off me because I was so sad to let it go!

ha i do so is for me. and lots of other people. and theres not much choice of the smaller type buggy. i did get a nice basic buggy though well i like it. its the vue by baby jogger and it can be parent and out facing but its same size as a standard buggy.

but im due another baby soon and have to use a double :(

Travel systems are an utter pain in the arse.

They're handy for clipping the car seat into the buggy but but ultimately you can only do that for a few months until they grow out of the car seat anyway and at that point you end up with the biggest pain in the arse pram ever.

You can't get your pram plus a decent shop load in your boot.
And ultimately almost everyone I know who got a decent pram ended up with a buggy and a pram gathering dust somewhere.

I went all out with the daft travel system for dc 1 and ended up buying a mclarren buggy anyway while my travel system gathering dust in the loft.

With dc2 I kept the mclarren as it lays flat so suitable for babies and just used my stage 0 car seat from the travel system.

If I was going doing the shop I stuck the car seat in the shopping trolley and if I was out for the day with the pram I just lifted ds and put him in buggy he didn't seem to mind too much. Besides they're not supposed to be in the car seat more than a couple of hours anyway aren't they?

You really don't need to spend a fortune and ultimately you will just end up with a buggy anyway

You really don't need to spend a fortune and ultimately you will just end up with a buggy anyway

Not really.

I hate buggies. Can't stand umbrella fold strollers. To me they are flimsy and no on any surfaces that aren't a shop floor.

So my pram is better. Even my 3 year old fits in it

I think it depends on the buggy I had a silver cross pram that was crap on pavements and use to tip constantly. It was too big and bulky around the shops and once that was in my car nothing else fitted.

I can get my Mclarren off road and its a dream to push. Size wise it's pretty great too I can still easily get dd in it when she is really tired and she is 5. (I use it with a buggy pod these days as I have two and put the biggest in the buggy and littlest in the pod)