To be confused by which buggy to choose for London living?

[SoonMummy]

I am so confused by the array of choices out there and don't even get the terminology - buggy, stroller, pram, etc etc!

Basically I live in London and expect to be using the tube mostly and sometimes buses. I intend to use a sling on the whole, but want to have a buggy (or whatever they are called) as a backup option for the newborn and also for if s/he doesn't like slings.

What is THE best buggy for using the tube and getting round London? e.g. light, small, no hassle, easy to manage, pick up, take down escalators etc?

I've done what some might call a needlessly long review on the new Bugaboo Bee 6 if anyone is interested and reading this at the end of 2020 :)

loveandlykke.wixsite.com/loveandlykke/post/making-a-buzz-our-thoughts-on-the-bugaboo-bee6-stroller

Live in London on the central line. Tried the Yoyo but didn’t feel great and it’s so low down. Tried the bugaboos but you have to buy so many extra bits they end up crazy expensive. Went with Silver cross Pursuit in the end

seconded toughlove, so many little bits, why can't they just make it easy

@PeaOp

Babyzen yo-yo folds with the newborn pack as well...

This. I sold my City Mini and bought a Yoyo. It's the stuff for London - light, narrow, highly manoeuvrable, collapsible. I also slung a lot.

Bee is slightly bigger but more sturdy and bigger basket etc etc

Yoyo is much smaller but the opposites

Both are great

There is also the Baby Jogger City Mini Tour which collapses, and can even go into a rucksack it's that small.

You CAN just use a sling. Either a good structured one (like Artipoppe, expensive but beautiful and great) or a stretchy wrap. I am on my second baby and am using the sling a lot more than the pram because 1. he bloody stays asleep in the sling, in the pram he wakes up after 30 min and 2. if we go somewhere in the car all I have to do is chuck the sling in the car, not pack up pram and all assorted bits. You could just have a sling and get a Yoyo for when they get heavier. Having a pram is nice for putting shopping in but the Yoyo etc hardly have basket space anyway.

Cybex Mios - it's narrow enough to fit through the tube gates (regular, not extra wide gate) and has small wheels so fits in the boot of our Mini Cooper. The bassinet feels much more robust than the YoYo. It's single hand folding when using the stroller attachment which can be both parent and world facing.
It fits the Cybex lie-flat car seat so you can put a sleeping baby directly from the car onto the pram base without waking them or worrying about transferring to the bassinet which is a lifesaver.
My toddler is nearly 2 and most of the other parents we know have had to go on to purchase a separate stroller but the Cybex is light enough that we haven't had to buy anything new.
I don't work for them, I promise, but I never see it mentioned on these threads about best London prams and it's honestly fab! It comes in some amazing colours and prints as well.

We are in zone 6. We looked at the bugaboo bee5 and the Yoyo. We went for the Bugaboo bee5 as it's sturdier and we can adjust the handlebar, I love it. Around here I see more Bugaboos than others but I'd say there's lots or Yoyos too.

Another vote for the Bee, I got a secondhand one when DD4 was born and it’s surprisingly robust for such a light buggy. DC2 is due next year and I’ll probably upgrade to a newer Bee. There’s a reason why they’re so ubiquitous in London!

Just to add, you don't need the carrycot for the bee for a newborn. We just bought the much cheaper cocoon and put it in the seat in lie flat for DD and its so soft, snuggly and warm.

We pretty much used our ergobaby sling all the time up until around 9 months, so if I were you OP I wouldn't necessarily buy an expensive Bee or Yo-yo. We got a silvercross zest in the end which was great.

Just get a simple umbrella fold McClaren or Silver Cross stroller. Make sure you pick one that’s suitable from newborn (ie has a completely flat lying position available).

For accessories, a rain cover is very useful, are sometimes included and sometimes not, everything else is personal taste.

Like this;

www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Cross-Zest-Charcoal-Black/dp/B08126QMNG/ref=asc_df_B07SJ6TFH7/?hvlocphy=9045593&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=311043889198&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-789026538209&hvrand=18118405591425007399

Or this;

www.johnlewis.com/joie-baby-nitro-lx-stroller-dark-pewter/p3947188

To me the Bee is synonymously with London living - but I couldn't afford one back then working as a teacher. Now that I've left teaching and we've moved to the countryside and actually able to afford one, it's kind of redundant due to the perpetual muddiness! It makes me long for London days!

To me the Bee is synonymously with London living

It’s synonymous with a very small subset of especially image conscious Londoners who can afford them and don’t mind being robbed slightly.

I would get a Yoyo if I had a newborn again. Silver Cross, Cosatto and GB do some lie flat from birth strollers where you don't need a bassinet attachment. Would probably work well in conjunction with a decent sling.

I had a bugaboo bee when my first daughter was a baby, then when she was a bit older I also got the super lightweight McLaren which was just awesome for travelling - umbrella fold so v easy to manage, great for holidays etc. I live in London so needed something easy for public transport and you cannot get easier than the lightweight Mclaren.

@GroundAlmonds

To me the Bee is synonymously with London living

It’s synonymous with a very small subset of especially image conscious Londoners who can afford them and don’t mind being robbed slightly.

Hahahaha, robbed, that is true for sure. I'm a sucker for aesthetic

Babyzen. Yo-yo.
Or if you are looking for something a bit bigger but not to heavy I've just seen a pram on boots called a journey edit only £350. People saying nice and sturdy but not heavy. X

The yoyo is the best for the tube as you can drag it up and down stairs due to the small wheels - you don’t have to lift it. BUT bear in mind that you may need to world face much sooner with small buggies depending on which one you choose. On the tube this may mean real danger - my DC son had a cup of hot coffee accidentally spilled on him when he was 7 months old. Thankfully no perm damage but both my DC and the spiller were beside themselves.

We had the Bugaboo Bee 3 (in 2013!). There was no bassinet for it then, just an optional soft cocoon which was lovely (and squashable if needed to fold the buggy). I wouldn't bother with the bassinet, if you do go for the Bee. I didn't get trains or the tube much due to fear of lack of lifts. I struggled to carry it up or down stairs, but I really have no body strength! But oh my God it was great on London buses which I caught all the time!! So nifty in a small space. They're a bit of a sod on grass etc, but not enough to have put me off.

Going against the grain-I had an Oyster and loved it. Couldn't bring myself to pay bugaboo prices and my oyster stood up to a total hammering on pavements, parks and more. Found it easy on and off trains and buses when not using a sling. I had front slings and then a back carry one later. The oyster also handled a buggy board for my toddler, and one memorable walk home from the shops a 10kg sack of rice in the bottom, baby dd, micro scooter balanced across the front and me leaning on it with the ds (3 yrs older) in a piggyback. Also loved that it was narrow enough to go through our narrow front door!

When I dropped it off at the charity shop at the end I had a proper moment leaving it in the shop-end of an era and all that! 😂

A babyzen yoyo or a bugaboo bee if you have a car too.

Another vote for BabyZen YoYo

@SoonMummy another vote for the yo-yo! I am in a very small flat with a 4 month old (hoping to move soon!) so storage and weight for carrying up and down stairs was out main concern. The Yo yo folds tiny even with the newborn bassinet type insert in (fits in a cupboard!), can be opened and closed with once hand, and weighs half nothing. I use the sling a lot but when I do use the buggy I am able to carry it over my shoulder (it has a shoulder strap) down 2 flights of stairs whilst also holding the baby, flick it open with one hand (you get the hang of it very quickly!) and pop in the baby and off we go! It's a tiny bit trickier to fold it back up while holding the baby but still manageable. The down side is that you can't fit much in the storage basket underneath, and the wheels are quite small so can get clogged with mud if you use it in a muddy park or whatever but to be honest there's no buggy in the world that can be everything to everyone so for me, and London living, I would recommend the yoyo hands down!