Anyone own/tried a Phil & Ted's side by side buggy?

[accessorizequeen]

It seems like the perfect buggy for us. I'm due with dt's in Sept, and ds2 will be 21 months but has walked in the last fortnight. So a buggy board will not be good enough really if he gets tired. I thought I'd sling one twin if he needed to sit down for the school run etc. I like the p&t side by side because you can still use those coccoon things and the babies will be in view from the back. As I can't use a carrycot which I would prefer (as ds2 won't be able to go in it!), this seems best option. But have never seen it mentioned on Mumsnet, no idea whether it's any good although a friend has one in Oz so I've asked her for some feedback.

I know MB or Nipper are recommended a lot (I have an MB urban single already) but they're both wider than the p&t and I don't think they'll fit through the front door.

Anybody on the buggy or my plan?

I have one of these and love it.

Not sure why you dont see many of them about.

Just taken it to Budapest for the weekend with three month old twin boys. Fanastic over the cobblestone streets. Used the cocoons for them to sleep in in the hotel. Cocoons also useful for transporting them about - one over each shoulder like big shopping bags when for eg. I take them to baby clinic where they dont let buggys inside.

You can turn it on the head of a pin with one hand and it seems to be able to go anywhere.

Drawbacks are that its a pain to fold down and heavy to lug in and out of the car.

But then there is no perfect buggy. I have concluded that you need to think in 12 month increments in terms of what you need from a buggy and get the one that suits you right now. Then trade it in and get one that suits you better next year. If you make decisions based on whcih buggy will last you four years you will end up with something that never really suits.

Most twin mums seem to love the out and about. Did not realise that it was wider. You sure?

Ah - also be sensible with the colour. Double buggys are nutter magnets at the best of time. So getting a red one was not such a good idea - difficult to blend in. Also gets dirty quickly. I would go for the grey one with hindsight.

Aha - we're expecting twins in October too - and I've just about decided on Phil & Teds E3 twin and cocoons. It seems to be one of the narrowest about and the cocoons things sold it to me.

The tip about not buying in red is a good one!

Thanks, Sullwah, that's really helpful. When you say pain to fold down, how is that? It seems to be as heavy as the mountain buggy single I own now, so I guess I can cope with that but don't like problems with folding much having owned a jane which was impossible!

I'm going to double check dimensions but if I can't have carrycots I reckon the cocoons are next best thing. I've had carrycots with the previous two, which I shall really miss. I'm on buggy no.6 with this one so I think dp will be wanting a keeper! He really wants red this time, we've never owned a red one - what do you mean by nutter magnets exactly????

AQ - I was very very heavily pregnant when we went buggy shopping so I was not in a fit state to try out the weights and ease of folding. So I guess I have always felt that maybe the other popular double buggies are easier - but I have no evidence for this. Just paranoia.

Its relatively easy to fold but when folded is unweildy and difficult to then carry into car. Is there somewhere we you can see a demo model being folded etc. Where do you live?

By nutter magnet - I mean 1) that loads of strangers come up to ask you the standard twin questions (what sex? how old? ID?) whisch is sometimes nice and sometimes irritating. 2) These strangers will also include any slightly eccentric person /drunk in the street that you would not normally speak to.

I guess I just feel that a big red buggy makes me more obvious - but is is fab colour and my DH loves it!

The cocoons are fantastic - I love them and thats why we chose the P and Ts side by side.

oh - one more thing. There was a standard factory fault when we bought ours - something wrong with one of the shade fixings - we had to get a replacement sent in from the shop we bought it from (massive showroom near woburn). Should have been easy enough but the place we bought it from had the worst after care service that I have every come across. No one ever answers the phone. DH was on phone for twenty minutes at a time waiting to speak to someone during his paternity leave when frankly we all had better things to do. {rant over}.

must remember not to buy from massive showroom near woburn then! I'm in yorkshire, haven't looked to see where I can look at doubles yet, I'm thinking about cars at the mo' as we need to change (sigh).
Ah, understanding twins nutters now, I imagine I''ll hardly get to end of street, it's bad enough now as ds1 stops to chat to anyone out in their garden to tell them something they have no interest in knowing

FWIW, the single MB urban is easy to fold but an awkward b*&ger to put in the car so can't imagine the double would be any easier! I just don't want something like a bugaboo, that drove me insane!