Travel/Compact stroller advice please!

[Thelazygardener]

Hi all,

My LO is 8 months old and up until now we have been using the Egg2 stroller for day to day use. ( beautiful but insanely heavy!!)

We are going to be travelling and flying over the next year or so quite often so I’m on the lookout for a lightweight compact stroller.

Went to the shop today, I’m most drawn to the Bugaboo Butterfly…..before I commit to buying does anybody have it and can recommend it or even advise against it? Or alternatively have any other recommendations?

Thankyou!

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We have the babyzen yoyo. I recommend it over the bugaboo butterfly as I have been on flights in the last year where the babyzen has been accepted but bugaboo one and other brand a told not allowed as hand luggage. As I think they don’t fold thin enough for Ryanair etc

We have the silver cross clic and love it

I have the bugaboo butterfly and love it. Easy to put up and down, easy to steer, great basket, taken it on board planes several times with no issues. Definitely recommend to anyone.

https://annainthehouse.com/bugaboo-butterfly-stroller-review/

Heres a comparison review. You can see at the bottom it folds much larger than the babyzen, and reviewer has also said it it too large for many flights. If you want small
for car it’s fine, but it’s larger fold and heavier for flying so won’t always be accepted as hand luggage

I have a babyzen yoyo and I find it a bit of a pain in the arse to fold. It’s a two handed fold to move the handle down and then the main fold mechanism is underneath. I’ve been thinking about changing as butterfly looks much more simple and could be folded easily whilst holding a baby or toddler.

The trick to this is to fold the handle down before you take them out of the pram. Then the bit underneath is fiddly at first but becomes easy, even when holding a toddler, once you’ve done it enough times. I’ve been using mine continuously for 6 years and it’s muscle memory now! You just don’t want to buy it for a flight and make the mistake of the trying to fold it for the first time whilst there’s an impatient security queue building behind you because it does require a bit of practice.

OP I’d get the YoYo. I don’t think you can go wrong, they’re well built (been using mine for 6 years!), it has decent recline for naps, still comfortably fits a preschooler and most importantly you know there won’t be any issues taking it as a carry on because every airport/airline is aware of it and knows it meets dimensions, with only a few exceptions like prop planes and some regional jets with smaller overhead lockers but unless you regularly fly some obscure routes then that’s unlikely to be an issue.

I’ve had it for 2y and yes like you I have gotten used to it. But it does still irritate me and so I personally wouldn’t recommend it when there are alternatives available.

I had a IckleBubba Globe which was brilliant but now need a newborn compatible travel buggy so bought a second hand YoYo2 and the difference in quality is very noticeable. The YoYo feels FAR more robust and I like that all of the fabric parts can be removed and washed.

I like you can fold down the back handle with yoyo whilst child is in it. I actually use it like that a lot. In London black taxis it makes it much smaller to lift in and out with child safely contained. On trains and tubes I fold handle down to make it compact but keep Ds in so he can’t run off. And used as highchair in cafes if needed as it stops it sticking out.

Also if you plan on another child. The yoyo has newborn attachment options.

Babyzen yoyo has just been sold to Stokke. So it will soon be sold as the Stokke yoyo.

We have the GB Pockit Plus. It is lightweight and folds down so small that you can take it as hand luggage on a plane. It is suitable for 6 months to 4 years. We got this specifically for travel and found it very convenient.

gb-online.com/en-gb/strollers

Thankyou all so much for your replies and links provided it’s been really helpful!!

The YO-YO was the other buggy on my list as it seemed really comparable to the butterfly. My local pram store don’t stock babyzen so I could only see the butterfly in person which influenced my decision mainly, it seems a really good quality build! (On that note I had some big name brands appeal online but was really surprised in person how flimsy they were!)

Honestly if they could blend the yoyo and butterfly together they would have a super stroller! I like the big storage basket and big seat on the butterfly but the YO-YO is smaller…

I think I’ll pop to another shop to have a look at the YOYO, fairly certain there is a stockist nearby…there’s a really good baby shop on Instagram that does lots of comparison reels and the only thing that had been really turning me off the YOYO was the folding method, it did look a bit awkward as a PP has put.

Thankyou all again, I rushed into buying a travel system and car seat without really asking for advice of people who actually use them and regret it so not wanting to make the mistake again!

I have the Joolz Aer and I'm really happy with it. I haven't used it on any budget airlines so not sure about those but I've stowed it in the overhead bins on regular airlines.

Fyi - I don’t think the yoyo seat is particularly small. My Ds is almost 4 years, he’s over 100cm, and he still fitted in it fine yesterday. We don’t use it day to day now, but he’s ill so I put in the car incase and he fell asleep in car, and I transferred him asleep and continued nap for 30mins quite comfortably. He will outgrow the use of it by age rather than size or weight

Agree, my 6YO sat in it for a break at a theme park whilst her brother was walking and actually fit reasonably comfortably!! I’ve also on occasion pushed a 5YO and a 2YO in it together which has to be wayyy over the weightlimit but it’s somehow still going strong.

A warning, I have done that with my 5yo and 1yo in the Yoyo and the frame broke shortly after. I managed to get it fixed but I have banned my 5yo from hijacking it now! It's a great sturdy buggy OP, if used correctly. Still seems to be the most popular around London, the Butterfly is popular too but hasn't been around as long.