the 'perfect' travel system?!?!

[sillyily]

Hello, i'm 26 weeks with dc2, and am searching for the 'perfect travel system'. Not that i'm fussy but these are my specifications: carry cot, car seat, pram.... big, strong basket that is easily accessible (preferably even with carry cot)..... suitable for buggy board.... front and rear facing..... fairly chunky wheels cos I live in the country (my mum has a quinny so this is back up if i want to go for country walks so not essential...) but not too wide for when I nip to town. Also car seat base and carry cot stand is preferable. And obviously I don't fancy anything ugly as sin. I have a big boot so folded size isn't really an issue... I'm sure there are more that I can't remember...

Soooo, like I say.... not fussy and I have been looking for the past few months but haven't seen anything yet so any recommendations with about 80% of these specs would be amazing

Thank you! xx

We have a Pilko P3 travel system that would tick all the boxes. I love the fact that the carry cot is a hard sided Job and is really easy to swap and change at the drop of a hat (Also the carry cot is the same size as standard sized moses basket, so the bedding fits)

xx

I would say Mama's & Papa's Ultima with the Xcel chassis - as a matter of fact, I have everything you're looking for (apart from the buggy board) and am looking to sell mine as I'm pg again and need a double buggy.

PM me if you want more details/pics ;)

Yes, the "blossom" is an attachment to the Peach. I assume the adaptors will still fit, whatever the colours of the 'new' peach systems? The US iCandy website has the same colours on it. Any ideas ItsMyLastOne? I'm sure I can cope with a missmatch of colours as I've gone for BlackJack.

Oh, another plus for the iCandy was that me, MIL and Mum (especially Mum...) could all fold it very easily. Can't wait to have something to push in mine...39+5...

We've gone for the iCandy peach jogger. Yet to use it with fully functioning baby yet but it ticks all your boxes. Forward and rear facing, carrycot and pushchair seats, can put mxi cosi car seat in it. 3 wheeler and As apposed to the normal peach it has chunkier bigger wheels so should be better off road. Also big accessible basket underneath. However you can't convert it to a double. But As we don't intend TK have any more till %231 is heading for school it shouldn't be a problem.

Brace yourself though at the price. We went to John Lewis just to play with it and it was almost £1000 but shopped around n got it for £700

Baby Jogger City Select. Ticks all the boxes you mentioned i think.

HotPink...I havent actually used my Vista offroad so I can't comment but it does have lockable front wheels exactly for that purpose, and the wheels themselves are v chunky so I wouldn't imagine it would be a problem...the mumsnet review page has comments from people who've successfully used it offroad too...
www.mumsnet.com/Reviews/pushchairs-travel-systems/828-uppababy-vista

I have had a few prams and bugaboo chameleon is by far the best. Front and rear facing, carry cot, fits maxi cosi infant carrier, suits rough-ish terrain but also great round town and works well round town. I also really like that ALL of the fabric parts can be run through the washing machine.

The basket is rubbish though

Oeisha The US ones are the same as our current colours. When the new blossom kit comes out here it will only be available in the new colours. I believe the adapters will be the same so you can mix and match colours if you want.
Good luck with the new baby!

Well OH has ruled out any form of bugaboo or icandy due to price :( Just as I was making progress! Just looking at baby joggers, which are going for a hell of a lot less on ebay... and have started considering the double.... Does anyone know how long it is? Cos I don't want a wide/long buggy but i'm not keen on the phil n teds baby stack ups.. Also, what age to toddlers stop wanting/needing to go in prams? my LO will be 29m when dc2 comes along.... Is a double worth it?? Sorry... I've gone off on a tangent a bit! I will find a pram by the end of the week!

I have a britax vigour 3+ which I can't rave about enough

Think the version on sale now is the britax b smart.

sillyil Which baby jogger do you mean?

silly would you use a sling? That way, if toddler wants to go in pram you can put baby in sling, and when toddler on buggy board you can put baby in pram, so no need for double! Still can't rate anything better than oyster, I have also had baby jogger city mini which for a lightweight 3 wheeler was excellent but I prefer a pram really.

THe Baby Jogger city select has the same foot print as the phil and teds sport/explorer/vibe etc but the child closest to you on the back is lifted higher so doesnt get stuck looking at the back of the seat infront.

My problem with the phil and teds (and i own one) is that i end up kicking the second seat as i walk (am 5"9 and apparently have a long stride) and also with a child in the second seat there is nowhere to hang the changing bag unless i get the pannier bags which then make the buggy as wide as a side by side double wich i think defeats the purpose of having an inline in the first place. You also lose the shopping basket unless you like toddler feet squidging your fruit/veg/shopping.

THe BJCS has a lovely big basket that is free of toddler feet even with the second seat attached and is accessible regardless of the seating configuration.

I have just ordered mine from Lullaboo Baby and confess to being in love with it. It arrives in 3 weeks and i cant wait. I road tested it in John Lewis a lot before ordering and am convinced that it will be perfect for us. DD2 wont be arriving until May but i decided to get it early to get DD1 (21 months) used to it.

As to what age they stop wanting/needing to be in the buggy i think it completely depends on the child. I know with DD, even though she is a great walker and only ocassionally bolts, there are times when i dont have time to stop and closely examine every interesting stone or stick or bug on the footpath so want to be able to strap her in and make tracks. Also, she is a good napper and with a double if we are out for the day i can pop her in the buggy with the hood down and she can sleep. THere is also the inevitable tantrum restraint. I might be being conservative but i dont think i would be comfortable not having a buggy seat available for her until she is much closer to 3.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

itsmylastone - I can't remember what it was called.. and can't find it in my history!! It was a tandem type one though... just been on the site and can't see it there either... maybe I dreamed it...?!

Rock chick - I really really want to use a sling, but I have terrible sciatica atm, and I don't want to make it worse... Bought one for dc1, and used it once as it hurt my back too much and OH didnt feel comfortable wearing it.
I want to go down the sling/buggy board route, but if i'm out all day and it starts piddling down i'm buggered basically. (Although i suppose dc1 will get wet whatever age he is...)

Going to go have another look at baby joggers. lynlyn - thats what Iv thought about p&t... and I need plenty of shopping space!!

Thanks everyone x

itsmylastone - its the city select - feel stupid now :)

probably a stupid/random question - but with the city select, do you feel like toddler is too far away from you? it seems that way from the piccies on lullaboo website... like baby is right up close, and toddler is miles away? (when facing away and into the world!) Don't want dc1 to feel lonely!

sillyilyFirstly I can't comment from personal experience on whether you need a double, but from spending far too much time in Pushchair Chat reading other threads, I'd say definitely you need a double! Imagine yourself in a scenario with a tantruming toddler, whingy baby, it's raining, your back's hurting and all you have is a single pushchair with a sling or buggy board. Get a double!
The city select is great in theory, but there's a point wher it becomes incredibly heavy. My sister and I spend a lot of time together and have had doubles for our DC who are the same age. When they were about 10 months we tried them in a city select. They had a combined weight of about 18kg at the time but it was so heavy. We'd been convinced it was "the one" but it couldn't be much further from it! It's strange because it's not much different weight wise to other tandems but the chassis is designed badly IMO. It means you have to put a lot more effort into turning and going up curbs than with others. The city select is also stupidly long if you have a carrycot at the front like this. We ended up getting a B Dual which is so much nicer to push, and has a great sized basket with easy access from all angles.

Like this? Yes they do seem far away!

There's so many different types of sling, dh broke his spine around 10 years ago and still has problems with it, but can use a mei tai with no problems however when he tried a pouch sling he was in agony so definitely worth trying others! Have a look on the threads about slings and carriers for advice.

Gonna have a look around now for slings suitable for bad back. Although itsmylastone - you have made me now want a dreaded double! Gahhhh another night trawling the net!

Sorry! But if you buy well, you can sell it on and lose nothing, or even make money!