Travel system recommendations

[Flatwhite32]

Hi everyone. All being well, DH and I will become first time parents in July. We are starting to think about buying a travel system, but there are SO many choices! I don't even know where to start. We live in a first floor flat with no lift, so something light and not too bulky would be ideal. Does anyone have any recommendations? Ideally, we don't want to spend more than £500-600. Thank you!

Think about how you will actually use it, rather than being sucked in by advertising!

So - will you drive a lot? Use public transport? Go for walks in the forest or on beaches, or just in town? Are you somewhere rainy or sunny? Do you need to bring groceries home in the shopping basket, or just store a couple of nappies? Do you expect to do day trips taking lots of stuff?

Lots of good advice on this site once you know what will actually fit in your lifestyle.

Thank you @PalePinkSwan! I have been in a couple of shops, but felt pressurised by pushy sales assistants. We'll mostly be driving. We live in SE England, so mostly rainy, although we do get hot summer days at times! We enjoy going on day trips. A system which suits a variety of terrains would be good, and although we don't live near the beach, we have some nice woods nearby.

Are you completely sold on a travel system? I only used mine for the first 8 Months then swapped for a lighter one fold stroller. I have a baby jogger GT and can recommend. My travel system is. Joolz Geo and it’s great, but heavy.

Congratulations!

We have the cosatto giggle 2 which i found really lightweight and easy to manouvere over bumpy terrains as well as pavements. The car seat was handy in the early days so ds could carry on napping if needed. Think total price was £400. Plus I always get comments on the design whenever we are out and about.

However, I guess you will not be at the stage of thinking of baby number 2 yet but I got pregnant again fairly quickly (not planned) and now we are looking at double buggies and it seems there are plenty of models out there that you can add second baby things to should you need to in the future and I wish we had done that to avoid the hassle of buying yet another pushchair.

It's a minefield but would definitely try them out before buying don't just order online you need to get a feel for what you like.

elmo I'm so glad to read this as that's the one we've bought. DS isn't here until June, which gives us plenty of time to wonder if we've bought the right on...

*one

Aw I hope you get on with it as well as we have brogueish - ds is nearly 15 months old and despite having bought a really lightweight stroller for him he still prefers the main pram so we certainly got our monies worth.

Hey! We will Be first timers in July too! What date are you? I did my research and decided on the cosatto wow travel system and got a really good deal on it in toys r us (not sure if any are still open though!) it won the gold award last year and after going to test it out three times I fell in love with it and love the patterns. Congratulations! X

Thank you so much ladies. I have been looking at the Cosatto models and really like them. Going to show DH tonight. @Katyx3 congratulations! I'm due on July 23rd. How about you?

I've been told that you shouldn't leave them in a car seat that doesn't lie flat for more than half an hour until they're a couple months old and then not for more then two hours until they're six months.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-37947841/car-seat-warning-for-infants-on-long-journeys

For that reason, I decided against a travel system because if you use the car seat in the pram instead of the lie flat carry cot, the baby is likely to spend much more time in an upright position than if you remove them from the car seat when you leave the car. But that's just my take on things- I am a worrier! If you don't mind leaving them sitting upright for a long time, the doona looks quite useful.

Flatwhite I love my cosatto can't wait to use it! He is due 8th July!! Bit fed up now really suffered so far so hoping it comes around quick haha best of luck with everything! Xxx

I'm also due July and we have decided on the Mothercare 4 wheel journey travel system in blush. Its good value for money, really easy to put together/take apart, really easy to push along and very light!
I also love the pale pink colour!!

We went to a baby show in London and found this an excellent way to view loads of different types and models of travel system all under one roof. There were also some great show deals. We live on the second floor with no lift and ended up going for a Nuna Mixx system we got a good deal which included the car seat and isofix base.

@0310Star we are also thinking of going with the mothercare journey 4 wheel travel system, but in the blue! It is such a good price and does the same as other travel systems doesn't it!

The depreciation on travel systems is phenomenal. It’s well worth looking at pre-owned options.

@Dorabean we absolutely loved it! We were originally going for one of the my babii billie faires ones but we much preferred the mother care one as it's very good quality pram for the price!

Don't want to put a downer on anyone's cosatto joy as there are lots of pros with it but I wouldn't buy one again. DD is 27m now and we are still using it but have had issues. Ours was a 2015 giggle 2 and last year the junction near the wheel of the metal frame snapped while we were crossing the road ! They replaced the frame under the guarantee instantly (but left us with our grubby seat and wheels) but it took the sheen off a bit. I believe newer models have a plastic reinforcement at that junction which was possibly in response to this issue. We also use a second hand nipper outnabout 360 that was donated by my sister in law, and by comparison the cosatto feels so heavy and unresponsive to steer. The nipper has air filled tyres that make it very light and easy to steer with one hand, also can get a carry cot with it so I'd choose it over a cosatto. However I adore the cosatto patterns and we were satisfied with it until the big snap happened. It has a better tray than the nipper and cosatto has better upright positioning, also like how high up my daughter is in it. I think cosatto could have done with a lower hood on sunny days.

Ultimately I think every buggy will have its irritating points - it's such a hard decision isn't it. Sorry if I've confused you further but wanted to give a bit of info!

@0310Star yes, it's great. The very helpful saleswoman said it's one of their best sellers and they haven't had a problem with them that she knows of! She was the manager of the store too. I'm going back to look again but think it's pretty much a set deal for us!

I borrowed a Casatto Giggle off someone. I loved it. The downsides of it were:

• would easily tip when on the bus
• reversing with it was difficult
• the carrycot is quite small so unless you have a tiny baby won't last 6 months

I did a lot of cosatto research and deffo wouldn't of got the giggle as it's three wheeled and don't trust them balance wise! X

Thanks ladies. I won tickets to a baby show on Friday, so hopefully that'll give us a chance to test out a few different models!