Recommend me a pushchair?

[tisonlymeagain]

It's still very early days so I won't be buying anything just yet but I am forward planning and want to start putting some money away for this mega purchase. It's been a few years since I've had a buggy!

Things that I know I want - lie flat/carrycot, be able to attach the car seat, toddler seat to be able to face both rear and forward. I'd also like a good size basket for shopping etc.

I've come up with the Bugaboo Chameleon 3 based on those requirements but wondered if anybody else had any suggestions?

Uppababy vista?

Uppababy Vista seconded

Can you have the baby/toddler facing you? I did look at the Uppababy Vista but couldn't work that out from the pictures I saw.

Yes.

Silver cross horizon go

Nuna demi grow. Detachable market basket aswell as huge basket. Esp if your planning more as loads of options to extend it.
I had a uppababy and although it is great i prefer this more.

Oyster 2. Mine is fab.
😊

It’s such a personal thing...we all expect different things from our prams/pushchairs... I would recommend making an effort to go to a couple of substantial baby shops (mothercare, M&Ps, baby shows?) and have a play. You won’t know what to expect until you test drive, take the car you’ll use so you can run through the rigmarole of getting it in and out (I was ADAMANTLY determined that Silver Cross was for me, but found all 3 models I tried cumbersome, heavy and awkward to get into the car, despite the superior drive, for example!), and take with you any people who will also use said contraption (my DH and I are the same height, but my best friend and her DH are almost a foot different in height!)

You are at an advantage having done this before (assuming from your reference having bought a pram in the past...?), so you can evaluate exactly what you’ll require the pushchair for. City strolling, suburban school run, country dog walks....all will have different stressors on the frame and will rule one section of the market out for you.

And then, going into the shops will give you the travel system options or sales, or not! Don’t rule out second hand, or eBay/baby/antenatal groups/Facebook market etc could save you £££.

Will you have to fold or carry it regularly at all, or fit it into a car boot?

There are quite a few good pushchairs out there, but I’ve found a lot of them to be quite heavy (for me). I live in a city, I don’t often have to fold or carry but I need a relatively easy option to do so. 7-8kg has been my maximum, I tried out the Joolz Hub for instance as a more compact Joolz but it’s still about 11kg and carrying it with the carry strap was a lot heavier than I thought it would be.

I don’t drive, but all other parents know who drive have found out the hard way if it’s a pain to get their pushchair into the boot! Whether through sheer size or weight, or having to detach various bits that don’t pop off easily in order to fit it.

Cosatto Ooba

Weve just got our uppababy vista

We chose the Uppababy Vista and then moved house at 37 weeks to a place with a very narrow front door so ended up with a Cameleon 3 as well. I keep the Vista in my car boot (a Corsa so not massive) and I love how much I can fit I the basket, it’s seriously huge. I also like that dd is high up, and that the hood has a built in sunshade. All of those make me prefer it over the Cameleon tbh, which lives in our hallway and is great for just nipping out with. But I HATE that the basket is so inaccessible with the carrycot on, it really makes things difficult. Also the baby is much lower than in the vista. It has a longer carrycot though, at 10 weeks my very tall baby has plenty of room in the Bugaboo but is looking a little cramped in the Vista. Which isn’t a huge problem as she’s almost ready to sit up and look around, she seems quite frustrated lying flat now.

I should say, both were second hand, I’ve not spent two grand on pushchairs! I’d recommend looking in a proper shop and then scouring eBay for bargains, both prams are good as new and cost about a fifth of the brand new price. It was a no brainer for us, as experience has shown us that we’ll end up with a Maclaren in a year anyway.

www.icklebubba.com/product-category/travel-systems/stomp-v4-special-edition-travel-system/

Love our one .. it is easy to fold ... the peak and buggy feature sturdy and car seat clips in too... comes with isofix base also

Changing bag / rain cover etc ... it is literally everything we need ... £649 x

Yes @Sessy19 this is my 3rd child, but not done this for 12 years.

Good point about trying it in the car @beforeIhit30. I had a double for a while and it was a nightmare lifting it in and out.

Thanks @AwkwardAsAllGetout That's useful as you have both. I plan to do lots of walking to the supermarket etc (about 40 min walk) so basket is pretty important to me. Helpful to know about the carrycot on the Bugaboo. (and haha, re Maclaren, I bought one 13 years ago and we got a good 4 years use out of it and passed it on, loved that buggy!)

I'm definitely considering secondhand once I've decided what I want. I'm not keen on spending £1K on a pushchair/pram so if I can get a really good buggy for half the price secondhand, I am in!

If big basket is a priority then also consider Joolz Geo and Joolz Day v2 or v3. They are great prams but as they don’t quite have the name recognition of Bugaboo there are some absolute bargains second hand.

I’ve got a Joolz geo and the basket is huge- my 2.5 year old sits in it when he is tired. However it is quite heavy to push and lift in and out of the car.

I’ve got 5 pushchairs st the minute all that get used regularly and have owned a few more. I e never found one that ticks all boxes so have different ones for different purposes.

Uppababy Vista

Enormous, incredibly useful basket underneath. The retractable sun visor is great. The handle is great for taller parents as well, as it extends out quite far if needed. The carry cot is great, the pushchair too, goes both ways, very sturdy. If something breaks their after-care is excellent - we got a replacement whilst the fixed it. Folds up fairly small and I managed to handle folding it up even when on crutches. The break is a pedal rather than one you have to drag, and that's good if you get SPD/pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy, as the drag ones can get really painful.

Ours survived 5 years, still looked in excellent condition, and we recently sold it for a couple of hundred pounds I think!

Definitely the vista - no other buggy rivals the basket space!!
Have a look on Amazon in black Friday deals - we got ours on there 2 years ago for just over £400, massive steal on shop prices :)

I have gone for the Nuna Mixx as it’s so easy to take apart/collapse.

Definitely the Vista - huge basket, carrycot certified for overnight sleeps and versatile toddler seating. UV sunshade etc etc. We love ours.

Another vote for the vista. Just about to use ours again for baby no2 and can't wait