If you realy love/hate your pushchair, tell me about it :) i'm trying to choose....

[misty0]

Just as i say - love it or hate it? Tell me all about it...

i'm trying to decide on a pushchair that goes from birth, will fold into a car boot and will be sturdy as i live in the countryside. (Not planning to 'off road', just lanes + big puddles)

I'm drawn to Bugaboo - but not sold yet. So pricey. But worth it??? Opinions on any make of chair from you lovely ladies would be great

Love love love my Quinny, bought it 5 years ago in black with a Maxi Cosi infant carrier, from Mothercare, and it has seen me thru two little boys and still in great condition.

Small and lightweight and folds very small.

My sister has a big red bugaboo but it is very large and takes up masses of boot space, not so good if you do weekly shops or have a dog etc...

Love our bugaboo cameleon. Lovely comfy seat. Nice and light and easy to push, even with heavy child in. Add terrain wheels for beach or woods. Best all purpose buggy.
I like the two part fold. Is easy to stick in car boot. Can also manage with it on the trains too, as its lightweight.
Love parent facing mode. Large basket beneath holds a good amount of groceries. I can change top covers for a different appearance of pram, and its easy to keep clean.
I had tried hundreds of other buggies before coming to the realisation that the bugaboo cameleon meets our needs really well. Love the suspension and whizzy manouverability!
Love the large shower proof hood. I've not had to use the raincover yet.
Love the supportive ergonomics seat the way it cradled my toddler, still providing calf and foot rest when reclined.
I could go on... we love it. Worth every penny to us.

You might as well get the Bugaboo I love my Cam and my Bee +, if you go for something else then you will only ever be wondering 'what if' I very much doubt you will resent the price once you have it. I am considering selling mine only because I use my Bee + and I have a mountain buggy for terrain, so my Cam isn't getting the use.
If your not sure you could always get a second hand one and then try it out and if you don't like it you can sell it again and get your money back :)

If budget is an issue might I suggest the
I'COO pacific
Britax B-Smart 4
Hauck Inifity

All are suitable from birth and have forward or rear facing seat and similar to the Bugaboo but without being pig ugly or the reciulous price tag IMO :o

The B-Smart 4 folds with seat on and has a flat seat suitable from birth rather than a bucket seat which some kids will not settle in (I realise a big if but I know my DS went mad if he got put in one and could never sleep in it as he was alwasy in a sitting position even if laid back). It is also lightweight to push and fold.

Thank you ladies

Keep 'em coming if there's more!

I went into mammas and pappas today for some inspiration - and to try to see/try out a bugaboo for myself. Came out more confused than ever! No bugaboos - loads of others.

This IS worse than buying a car, lol, but i'm very interested to see what comes out tops according to mn ladies .... x

I wanted a bugaboo but couldn't afford one... or more accurately daren't ask MIL to pay that much as she was insistent she was buying the pram. :o
After a lot of hunting I got a First Wheels City Elite I love it!

My SIL has a bug so I got to compare it a lot and I much prefer mine. :) The carrycot and the pram seat are 2 totally separate parts so you don't have to dismantle one to great the other as you do with the bug. My Dad is convinced it handles better too.

We also needed something that could handle countryside walks and towpaths. Also DH who is a SAHD doesn't drive so it had to be able to handle the daily walks to town (along the towpath) to fetch that days shopping.

They've had a redesign since I bought mine, but they just look even more like a bug now :o Mine had 2 years of hard use, but it still looks fab and we'll be putting it to use again in the autumn for when DC2 arrives.

I hate my travel system - an old mothercare own brand one. Two pieces of advice I've given all my pg friends - get the most compact and lightest pram you can find.

I agree about it being worse than buying a car. DH complained about going pram shopping "It's a pram, does it have wheels? It'll do!" I dragged him to Mothercare and after 2 minutes he was talking about the difference in suspension between different models.... and that's from a man who can't even drive :o

hated bugaboo.

love my mountain buggy - had carry cot which i used til 6 months, still using the pram at 3and 1/2. so easy to push, really good design to fold. fits in to boot of honda jazz.

loads of room for shopping, good for countryside but equally town - i live in london.

love it. baby always falls asleep in it

Avoid the M&P Pilko Pramette. I hate it, hate it, hate it. Perhaps that's because I am taller than it is and to be fair it's solid as a rock and will withstand country lanes. That said solid comes at a price- you wont fit this in your boot unless your car is a reasonable size and it weighs a blinking ton to lift, although you don't notice that on the move. I hate it. With a passion. Be sure to thoroughly and cynically give it a good checking it before you decide to buy one, this means if you are buying online totally forget it.

It's supposed to make a travel system with the Primo Viaggio seat too- hah! I have as much vitriole for that too. It's not a proper travel system, it doesn't clip in, the seat just sits there like so much dumped baggage. What if you tripped and went sideways I always wonder? I wont use it as a system anymore. I'm in the process of replacing it. Have the new car seat, just need a new buggy.

Stuff M&P, I will never use thier products again.

The Pliko is actually pretty compact IMO .

Mamas and Papas car seats are to be avoided at all costs they are always at the lower end of safe yet the higher end of price!

Have a Concord Neo travel system.

Carry cot was fab as it could be strapped into a car. Unfortunately DD was a refluxer and wouldn't lie flat so we didn't use it for more than a couple of weeks.

The car seat has good side protection but is angled more upright than the maxi cosi. At the time they didn't make adaptors for the mc but they do now. Personally I, and DD preferred the mc, and once again the angle made the reflux worse. It did have a rain cover though which was handy.

The buggy part has been amazing. I love love love that it can be collapsed without dismantling the top from bottom part. It folds really small. And I can put it back up one handed (an amazing feat for very unco-ordinated me!) The hood is massive, and there is a windproof, shower proof cover hidden in the cross bar. Have been using for nearly a year now and no squeaks. It can also be reclined or laid flat by using one hand and is the only place DD has deigned to nap! No cup holder available but the bugaboo one fits nicely.

Basket small, but tbh I hardly use it as I can't be arsed with faffing underneath the buggy. A change bag over the handles has generally been enough

I also love that you don't see many of them about!

I have also used a bugaboo frog. Love the way it looks but have NEVER been able to put it up doing the kick and flick method. Always end up dumping on the floor to pull apart. Also I'm always very bemused that when putting in the boot there are 2 options: 1 - take top off, put on dirty floor. Load base, put top on top of base in car. or take top off, load in car. Put base with dirty wheels on top Also have never seen the point of reversing the pushing position as it is a bugger hard to push and steer with the big wheels at the front. End up zig zagging down the lanes like a drunk 'driver'!

Anything where the car seat fits on, with the regular seat below, makes the whole thing really really heavy! My friend has a Britax (don't know the model) and she hates it. She just bought a Maclaren Techno XT to replace it.

If you live close enough to somewhere big like Kiddicare, I'd get down there and play with a few to see how easy they are to drive.

Another friend has the Bugaboo Chameleon and loves it.

I love my Bugaboo Chameleon and agree with everything MonkeysPunk said. One of the main reasons I bought it is because Bugaboo actually say the carry cot can be used for overnight sleeping (I think when I bought it it was one of the only ones where the manufacturer would say this), which I found handy when away from home, plus I used it for daytime naps downstairs when my babies were little. The carrycot is also quite big compared to comparable products such as the iCandy.

If you think you may have two babies fairly close together consider the Baby Jogger City Select as you can use it as a single and then convert to a double if/when needed. Due to my lack of foresight I now have one of these as well as DD hadn't been walking long when DS arrived. The chassis is heavy but still easy to manoeuvre and you can fold it in one piece with the one seat attached (but not the carrycot or in double mode). It was important to me that it had a carrycot (although smaller than the Bugaboo) and could be parent facing and I absolutely love all of the double seating options. The basket is huge and easy to get to ? the Bugaboo's is big but difficult to use with the carrycot.

I love both of these prams but if I had to have just one to use as a single I think the Bugaboo would win.

Mountain buggy

I loved my bugaboo bee.

Go to john lewis to try some out.

Love my bug cam - best all-round single
P&T explorer - couldn't do without it - best double
BJCM - so, so handy for grandparents and holidays

I love my bugaboo cam, everyone who has used mine has been impressed.
My only complaints are as SusiaX said the basket is hard to access in Pram mode, the rain cover is a bit tight to get on but with the canvas you hardly need it and the bumper bar should be hinged rather than on or off.

I hate Quinny Buzz, used SILs when looking after DN and it is awful to push, tipped on every kerb. I'm yet to see a child older than 18 months in one, SIL has ditched hers for a maclaren.

I love the M and p pliko pramette, it folds easily, stands on its own when folded and fits in the boot of my small hatchback. It has a great sitting position as the toddler is not dragged back into a sleeping postion by the harness and can sit up and look around.Mine is 6y old and still fine.

i have the bugaboo bee plus.... cannot speak highly enough of it... love love love it. use it everyday, its a dream to push, fold, so light

I have the britax b-smart travel system. It has been fantastic, there is quite a bit of space under the buggy. It is a fantastic system of clipping in and out, so you can lift the car set in & out and then put the 'pushchair' bit into the buggy base. Also if the pushchair is clipped in with the baby facing you it is incredibly easy to unclip the pushchair seat turn it around and put straight back down into the clip system and have your little one facing the front (most of my other friends have to unscrew things etc etc) and I can do this with my little girl still in her seat.

Wow - deep breath - thank you ladies - i'm looking at all your links and sugestions. I welcome any more, this is great! i'm learning loads b4 hitting the shops which is invaluable for me, 'cos even when not preg. i tend to go blank once i get through the shop doors, lol. (making a list actualy, to take with me)

bilblio - city elite looks good actualy. Couldnt find a video of how it folds and reclines tho' ... can anyone shed light? Idea of dismantling the carry cot to make the pushchair with the bugaboo chameleon has put me off a bit too ...

kalo - mountain buggy carry cots look lovely. Not soo keen on the drop down recline - will have to check that out i think. I'd like a 'swivel' recline ...

underachieving + upyourdiva - thank you, i'll remember those hates!

Fumblina - am REALY liking the concord neo. Wish i could find a video for it. Absolutely agree that colapsing in one part is sooooo good. mmmmm will look into this one further thank you

tigermumy - your right, i do need to play with a few. And thank you for the tip about car seats. I'm quite confused about weather the carseat/buggy thing is a good idea or not .....

susia - i am very interested in a realy decent carrycot. Lots of girls have raved about the bugaboo one.

notso - thank you about the quinny buzz.

moomoo - ok, i'm gonna have to check on the pilko in store i think, cos you've given some good 'fors' there.

taten - realy like the look to the britax too. Couldnt load the video so dont know if you have to dimantle to fold. can you tell me?

lockets - another + for bugaboo!

Hi misty the pliko pramette I have is 6y old and I think now they do something similar but better, does rear facing as a pushchair I think ask in store if you go.. M and P car seats have low saftey ratings compared to Btitax, maxicosi and graco by the way. The carseat/buggy thing comes second to whether the carseat fits your car and whether the buggy fits in your boot. You need to buy the highest safety rated car seat that suits your car ( you can read Which reports free in your local library, ask them to log you on to it).

I love my mountain buggy - years old + done/doing 4 children. Used every day for miles and still going strong