Icandy Apple + Pip

[daimbardiva]

Hello,

I'm 7 mo pregnant with my second child - my first has just turned two. I'm having the usual debate with myself over whether or not I need a double buggy. DS is a good walker, but strong-willed and not particularly obedient, so I don't think we'll ever get anywhere if I can't put him in a buggy from time to time!

I have an Apple which has been great - perfect for our lifestyle (lots of country walks on rough tracks, but occasional trips into town too) so the sensible thing would seem to be to upgrade with the "pip" thing. It is SO expensive though - I just dont want to shell out if I'm going to end up only using it for a few months.

Does anyone else have experience of the Icandy double with a similar age gap?

Ta!

Yes, my daughter is 21 months older than my baby. We have definitely used a double for a year. I had a Pear until last week and it was great to push with the two children in. If you upgrade then you will have the larger Apple seat for your eldest which will give you greater longevity but it does restrict the positions where your children sit. But your eldest will still it nicely into the smaller seat unit for a while if you prefer the positions that it creates. I think it's well worth downloading the Pear brochure to work out which positions you would like before buying a carrycot because it may be that the bigger blue carrycot actually works better than the yellow one and lasts longer. Like I said my daughter now at 2.9 years just fits in the yellow seat - and she is tall. I say this because the traditional upgrade would be to buy the smaller yellow carrycot. I have a few negatives - not many though - I find the hoods shallow (but you will know this having an Apple), you pretty much lose all basket space because unless you post something through the small gaps there is no access but the Pear is stable enough to stand bags on the handlebar but I didn't say that, I found both my children got their feet stuck - my baby in a gap at the side of the chassis, and my daughter got her feet stuck when I reclined her. It's easy to recline the children but hard to sit them back upright - but you will know this given you have an Apple. My final niggle is a major one but I don't know if my Pear needed servicing or what, but every time I stopped and the wheels happened to be sideways, I struggled to get going again, ie the wheels kept sticking. On grass they literally dug in trying to get them out. I know of others who have the same issue with their Pears. I have read many accounts of the seats being small and the Pear being heavy but honestly compared to the umpteen tandems I have tried the Pear is one of the best to push in a straight line, and with the Apple seat you will gain a little on the seat size (and you could always remove the hood later - but realistically most pushchair manufacturers don't expect you to use a pushchair beyond the age of three) but my daughter is fine in the smaller larger Pear seat anyway! The wheels really drove me demented but if you try a Pear out in a shop and stop and start it at different angles, and it handles fine, then it must just be my Pear. I needed to lock my wheels in the end. But all round yes, I would upgrade. I don't think you will regret it.

Just to add, as an aside, given your age gap, I think a double is a good idea, but a decision for me would also be based on the cost of the Pip convertor against the Apple resale value, because it may be that there are even better options or you with having a slightly older child if that makes sense?

Thank you - yes, that does all make sense, and is v useful. Our apple was secondhand when we bought it, and in great condition. IT's had a reasonable hammering from us though, so I'm not sure the resale potential is great now!

I think I will try and find a stockist and look at in in person before making any decisions, but your input is much appreciated!

I'm a bit confused about carrycots though - can I not use the one I already have??

Lol, ok, I forgot that the apple has a proper carrycot. No, I am 99.9% certain (but do check) that you cant get the apple carrycot onto the Pear chassis. Also I have realised there is an issue with what I put above too.
Let me explain (and forgive me if you know this already). You can upgrade from an Apple to a Pear or buy a Pear new. The Pear has two seats of different sizes - the yellow is smaller than the blue. But the Apple seat is slightly bigger still. The Apple only fits in the blue position ie the upper position on the Pip convertor, so parent facing the baby in the yellow position would be at the back, and outward facing the baby would be nearest you but with it's back to you. Both seats have to face in the same direction. Neither is what I consider ideal for siblings but it's the same with many other tandems. But what I said above re the bigger carrycots won't work because you will have the Apple seat and the yellow Pear seat, but not the blue Pear seat. To have a carrycot on a Pear you need to buy conversion fabrics. You remove the yellow seat fabric and replace it with carrycot fabric. But the yellow carrycot is small, it isn't rigid, so sinks a bit when you put it down on a floor, and a metal bar which is part of the footrest above the babys feet and I have heard of babys feet getting rubbed on this bar. I know babies do quickly outgrow the smaller carrycot which is why I mentioned the blue carrycot. But because you don't get the blue set, you can't add on a larger blue carrycot (there's not much in them TBH). Thus your toddler has to stay in the Apple seat (as I don't believe you can buy carrycot fabrics for the apple seat) and the baby has to go in the yellow carrycot. To be honest, unless your Apple really is run into the ground, you should still get a reasonable price for it. Bear in mind as well you will need new car seat adaptors too should you require them. I think you need to weigh up the costs before buying. It's harder to find the convertor kits on EBay because people tend to sell Apples to Pears as twins at the end. You may well find it's cheaper to start again with a double or you may bag an EBay bargain somewhere!

Good grief, who'd have thought buggies could be so complicated!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all this - I already have car seat adaptors, so that's OK, and our apple probably just needs a good clean tbh!

Am definitely going to tootle along to a supplier and have a play with a converter kit first hand - there are a couple on ebay just now, one at around £150 atm.

Thanks again for your help!

Yes but you will need new car seat adtors for the yellow positioning! I assume your old ones (are they straight?) won't be the correct ones - you need curved yellow ones! Yes it is complicated!! Have a good play and happy bidding.

Just to update you tiggywunkle - I went and had a play about with the pear/pip but decided against it, mainly due to the price, and the fact icandy make you buy loads of stuff you don't need (extra seat) and don't include what you do (carrycot!) Just can't justify the cost when we may only get 6 mo or so use out of it.

I did however buy a Revelo kidsit buggy board thing, which also has a seat so I'm hoping that that will do the trick :)

Glad you got sorted out :)