Can you help me find my perfect pushchair?

[JW37]

Hi all

I'm expecting baby no.2 later this year and am looking for a pushchair that will suit the baby from birth and that I can clip my maxi cosi cabriofix onto occasionally (please, no comments about babies in carseats as I know exactly how long a baby should stay in one!)

I fell in love with the Uppababy Vista in John Lewis at the weekend but We don't have much money (does anyone these days!) so at £600 it is way out of my price bracket.

Can anyone suggest a good pushchair that will face forward and back, attach the maxi cosi car seat, potentially have a carrycot and not cost the earth (I will look at second hand as well)?

By the way I don't want a quinny or a bugaboo.

All advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Jayne

I think for value for money, the iCandy Cherry takes some beating. The Peach is even nicer but is almost double the money plus carrycot so will be out of your range unless you buy second hand.

However if you do this, PLEASE go and check the Peach out in person because there can be issues with them. I haven't had any issues with the two Peaches that I have had, but look for things like loose handles, squeaky wheels, seats that dont click in properly / easily, a good fold, and no buggy board has been on the rear. As long as you feel happy with it, then it should be fine :)

Otherwise do look at the Babystyle Oyster, and the MyChild Pinto (which has a car seat included but dont let that put you off because its a great little pushchair packed with features only found on more expensive pushchairs. John Lewis sell their version of the Pinto (their Travel System) but I dont know if you get a car seat or not.

Or consider a second hand Cameleon. But similar to the Peach, I would want to be checking one out in person or buying through Ebay with buyer protection. Look out for scammers and replica Cams too.

Wow thanks. I've just been reading ur other posts, how on earth are you so knowledgeable about pushchairs? I had a list of ones which took the maxi cosi but icandy wasn't on it so I didn't even look at it. Babystyle oyster was though and M&P sola but after reading ur other reviews I think I'll take that off my list. Never heard of the mychild pinto but unless it takes my carseat I won't bother as I don't want another car seat. Thanks for your advice.

Maxi Cosi Elea? Wouldn't recommend the Sola.

Thanks, have looked at the Elea as well but just on line so far.

I had almost the same requirements as you, plus it needed to be very, very light as I have pelvis / back problems.
I thought I would fall in love with and immediately but the Cherry, but the features of the Oyster were too good to ignore and that's what we've gone with. I did wonder about saving a bit of money by buying a second hand carrycot as it doesn't get used for long, but ended up with a reasonable price for the whole package.
Good luck :)

Thanks for plenty of good advice. Went into mamas and papas today and looked at the sola. It looked really nice but some of the reviews have been rubbish.

The Sola is in my car and I am gobsmacked how much room it takes up. It is one of the biggest fold pushchairs I have used! Its bigger than a Mountain Buggy folded and thats saying something!!
It also very long!!! We went swimming yesterday and although the Sola was narrow enough to fit through the changing cubicle door (not many do), I couldn't drive it back out again!!!!!!! It was too long and I got wedged trying to turn left out of the door! Thats a first for us and we take different pushchairs every week. There are only a couple (2 or 3) handle settings and they are only really straight out ie theres no high in the air or low to the ground setting. So I couldn't make it much shorter either.
The finish isn't great. The inside of the hood looks cheap although to be fair it is lined. Each time I pull the hood up the seat back tries or even does comes up too (I would guess a smaller baby would make the seat come up). The basket is bigger than I thought. My recline is sticking and doesn't release easily. The fold should be easy but its a bit hit and miss on mine but the front scrapes on the floor when you fold. The handle on mine feels cheap - its not even nice sponge. The buckle is the typical M&P one but its like doing a jigsaw puzzle up each time. I had the Urbo in the other week and the Urbo was a hard push ie not much suspension, so I thought the Sola would be better - but its not really.
Its rare I say this but I can't wait to get the Sola out of my car! There are much better, easier to use, neater pushchairs on the market.