britax smart 3 or bcjm?

[snoozealot]

help! in a quandry and can't decide. need to replace my bugaboo cham as the chassis is bent and out of warranty, and a big list of requirements!I have a 3 YO who gets tired legs so want someting i can put a board on, and my 8 mo daughter. I prefer to have something that can be parent and fwd facing, and i use the pram mostly in town shopping, but occasisionally we do a country walk so it needs to be able to cope with that. my partner thinks three big wheels are best for that. it also needs to fold relatively easy and getting it in and out the car is a requirement. I thought I'd narrowed it down to the britax smart 3, but keep finding mixed reviews about it re the straps not long enough, the basket too low and shallow (i thought the basket looked really good, and one of my bug bears with the bugaboo is finding the basket annoying). been pram shopping a couple of times and was really tempted by the bcjm new gt model, but of course this is only forward facing and think i will miss having the contact. also we don't really want to spend more than £300 and this time i'd like the accessories such as footmuff and cup holder, sun shade, as I didn't have these before and really missed them. any advice or particularly experiences with either pram much appreciated. TIAxx

I think it hinges on how important parent facing is to you TBH. Can you have a board on the parent facing Britax and see the baby? (I know your eldest will hop on and off though).
I don't think you would go far wrong with the BJCMGT if you could stretch. The matching BJ footmuff isn't that good, and TBH you probably won't need a sunshade with the GT either as the hood is huge. There's plenty of parent consoles that would fit too so although it's nice having accessories there's plenty of alternative brands that would work for less. I would get the GT unless you really want parent facing.
Just as an aside there was a big sale of Out n About Nipabouts this week and I suspect a fair few will end up in EBay in the next few weeks. I got one to try, as it's a parent facing off roader type. You can get air tyres apparently, and although the basket is tiny apparently certain Bugaboo ones (I know you disliked it!) would fit as well as other Bugaboo accessories. Worth a look!

thanks tiggywunkle sage advice... I'm really not sure about the parent facing thing, as I reckon baby joggers probably have the edge as a make in terms of quality etc.,.. but then if I'm going to let go of the need for parent facing that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms!

I've got a Bsmart 3 and a B agile (Britax rival to the BJCM). I preferred the the B agile on almost every criteria, and it fits in my little boot with both wheels on, whereas the BJCM didn't

Anyway, I digress.

I love our Bsmart. I still use it more than the Agile. It's really comfy to push, I love the massive hood (2010 version), big wheels, huge basket. It has just started to seize up in the brakes and seat release for swapping it between F & R facing, but considering it's had almost 2 years of near constant use, I'm not complaining.

It bugs me that it won't fold while rear facing, but that's true of most pushchairs I think. There seem to be a lot of pushchairs coming on the market this year that fold while parent facing. The BJ Verso (Versa?) looks VERY interesting to me, but the thing that lets it down for me is the bucket seat - I like a seat to lie flat, not tilt flat while the child's legs waggle in the air.

I think Britax have fixed the issues with the harness length from the 2011 model onwards, but if you have a 2010 or older one, they'll give you a harness extender FOC.

HTH.

I have both.

The bsmart is my walking buggy and the one we use on longer days out when its just the three or four of us. The BJCM is the buggy when we are six as its the only one that will fit in the car.

I got mine for £80 from an ebayer who had lots of ex display models. A few marks but may mean you can justify both! PM me if you want me to find seller for you.

The basket on the bsmart is rubbish and I didnt realise about the harness. Will look at mine.

Now the versa ....thats a baby jogger I want but sadly wont get (well not unless we have another baby as by then there will be second hand ones!)

Stetsons, you need the Easywalker June ;)

Three words:

Oh. My. God.

I have to have one! Sign me up now, it looks awesome! There must be a catch...

There is... £550 wasn't it Tiggy?!

That'd be it!

Better start saving then, eh?

Yes definitely start saving!

now that's just not fair tiggy! OH has snubbed it and says it's just like a bugaboo (whhattt?) but it meets all my requirements! i think our bugaboo was always a bit broken and wonky, so it's never been great to handle, so OH really despises it! lagoon i was thinking about getting two prams - maybe i want too much from one. yes please for the ebayer info x
have also considered that on days when i want to walk to town and get bits(a good 20-30 mins) I could call in to my mum, borrow her old silver cross, buy a toddler seat, but then no this idea falls apart because how do you navigate round the shops in them? aargh. will have to invest abit more me thinks.

Snoozealot look at the Baby Jogger Versa (and GT) too because I think I prefer it. I didn't mention it to Stetsons because they don't like bucket seats whereas I prefer to be tilted than laid flat, so I prefer that for my children too (personal preference!)

how about a versa with GT tyres?! have i just read that somewhere? thing is we really need something now. i could do with borrowing something til the summer when i might be able to save up for the easywalker. is it on sale here now? ha! hark at me. {stumbles to ebay to see how much I might get for remaining working bugaboo parts sold seperately}thanks btw tiggy (and others!)you really know your stuff! i've not really perused this talk topic before and i'm feeling much better to be amongst ppl who are serial pushchair buyers.... i'm not really sure why other than i can see this as a developing personality trait!x

I think I am beyond a serial pushchair buyer lololololol I am not even sure if I want to label myself
The Easywalker should be here in June. The Versa is destined for July at present. The Versa GT...well I have been chasing it hard tonight....and theres no news yet but I think there is still talk of it....and I am hanging out for it, so until I stop waiting for it, then dont give up hope of one appearing!!