Please help a very confused first timer choose a buggy

[minipie]

Please help! I've been reading about pushchairs and my head is swimming. There are so many! Hoping you can help me narrow it down so I can drop hints to the PILs start looking.

This will be DC1, arriving in December. We live in London and I expect I'll do a lot of walking and maybe some tube/bus if I feel brave enough, but not a lot of driving.

I think I need:

• suitable from birth
• small and very light and manoeuvrable (I'm 5'3 and a total weakling)
• adjustable handles (DH is a foot taller)
• can carry some shopping (see weakling)

I would like:

• choice of front or rear facing
• compatible with decent car seat (everyone seems to have a Maxi Cosi?)

Not so crucial (unless you tell me otherwise!):

• easy folding (we've got space to leave it unfolded at home, phew)
• very compact folded (though we need to be able to get it into Golf boot)
• jogging/3 wheeler
• separate carrycot (unless this is needed to make it suitable for newborns)

Anything else I should be thinking about?

These seem like they might fit the bill:

• bugaboo bee
• icandy strawberry
• micralite fastfold/toro
• easywalker june

Any others? Any bad points of these ones?

Thanks so much, I would be really grateful for some pointers

I'll get in first - baby jogger city mini versa?

The others who actually know stuff will be along in a minute to help!

Ooh never heard of those

Will have a look! thanks

Any more for any more?

uppababy vista

www.bestbuggy.co.uk/ An awesome website

If you want a jogging one, try the baby jogger summit. It doesn't rear face though, but meets a lot of your other requirements.

I have summit, and it's really lovely, but I wouldn't like to take it on a bus...

Do you actually want to run/go seriously off road? If not, the City Mini GT may suit, but it doesn't parent face...

I have always loved my bugaboo but have just started coveting the uppababy vista my pregnant best mate has just taken ownership of. It's new to the market, otherwise I may have bought it for my own.

It looks like it fits your bill

Sorry, my "not so crucial" list was things I don't want! or don't need. wasn't very clear was I.

So I don't need

• easy folding
• very compact folded
• jogging/3 wheeler
• separate carrycot

Definitely no intention to go jogging or off road

off to look at the uppababy vista

baby jogger city has been added to the shortlist, thanks

Mamas and papas sola?

New shortlist:

• baby jogger city mini
• uppababy vista
• bugaboo bee
• icandy strawberry
• micralite fastfold/toro
• easywalker june

Any others I should add? Any I should remove?

Thank you all!

Hmm I got warned off Mamas & Papas buggies by a friend scarlett but she didn't say why...

I'm a bit in love with my bugaboo bee. I'm not actually using it yet (due October) but its just so beautiful and easy to push around and I already have two different colours in the accessories to suit my mood!

Big thing for me was the compact fold, which I know you say is not a necessity but it fits in the boot of my Mini with the seat on, which just made me fall in love. We plan on getting a graco car seat which is compatable, but since it folds with the seat on I'm not sure how often we'll use it with the car seat, I think I'd rather transfer baby and it be comfortable

I live in London and have the Bee! It's fantastic for city living, small for the bus, great round shops, it fits through every doorway!

oops that should say

• baby jogger city versa (mini doesn't do forward and reverse)
• uppababy vista
• bugaboo bee
• icandy strawberry
• micralite fastfold/toro
• easywalker june

I'm trying to compare the weights but it's really hard as some include the seat and some only the frame . Are any of these quite heavy and should be knocked off the list?

Hmm bee is looking good.

And it has the advantage that I could probably get a second hand one quite easily (there are 5 million of them round where I live, which perhaps speaks for itself) ...

Anything bad about it?

The only thing I'm a little unsure of with the bee is that the shopping basket thingy is accessed from the front of the buggy, whereas all the other ones I've seen you access from the back which seems better. But that's pretty minor

I have an Icandy peach and love it! So manoverable.

THe removable carrycot was excellent for the first 4 months, we used it instead of a moses basket.

The strawberry wasnt around when i was buying but i have heard good things!

Have a look here to compare pushchairs. But a word of warning light in kgs bears little relation to being light to push. There is a difference. But to be honest you have a fabulous set of pushchairs in your list - probably my top choices with the addition of the Peach and the Uppababy Cruz.

The Bee is probably my least favourite for walking with. It is good but its really too lightweight for me to walk with a lot - I have to check my chassis every time that its fixed correctly because it always feels a bit rickety and wobbly. I use mine loads to nip from the car into nursery or a shop, but for lots of walking then I would be choosing something more substantial with bigger wheels. But it is relatively light and easy to fold and carry. Given you want to walk a lot, I would be crossing it off your list. If you said you were car based then the Strawberry and Vista may well come off for folded size and the Bee would maybe go back on.

I think overall all the pramaholics on here would say that the Versa or June have all the basic elements the perfect pushchair needs....but someone reminded me yesterday that the Versa is long which on a bus could be an issue - but if you needed to fold a pushchair fast one handed with the baby tucked under your other arm, then the Versa is your friend. So its pros and cons.

Thanks very much tiggy that's interesting, I had presumed lighter = easier to push.

Hmm guess I should focus a bit less on overall weight then.

A friend has a Bee I think so I will try out hers and see if I find it rickety feeling.

I do want something small (width wise) so I can get through doorways and park it in small hallways etc.

Definitely am not car based (we have a car but I hate driving in london and most friends/family live nearby thank goodness) but I don't expect to be getting many buses either. I'll be mostly walking. I also might get the tube once brave enough but guess a sling is probably much better for all those escalators?

No one has mentioned the micralite - does it have any fans?

Thank you all so much!

One thing I didnt even think about but I know friends have, is whether you hope to have another child whilst the first one is still needing a pushchair. It can be expensive if you have to ditch the first buggy for a double within a couple of years, there are some pushchairs that convert into a double buggy (Icandy)
Sorry to add another dimension to your dilemma, but I spent a fortune on a bugaboo and would have been a bit miffed to have to ditch it if I'd had another baby.

I have thought about that Northern and that is a bonus of the icandy (but not the strawberry I think?)

hmmm

I spose the question is whether the converted singles are really any good as double buggies or are they a major compromise over a purpose built double?

The iCandy Peach for me is my favourite single but also tandem - it is the only tandem at present which is also a stand alone and true single.....that doesn't feel like its missing a second seat or doesn't need modifying in a big way!!! There is absolutely no compromise with it either as a single or a double. Believe me I have had a few singles and a few doubles!!

I found folding and unfolding the Bee a bloody nightmare and I used to own a pram shop.

Same as Tiggy for the Peach, I have found nothing else that is a true single and a proper double. The Current Peach Blossom does have flaws - small second seat that does not sit up so for siblings it would likely only last you until the younger child was what 1, maybe a bit less or a bit more depending on their personality. The new PB2 addresses these issues, only flaw IMHO is the price