Phil and Teds navigator - thoughts/experiences

[suntodayplease]

If you have the navigator are you pleased with it? Good/bad points about it? I'm contemplating it for use with newborn and toddler. I understand from reviews that its good, but it can be a problem when the baby outgrows the lie flat mode. Any other negative points to consider?

Also all the info on the web says its 59cm width, if you have one can you tell me if this is from the outer point if the wheels?

Thanks very much!

Hi, I have one and really like it (despite just posting that I want a smaller, lighter double!). I traded in an older Sport to get it and even though the improvements aren't huge they are very useful.

Good points -

firstly the obvious, being able to use it as a single when toddler no longer needs it. But also, I've had a tired 4 year old in mine with ease (even in the second seat) so will definitely last you.

I like that you can put the bigger child in the back or the front (with the sport the heavier child always had to go in the front) so that if baby needs to recline they can go in the front and bigger child can sit up in the back.

I like the parent facing option - BUT you can use this seat with some of the older, cheaper P&Ts (not widely advertised! Probably to make parents buy the newer version)

I like that the seat fabric zips on and off - if you've ever taken a screwdriver to your older Phil and Ted to wash the seats after a baby has been sick in there you'll appreciate this point!!

It's very easy to push even with two toddlers in.

Bad points:

The hood for the second seat is rubbish. I've taken it off before now because it flaps about and annoys the child in the back. I think you can buy a spare front seat hood though, which clips on to the back.

As the second seat is quite far forward it doesn't leave much space underneath for shopping or nappy bags (you can buy pannier bags to hang on the sides but they make it wider - I tend to clip a child's ruck sack on the side instead). This does make it shorter than a lot of other tandems though, in fact it doesn't feel any longer than some of my single buggies.

The recline for the front seat is much trickier than it needs to be. The second seat has a little clip handle which is a doddle, but the front has straps and Velcro. Might just need practise to get the hang of as I've not really used mine in recline.

I've heard lots about the few weeks when a baby outgrows lie flat but isn't ready for sitting up yet but didn't really struggle with this. If you have the parent facing seat the baby can go in that with older child in the second seat (I think P&T said you can't do this, but you can!) or if its just a short journey you can pop a car seat on.

I hope that helps. Sorry I don't know the width but I've never found a doorway it doesn't get through - it even goes through my Lindam stair gate!

Thank you so much for your response. So so helpful! None of your bad points seem too bad so that's great. The size of most doubles has put me off so this seemed like a great option.
I'm actually planning on keeping my bugaboo to use once my toddler decides to walk a bit further so I can use both which will mean I can at times have a parent facing pushchair and half decent basket underneath.

Thanks again

Thanks Miaow, we've still got our pushchair from DD which will fill that gap if necessary as I had read that this seems to be the main bugbear. Good to know on the width too.

Is the explorer the old version of the navigator? For some reason JL only stock the explorer double raincover, assume that will fit the navigator?

Also, the wheels are fecking awful. If you use it off-road alot and get a 'bad' buggy you can spend £££s on replacing inner tyres.