Uppababy Vista or iCandy Apple2Pear?

[Nessalina]

First is due in November, but we're hoping to have our second within two years, so I'm keen on getting a travel system that can convert to a duo.
I was really keen on the Vista, seems like good value for money, handles well, seems intuitive to use. But the Rumble seat you can add for a toddler doesn't fit at the same time as the carrycot, so it looks like there'd be six months where you can't use it for both properly
The iCandy A2P seems to have a much better duo system, with several combos, and I like the Carrycot. But the pushchair seat seems very flimsy to me, and the material on the shade is a bit saggy, and clicks loudly when you raise or lower it, which isn't great if your child is sleeping.
John Lewis have an offer on the iCandy to include both pushchair and carrycot fittings for £595, so it and the Vista are the same price, so I'm a bit torn.
Can anyone reassure me of the comfort of the iCandy's seat? Or should I go for the Vista and cross the second child bridge when we come to it?

Bump. not sure why I posted this at midnight on a Saturday!

I've got the uppababy - I love it, although have to pop a wheel off to get it in the boot of my golf... The iCandy is a bit shiny for me.

Anyway, You can get a newborn insert for the uppababy buggy seat on full recline - would that allow use of the rumble do you think? Second option I think I will sling one child & push the other.

Sorry not much help.

We have an icandy Apple - I'm not sure if this is different to the apple2pear or if you just do something to the Apple to convert it? Anyway, the seat for the Apple is great although appreciate it may be different to the one you're looking at. But I'm mainly writing to say that the clicky noise has never bothered our toddler and she is a pretty light sleeper. If you need any icandy extras for any reason though, they cost a fortune. Off to google 'Apple2Pear'.

If the fabric of the hood bothers you then I think you can replace it with a hood off an old style apple seat, which is regular fabric and I think when folded back less it's in the way of the child's head. I'm not into the shiny chrome either but the peach 2 or 3 is good, so is the oyster max, I like the jane twone a lot although it has it's downsides.

As a tandem then I would definitely get the apple2pear of the two you mention. I would also not get the carrycot at the start I would get the newborn nest and use that in single mode even though Icandy don't suggest that. That way you won't need to replace the main carrycot with a newborn nest down the line. You definitely could use a wedge in the vista main seat, in order to do that the baby has to be in the main seat facing forward and the footrest folded away. Also your toddler would have to be totally happy bolt upright at all times and not over 15kgs (normally not too fussy about weight limits). As a tandem the vista is more of a risk basically. It's probably my favourite of the two as a single though.

I'm mentally on the fence on the buying a tandem before first child is born concept. The planner in me thinks it's a great idea but practically speaking it's almost too hard to predict. I think it works best when you're not the sort of person who gets too hung up on the details of the seats on your pushchair or tends towards comparison with other pushchairs over time. It would never work for me in that case!

I see it is a totally different seat to ours. When we bought our Apple, we were told it could convert to a twin, not sure if that's still the case. Quite a good review here: www.bestbuggy.co.uk/2013/05/icandy-apple-vs-icandy-apple-2-pear/

Sorry, don't know how to make link work on the app. Ness I've only just noticed you're the OP!

Hehe thanks Wil!

My friend has the apple2pear and she really rates it, she also got it from John Lewis for less than £600 then bought a kit to add her second child earlier this year. She said the seats are really comfortable for her babies and she said she can have different hood colours on each seat too!

Thanks, that's good to know!
It's frustrating though - John Lewis have a great deal on at the minute for the seat, flavour pack, car seat adaptor, and carrycot for £595 - but the carrycot won't fit on with 2nd child, so as well as having to shell out extra for the pip conversion and seat, AND a flavour pack, I'll also need a 'newborn nest' for the second seat, even though I'll already have a perfectly good carry cot
Totting it all up, for both sprogs it's £800 worth. Can I justify that?!
But then the Vista adaptations (Rumble seat & piggy back board) take that one up to £800 as well...

Anyone know anything of the Obaby Zezu?! That looks like it has a good tandem option, and the starter system is only £350...

Do you have an independent retailer nearby where you can go and see several tandems side by side? Feel how they handle, how easy they are to take apart and fold, lift and carry... All that stuff.

If you have your eye on the apple2pear as a tandem then the main carrycot has a very short lifespan for how you plan to use it and the newborn nest from the outset makes much more sense. I suppose the same applies to the vista carrycot except it comes as part of the package so it's not a decision as such.

I've been tempted by the zezu a few times, I love the newborn toddler set up. I'm not convinced of the quality, it might be a case of £350 and lasts you 3 years or £800, lasts you 4-5 years and will be in a saleable condition at the end of that.

I went in to ask about converting my apple and decided against it as it was 400 quid . But also, they said I would need to replace the seat I currently have with the smaller apple2pear one and the woman said my 2 year old would struggle to fit in it. So if you want a small age gap then probably fine but maybe not so good with a couple of years between babies?

Ihateparties - yes, the annoying thing is that the carrycot does come as part of the £595 package I'm looking at, which is at John Lewis - here which would be £735 if you got all the stuff separately, so a really good deal...
If it didn't, I'd definitely get the newborn nest straight up, but if I did that then to buy the pushchair, nest, car seat adaptors, and hood costs £655.
But then I suppose if I did that to start then for fictional child 2 I'd then only need the pip converter seat and hood which is £170 on top, so £825 all told...
Or if I go for the starter deal at £595, then add cost for conversion (plus £170 (pip seat & hood) plus £95 nest) then that's £860 all in, but with that version I've got the carry cot too (worth £175) for only £35 more... And I think the carrycot would be good to have because it's free standing whereas the nest can only be used on the buggy.
Sorry, that was a lot of thinking out loud!!
Bugger it, this is complicated!!
You're right about them holding their value well though - the doubles go on eBay for around £600

Wil - from what I've read the seats take a child up to 15kgs which I think is pretty standard for pushchairs... From googling I think that's average for a 3 and a half year old, but could be a small 4yr old, or above average 3yr old.
That being the case I think 2yrs is a bit of an underestimate for the iCandy surely?

It depends on your point if view really, there are loads of photos here of children in the seats. Seat size always comes up with Icandy, the hood on the a2p is a bit funny and in the way. The non adjustable leg rests can look a bit odd. Have a look at the pics and see what you think. I think it's entirely possible a largish 2yo would look too big in the seat very rapidly, as to whether they are actually too big/uncomfortable.. ??

Tandems are always complicated somehow. I was always vaguely tempted by a p&t promenade because you buy what you need, seats with drop down carrycot function, no messing, no extras. They don't seem to have been a huge success but I'm not really sure why that is.

Yes, they do look small to the eye, but I think it's just because a) the hood is so big, and b) there's no footrest. Best Buggy have done a review here with a 2yr 9 month old in the upper seat, and 4yr 6 month old in the lower, and they seem pretty comfy from the photos!
Apparently they've done something clever with the thigh support so footrest isn't needed?
I think I need to go and have another play about - I've started to hear good things about Phil & Ted Navigator too, so might check that out as well!
Wish me luck at BabiesRUs tomorrow!

I think you have your answer there, you can live with how it looks as long as the dcs are comfortable in there. Fwiw both my dds had a go in the BB apple2pear last year, dd2 was 15m dd1 was 3y3m they were both comfortable. Dd1 looked massive but said she was fine.

I know 2 people have the phil and ted and love it. It's maybe just because the seat on the Apple is so generous that in comparison it looks small.

I would absolutely go for the Apple2Pear out of the two. Its the easiest and less problematic ie no queries over which child goes where and when and at what age. Its a 'proper' full tandem with two good seats. The children are comfortable, the pushchair feels great and it is the easiest to push tandem I have ever tried. Fabulous. I do agree about the hoods though, but its easy to pick up some old Apple hoods if they really bother you. You don't have to buy the new style hoods to start with - the Apple2Pear comes without hoods.

Thanks, I think that's the conclusion we've pretty much come to, it seems by far the best of the single to tandem models that we've looked at. Actually, to be fair, we had a good look at the Oyster Max too, which is about £200 cheaper all in for the tandem, but it had a few personal niggles for us (handlebars don't extend, so with carrycot on at bottom my knees bumped it a bit coz I'm short, and the controls for reclining and removing seats were trickier to operate), and TBH the iCandy is just cooler