iCandy Raspberry, Maxi-Cosi Loola or Uppababy Cruz 2015? (sorry, long!)

[ACatCalledFang]

After spending a couple of hours playing with various pushchairs in Mothercare this afternoon, I'd appreciate any help anyone can provide with which might be the most suitable pushchair/travel system for us! Currently expecting DC1 in August. Criteria are:

• public transport-friendly. We don't have a car, and most of our journeys will be on foot or by bus/tube/train.
  
• narrow, i.e. under 60cm wide. Anything wider than this may have issues getting through our front door, and is probably asking for trouble on buses.
  
• not too heavy - our tube station has lifts but you can never guarantee they're always working so might have to get it down stairs sometimes. We ruled out a number of pushchairs today, such as the Oyster, the Easywalker Mini and Silver Cross Wayfarer on the grounds that they were quite heavy enough without a baby with them.
  
• not ridiculously expensive - my parents are very kindly buying this but I'd prefer us not to go over £700.
  
• parent-facing (with option for this past 6 months - so have ruled out the various BabyJoggers).
  
• decent basket underneath.
  

Before today, I thought the obvious choice would be the Bugaboo Bee, probably second-hand, but we didn't like it at all - it felt far too flimsy. Same for the BabyZen Yoyo 0+, which also felt very low down.

I really liked the Raspberry, but DP was not so keen - he thought it felt flimsy. He liked the sturdier feel of the Loola, which was on offer (and being pushed very heavily by Mothercare staff so it wouldn't surprise me if there was commission involved). It was a very good deal, though, at £500 including carrycot and a car seat - the latter being thrown in for effectively £35. My only reservation with the Loola was its weight (12.9 kg to the Raspberry's 5.9 kg)- I could lift it but wouldn't fancy trying to lift it with a child in.

Having done a bit more research online since, it looks as though the Cruz might be a good compromise and provide that sturdier feeling while not being so heavy (10 kg). Mothercare don't stock this so we haven't tried it (might require a trip to John Lewis). The Loola also gets very mixed reviews.

Any thoughts? Any obvious brands/models we've discounted? All suggestions gratefully received (and thanks for reading the essay)!

[eurochick]

We have the pre 2015 Cruz. I generally like it. It feel sturdy, it is a good height, can parent face and it us not too bulky (like you I had public transport concerns). Downsides are that it is fairly heavy and bulky (although not bad in comparison to many), the basket isn't huge and you can't really get to the basket with the carrycot on the base. But all in all, I would buy it again.

[Goanddoapoothen]

Have you considered the mamas and papas armadillo flip?

[ACatCalledFang]

Thanks, eurochick, that's useful to know. I plan for us to go and play with a Cruz if possible before we make a decision, to see what the weight feels like.

Goanddoapoothen (love your user name!), we did look, briefly, at the Armadillo Flip but decided it would work out quite a bit more expensive as we would have to buy a separate car seat, whereas with any of the others we have the offer of borrowing a Maxi Cosi car seat from a trusted friend - we'd buy our own if we got the Loola package as it's good value, but I doubt we'd use it more than a dozen times in the first nine months, so not averse to borrowing. The Armadillo Flip was coming in at over £700 with carrycot and car seat, though not much over, so perhaps worth a look again. Do you have one? Would you recommend it?

[emark]

I have the armadillo flip, got it brand new from baby show for £200, we didn't need carrycot as baby was 5mths when purchased. we use it with a maxi cosi pebble car seat, adaptors were about £20 iirc.
I love the flip so versatile, huge basket, easy to use and folds tiny with one hand.

[Ihateparties]

That sounds like a lot for an loola, especially given you don't actually need the carrycot afaik. The easywalkers mini is definitely lighter and smaller, was there something else in your criteria that knocked the mini out and kept the Loola in?

I haven't used one but the newest Cruz looks good, the wheels are vastly improved.

I think everything you have mentioned bar the yoyo and bee will be nigh on impossible to carry up and downstairs with any regularity. They are both low feeling and flimsy feeling compared to the bigger systems but if that's what you need from the pushchair.. To be able to lift it with dc in.. Then those are the compromises. Totally up to you but if I had the day to day life you're describing I would without a doubt go for something like the Yoyo and also use a sling a lot probably.

Have you looked at the baby jogger vue?

[Stinkersmum]

The urbo2 is great. Not the cheapest but I won't be getting the carry cot. The pushchair lies completely flat. It's quite narrow too.

[Goanddoapoothen]

No I don't have the armadillo flip but have heard good things. Think also you can use maxi cosi seat on it with adapters. It does lay flat so that's an alternative to carrycot from birth.
Re: username, thanks, it's a sentence I find myself saying far to often!

[ACatCalledFang]

Thanks to everyone who's made suggestions so far - this is really helpful.

Ihateparties, I definitely suspect I am looking for the impossible! I'd already come to the conclusion that we have to decide between sturdier-but-heavier (DP's preference) and lighter-but-potentially-flimsier (my preference - and I will get the casting vote as I'll be the main user for the first eight or nine months). We definitely plan to use a sling a lot in the early months. I'm hoping we wouldn't have to use stairs on a regular basis - or rather, that I wouldn't have to by myself - but you never know whether lifts are going to be out of order at tube stations.

In terms of the Easywalker, it did feel heavier when I tried to lift it off the stand. But I've just looked at the website and you're quite right, it is 11 kg compared with the Loola's 12.9 kg. Maybe we should go back and give it another go!

I also wasn't quite sure how the Easywalker would work for a newborn without a carrycot and whether it needed some kind of pod or cocoon to make it suitable, or whether the carrycot is essential - it comes in at £720 on the Mothercare website with the carrycot. Do you just fully recline it and strap them in, then? Again, if we don't actually need a separate carrycot, that might open up options. I just assumed we would need a carrycot for a newborn - is it a more comfortable option?

Cost-wise, the Loola is currently £330 including a Maxi Cosi Cabriofix car seat, plus £165 or thereabouts for a carrycot. So about £500 including a car seat (although the latter isn't essential). Haven't done exhaustive research around price but the Raspberry comes in at about £560 and the Cruz about £630 with John Lewis. Easywalker Mini would be £560 at Mothercare, but £720 with a carrycot. Armadillo Flip is £399, or £560 with a carrycot.

The only thing that put me off the BabyJoggers in general was that they don't seem to have a parent-facing option. But I've just looked at the Vue and it does have that! So thanks for that suggestion too!

emark, thank you - that's really useful to know regarding the Maxi Cosi, as that would bring the Armadillo well within our price range if we didn't have to buy a separate one. I hadn't realised that it was compatible with the Maxi Cosi Pebble (which is the one we can borrow) using adaptors.

Any thoughts on how important the fold is? Most people I see on buses in London with buggies don't seem to fold them, and we live in a flat but with our own front door so can leave it at the bottom of the stairs (but would probably need to fold it each day and leave it there).

And is anyone on here familiar with the Raspberry? I felt like that ticked all our boxes but DP is less keen.

[NishyM]

I looked at the Bee and the Raspberry but went with Raspberry because it was lightweight and folded really small - I was also worried it was flimsy but DD is really secure in it, we've been using it for 5 months now and it's fine for pootling around town.

[ACatCalledFang]

Thanks, that's really useful to know about the Raspberry. Do you mind me asking roughly what age your daughter is? Some of the reviews suggest that the Raspberry is a tighter fit for toddlers, but if it seems a secure fit for a newborn/younger baby, that's good to know.

[NishyM]

No not at all - she's 5 months in June so still quite small but I like that you can strap her in from birth, they tell me it can go up to 25 kilograms as well so I expect it to last a long time!