Those with double pushchair experience - Side by side or Tandem?

[AllTheBabies]

My situation is - Dd2 will be 17 months when dc3 arrives. We walk a lot for the school run, about 5 miles a day with lots of hills and kerbs to bump up and down. We also have a set of 8 stairs to get up and down outside our house. I like to be able to push one handed at times so I can hold dd1 when crossing roads etc.

And advice on side by side and tandems would be greatly appreciated! I'm leaning towards side by side but have noticed a lot of tandems being pushed (Phil and teds mainly) and wondered of I'm wrong.

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Hello!

We've noticed that this thread is quite old now, and some of the product recommendations are a little out of date. We've spent weeks speaking to parents and testing the top-performing buggies on the market to find the best double pushchairs for 2019.

Hope this helps!
MNHQ

Mountain buggy duet.

Narrow - can fit through front door
Large wheels - can bounce down or up the 8 steps still
Can convert to single with basket when older wants to walk later without changing buggies
Can push one handed
Main Seats suitable from birth

I had an out n about double

Loved it!

Would recommend too

My twin mum friend said her while twin group went for side by side as they're meant to be easier to push. Based on that I went for the baby jogger mini city double. It fits through most shop doorways, has a brilliant fold.

Brittax dual was handy to use while up but very heavy when in pieces.
I loved the city twin, it was narrower than a double but still side by side.
I didn't get on with philnted!

I had an Out n About and it was great, used to walk for miles with it.
If I had twins tomorrow though and I had the money I would buy a Mountain Buggy.

We had a side by side (baby jogger city mini double) and one of my friends with a tandem asked to borrow it when we switched to a single. She said that curbs were an absolute killer. She didn't have a Phil and teds style though.

We got on well with our pushchair. It was fairly light (well, as light as they can be), easy to manoeuvre, and would fit through standard doorways.

I've used lots of different doubles, side by side and tandem.
By far the best and easiest to push was the out n about nipper.
Easy to push and steer with one hand, lightweight, really good for up and down kerbs.
Only downside it doesn't fold easily or very small in comparison to say a Phil and teds.
Easiest to fold was the mini city jogger. But I found this heavy and not easy to steer one handed.

Out n about!

My friend has a similar age gap between her two ds and she bought a Phil & Teds navigator which she loved, however her youngest is now too big for the bottom seat so she has bought a side by side.

If you're likely to have big babies (or are tall), it might be something to consider.

Out n about nipper.

Had a tandem it was just too heavy. Yes it was narrower but I couldn't manoeuvre it anywhere near as easily.

I candy peach tandem. I like it, heavy though.
The out and about nipper is great; but it would block my narrow hall way.

Out n About nipper double. Side by side over tandem always, tandems are a flipping pain to push and one child always gets a compromised seat.

Mountain buggy. When you have 2 of different weights I've heard tandems or one above the other can be quite unstable especially when going down steps/curbs. The mountain buggy diet is the same width as a wheelchair and gets through most single doors. We love ours, and the sell on for a good price too!

Mountain buggy double, every time. Easy to manoeuvre, stable, excellent on all terrains (including dog walks in muddy fields).

I had a tandem once but it was so heavy that I had to jump to put enough weight on the handle to get up kerbs!

We live quite rurally, and a side by side won't fit on most pavements, or down the aisles in the local shops (or even in some of the shops)...

We have a Babyjogger City Select for our twins, with a second seat kit. I really like it - easy to manoeuvre, easy to fold and put in the car etc. Plus you can have quite a few seat configurations too

Thanks all. I've got the single out n about and it's great so I'll probably go for the double version. I'll check out mountain buggy too, if I can find one second hand.

I live in a city so I'm not too bothered about width (to an extent!) because pavements are wide and shops are big. We very rarely use public transport and have a large cupboard we can wheel it straight into so storage isn't a issue. The only problem would be fitting it in the car but I guess we can just use the single and a sling.

I adore my uppababy vista. Single and double plus tonnes of variations. 👍 and a huge storage basket. The size of a shallow shopping trolley.

Emmaljunga Viking Double 735. The foot print of a wheelchair so will fit shop doors etc. Steers brilliantly and not too heavy.