Travel System - Silver Cross Surf vs Jane Trider Matrix vs Bugaboo

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So as the title says...... What would you go for? I am a new parent to be (July 4th due date) so we are currently looking at Prams.

We went Pram shopping at the weekend and liked the 3 prams.....

Silver Cross:

We loved the silver cross for the looks and the fact that you could get the limited edition model which was very nice.... my only concern was the travel systems wasn't that easy to use and the Car Seat isn't a lieing down car seat (like the JANE Matrix) which I loved and thought was great... also after reading up this looks like the future. The price is also expensive around £1200 all in with car seat, adaptors and isofix base.

Jane:

We also liked this price, probably not as much a silver cross in terms of look but the practicality and ease of use has got to be unrivalled! It was so easy to manoeuvre and take things on and off the pram.
We also loved the lieing down car seat... after reading up it this sounds like the way forward for our little baby. I wish this car seat was compatible with the Silver or there was a lie down car seat with the silver cross as this would then be the perfect system!
We did also like the 3 wheel system... seems a lot easier to manoeuvre and we live in the country side.

Bugaboo:

Lovely prams, my only concern again is the travel system.... they are only compatible with a normal child seat and you also need adapters which is a pain!

So... after all that what would you go for and why?

Thanks

What's your lifestyle? All three are large prams which fold in two parts. Not great for travel or in and out car

Also lie flat car seat is pointless on pram. They should be taken out car seat and transferred. The lie flat car seat in Jane for example only fit them a few months.

It's safest for child to be rear facing in car as long as possible (4-5 years). Therefore I would be suggesting a car seat like the cybex sirona that lasts newborn to 4+ years. It's called extended rear facing car seat. They stay in car.

Then that frees you up to buy any pram as no need to fit car seat to it. Even lie flat aren't fully and are super heavy, you would never be able to lift the Jan lie flat car seat with sleeping baby out car and onto pram btw without removing child first as so huge and heavy.

Bare in mind a car seat for newborn also needs to fit a 2-3 year old. The silvercross and Jane ones don't really fit a toddler. The bugaboo chameleon does well, but is heavy ( we had this and I liked and used but would be the bugaboo bee next time)

I suggest you get a pram that folds in one piece. It gets very tedious taking seat of to fold every time.

Get one with large front wheels if you go off-road or live in country, small if not

Maximum weight of whole pram 10kg. 8-9kg ideal, but some are 15-16+. Bare in mind a 2 year old can weigh 15kg, that's 30+kg lugging around. A huge pram also won't fit easily in cafes, restaurants, shops, buses, boot etc.

Look at:
Bugaboo bee
Easywalker mosey
Mountain buggy swift
Cybex mios

I loved my jane. Had the carrera and matrix.

The matrix was fab. Lasted dd till she was 18m. I used it as a carrycot at first, then when she got older as a ff seat, which i could lie flat if she fell asleep while out.

It was a bloody godsend with dc2 and reflux. I could incline it slightly and it was the only place he slept as he couldn't sleep flat.

I used to lift it with baby in no problem. Found it easy to transfer from car to pram and back again too.

The carrera was only 7kg and umbrella folded though.

That was about 8 years ago.

Thanks for the response ArtandCo

Lifestyle at the moment is probably very different to how it will be once baby is here.... partner and I spend a lot of time out in restaurant and bars with friends and not much time at home. We live very rural (we dont have a neighbour for a mile) and we have a woods right behind us which we like to walk in.

My partners family has horses and we spend time down at the stables.

The lie flat Jane car seats works as a carrycot as well which is something we liked - do you not like this?

The lie flat car seat is best for the baby up to 6/8 months isn't it? It helps with spine and breathing so I've been reading?

We would probably look to get a new car seat around 15/18 months once the little one was to grow out.... the partner wants a recarro one

Out of the 4 you have pointed out there I really only like the bugaboo... The others just dont have the appeal to me.

The lie flat car seat thing is good for breathing. However only one car seat can be rear facing and lie flat that's the kiddy evolution pro. The rest lie flat long ways in car which hasn't been tested safety wise as well and then just lie flat outside of car, which is what a normal carrycot or pram do anyway.

I don't think any you listed would suit for lifestyle of countryside or stables etc you mention. We have the bugaboo chameleon 6years (2 children). Like I said it wa stone but in hindsight far too heavy ( we used a sling 90% of the time). The wheels at front are too tiny for off road . The bugaboo buffalo is bigger but so heavy and large.

I would say for your lifestyle of countryside, you need something with three or four large wheels. mentioned above have only two large at back and two small which are useless in off road, countryside, etc.

The Jane trider would work wheel wise, I would want to test how heavy it is though with the heavy car seat carrycot and try it with 15kg added in bags to get idea of 2 year old in it

Maybe look at:
BAByzen Zen - comes with carrycot
Abc design cobra

The recaro Zero.1 i-Size Performance is suitable newborn -4 years. But at £400 it's why it's worth being able to use from birth and not having to buy another the first year

Have you seen the icandy all terrain?

I just want to interrupt you about the car seat. My son has a Cybex Sirona which is a car seat for 0-4.
He isn't that tall but he long out grew our travel car seat which was a Cybex Aton. That's the size you would have from birth and at 7 months he was too tall. The ones that go on prams are really too small and the shops never advice you that the reality is you will use it less then 7 months before you baby out grows it. It's expensive to get the isofix base for them (we did this begrudgingly) and we are happy we bought the Sirona for at home as it is isofix and doesn't have a base. It was priced at £400 but at least we don't have to buy him another car seat. The Aton came for free with our pram but it's not something I would have bought otherwise.
Regards the pram, what car do you have? We have an Audi A6 avante and his pram is in two pieces a bugaboo chameleon. This doesn't change whether or not you have the chair material or use the bassinet. It takes up our whole boot and it leave me no space for groceries or wellies. When we go walking my son is in a sling as you will probably find that it's much more practical.
The pram is such an issue for us that I ended up buying a travel push chair and I'm looking at bigger cars think Range Rover Vogue or an xc90 size and the pram still takes up so much space!!!
If you can, have a look at mountain buggy they might work with your lifestyle.
We are always out for dinner and the bugaboo is a pain in the bum as its so big but I love that it's higher then a push chair and can face both ways.

Try them in your boot and also think about where would you keep it would it stay in the car or would it stay in the houses

Normal carrycots dont hinge though. That's what i loved about the matrix, there are 4 or 5 recline positions so you can have them flat, sat up, or anywhere in between. Babies get bored of lying flat very quickly, so it was great to be able to incline them to a degree appopriate for head control while awake, then pop them back flat if they dozed off.

Like i said too, brilliant for my refluxer as i could lie him at about 10 degrees. Inclined enough to help his reflux, but flat enough for the spine.

REally - but babies are suppose to lay as flat as possible the first 6 months, hence hinge carrycots aren't usually made. You can tilt many flat regular carrycots at an angle though ( the whole thing, not just one end)

ArtandCo... what do you think to the Kiddy Evo Luna car seat? It got a which best buy and has the lie flat postion but can fit onto lots of prams.

I do like the kiddy evo lunafix, but I still wouldn't use it out of the car as it isn't fully lie flat and doesn't allow baby to stretch out etc. In a carrycot or lie flat pram baby can stretch out and carrycot has a proper mattress for back.

I would buy if you do 1hr plus journeys regularly as it's only one that rear faces and lies flat whilst moving .many like the cybex cloud q only lie flat outside car (kind of pointless). For us now it would be useful but that's because we drive across Europe ie London to Munich in one go, so hours in car seat. But at £350 if your just using locally just use a safe car seat, and remove child when leave car.

A decent sling is good investment ie boba 4g

Another consideration, prams often have regular updates and changes, if your not due until July, I recommend not buying anything too soon as some might release a really helpful change in the meantime.

Art- do you mean to sleep? I certainly didn't have mine lying flat in a carrycot for 6 months- one was cruising at that age, and certainly wouldn't have put up with a carrycot for out and about.

Hence my love for the hinge. I could sit her up while we wandered round the shops, then lay flat as she fell asleep, without waking her. I think mine were wanting to be looking around from 6/8 weeks? I used to hate seeing 5/6 month olds in pushchairs fast asleep sat up, or tinies in car seats.

Plenty of babies get way more than 7 months out of their infant carrier car seats! My average size elder son was 13 months before he moved up to a BeSafe IZi Combi (this was from the BeSafe iZo Go) and my younger one still has plenty of room in a Maxi Cosi Cabriofix.

With regard to whether it's better to buy a newborn to 4+ car seat from the start - really is a decision only you can make. We liked being able to bring our kids inside in their car seats whilst stil sleeping if need be, and although we didn't often attach their car seats to the buggy (Versa GT, which you might want to look at), it was a useful feature occasionally. I think the BeSafe iZi Combi and Kid, both of which we've had, are technically suitable for newborn but personally I didn't want mine in their until closer to 9 months-ish, and I think the advice is that they'll be safer in an infant carrier than a Group 0/1/2 at a very young age.

I'd definitely look at the Babyjogger Versa GT, which is still being sold although it's no longer made. It's successor is the Premier. It takes various infant carrier car seats and has a lie-flat carrycot. Alternatively you might like the Babyjogger City Mini GT, which is suitable from birth (lies flat so doesn't need a carrycot) and also takes infant carriers. If I was buying again now I probably get the latter. (I do love my Versa GT though, especially being able to parent-face.)

Reallyanotherone, yea us too our baby was in the chair by 16 weeks

Really - no out and about even if awake they used carrycot flat until 7-8months. A pillow maybe towards end

But most can sit independently by 6 months? What is the advantage to them lying flat for so long?

There must come a point where you have to balance the benefits of lying flat with needing to develop sitting and standing skills? Doesn't lying flat for so long hinder muscle development?

I had the Jane rider and matrix. My tall did was still using the matrix at 20 months old and was still happy and comfortable with the rider seat which is the same as the trider at 3 yo. My rider cooed with everything I threw at it which included some very rough terrain.

Really - I don't know. Prams that's don't lie flat aren't sold for under 6months. Many sold only have carrycot then a non lay flat part stated over 6months. Our European pediatrian (lived overseas often when they were babies), said they should be sat up in prams/ highchairs/ bouncers until they can sit up fully independently. Hence ours laid flat on back, on front when rolled, until they sat and crawled and walked.

They must have been screaming blue murder my son is so curious and was from about 8 weeks ...