How did you finally decide what buggy to buy? (first timer)

[Ellsiedodah]

Hi all, we went to JL yesterday who seemed to show us the most pricey buggies. We're going to buy second hand anyway I think as just can't afford £750... but feeling like it's an absolute minefield! Would be super grateful to know how you finally made a decision -

• Where did you shop?
• How did you prioritise?

- Did you end up benefitting from the things you thought you would?

Some questions in my mind -

• Do I buy one I can run with? (I'm not a fanatical exerciser but will want at least 1 or 2 jogs a week after the baby's born)
• I will definitely walk for at least 1 hour a day through a park then when seeing family outside London will want go for walks that probably don't have concrete pathways - is an all-terrain essential?
• Do I need to accept I'll probably be desperate for a light little stroller for taking the bus/tube (I live in London) regardless?
• Do I really care about not having an Uppababy/Bugaboo/iCandy etc... don't they all ultimately deliver the same if you choose the right specs based on lifestyle? I'm not a labels gal!

We thought the Uppababy Vista sounded great, especially because of how easy it is to fold it down. But now wondering if I need a running buggy... and what I might lose if we choose that...

Thanks masses in advance for any thoughts / advice!

I found it a mind field. In the end I went for the mamas and papas sola. One of the main reasons for me is it was one of the lightest. I have a back problem and didn't want to be lifting a really heavy one in and out of the car.

We went middle of the road with a Venicci travel system and maxi Cosi adaptors for a Cabriofix. About 500. Very happy with it. Easy to fold up but do wish you could fold it to put in car with the toddler seat on.

Now expecting no 2 and DD will be 17 months so still needing pram. We will have to get another one, so going for a Bebetto 42 tandem for about the same price. They are the same company.

The moral of the story... Think ahead and if you even remotely suspect you might have another within about three years, get something that can be converted to a tandem in the future. Have a look in your local independent pram retailers rather than mothercare /JL and you can often get ex display or last season's models at a discount.

Phil and Ted's might be what you're looking for.

I think if you want a running buggy you buy that separately. Personally I would prefer to run when DH is home I think.

Doesn't sound like you'll need massive all terrain to me. You might struggle if you have tiny wheels.

I chose by looking at some in person and finding features I liked. Then I wrote a shortlist of features and went through the lists on mother care etc listed by price. I found I probably needed to spend upwards of 200 to get what I want but I could easily cap it at 400. No need for the huge brands. I recommend you look at some in between, like cybex, maxi cosI, Britax, silver cross, cossatto, and mamas and papas. Joie is excellent for the price, especially the chrome. Mothercare.'s own buggies are mean to be alright as well but I'm not keen on their car seats. Baby jogger is supposed to be one of the best brands for city use.

Identify a couple in a budget you'd be happy to pay and a couple of high end but popular models and keep an eye out second hand for the popular ones on local selling sites, fb pram sites and specific sites for the brand you want, plus sales on the budget ones. If nothing had come up by a month or so before your due date, order whatever you can best afford.

Look at whether you can skip or replace any extras, too. Like I think carrycots are a waste of £1-200 and seem to take up an inordinate amount of space. I'd rather get a good lie flat on the buggy itself and use that. Though some are sneaky and include a moulded seat in order to encourage you to get the carrycot for newborns!

I went and tested everything in the shop. Then I made a list of things I liked, eg I wanted parent facing, carry cot that was separate and not one that converted to a seat, felt good to push, handle not too high, not too big and heavy, had back bar to put foot on for kerbs etc.

Then I read reviews, looked at second hand ones and how they had worn, read why people were selling them.

Once I narrowed it down to my two favourites I then tried lots of stockists to see who had discounts, ex demo models etc to find the best price.

I chose the egg in the end, I bought it new but with 40% discount by finding one in an unpopular colour that was being discontinued. I love it and am really pleased I chose it.

Hi all

Thanks very much for sharing how you approached shopping for a buggy - really helpful! Hadn't considered ex demo / local stockists etc so that's a great shout. I popped into mothercare and worried their buggies felt a bit unstable; also realised that I'm definitely not taken with iCandy brandng so that rules them out nice and easily! Gumtree seems to have loads of the Uppababy Vista secondhand, just need to work out differences in spec over the years. Also gonna go down to lovely Croydon as I hear the Mothercare there is pretty epic for choice, so I think the research will continue down there for the moment. Have ruled out the running buggy - I agree with your feeling about having time out to run @BertieBotts! Think we want something high, separate bassinet, very sturdy in feel, big basket and convertible to a second baby (thanks @mybabystolemysanity!) that will allow the toddler to face outwards with the small baby facing to me... lighter would be nice but don't have to take it upstairs and frankly they all felt bloody heavy to me! Thanks again all :)

If it helps I've run with DS in uppababy vista since he was 3 months.

C section so didn't run before that

Highly recommend the britax b agile

3 wheels, light, folds down nicely and easily
I got the travel system 3 years ago, it's still going! Honestly can't fault it at all- and I spent hours trawling through reviews!

We went for the Phil & Teds Sport, basically because someone was selling one for £100 at an NCT sale so we grabbed it! They included the rain cover, sun shade, doubles kit (in case we have a second child, which I doubt we will but anyway) and a few other accessories.

We had been looking for a three-wheeler all terrain type buggy as we live in the countryside so knew roughly what we were looking for. Plus we will probably run with it once baby 6 months old.

It goes flat for newborns, and I have bought the 'cocoon' to put the newborn in.

We can't get a carseat for it (it's an older model and Phil and Teds are apparently no longer selling compatible car seats and you aren't meant to buy car seats second hand) but I'm not too worried as you are not meant to leave baby in car seat for too long anyway.

We'll see how we get on! Might prove to be the bargain of the century, or a complete disaster !

We looked at the following things to come up with a shortlist.

What we did/where we went to determine the style ( we are v outdoorsy, hillwalking etc)
How much space we had at home to keep it in and would it fit
Didn’t want to spend a fortune
Something robust to us enough to last 2 children
Would it fold down easy enough for the car
Residual value, to sell on once finished with it

Once you’ve narrowed down to a shortlist, go and try them. From our shortlistlist, we had wanted a Mountain Buggy as it seemed custom designed for us but it just wasn’t comfy for DH to push and wasn’t adjustable. I was gutted! We ended up with one of the last Out n About Nipper 3-wheelers with a fixed front wheel and it was perfect for us (we had DS halfway up mountains in it.). We also bought a cheap as chips folding stroller (from Tesco I think) for going short trips on public transport,

My main criteria was just having to buy one pushchair to last DC1 for the whole time they needed a buggy. I also didn’t want anything too heavy which ruled out buggies that can turn into a double.
We got a baby jogger city mini GT and a carrycot (both new) it was everything we wanted. DD still using it sometimes at age 3 and its in great nick still. Certainly would have been using it for DC2 but they turned out to be twins. So we bought the same pushchair in double format!
Now also sometimes pushing a tandem buggy, I would not use one long term. We only use our secondhand baby jogger select for clicking two car seats on, but with the twins just 8 weeks old it’s already diffficult to push. The heavier the child in front the worse it is, so the toddler in front idea may not be feasible for an everyday buggy. Phil n Ted’s presumably better though as they’re not as long as a true tandem. If you’re happy to buy secondhand I would buy the single buggy you want for DC1 and re evaluate when / if DC2 comes along.