All Terrain Travel System

[MagpieSong]

Hello lovely mumsnetters. We've moved from the city to a remote village since I last had a baby and so my pram - which was great for small city streets - is now a bit futile. I'm looking for a really good all terrain one (most likely a 3 wheeler), definitely one that manages rough ground and is able to deal with slopes. We're also near the beach, so if it can also do sand that's a positive. If possible, my best option would be a travel system. I'd prefer it not to be too tall (pushchairs like the Stokke Xplory are a bit huge for me as I'm 5ft). What are your ideas/reccomendations? Are there any you'd avoid like the plague?

I'd thought about the Jane Trider, but have heard mixed reviews. If anyone here has one, do you like it? Does it actually go well over very uneven ground? Is it simple to use? How's the footwell space?

Thanks so much.

I have a Phil and Teds navigator and it will literally go over any terrain so highly rate it!

Uppababy Vista! Great over all terrain and the basket underneath is massive

Nipper 360 or even better Bob revolution but not so readily available

Good all terrains are:

Uppababy vista
Bugaboo fox
Thule urban glide
Silver cross pioneer
Out n about nipper
Mountain buggy

We have the mountain buggy and love it. Taken it everywhere and haven’t yet found anywhere we can’t take it. We’ve taken ours on mountains before no pun intended and it was pretty good uphill too, taken ours to the beach too and even with the stones etc it was great!

We looked at the BOB too but didn’t like the footrest as it was rather triangle like also considered the Nipper, but decided on the mountain buggy as the footrest seemed the best.

I’m 5” too and find I can manage it perfectly fine although I wouldn’t like to be lifting it out of the boot on a daily basis if using from newborn carrycot plus looks really good as it can also convert into a parent facing seat, whereas with the nipper/Thule after carrycot its forward facing. Vista, Fox and Pioneer can all parent face until longer.

All these can be used as a travel system with car seat adaptors— as you already have a DC I’m assuming you already have a baby car seat? If it’s one of the Maxi Cosi/Nuna/cybex/Joie/BeSafe it should be able to fit onto the universal adaptors.

Having had a Bob (with the larger rear wheels) and a mountain and 360 - Bob is best 😂

Mine still hoped in for a ride at 7 with one perched on the footrest and was still a dream to push!!

Also forgot to add—there’s three versions. The swift, urban jungle and terrain. Swift is the lightest and isn’t necessarily the best off road but does OK, we have the urban jungle, the terrain has larger wheels so copes better on some terrains but we’ve had no problems with the urban jungle

Thank you so much - this info is perfect! So helpful! Do any of the 3 wheelers parent face for longer or just with the carrycots?

Ps. I don’t have a baby car seat as we didn’t own a car last time. I used a Joie stages for my youngest in my parents car, but this time we’ll be driving and will have our own car so will buy a baby seat. I’m happy with any good one that fits that travel system we choose though.

Mountain buggy is the only three wheeler that can parent face past carrycot but not the others. You can get maxi Cosi/universal adaptors which take majority of car seats from these brands:
Maxi Cosi (of course!)
Nuna
Cybex
Joie (not Juva)
BeSafe
Axkid modukid (with interim adaptor)
Recaro (but if it’s the Zero.1 elite where the infant carrier attached to the up to 4 car seat, you need an interim adaptor)
Mountain buggy do their own one—protect

Look into sling and carrier options too. Narrow gates and stiles get very limiting!

out n about Nipper is brilliant. Very lightweight and very well suited to all terrains with excellent suspension and big wheels. Fabrics all easily removable (and replaceable) for a hose down. Really good customer care too. There are some Facebook re selling sites which will have all the advice you need. You can get a carry cot and car seat adapters but doesn't parent face after carrycot unfortunately.

But I'd also second what another poster said. A sling or baby carrier would be even better! My favourite would be Tula with the newborn insert and/or Close Caboo

We have a baby jogger city mini GT, which has good tyres for off-road. We're in Scotland and d need something I can fold one handed on the bus, fits in the car, and also copes with trips to family in remote Highlands. We've been up decent hills and off-road a lot with it a lot, it's been fishing and golfing and it can do beaches but harder to push on sand. Can lie flat for newborn world facing, a separate newborn cocoon can make it parent facing when lie flat. I had a separate car seat already so can't help with whether you can fit one but it is easy to push.

Don't worry, I already have everything ready with slings etc. I loved slings/carriers last time - it was somewhere my DC1 was always really snuggly and happy. It's more that even just to walk a short distance nearby I'll need an all terrain (we moved to a Welsh village up a mountain, beautiful but not city buggy suitable!) and I can't over-wear carriers due to joint issues. Good to hear about the Tula too as I hadn't heard about that one. Thanks so much for this advice, it's really useful!

I think I'll see if I can try out a Mountain Buggy or Out n About Nipper. They sound great and just what we're looking for!

Absolutely love my mountain buggy all terrain. It's fantastic on all surfaces. We live next to the beach and it copes well with sand, does mud and is really manoeuvrable (and easy to run with). We bought a carry cot with it and used the car seat with adapters. We're using it for child number 2 now, it's 3 1/2 years old with daily use and still looks fantastic.

The mountain buggy parent faces after carrycot using carrycot plus. We are using this mode atm for 6month old in the swift. We use the mountain swift in the ‘mountains’ daily as we live half way up one.
I do really like it, and it’s light enough to go in and out car boot daily. But I don’t think the parent facing seat will last us much longer. It says to 9kg, and Ds is 7.5kg at 6 months, so maybe 9months?

The tfk (trends for kids), is worth looking at. It’s German I think, but parent faces a lot longer if needed.

Thanks, @Caspianberg - I'll check that out. I've never heard of it before. Also, great to hear more positive reviews of the Mountain Buggy. It's a shame so many of these brands aren't focusing more on parent-facing for longer, though I'm sure that will change in the future as I think quite a bit of research is being done on it atm. At least 9 months is better than the 4 months-ish for lots of carrycots! I'll have to get my DS1 to run next to the buggy and chat to the baby from 9 months onwards- he's enough of a chatterbox it shouldn't be asking too much .

Yes TFK mono is a good one.

The problem with parent facing is that it limits you to a much smaller seat. With the TFK at least you can buy a larger seat for later, so you can use the initial seat until I would say around 2.5 years, this also converts to carrycot so you can use from newborn. If you have a smallish child or use infrequently then you may get away with it until 3 but I think it would be a squash. You can use the larger seat from 6-12 months ish, although it's only world facing you can then use it through until about age 4 as it's so roomy.

I think Uppababy as mentioned right at the top of the thread is parent facing longer as well.

Another German one if you can get it over there is ABC Design Salsa Air or Viper. This has a HUGE seat and can parent face all the way through to 22kg. The fold on the Viper is massive whereas it's more normal sized on the Salsa. You also get a proper lie flat recline with them - my bugbear with a lot of expensive prams is that they have "ergo" seats which just tilt backwards for your toddler to sleep in rather than lying properly flat. Neither are three wheelers, but IME the number of wheels doesn't make a huge difference, it's much more about the size of them and the material (air, air chamber/foam, rubber, plastic)

Sorry - parent facing + three wheel, I mean - because of the shape of the frame of three wheelers, you'd need to fit the reversible seat completely within the frame, which makes it smaller. A lot of the three wheel buggies have much larger seats because the seat utilises the entire frame and can't be taken off the pram at all.

I've got a Jane trider and an out n about nipper and the trider does ok on tracks etc but couldn't cope with the mud/gravel/sand the out n about does. I mostly keep the Trider in the car for town/shopping and the Out n About for around the farm. I got the Trider because I wanted a lie flat car seat this time (second baby so dragged around lots of big sister's activities!)