Can anyone review M&P Sola?

[Nocoffeenoworkee]

I had a quick look at the Mamas and Papas Sola today and was pretty much sold. It ticks all the boxes for me:

1. Lightweight travel system
2. Smallish
3. Suitable from birth without really needing the carrycot
4. Parent facing and rear facing options

Can anyone give me an "I've used it and this is how it is" review?

I'm also considering the iCandy Cherry and the Babystyle Oyster so feel free to provide comparisons.

Thanks everyone, I'm sick of this!

Hi all,

I have just gone on to very.co.uk today and they have now changed the wording on the website to say 'Compatible with the Mamas and Papas carrycot which can be purchased separately'

How annoying! For all of you who had already ordered I hope you get some compensation!

Nocoffeenoworkee - M&P say they deliver in 2-4 weeks.

I am definitely getting the £100 now as they found the recording of the telephone call. Now have email saying they will charge me £100 for the pushchair when it is despatched (I was already getting it for £200 with 20% code off).

Think this is definitely an error on their part but they can't go back on their word now!

Hope others get some sort of compensation!

I feel so bad! After bringing everyone's attention to the cheap option through very, they have now changed their tune!

To make matters worse, they are refusing to give me any sort of compensation. It's either take what is delivered (ie no carrycot) or get your money back and get it elsewhere!

I suppose that the 50quid discount still means a saving overall of 50quid, even if I have to buy the carrycot, but feeling very sorry for myself.

Sorry girlies, thought I was doing a good thing, but turns out that too good to be true really is that.

Any suggestions of ways to get something from them? DH is trying his best, and may have someting through some internet buying legislation, but not holding my breath...

Check out this thread:-

community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a6198305/bought_sola_vey.co.uk_vey_mad?cpg=3&csi= 2020713221&pd=1

You will see there are many people in same situation. Several of us, myself included, have refunded money to buy the carrycot elsewhere so keep pestering them as they may give in. Unfortunately however it is becoming harder to get the carrycot for free - when this all kicked off they seemed to want to keep us quiet - now it seems they are being picky as to who they refund!

Thanks,

Is it possible to get details, so I can give them to DH for his correspondence? - if he can state "Mrs. X was refunded money as form of compensation, why should it be 1 rule for some parents and another for others...?" Does this break Mumsnet rules? I really want to sort this out, but not hopeful....

At least we can look forward to next scan in 2 weeks I suppose, and it's only a buggy at the end of the day... (

It would not make any difference to give out my details, if you look at the other thread I gave you you will see they are assessing all cases individually and are not interested in who has been offered what. Sorry!

As I was one of the first to receive the telephone call, over the phone I managed to get a £100 refund which they then forwarded to me by email confirmation.

It seems they are being less generous now - some are only been offered 20% discount off the carrycot and others nothing.

Where have you ordered from? Got the pushchair from Very today which I am really pleased with, so just emailed them to get my account adjusted. Fingers crossed that goes ok!

I am a mum of 2 (+1 on the way) and I onwed 3 pushairs so far.

For new baby, I am alos deciding between the Sola, the Oyster and the Icandy Cherry as the option of facing in both directions for a pram than weighs no more than 10KG is key for me.

I spent 2 hours in the shop playing with the three pushchairs.

• The lightest is the Icandy Cherry, but it does not have an adjustable handle, you have to take the seat off to fold, the sun canopy seems too small, you will need an umbrella.
• The smallest is the Oyster, and it be perfect if the seat would recline more (it seems unsufficient for a 6 month old to sleep in. I also found the bumper bar very difficult to remove. It has the best for the sun/insect canopy feature and I liked the black fabric that does wash and does not get dirty so easily.
• The simplest was the Sola but you have to like the fabric (these colors would get dirty quickly), the shopping basket is not great , the handle adjusts but from my experience it is not the best mechanism (especially if you intend to drag the thing up the stairs) . You also have to take to seat off to fold and it does not fold that small. In addition, like the Cherry, the chassis does not look so funky, a bit boring even.

The shop assistant was desperate to sell me a Cherry or the Sola rather than the Oyster, I do not know why; the Cherry works out more expensive, the Sola and Oyster are very comparable. The Sola has however a 2-year warranty, the Oyster 6 month only.

The Sola is great because it properly reclines and you can see a 6m+ old would sleep well in it .

For my ease of use and compactness, I would have chosen the Oyster in Black + carry cot but for my baby's confort I will buy the Sola + Carry cot.

The only thing I could not fully assess was the suspensions, all 3 seemed adequate but until you hit the curb, you do not really know.
The best price for all these pushchairs were surpisingly not on line but at Tommy's in London SE15 4NB.

I have been using my Sola now for a week and a bit - and I love it! My DS is 11 months old, very tall and he has plenty of room. I cannot really fault it in anyway, other than handle bit tricky to move up and down and when folded is a bit big. You do not have to take the seat unit off if the seat is facing away from you, it does fold with this on.

Overall it is lovely to push, very easy indeed. The hood is fantastic - we have had some really sunny days and it covers my DS so no need for a parasol.

I haven't found the shopping basket too bad but then I put loads in it anyway - it is sufficient for my needs.

Overall, great pushchair and would recommend to anyone!

caroleli - have you decided yet? If you haven't, don't buy the Oyster! I had it for 5months (my DD is 13months now), and as fantastic a buggy as it is, after 5.5months of use (I haven't been hard on it or anything!), I had to put it back to my store a couple of weeks ago.

The front wheels stopped working - the lock/unlock of the swivelling wheels siezed, this is a known fault with the Oyster.
Parts of the chassis were breaking off and it made horrendous creaky noises when being used. It became very flimsy.

I "traded" it in for a M&P Sola (my store would not refund my money without me paying for a courier to send it back to Babystyle for testing ). The Sola is FAB! I love it!

Not good news about the Oyster! Grr!!!

I have still used my Sola on a daily basis and am overall still pleased with it.

A couple of nagging things though:-

1. The basket collects stones as you go along - can only think the wheels are throwing the stones up into the basket as your push it along. I find I have to keep hoovering it!

1. It developed a terrible creaking sound. I folded it however and sprayed with WD40 where I thought I could and hey presto it's stopped - phew!

Still loving the Sola though and would not hesitate to recommend to others!

I have been using a Mamas and Papas Skate since my daughter was born in October but I'm ready to give up on it! It's just too heavy to lift in and out of the car and I dread coming upon a kirb when I'm out!

I'm going to buy a Sola but I was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback about how it handles especially up and down kirbs?

Does it come with the chest straps or are they included with the footmuff? Can't afford the footmuff just yet.

Yeah the Sola comes with chest straps. It handles really well even up and down kerbs. I can push it one handed even with both of my DC in it!

In short supply at the moment. Can't get hold of one anywhere. M and P are doing 10% off but it's now July delivery - probably second week.

I am outraged! I was planning on buying the Sola for our 1st baby (due Jan), because when I first saw it in M&P in May I thought it was very good value at £225. However, the price was increased this autumn to £260. I thought this still seemed reasonable value. But today, I see M&P have increased it to £350! That's a price increase of £125 (more than 50%) in 6 months. Is that even legal?! Now I'm going to have to totally rethink my whole pushchair purchase, as the Sola no longer represents the best value on the market. So irritating...

CrouchEndMum is £350 just instore because it is still £260 online.
Would be gutted if it did increase as I was going to get this pushchair too, to be honest not even looked at anything else! Thought I would be getting a reasonably priced pram.

Great news! Mamas and Papas have 10% off everything until Sunday night, so you can get the Sola, plus footmuff, plus carrycot for £391 (call it £400 with the delivery charge). That comes in cheaper than the Oyster in any of its combos if you are buying the lie-flat carrycot with it.

Also, the Sola carrycot is suitable for overnight sleeping if you buy the accompanying £19 mattress, so we are going to have this as a moses basket for the first 6 months until the baby moves into a cot, saving us the cost of a moses basket and ensuring we get maximum value for money out of something which is only usable for 6 months. We're going to get the rocker stand from M&P to put it on.

Please don't buy an i-Candy Cherry!! We have just finally been given a full refund on ours after months of wrangling and hassle. The back wheels and axle simply weren't up to the job of pushing our comparitively light baby daughter around our local streets. I-Candy were very unhelpful and accused us of misuse to get out of the warranty, which effectively makes the warranty invalid. It is also fairly expensive, and so are all the accesories (e.g. footmuff, £70, carry cot, £150).Eventually it was John Lewis, not i-candy who bore the cost of the refund.

I like the Sola. Have it on cress.

Am selling now Was going to list on ebay but happy to sell on here.

Bought Eatster this year. Raincover included.

I want a new Bee...

Have got a Sola and very happy with it - ended up getting the carrycot as well. I started out without it but couldn't get her strapped in properly and in the end felt she would be better protected and more comfortable with it. I chose the Sola as it was comparitavely light weight, easy to steer, and I felt great value.

Absolutely shocked if they have raised the price over £100 - it's gone from being great value to marginal in that case in my opinion..)

FAO CrouchEndMum :the carrycot instructions say do not use with a stand so don't get one!

The seat only folds in the forward facing position otherwise you must turn it round, but doing that is really easy.x.