MOUNTAIN BUGGY - CAN YOU HELP ME CHOOOSE!?

[BUSTERTHEDOG]

E3 EXPLORER vs EASYLIFE SPORT vs MOUUNTAIN BUGGY - SOMEONE HELP ME CHOOSE!

My son is 2.5 years old and I want a suitable buggy for walking the dog etc, that will last til he's about 5 if poss.

Which is lightest / best out of these - has anyone pushed them all?

yes that was my main reason for an urban as my main use for buggies is around town, shops, to school etc.
hope that helps

CP and hub2dee have siphoned all living matter from vyumyum's brain.

Actually, I noticed there is a little bit of Mountain Buggy Brain Juice left.... let's go for it:

Vyumyum - Cp and I can get either cotton canvas seats or polyester seats (on 2005 models they're now padded). Any comments either way if you had the choice ?

Also, did you bother getting the MB carrycot or did you just put the seat back / use a sling / weren't using your buggy from birth ?

And this is the last question for me before I can see the brain juice running out:

If we got the Urban, would there be a need for a light, umbrella stroller (a la Maclaren Techno etc.) for public transport / restaurants etc. or is the Urban Really The Only Buggy A Pramaholic Need Buy ?

And thank you yummy one.

if i had a choice of any mb now i think i would still choose mine a canvas seatas it washes really well, padding would be nice but i just brought a sheep skin for when he was little and a buggysnuggle (which don't get me started on, are fabtastic and come in great colours to 'personalise' your mb)for when it was colder. i didn't buy the carrycot as felt that it was ok with the extra padding of a fleece or buggysnuggle. i personally felt that the carrycot made it too cumbersome.
you don't really need a stroller as most restaurants etc have room for buggies especially if the baby is little. if you use the bus regularly then i would buy one but otherwise wait until ds or dd about 2.5 then you will buy a light weight buggy anyway, because you invariably find around that age they are getting a bit too long for it (probably 3 yr before you relly have too buy a stroller.)
if you think of anything else just ask, buit got to go now dh says hes starving!!! but no doubt will be back tomorrow :O

charleypops - I have a double Terrain and it is great. I also have a single Instep Nipper (again, fixed front wheel) which is excellent.

I haven't used the MB Urban but I did have a swivel wheel on my E3 which I didn't like. Wasn't too keen on the E3 all round so sold it on but I would probably go for a Terrain as a single buggy unless all your trips out are going to be in the High Street. We seem to do far more buggy pushing in parks, across grass, and on straight stretches of pavements than we do round shops.

hub2dee - definitely recommend a carrycot. We bought one for the double MB for our second baby and it was great. She slept really well in it and it lasted for a few months. Friends with Moutain Buggies said they wished they had bought one. 15 degrees above the horizontal is still not flat enough for me and both my babies slept with their hands up by their heads for which they need to be flat!

pinkmama has a terrain & she really likes it, has used it for her ds & will be doing so for her new baby. i will draw this thread to her attention!

It appears there are delighted people with the Urban.

It also appears there are delighted people with the Terrain.

chaleypops: we'll have to get one of each !

It appears there are people who were happy to do without the carrycot.

It appears there are people who thought the carrycot was totally faberooney.

charleypops: We'll have to get one between us and jigsaw it in two !

hoxtonchick: pinky's got one ? Ha ha ! Another brain to syphon

Gem13: that one line was v. useful: seem to spend more time in parks than in shops.... SO true. OK, so even if a fixed is a bit more difficult to turn, exactly how much of our lives will we spend in a high street shop ? We're more likely to be on a walk somewhere or doing an activity etc...

It reminds me of a line I read the other day from an MNer (sorry can't remember who) about supermarket shopping where they pointed out that you're more likely to put the baby / child in the trolley than trying to push them around in their buggy...

(Sorry if that's obvious but cp and I are in dire straits)

Thanks vickiyumyum again for the input and advice. Hope your dh is sated. From this link did you 'snuggle bag' or 'mini snuggle bag' or did you GASP use another product altogether ?

Hi Hub! Glad you asked Vicki about the snuggle bags - I daren't ask her anymore questions, poor girl!

Thanks Vicki! Jeez, you must be sick of me and H2D

Gem - thank you for your experience with your fixed wheel double and Nipper - I think someone else recommended the Nipper in another recent thread

Hoxtonchick - thanks for that! I hope she sees this thread soon!

OMG, Charley. Are you STILL researching the buggy options? Just buy one. You are clogging up the mumsnet server with this topic.

I've got a very nice Urban on offer here . Let the bidding war commence .

Yes Uwila! - I was too embarrassed to bring it up on the June thread after boring you all in my pre-Jane Powertrack weeks

Wow Justine - that's a good price! Have you seen what they're going for on Ebay??

Don't get her to double the price cp !!!!

Go for it and then flog it if you need to later !

You'll retire rich !

cp: This is weird.... I stalked through uwilas recent posts to see why she was having a go (due to lack of emoticon) and see you are on the same antenatal thread... and then I see you've chosen the cot I'm contemplating !!!

The Global dropside thingy ! We want to consider cosleeping but would probably prefer dd next to us rather than squashed in between.... this cot is perfect !

Just to make you sick: I presume you are aware there are several sizes in that range (crib, small cot, large cot) I think - all with same matress-to-matress concept.

OK... let me do a magic mind reading game.... have you contemplated car seats ?????

Yes ???

Are you contemplating Britax First Class Si ?

(If not I bet it is cos it doesn't fit your car).

Would love to know how I did ! Am I telepathetic ?

Don't think Charley can buy this one -- that would involve a decision.

Ha ha Uwila - you sound JUST like my dp

Spooky Mgluckly hub about the cot Unfortunately, I've decided on a Matrix lie flat car seat because I have a thing about my baby tying flat. I know it's not ideal - very big and heavy, and there are better ones once it's moved round to rear facing, but it's the only one on the market and has won safety awards (not to be confused with the unsafe car-carrycots you see occasionally)

Have you looked at baby water mattresses?

And what about slings?

ROFPMSL - baby water mattresses ????

Tell me about them now !

Actually must go to bed or will be punished.

CP: there was some (slightly) heated chit chat several months back about lie-flat car seats and the fall-out from a Which report which was rather vague on how certain models had done. The Matrix warranted further investigation IIRC.... not sure it came up smelling of roses, but some argued the report was misunderstood yadda yadda yadda.

The Britax one I mentioned can recline, and is 0 - 4 years, backward / forward in one...

Anyway, aren't you meant to be celebrating your engagement with df ?

Baby water mattress? Please tell me that was a joke. But, if one does exist, Charley would be the one to ponder buying it... for a very long time. Soon she'll want to know what kind of water to put in it. Or perhaps it should be a slightly more viscous fluid to reduce motion sickness in puky baby???? Something that doesn't spoil and smell bad.... possibly ice? Just kidding.

hi h2d and cp - hubby was happy once i rang the indian takeaway!
the buggysnuggle in question is from www.buggysnuggle.com in case this link doesn't work. i brought my mb from john lewis so hadn't realised that mb did so many accesorries! never mind cos i love the buggysnuggles and they come in great colours and patterns as well as plains.

anyway hope this link works \link{www.buggysnuggle.com}

link obviously not worked, sorry {blush} you wouldn't beleive my pre baby career was IT services!!!!

oooh... they're shnuggly.

Thanks.

Oh yes Hub and Uwila! look here at one of the first European distributors of baby water mattresses

I have had a look at those car seats hub - they look great actually - but I've definitely decided on a Matrix.

Lol Uwila at my pondering of the viscosity! So true...

cp - this was the thread - rather heated, possibly a little misinformation floating round, but worth a read... my guess is you've already read it and carried out your own definitive investigations ? !!!

I've never been on a water bed for any extended period of time. Not sure it'd be so great for baby, but can understand the thinking.

Bet you contemplated the Stokke Sleepi for a while... (yeah, I know, no dropdown )

Yeah hub - I think that thread happened in the wake of those horrifying carrycot (marketed as safe for use in the car) crash tests when, as far as I know, at least one carrycot was taken off the market. A lot of people mistook the Jane Matrix car seat as one of these. Which is isn't. People may have been further confused because Jane do a carrycot as well as the Matrix car seat. I would never have a baby in a carrycot in the car. Jane Matrix lie flat car seat is one of the safetest out there according to my (in depth ) research. I just can't believe there's only that one lie flat car seat around tbh as all the scientific research says newborns need to lie flat. I know Mutsy do one with their travel systems but haven't been able to find any info about them. I've emailed them, but I've yet to hear back...

My thinking behind the water baby mattress is that babies can develop flat heads lying on their back all the time - or if they favour turning to one side. My dp's niece and nephew had this, still do actually 3 and 8 years on. It's no big deal and they look fine, but I'm just looking at alternatives. Also I'm sure that in a few years' time there'll be some "revolutionary" "sleep system" for babies that will eliminate this. I know you can't use pillows in the cot, so I thought a water mattress might work well in preventing any pressure points while the baby can't move around much. I will probably end up with a conventional mattress in the end because there's just not the choice out there in water mattresses yet. Haven't looked at any mattresses in the flesh yet though....
I've never slept on a water mattress myself. although i've had a bounce round on my friends! The baby mattresses I have seen on the net seem to be much "subtler" than the adult ones and marketed entirely towards orthopaedic comfort.

It didn't take me lond to find the right cot as it happens, thank goodness - there's not a lot of choice out there for bedsided cots. The best priced Global cots I found are here and here both of which include delivery. They are not the cotbed versions which are about £50 or so more expensive and I don't really need one of those. I have seen the very same cots selling for £165 + delivery

Flat heads ! I hadn't heard of this before... ignorance was bliss. ... will check it out.... Do the US manufacturers use a different brand / name ? (have you got a link ?)

Thanks also for those cheapy links to Global bedside cots. - v. useful.

Ref: Matrix: Yep - lots of confusion from what I could tell too. I knew you weren't talking about a carrycot. I'll have to get a hands on...

To compound the difficulty of the decisions, our car is a two door convertible and so I'm not really sure if we're going to try and continue with that or sell and buy a more practical car...

vivkiyumyum - BTW, those buggysnuggles were v. cute. My favs: Sheep, purple butterfly, purple flower.

Any closer to buggy nirvana, cp ? I'm towards the Terrain at the mo: lighter, narrower, cheaper, less bits to malfunction - and looking at the time likely to be spent walking (anywhere) vs. spinning around shops (shopping centres only really as supermarkets have trollies), I think it's probably the better choice - esp. as may get some light / cheap umbrella stroller for the car boot / buses etc. etc. etc.

Ha ha carbooting! I'm off to the first of the season in a bit!! One of these days I will get there first thing.

Can't believe you're tending towards a Terrain! I'm tending towards an Urban now after having a go with a new one in JL with dp yesterday. He says if I don't decide by Monday he'll place an order himself, he's so sick of me dithering So have you actually had your actual hands on a Terrain?! I just cannot find one anywhere to try out.

There's was flat heads thread recently - it's really common, especially now they recommend the baby sleeping on his/her back.

Think you need to get a more practical car I'm afraid....