Travel System brand advice please

[Buckets]

Want a travel system for baby#3 as we need a new carseat anyway so it seems good value. Plus I like the option of cadging a lift with someone occasionally!
Am put off Graco & M&P ones because their carseats have a special extra cradle thing which makes them rather inflexible (unless you carry the cradle bit everywhere).
Also going from a McLaren pushchair, some of them are bl**dy heavy even without the carseat on and I live right at the top of a hill.
So any recommendations for a lighter travel system that can be bunged in anyone's car at short notice please?
TIA

a maxi cosi cabrio car seat fots on LOADS of buggies

and its the safest group 0 car seat there is

the graco seat doesnt need the in-car base to work as it also fits with the car seat belt too. The M&P one also fits with just the seat belt but they recommend using the base (probably to get you to spend the extra cash!!)

I had the graco mirage travel system. I've been pretty pleased with it over all. It was great having the base in our car as it really does make it easier to take the seat in and out, but you can fit it in other cars without the base. The only thing I would warn you of is that some seats don't seem to have long enough seat belts to do that with.

The mirage only weighs something like 5kgs so is pretty light. It is pretty basic though. However it does have a fab large shopping basket.

I've just found out I'm pg again and will need to get a new pushchair (the mirage has done nearly 3 years but is now at the end of it's life). I am probably going to get a Graco again but a more expensive model as I would like some of the extra features.

Ooh that's good to hear that you can still use the carseats like 'normal.' My mum's Micra seatbelts are a b*gger for infant carseats - about time she got a new car LOL, must start drip drip dripping the idea into her head.
So now I just need to look at weight (and price natch.) Will take a 2nd look at the Mirage.
Thanks

Anything but Mamas and Papas - they have the worst customer service and after sales care in the whole bloody world!

Depending on your budget, the lightest buggy that a Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix (the car seat mentioned by nannyl above) will fit onto is either one of the Micralites. The Toro is more versatile (proper reclining seat) but it is more expensive than the Fastfold.

I have had the Fastfold, and my only moan about it was that the seat didn't recline properly (had the carrycot for when DS2 was a newborn), but they have since brought out the Toro, I will be buying that for DC3, whenever a DC3 comes along, hopefully sooner rather than later!

I have to say I was pretty impressed with the mirage that I had too - so light and easy I had always been a bit of the line of thought that graco were cheap and nasty but was very pleasantly impressed. The britax rock a tot will fit in almost any car because it has a short seat belt routing system.

memomum have you paid the MN Traders fee to advertise ?

travel systems are cr*p IMO. what you need to do is get a car seat thats fits your car (mothercare, halfords offer a fitting service, also check britax.co.uk for their fit finder).

safest seat out there is a maxi-cosi cabrio.

then work out what buggy suits your needs.

for me, i am going for a britax isofix car seat for the car, and will have a second hand stroller for the car, and in the house my old Mountain buggy with new carrycot. i walk a lot, i love my mb, its easy to push steer etc, and i am putting a decent mattress in the carrycot to double it up as babys first bed.

Agree with Misdee - I LOATHE travel systems!

I hate the idea of baby going from car seat, onto chassis, back into car ...and then "oh baby is asleep, i'm not waking her/him now, so i'll just take the car seat in the house and let him snooze for longer ..."
No physical contact for babes and no comfy stretch out either.

Just my opinion obviously - its one of those things that really grate on me ...

IMO definitely get the car seat that fits in the car best and a buggy/pram/pushchair that best fits your needs.

I can see a use for them tbh in that its easy to pop the seat on the chassis during a short trip/school run etc. its just when they're over-used that they're a bad thing.

I hate the idea of travel systems, but we bought one for dc#1 as it was the pushchair we wanted, plus the car seat was cheaper that way, we were able to be flexible on which car seat to get. I have never used it as a travel system, the pushchair is now in sporadic use for dc#3, and the carseat also.

It is a graco seat, and the base makes life easier, as I hardly ever take the seat out of the car, as i'm a shorty, and struggle!

I'm assuming the pushchair itself is suitable from birth, rather than just when the carseat is attached? I wouldn't want to use it all the time as you say - plus it would weigh a ton going up my steep hill 3 times a day for schoolrun .
I quite often get public transport over to relatives' and more often than not I'll get a lift home or at least to the station or DH might pick me up, so for trips like that it would be great to have a carseat on me!

Buckets , not all are suitable for under 6 months unless you use the car seat (in Graco's case as well as the pushchair seat, which adds to weight), you need to check it lies flat fro a newborn and even then it may be forward facing only.

My mirage was suitable from birth, but ds hated it before 4 months. He was a summer baby so we couldn't wrap him up in the pushchair because it was so hot and I think he didn't like it because he seemed to move about in it quite a lot. He seemed to like being in the car seat because it was quite confined.

This is why this time round I'm thinking of getting the graco quttro which has a carrycot. Although I am looking at other pushchairs as well.

Front-facing not an issue to me and will be using a sling for the first couple of months weather permitting. Tried the Mirage in a shop today and it did lie flat - was really impressed with the weight, even with the carseat on it. Just hideous fabric like a shellsuit!

It is available in different fabrics, my one has a cottony fabric. Being able to just remove the seat cover and wash it was a god send. It has always washed really easy and come up really well.

Also though you can get really nice footmuff/liners to go on buggies. So if it's only the fabric putting you off you can bear that in mind.

mothercare has a couple of fabric choices but are available online only: graco mirage

i had a graco travel system and a graco double buggy and found both to be really well made, i had them for over a year and they were still like new when i sold them on,

ours was a great fabric called blackwell which was cottony but they seemed to change some of them lately lol,
i got the graco aerosport travel system in the sale at the glasgow pram centre for £90, which i was VERY happy about.and i had no complaints at all with it.

Thanks Seona that's the 2008 ones that are horible in real life though, really shiny.
Have found a few brand new older models from Ebay shops in less tent-ish fabics. Hard to tell from a pic of course and I know beggars can't be choosers .