Criteria for buggy, anyone got any suggestions?

[pookamoo]

Hi, we've been advised to think about shopping for a buggy while I am still able to summon up the energy to look round the shops and before I get too big to handle them!

We have started to come up with some critera and I wondered if anyone has any suggestions for buggies we should look at. We plan to test them out "live in the shops" and once we've chosen the one we like we'll try to find the best deal.

This is what we're looking for:

3 wheeler
Pneumatic tyres
Light weight
Suitable from birth
Able to travel rear facing (so I can talk to the baby)

We're not worried about it being a travel system as we would prefer to get a buggy which lies flat and a separate car seat which stays in the car and will last until the baby is early.

We'll want to use it both off road and around town.

I know Mumsnetters are good on these things, and there must be some pram-a-holics out there who could give me some ideas!

Thanks!
Pookamoo
x

How much "off roading" do you actually want to do? Are we talking muddy fields or the long grass in the park?

There are few (if any?) true All-Terrain pushchairs that rear-face. I loved my Mountain Buggy (only sold because I need a double very shortly), but I did miss having the baby facing me once the carry cot was finished with. (13 years ago I had a buggy with a reversible seat and loved it).

Anyway, a Quinny Buzz can do reasonably well on grass and so on, but couldn't do a muddy field like a Mountain Buggy. It's Maxi-Cosi compatible and you don't have to have the carrycot for a newborn if you don't want to. The new ones come with a bigger seat unit for later on. You can fit a buggy board to a Quinny and by the time you'll need it, the manufacturers guarantee will have run out anyway, so it doesn't really matter warranty, imo. I haven't owned one, but definitely would consider if I were choosing again for a single child.

Haven't read all the posts but just a quickie. In the instuctions for RF Group 1 (isofix base) seats it says they're suitable from 0kg-18kg so this one would do from birth. However, have to agree with teaandcake about convenience of getting the belt restained seats in and out of cars for babies.

As for 'where the legs go' in RF seats as children get older.longer? This is most people's first response to these products, and in answer, children bend their legs a little. (They're the norm. in Scandinavian countries as they're proven to be five times safer than FF carseats, and parents there have no problems with them as far as I know.

i agree with you about not needing a baby carrier. i never used one with dd1 + 2 and coped fine. we had the pre-decessor to the britax first class and was very impressed. with dd3 i borrowed a maxi cosi citi and found it heavey tolift, back breaking, PITA to fit it in the car every single time.

you are corredt on the 2hour rule as well, car seats arent suitable to be used IMO on buggies for babies.

get the best car to fit your car and the best buggy for your needs.

the mounatin buggy is fab, but doesnt rearface unless you add the carrycot. i dont know what your budget is either.

I loved my 3-wheeler (aside form the fact you couldn't have baby facing you) bought 4 years ago it is a Urban Detour - heavy and bulky but great off-raod and really easy to push (takes a buggy board as well).

But now I am pg with no.3 and have a nearly 4yo and a 2yo - I don't use it at all. As I need to be able to push and steer one handed and fold the buggy one-handed (if I want to go on the bus). I use a micralite which is light and easy to use (and now an all terrain set of front wheels are available). I am selling off the other buggys and getting a carrycot to attach to the micralite for baby no.3. No one buggy does it all. You have to think about how you travel and what your priorities are - these can change with subsequent children (depending on the age gap).

Good luck - happy shopping

not from personal expereince but i've heard the nipper is the best 3 wheeler, only 7kg and easy to fold, no rear facing, but most babies want to see the world by the tme they're alert and sitting up a bit

Well, just an update...
We went and tried just about all the buggies in "That's My Baby" (highly recommend it, the staff are so helpful especially to first time parents! Plus they are online, link somewhere above)

Anyway, we are 99% certain that we have picked the buggy. We're going to go for an "iCandy Apple Jogger" which comes with a carrycot, is a 3 wheeler with a big front wheel too, reversible seat and can be converted to a double buggy later if needed. Seems to tick all the boxes and was a doddle to fold up, change round etc. DH was off round the shop with it and a 14pound rucksack in it to see how heavy it would be!

Thanks everyone for your advice, now we have to pick a car seat! They showed us the MaxiCosi cabrio which is compatible with the buggy if we wanted it, plus you can get a fixed in-car base (either isofix or seatbelt or both) which the seat just slots into, maybe that would be the best of both worlds? Anyone used a fixed base for a carrier type car seat before?

Pookamoo, please feel free to totally ignore this but I sell prams/nursery equipment for a living and we do sell iCandy products.
We the staff hate them but the boss continues to have them because they have a decent profit margin.

Our experience of them has been pretty awful - poor build quality and numerous faulty parts. All the early ones we sold came back with faulty front wheels so the customers swapped the double front wheels for the centre wheel (which came as part of the package on earlier models-now an optional extra) and all hated it, complaining of difficulty in steering with it on.

Having a 3 wheel configuration does not make any pram all terrain. For example, the Quinny Buzz also has 3 wheels but is definately not suitable for off roading.

In all fairness to iCandy they replaced all the faulty wheels and issued an instruction leaflet with colour photos on how to go down kerbs with the pram (!) but do you really need the hastle?

Maxi Cosi Cabrio is an excellent car seat. I definately recommend the use of either base, it makes life so much easier.

Apologies for such a negative post but the wrong pram for you can be an expensive mistake.

Thanks Teandcake, that's very useful to know! I have read a few reviews, and we've got a while to go, so we can still shop around to make sure we get the right pram for us.

Great news on the car seat base though, thanks!

I have a Jane slalom with matrix seat - used it only in seat position in the car - the buggy is great if you plan to do lots of miles and use it in rough terrain. If I have another babe I will probable buy another car seat as the matrix does not score well with Which , however I haven't had any probs with it. DD now 2 so don't use it so much - oh and its big to take into the shops - stroller required then.

I have a Jane slalom with matrix seat - used it only in seat position in the car - the buggy is great if you plan to do lots of miles and use it in rough terrain. If I have another babe I will probable buy another car seat as the matrix does not score well with Which , however I haven't had any probs with it. DD now 2 so don't use it so much - oh and its big to take into the shops - stroller required then.

I think it would be really helpful to think about how much of the buggy's use will be in town, and how much off road. I lived in London when I had DS1 and wouldn't have been without a rear-facing as that was what we used all day, all week. But occasionally it would have been great to have off road capability for weekends.

If you're in a similar position (ie off road useful but not everyday), I'd be tempted to get a really good rear-facer that you can attach a buggy board to (bugaboo springs to mind, although it's a while since I looked properly so am a bit out of touch here), and then get a cheepo fixed front wheel 3 wheeler for weekends. In my experience, the problem with trying to get a buggy that does everything is that you end up making a lot of compromises. Hope this helps!