My wife and me are starting to look at pushchairs, we want a pushchair / pram / car-seat system (unless people think that's a waste of time?)
So far we've looked at the quinny buzz and the mothercare mychoice 4. we were going to go for the mothercare one, but I've seen some bad reviews, anyone have one? any other recomendations?
we had a quinny speedi SX. Which? magazine reckoned it was the best offroad. And our baby is gnarly.
What tyres for...
Nah - Which rate the mountain buggy prams as best off road....
We were looking at the 'travel systems' but were put off by their 'flimsyness' - unfortunately what you gain in foldability, you lose in their strength.
We went for a mountain buggy urban, which is a sturdy beast, and handles like a dream!
DrP
i think by law you have to get the most stupidly expensive and yet least practical because it looks pretty/trendy
maybe when you were looking...the open magazine in front of me begs to differ 
We've got a Mothercare Mychoice 3. It's pretty good, although we had to take the first pram base back as the stitching on it was terrible (but the service good). Second one is fine and it's good as the child can face forwards and backwards and you can stick a car seat on it without any extra bits needed (except for the car seat itself). Had, and used it, for 8 months now and it's still going strong. (From pram to push chair style now...)
In hindsight should have gone for the 4 wheel version, but that's the only gripe, would recommend it.
Been heavily used off road too...
Pete
Get one with 4 wheels. the 3 wheelers are generally less sturdy - especially as junior gets bigger and more active.
We went for the Phil & Ted's buggy. And went for car seats separately. The Phil & Ted's worked really well. Tough. Sturdy, despite its 3 wheels. And took 2 children all over the place.
Not a waste of time IME
Look at the Jane ones that come with the strata car seat. We have the twin one and I rate it very highly. The car seat is best buy on Which and it works well to take them out of the car and click them onto the pram when they are small
We have a Quinny Buzz, Lil RT is just about out of it now which is good as no.2 is due next sat! the only prob i have found is its a bugger to manoeuvre around a door way if you have to lift up the back wheels, not something you would normally do. We love the Dreemi carrycot and the fact you can just put the car seat on. Not great off road as the front wheels are still on the small side but better than the buggy style ones, we have a bike trailer for off road duties anyway.
The pros far outweigh the cons but thought i'd let you know them,
overall a great pushchair.
no idea if its any good but we just got a Graco travel system (Ziggy Zebra one) from Toys r Us £200 all in including car seat base and lie flat carrycot thing was £300 odd they have a good sale on at the moment on most of their stuff
When you look at the prices of some of them upto £600+ at £200 if its not the best after a few months (ie wifey finds it cumbersome and too heavy) then at least we havent wasted so much
Phil & Ted here. Had a Loola before. Phil & Ted is very stable, despite the sweeping 3-wheeler statement above. Its also a doddle to steer single handed even with two aboard. Ours has been well used & abused for 2 1/2 yrs now & is still solid.
Car seats with a base that stays in place make it easier. Isofix is nice if your car has it.
Make sure it fits your boot also. 
Another vote for Jane, we used the matrix car seat which is lie flat
thanks all, and I thought choosing a bike was hard....many things to think about, do like the look of the mountain buggies and the phil and teds.
BOB revolution we have a single and a double, so good we bought two!
Whatever you get check it will easily fit in your car. We wanted a Mountain Buggy twin but it was WAY too big to fit in our Mazda 3 ( Focus size) boot. There is nothing that is perfect for everything so choose the one that best fits how you will mostly use it ( ie around town, on the hills etc)
Not so much of a concern for a single buggy though, m_f. But yeah I know what you mean, the Jane Powertwin takes up the whole boot in our octavia estate! I'd need a bloody lorry if I wanted to take the bike trailer and the buggy somewhere at the same time
Do you think you'll actually use the pram mode a lot? I ended up taking the bairn everywhere in a sling then a back carrier. Got a much lighter and less cumbersome pushchair later on. Expensive pram/carseat/pushchair/coffee-maker combo machine got f-all use really and sits in the loft to this day.
HTH.
PS - wanna buy it? ;O)
Mountain Buggy Urban - Not used ours yet as awaiting for arrival any day now!
Each to their own on this one I suspect, but in retrospect I feel we should have got a cheap lightweight pushchair. Whenever we ventured off road we took the little one in his rucksack style carrier (Littlelife in our case though Macpac and a few others are worth checking out). Small pushchairs are lighter and easier to stash in a car. Rucksack carriers are great offroad, around town (much better in crowds), round ski resorts, and for little boys who want to see what's going on generally - downside? they have to be able to sit up before you can use them.
If you are middle class enough, then Phil & Teds might be for you. Bugaboo are up there if you have a Ti bike and want to spunk daft money on a pram. We've got the Mothercare 4 one you mentioned - seems good so far. I got the seat base for the car on E-Bay for not much money.
the key is that it needs to fit in your car. i wanted a mountain buggy but too big for mrs l's car so pointless. got a loola up which is pretty solid and handles well. had a quiet day at kiddicare pushing all of them about and over their test track. some of the models felt dangerous over bumpy ground and steps.
3 wheelers and short wheelbase are not a good combo.
I had grand dreams of pushing the buggy about offroad, but have realised that it will be more practical to use a little carrier on paths that are bad enough to need a buggy with mountain bike wheels
Not so much of a concern for a single buggy though, m_f.
Like above...
the key is that it needs to fit in your car. i wanted a mountain buggy but too big for mrs l's car so pointless.
But as been said above, be realistic about how it will be used. We decided that the vast majority of the usage ours would get was around town as the local walks we have all have loads of stiles so no buggy would have been usable (we have a couple of Baby Bjorns instead). So it was pointless buying a mountain-type side by side - we ended up with an inline one which was more suitable for trips around town etc.
quinny buzz for out first...and was excellent, especially when you can put the baby seat straight in/out of car on/off pram without disturbing sleeping baby...sold that when no2 came along for a phil and ted's which is also very good if you have 2 small kids/planning on 2 kids in quick sucession, but you do have to disturb the sleeping baby when you put in pram/car.... had to choose... it would be the buzz
ps wife loved it and i didnt mind pushing it either...;-)
HTH
We have used a mamas and papas travel system for our first 2 and will for the next as well. The buggy part folds down small enough that it doesn't take up a huge amount of boot room and would also fit in the clio's boot htat we had at the time. As above when venturing on to unsfaced paths etc i just used a back carrier and a baby bojon when they were really little.
My sister in law had a montain buggy 3 wheeler and she said that she wished she hadn't bought it as it was hard to monever in town as its so long and it take sup a lot of room when folded.
I think the Mountain Buggy is unique in that it is actually bigger when folded down.
Baby Jogger. We have had no regrets over the last 2 and a half years. They are 'off road', light and easy to handle. Its not as heavy and as complex as others and you will appreciate that.
You can collapse it with one hand a lift it into the car while holding the kid in the other. We had the 'city' model. Dont be fooled by the name it could go any where the kid could take.
There are all the car seat attachement for the early months as well. They have updated their range and they look better now.
We never went running (jogging) with it either.
the little nipper is perfect for us - light, big wheels, even folds into the back of the mini. It doesn't have the full systems, but its so light and manoevreable that more than makes up for the few times you benefit from the integrated system (I think!).
http://www.boots.com/en/Baby-Jogger-Citi-Mini-Single-Green_1039083/
Once you open and shut it (with two fingers. You'll be sold on it.
Sod the poncy look at me quinny or icandy bollocks. This beaut weighs 7kg! HALF the weight of the other stuff. Unless your lass is Geoff Capes why would you have double the weight even before you start loading the thing up with a baby and kit?
Our little lad is 5 months old now so the whole push chair/travel system choice is still fresh enough in my memory to be able to chip in to the thread.
We got a MacLaren xt. It's small and light without looking cheap and nasty. Is suitable from birth because it can lay totally flat inside. Folds up nice and small for the car boots, is light enough to lift without getting a hernia.
Originally I wanted an all singing all dancing travel system, but I spoke to quite a few people who bought these then 3 months later bought a more modest pushcahir because what you really want is something light, easy and manouverable for car/shops etc.
We also bought a really nifty canvas sling, so when we go walking off road the wee man goes in that.
I was concerned that when he was very young in the pushchair he would be facing away from us and might not like it. Need not have worried, when very small he just fell asleep almost straight away, now he loves facing forward to see where he's going.
Honestly, it's very tempting to go big and expensive with these things but there really isn't any need.
We got a Maclaren Techno XLR - carrycot/buggy/carseat thing. the Carry cot lets you use it as a pram for the first few months, then it becomes a normal, not giant buggy.
Light (important if you've got steps), works well, wheel on each corner, looks like a buggy. Removes childrens' fingers. What's not to like?
We got through loads of buggies and prams,then bought one of these micralights
Genuinely steers and folds with one hand,converts to and from a pram etc,will take a carseat
Doesn't give me back ache either, all terrain kit available as well as loads of other bits,just the ones you want rather than a huge pile of stuff. it's 'kin ace. Cr**s all over the Quinny we had before it and has been through three kids now.
2nd the Microlite. Ours went all over the Lake district ( and I mean all over) and has not broken down once! Been in aeroplanes, buses taxi's and even Bulgaria!
Stands on its own when folded, light and just does the job.
We got an Out'n'About 10K, three 16" wheels, folds up pretty small, ordinary front brake, all the disk brakes we saw just clipped to the spokes. It rolls over anything, and goes as fast as you dare, just wait for the little'un to shouting "faster - faster" when you are completely worn out! He used from a few weeks old, with adaptors until he was over three, it's still around just in case he still wants a ride.
graco travel system... not particularly bling or fashionable but reasonably priced and functional
We've just started looking at all this stuff, and my head is wrecked. I have no idea how you are supposed to chose!
Someone just tell us what to buy! as cheap as poss. 
Wouldn't bother with a travel system. Let the children stretch out when not in the car, it's 90 mins max in a car set at a time anyway. We had a Bugaboo and then 2 yrs later bought a Phil and Teds. We now wish we had gone for Phil and Ted straight away. The new alu one is far better than the original steel framed one.
Ah Phil & Teds. I bought one of the first ones from New Zealand around 2000 and kick myself for not picking up on a distribution deal - they're everywhere now. They were very good / convenient and narrow enough to take in a shop. Once your kid's old enough though it's hard to beat the simplicity of a buggy like a Mclaren techno or something similar.
Foldability, size and weight will be on your lips after you get bored with the "must have" parambulator of 2010.
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