[Closed] Pushchairs (isofix question)

MrsOath's "demands" are that it packs up reasonably small and that easy to manouevre on country walks as well as the high street.

You're already up into £££ territory. The more features you want, the more you have to fork out (IME). I'd advise: make a list of the features you want. Will you be travelling with it lots? Will it be going in and out of the car boot all the time? Are you both tall (or hobbits like us)? Will it [i]really[/i] be going off-road as much as we'd like to hope? 😉 Go to John Lewis, Mothercare, Mamas and Papas etc and find what suits you best. If its outside your budget, you'll find it on eBay for half the price. (That's what we did; £1100 worth of Bugaboo for less than £400.)

As far as the ISOFIX baby seat thing is concerned, most of the popular makes will take a car seat with adaptors but some of the car seat manufacturers also make their own buggies eg Maxi Cosi, Britax.

Good luck, the choices are bewildering.

The ability to transfer the car seat to the buggy was rarely used by us. If we were popping out we'd normally put her in to the pram so I'd de-prioritise this requirement unless you're going to be popping in and out of shops and back in to the car ALOT.

Off road buggies / pushchairs are very good BUT they tend to be heavy and don't pack up very small. Our Phil & Teds weighs a tonne and has some significant design flaws, however its Ok. My Sister in Law has a Mountain Buggy that is much lighter and has seen plenty of use.

We had an Oyster system, which was OK but it fell apart as we bought it second hand. We now have a Maclaren Techno XLR(?) which for the majority of use is very good, but the wheels are quite big when its all folded up. We still have the Phil & Teds but don't use it much.

We used the car seat clipped into the pushchair a lot as we didn't bother with a pram - ours were born November and December so by the time the weather was good enough that we wanted to go for longer walks we didn't need a pram anyway.

It's really hard to find the right balance. We ended up with two, well actually three. First was a Mamas & Papas something or other, second a Mountain Buggy for some decent off roading, third was a Phil and Teds as we needed a double. When we got the P&T we sold the M&P on Ebay for a pittance.

We still have the Phil and Teds, that'll probably go in the summer, and the Mountain Buggy. Something like a Phil and Teds is a good all rounder and has the option to expand if you have another. They're pretty good off road too, although the Mountain Buggy is superb and has been all over the place (N.Yorks moors, Wales, New Forest) across all sorts of terrain.

Definitely consider second hand. We didn't and spent way more than we needed to.

The ability to transfer the car seat to the buggy was rarely used by us. If we were popping out we'd normally put her in to the pram so I'd de-prioritise this requirement unless you're going to be popping in and out of shops and back in to the car ALOT.

+1. Also, you're meant to limit the amount of time they're lying down but not flat (car seats aren't flat) when they're teeny tiny.

eBay is your friend. The Silver Cross 3D we had for #1 was second hand, as is the iCandy Pear we've got now #2 has arrived.

Once #1 is big enough that we don't need a double (I'm not entirely convinced we need one now, but [s]the boss[/s] Mrs RBIT insisted) #2 won't need to be flat and the whole shebang can be ditched for a Pop/McLaren equivalent.

Andy

isofix base in the car, seat drops into it and also onto buggy.

We brought a Quinny buzz 4 new, no pram just the buggy and adapters, and a maxi cosi car seat.
We used this with seatbelt rather than Isofix, but got an isofix base when no2 came along (much easier)
Sold Quinny, sold maxi cosi and isofix base, brought P&T double second hand
We used the car seat on the buggy a lot when they were both little

MrsOath's "demands" are that it packs up reasonably small and that easy to manouevre on country walks as well as the high street

Moon on a stick, mostly. The smaller it packs up and the easier to manoeuvre, the worse it'll be on country walks. Rough trails demand big chunkiness.

Consider a fabric sling for when the baby's small. They wake up getting out of the car seat, but they are so warm and loved wrapped up next to you that they either go back to sleep or are completely content. And you really feel the love yourself. Also works for country walks.

If you are near South Wales we have a pretty nice chunky style pushchair for sale, little use. Maxi Cosi Mura it's called.

We ended up with two push chairs. The first one is a Graco Quattro, which is a push chair, pram, travel moses baskety thing and car seat in one. There is an optional "autobase", which we bought too. It is great, but it is by no means small. We bought it from Toysrus, they have one in beige that you can't get any where else, it is a little cheaper and we managed to get a £10 off of it for something (can't quite remember what for). It ended up at £200 + the autobase (can't remember it's price). Folding it up is easy, it has a one handed mechanism. It is great for off road walks, and doesn't seem to shake the occupant too much. Unfortunately, it is heavy and big. The size wasn't really a problem when we lived in Edinburgh as the shops are big and accessible there, but we've moved to a small town with small shops. We couldn't get the buggy in to some places (I would hate to be in a wheel chair round here). We have a decent sized boot and you need a good technique to get it in and out. Mrs Tonerino sometimes struggles with this.

About a year later we bought a Mclaren something or other (<£100 I think.) Which is just a simple stroller style push chair. It's great in town and will fit anywhere. It's nearly as thin as me and really light. I had it on the shoulder strap when we were climbing too many stairs in Kyoto and it's weight wasn't really noticeable over the Mrs camera bag that I already had on. We also had it off road in Kyoto and it held up surprisingly well, although we wore the wheels more in two weeks than we did since we bought it. It isn't compatible with a car seat though...

Just bought all that junk myself. Lots choices, none of it As good fun as buying a bike. My wife is due in 2 months.

We got a phil and teds thing and the maxi cosi seat and isofix base. Best part of a lot of cash, but a lot less than some of the brands in John Lewis. Worth shopping around on eBay and online.

I wanted to get something small, but could not find anything small/sturdy/light/cheap. Too many similarities to mountain biking?

Quinny Zapp is the best small one I reckon, but not suitable for small babies. Hence the sling.

MrsOath's "demands" are that it packs up reasonably small and that easy to manouevre on country walks as well as the high street.

That would be two entirely different pushchairs.

FWIW:

We got a M&P "03 Sport" from fleabay, which does alright at the country walks bit. However, its FAR too big to get in a car boot at the same time as the dog - big problem. So it rarely actually gets taken anywhere. It ended up being what we use when we take nipper out for a daily walk with the dog, but only when that walk starts at the front door.

We also have a M&P Ulimate travel system (another fleabay purchase, thankfully). Terrible build quality. Does not fold small. Adjustable handle broke (and is now replaced by some 22mm copper piping covered in handlebar tape). The carry cot is enormous. The seat attachment is ok. Generally, I'm unimpressed. Saving grace is that the car seat is quite good, and clips onto the prambase quite easily, so we use it around town.

We're looking to replace the travel system (maybe both of them) with a buggy that folds small (britax agile or similar), and to hell with the off road requirement - we always ended up using a babyrucksack (now) or a sling carrier (previously), for walks in country.

Best of luck, baby hardware is a bloody minefield, there's a lot of overpriced crap around.

don't go for an offroad pushchair, go for a small manoeverable town one and then a sling / carrier for walks.

Our 'offroad' aka slightly chunky pushchair was useful for walks to the shops from the house, where the car wasn't used. It's still nicer to push than the Zapp. However we could easily have done without it and it didn't get a lot of use.

We have a Jane Power twin pro ( they do a single version as well).

Started off with car seats and isofix bases, was great getting them out of the car straight onto the buggy chassis, 3 wheels with disc brakes and suspension, the wheels are big enough to cope with off road stuff and the whole thing was fairly stable. Being a tandem buggy its quite long but gets through doorways with no problem.

When they grew out of the 0+ seats, we changed car seats for toddlers ones and the chassis converts into a buggy with canvas seats, still using it for trips to town but they're now growing out of it and prefer to walk everywhere.

Not too heavy and good maneouvrabilty, good quality frame. Folds up easily into quite a compact space for a double buggy, the single buggy version folds up smaller. All 3 wheels also have quick releases on them to enabke fitting into even tighter spaces.

Got ours new from an ebay shop and saved a considerable amount over the shop price. Isofix bases have an alarm and indicator lights to show that the seat is properly attached.