With the new Quinny being fully revealed tomorrow it's about time I talked you through the 'collection' of pushchairs we've had over the past 30 months and why some of them have now gone.
What we want out of a pushchair:
Something different - hubby especially hates the Maclaren style pushchairs and I'm not that keen either so that immediately removed many options to look at.
I also have problems with both my wrists so I find some pushchairs cause issues as my wrists compress at the wrong angle. This can be compounded when the handle can't be raised.
No 1. Quinny Buzz. Our first pushchair/travel system. Sister in Law had one which we liked and then we went and had a look for ourselves and it was certainly our favourite. Purchased before DS1 was born we still have it and use it. On the plus side I love the fold, seat seems comfy and does parent facing which I really liked up to the age of one. Downside is the size when folded is quite big.
No 2. Quinny Zapp. Bought as a lightweight stroller to keep in the car we had very mixed results with this. I like the idea of it but in practice didn't like bending down to fold it up all the time and the wheel noise isn't that great when pushing over bumpy pavements. DS also found out how to push the hood off at about 6.5 months and didn't give up doing it. When he was about a year old we gave it to mum to store at hers for the odd visit and got another one as it drove me to distraction (and did nothing for my wrists) to have one hand pushcing and one hand holding the hood on! Raincover is awful as well - I don't know anyone that can get the raincover to stay on - maybe that should be a challenge on a TV show!?!?!?
Now he's older it is more useful and we've taken it abroad which has been good.
No 3. Lee Bruss TakeOff. This is that unusal stroller that turned up on the apprentice a few years ago. We got ours before it was on the show having seen it at the baby show. Bought on the premise that we wanted one pushchair per car to save a 1.5hr return journey just to pick up a pushchair if we left it in the wrong car once I was back at work (which has happened to a couple of people I know)! Fantastic design and I loved the way it was so easy to fold and unfold. Size when folded was great and left plenty of room in small boots. Had a small recline which was an improvement on the zapp and a great big sunshade. We took it to France for 2 weeks and it was amazingly good. On the downside the crotch strap was a pain as it wasn't held in very well and you had to compress the strap to take it out to move to the position for the larger child. This was fine until DS became rather strong and managed to pull the strap back out while sitting in the chair. It was a mare going round the rest of the trip when he could worm his way out. Thankfully repaired under warranty I did some research while trying to locate where to go to and found out that distribution had been stopped due to doubts about the product and many complaints about the mechanisms failing. I wasn't impressed with that so when it arrived back we decided to sell it while it still had warranty and was working. Thankfully got back what we paid for it and moved onto getting a replacement. (pushchair 5).
No 4. Baby Jogger City Mini. This was the replacement for the zapp and is probably my favourite pushchair. I love the easy way it folds. Good size seat which takes a good weight. Nice wheels, easy to push, looks a bit different, amazingly large hood to keep the rain off and good adjustable straps. Nothing really to fault this one on apart from you have to pay for all extras like the raincover, car seat adapters.
No 5. Mamas and Papas Luna. Replacement for the TakeOff we looked long and hard for this one. Key thing that drew us to this in the end was the straps. DS was a real wriggler at the time and didn't like straps so the way the gave greater freedom was a big plus point. Fold was OK, fitted into our C1 boot which was one of the key requirements, had layflat option.
It's a nice pushchair, to me nothing exciting but serves a requirement.
For the future. Well tomorrow we find out what the Quinny is all about and we can then start making some decisions. We plan on keeping the City Mini but we may well move on our Buzz and Luna to make space for the new Quinny, and (if needed) a Baby Jogger City Select Double as especially due to my wrist problems I'm in the position that we will need a double as I can't cope with buggy boards, carrying babe in a sling for long periods or having DS1 walking a lot (he doesn't do it - sits in the middle of the road if needed until you pick him up!).
Time for bed as busy day tomorrow. Will post some initial thoughts on the Quinny soon.
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