Pushchairs, Travel Systems & Car Seats

Seeing as though everyone refers to the SELOC wiki all the time for car seat info, added to the fact that half of MLOC's member base it seems is now having babies in the next 6 months (!) I thought we could add our own experiences in one place on our site. Feel free to add your thoughts on pushchairs, travel systems and car seats here.

So, armed with my lists of seats that fit the Elise we spent over an hour in Southampton Mothercare talking with a very helpful member of staff.

We liked the lightness of the Quinny's and the Buzz 3 was very sturdy and very manoeuvrable with the single front wheel. Also easy to collapse, has quick release wheels and the one touch automatic unfolding was very impressive, and if you had a car seat in one hand then this is a real bonus to put up. The Maxicosi Cabriofix was easy to fit and release. You do get a few bits and bobs but you would have to buy things like the foot muff and larger basket separately.

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We also liked the new Silver Cross Surf. Very good looking and even easier to fasten and release the various seats you get. You do get a lot more goodies with this rather than the Quinny, but it is £50 more at £450. The Silver cross collapses quite easily and is actually smaller than the Buzz but don't think the wheels come off. The seat was nice and had a few other cushions with it. The big question is will the seat fit in the Elise. This we will find out when we go back to try them all in my car in the next few weeks.

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We had liked the Britax B-Smart, had a bigger basket and was very easy to release the seat. But on 2nd viewing yesterday it seemed bulkier than the other two above and as we know - size matters!! We do only have a Fiesta as a 'normal' car so we do have to consider that as well. Also, they didnt know of the Britax Rockalot car seat as mentioned in the SELOC wiki, so we will have to try the Britax seat again in my car. This does have quick release wheels like the Quinny so should be nice and compact. This one also has price on its side at £100 less than the Quinny Buzz.

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As an option we looked that the Quinny Zapp. Much smaller than the Buzz, smaller wheels and less sturdy, but the size it collapsed down to was very impressive. Very light and does fit the Maxicosi Cabriofix with some adapters. Useful more as a stroller so may be an option for an older child and would be great to fit in the boot of the Elise. Still just over £200 so not cheap for a stroller but would be good for shorter time use rather than the Buzz.

I'll update more when we have been and tried them in both my car and the Fiesta.

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A few days later...

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Well, after all that, we bought none of the above!

We went back to the stores on Monday with both cars intending to narrow down the list of choices and not necessarily order anything. We had researched more on the internet over the weekend and wrote a wish list of what we wanted the pushchair to do.

• Lightweight
• Easily collapsable
• Fit the Fiesta boot (mk6 2008)
• Have a baby lie flat position
• Fit a baby seat that fits the Elise
• Removable wheels
• Good storage basket
• Easily manoeuvrable
• Quiet hood
• Looks good

We looked at the three chairs mentioned above and others going through the list for each pushchair.

One we hadn't had chance to look at on Friday was the Mama's & Papa's Sola.

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This was the first one we looked at with the list and were surprised how many boxes it ticked. It also surprised us as the cheapest of the four we were looking at priced at £260 (before Bank Holiday sale price).

We ruled out the B-Smart as it was bulkier and heavier than the others; Mothercare's own brand for being complicated and heavy; the Silver Cross Surf for having rubbish storage, not feeling sturdy enough and not being able to fit the car seat in the Elise.

So this left us with the Quinny and the Sola. A big thing for us was the lie flat option, being able to use the pushchair seat as an overnight cot if necessary. A lot of the travel systems have a rotating seat (rather than a seat that can change the angle of the back) and separate carry cot. The Quinny is just like this whereas the M&P the seat folds flat rather than rotates. The pushchair was very light and easily collapsable. It also goes flat in the boot of the Fiesta with the chair attached in the fwd facing position. Once the chair is in only one wheel needs to be removed to get it further in the boot. Very easy. All four wheels come off this one as well so can be made even smaller for long journey's if necessary.

This pushchair also has adapters that will fit the Maxi-cosi Cabriofix car seat, and we actually spoke to a couple in the store with this set up of M&P and maxicosi and said they were very pleased with the whole thing and they had the same car sized restraints with a new Mini.

So, after all that, great fun getting the pushchairs and car seats in and out of our cars, we bought the Mama's & Papa's Sola and Maxicosi Cabriofix

• Nice and light
• Fairly easily collapsable and put up
• Fits very nicely in the Fiesta boot
• Has a baby lie flat position
• Fits the Maxicosi that fits the Elise
• Removable wheels (all four)
• Good storage basket
• Easily manoeuvrable (surprisingly so for a four wheeler)
• Quiet hood
• Looks good

Tick, tick, tick and tick!

Job done.

This is of course our own opinions based on our set of requirements. Both of which may change at any point lol