For babies on the move (Graco Mirage)

Member Name: sheri3004

Product:	Graco Mirage
Date:	08/03/07 (942 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lightweight and manoeuvrable, great value for money

Disadvantages: Not the most stylish on the market

If you don't have children, you may imagine the choice of baby transportation to be a simple one. Prams, pushchairs, that's about it, right? Well, no, actually. There is a bewildering range of options out there, some of which retail at approximately the price of a small car (well, nearly) and are barely recognisable as baby buggies at all. (Those are the ones you see celebrities - stick-thin, naturally, two weeks after giving birth - pushing their ridiculously-named babies in for the benefit of the paparazzi. It's not so much a buggy, more of a fashion statement.)

The Graco Mirage isn't making any kind of a fashion statement and is unlikely to make it into the style magazines or score you many points among the yummy mummies, but it's a perfectly serviceable and reasonably priced item. Having surveyed the multitudinous various options available, after I stopped banging my head against the wall I decided that our best bet was a travel system - in plain English, that's a pushchair which also incorporates a car seat, which the pushchair can be used with (for younger babies) or without (for older babies and toddlers) - and off we went to investigate.

After a bare minimum of looking around (hey, I was pregnant, I couldn't face too much traipsing around the shops), we decided to take a chance on the Graco Mirage (hoping it wouldn't disappear, mirage-like, when up close) at a very reasonable £149.99 from Babies R Us. This, for those who don't know, is the baby section of the oddly-named toy superstore Toys R Us. My husband refers to Babies R Us as "Babysaurus", which is frankly a much better name. They should change the name to that, and have a cute baby dinosaur as the logo….

Anyway, I digress. In exchange for our £149.99, we received the following in an enormous box: the basic pushchair, the Autobaby 2 car seat which can also attach to the pushchair to enable a younger baby to travel in comfort, the Autobase car seat base, a raincover, a footmuff and a changing bag. Pretty good, I'd say. To get some perspective on this, the car seat retails separately for £69.99 and the Autobase for £29.99. The changing bag isn't the greatest looking item and to be honest I've never used it for its intended purpose (I keep the instruction manuals in it instead). Yes, baby transportation systems do come with instruction manuals… and boy, do they need them.

Having said that, the Graco Mirage is a straightforward enough contraption, as these things go. The Autobase is a real blessing, as it can be safely installed in the car using a rear seatbelt and then stay there on a more or less permanent basis, enabling you to lift the car seat (with or without resident baby) on and off as required. This is incredibly easy to do - it just clicks into place, and can be removed almost as easily, by squeezing a lever at the back. The same applies to attaching the car seat to the pushchair chassis - click on, lift off. Couldn't be simpler. The car seat straps are easy to use and can easily be lengthened or shortened as necessary. The well-padded car seat includes a sun canopy and a head cushion for younger babies, and appears to provide a comfy enough seat - at least, my daughter hasn't complained yet. (Maybe she's saving it up for when she learns to talk?) The car seat is Group 0+ (this is another area of major confusion for the uninitiated) which basically means it's suitable for babies weighing up to 13kg (29lbs), or about 12-15 months.

The pushchair is light and manoeuvrable, with swivel wheels giving fab turning ability. The wheels can also be locked if necessary, if you're on rougher terrain. (Though I probably wouldn't ideally use this pushchair for walking on rough ground - a front or back carrier being preferable.) The suspension isn't bad. It has a reasonably capacious shopping basket underneath - this can hold a fair bit, though is not that easy to get larger items in and out of. The seat has three positions from upright to reclined. The pushchair is easy to fold and unfold (dimensions when folded are 90 x 50 x 36 cm) and fits easily enough into the boot of my Renault Clio, though it doesn't leave room for much else. I haven't mastered the mystic art of one-handed folding yet, though it's very easy to unfold with one hand.

Appearance-wise, the Mirage looks OK. There's a bit more black plastic on show than might be the case in a perfect universe, but it could be a lot worse. It's not going to get mistaken for one of your designer whatchamacallems (you're unlikely to see Gwyneth Paltrow pushing one, I'd hazard a guess), but it's fine for what it is. It's available in a few different colour schemes, although Babysaurus only had it in a turquoise and black affair.

To summarise, it's a lightweight, manoeuvrable, easy to use travel system which won't break the bank. And most importantly, my little girl seems safe and comfortable in it.

I think Babysaurus have stopped doing the one we bought - at least, it's not available in the spring/summer 2007 catalogue, and seems to have vanished from the website also. The Graco Mirage is, however, available from Kiddicare.com for £119.97, which includes the car seat but not the Autobase or other extras. More information is also available on the Graco website - www.graco.co.uk.

Summary: Excellent budget buy.