Talk about MULTI PURPOSE... (Graco Voyager Travel System)

Member Name: Caradawn

Product:	Graco Voyager Travel System
Date:	17/07/03 (504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Multi purpose, money saving

Disadvantages: A few niggley problems

When I became pregnant with my first child three years ago, my partner and I had to start thinking about pram and pushchair purchases. We live in a very small house and that was something we had to take into consideration because of a complete lack of storage space. All the prams that I had seen were rather big and bulky, and didn?t fold down very small. Also, if we bought a pram, then it would mean buying a separate pushchair at a later date; which meant spending out again and money was also a big consideration. So when I heard about a system which was a pushchair that had the facility to attach a car seat to it, I more or less decided that this was what we needed there and then. After all, we needed a car seat as well and the idea I had in mind was that while the baby was small we could use the car seat with the pushchair in place of a pram; then change to the pushchair once she had out grown the car seat.

A visit to Babies-R-Us found us what we wanted. They had three different models of Graco Voyager Travel System and of course three different prices. The lowest priced one was smaller than the other two and somehow the quality of it didn't look quite as good as that of the others. The middle priced one, besides being a bit bigger, had a few extra accessories, one of which was a canopy on the pushchair. The most expensive one was basically the same as the middle range one, but with a few extra luxuries which we felt were unnecessary. If I remember correctly, these included double wheels at the back as well as the standard double front wheels. After a bit of discussion, we settled on the 'Deluxe' which was the middle of the range one and also happened to be my partner's favourite colours: black and yellow.

When I first heard about these travel systems, the prices were near the £300 mark. However when we finally got around to buying the Graco, about four months later, it was in the sale at about £150. Prices today seem to vary
between £99 for the small one and £200 for the top of the range model.

Unsurprisingly, when you purchase the pushchair it needs some assembling. The fact that it comes with two fat instruction manuals (one for the pushchair and one for the car seat) was at first rather daunting. That was until I discovered that only the first eight pages were in English and the rest of the manual was filled with instructions in six other languages. I was also pleased to find that the car seat came ready assembled except for the attaching of the hood.

As instructions are not my partner's forte, it was left to me to do the assembling. There are two sets of instructions. There are the written ones at the front of the manual, which make references to the diagrams which fold out at the back of the manual. It would probably have been easier to follow had the diagrams been with the text, but then I suppose that would have meant extra printing for each language. The two sets of instructions were definitely necessary, as I would not have been able to assemble the pushchair (at least not in one day!) with just diagrams or just written instructions. On saying that though, they weren't overly complicated; unlike another pushchair I recently tried assembling. Fastening harnesses and adjusting the back of the seat is also straight forward and not too fiddly.

There are a few accessories included with this model; there is a parent's tray (basically a drinks tray) which attaches to the handle of the pushchair. Although this has its uses, I don't honestly use it much these days. Then there is a child's tray which attaches in front of the pushchair in the same way as an arm bar. This is what the car seat clips on to when used in conjunction with the pushchair. Unfortunately no rain cover comes with the pushchair, so that has to be bought separately. However, I did find that when I used the car seat with the pushchair I could pull the canopy on the chair
forward to meet with the hood on the car seat and this proved to be quite an effective rain cover. The canopy even has a little window which can be uncovered if you want to let a bit of light in to your baby. It is supposed to be so that you can look at him/her, but if you can make out your baby in the blur that can be seen through the plastic then you might want to consider a job in ultrasound scanning? The canopy was also useful when I did have to get a rain cover because in meant that I could get the cheaper 'bubble' cover rather than having to purchase the overly expensive Graco one which had a built in frame.

The canopy was not the only useful feature on this model which I ended up being grateful for. When walking into town with a mother who had bought the smaller model, I couldn't help noticing that the wheels, which were half the size of mine, kept getting stuck on small bumps. Mainly it was when she was going onto the pavement at crossing points where the curb stones are sunken, but stick up about an inch. My larger wheels went over these with no trouble.

In general the pushchair is easy to push and control. The handle is at a nice height which means I don't end up stooping like you can do on some pushchairs. It isn't too high either so shorter people, like my mum, don't have trouble with it. The back wheels have suspension which makes the ride a bit smoother than with a standard buggy. I also used to use it when standing still to bounce my daughter to sleep; so it has had some wear and is still going well nearly 2 ½ years later. The front wheels swivel and make light work of steering on pavements and other smooth surfaces. They do, however, rattle a bit so you don?t exactly get silent running. When it comes to rough surfaces like dirt or gravel paths the swivel wheels need to be locked to avoid them veering off in opposite directions. To lock them you simply slide up the buttons at the front. They slide up easily en
ough and as you are bumping along they also slide down rather easily. This is a pain as it means that you have to stop every so often to slide them back up. Or alternatively you could just push it along on the back wheels, which, as you can imagine, gets tiring over a distance.

Another feature which can be a bit of a problem is the foot brake. It is basically a bar which runs between the back wheels with a lever at either end. To apply the brake you flick the lever down and to release it you flick it up. It is slightly easier to apply than to release which means that if you catch it with your foot whilst walking it comes on. On occasions it has even been known to come on, on its own.

The seat has three reclining positions: bolt upright, slightly reclined and flat. Under the seat is a nice big cargo net which is ideal for little shopping trips and I love it. There is just one problem though. When the car seat is on the pushchair, the chair has to be in the flat position, which leaves you only a small gap through which to get your items. This means that anything bulky either has to be carried or the car seat removed in order to get it in.

Folding the pushchair down does need two hands, unlike with my lightweight buggy. Also, it folds flat, but does not go any narrower; again unlike a lightweight buggy. This means that it only just fits into the boot of my Fiesta and will only fit one way. So fitting any more than a couple of bags of groceries in there with it is out of the question. In short, it is quite bulky and a little on the hefty side, but you can't win 'em all.

Now the car seat I absolutely love. Besides obviously being a child safety seat for the car, I have also used it in the place of a pram, as a carry cot, a rocker and a baby seat. The handle has three different positions. When used in the car and being carried it needs to be in the upright position. Attaching it to the pushchair is incredibly simple. It simply
slots onto the child tray and faces towards you as you are pushing. The handle is then pushed back until it clicks into the second position. You are also provided with a Velcro strap, one end of which connects to the back of the pushchair seat and the other end to the harness adjuster on the car seat. For a long time I wasn't actually aware of this strap and therefore didn't use it, but I think it is just an extra safety precaution as the seat attaches firmly without it.

The seat has a rounded base and rocks very well on a smooth floor, but you need to keep the handle in the upright position if you are doing this or it will over balance. If you push the handle right back and down into the third position it stabilises the seat and I used to feed my eldest daughter in it when she was weaning. Hence I never bothered getting one of those bouncy seats. It would have just been more expense and more clutter.

The covers have all come off and been washed and they haven't shrunk or faded; unlike with my toddler car seat whose covers faded first wash and never really fitted properly anyway! It just goes to show that you get what you pay for?

All in all the Graco Voyager Deluxe Travel system has served me well. To date it has been in use coming up for 2 ½ years is on baby number two and is occasionally being used for the toddler as well. Although it?s not perfect, for anybody with a small house who could do with something multi purpose I would highly recommend it. It has saved me quite a bit of money and space. I have had one person tell me that their Graco's wheel fell off, but have not had that experience myself. As with most items these days though, it does come with the usual 1 year guarantee or warrantee.

I would say that it is good value for money.


~#~ Caradawn ~#~

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