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Baby Jogger City Mini Stroller
by sas87
There comes a time when most parents decide to get a smaller, lighter stroller for their baby, rather than the big bulky travel system - either to completely replace it, or to have "just for the car". This is typically around the 6 month mark, when babies suddenly don't seem so tiny and fragile, and like to sit up and look at ... the world around them.
I have personally had two Baby Jogger City Minis (BJCM for future reference) - the first was a 3 wheel version as the product picture shows, which I bought for my third child when she was around 6 months old. The second (and current) BJCM I bought for my fourth child, and is the 4 wheeler version. Both 3 and 4 wheeled versions are essentially the same pushchair - just one has an extra wheel, which makes little difference other than perhaps making it feel slightly more stable (not that I found the 3 wheeler unstable in any way!).
The BJCM is, I can safely say, THE best baby purchase I've ever made - the fact I've bought twice goes some way to demonstrate how much I love this pushchair. I should say, I bought twice not because I was in any way unsatisfied with the first, but because I wasn't planning any more babies after my third, yet typically fell pregnant after selling it!
So why do I love it so much? These are the features that really stand out for me -
1) The quick one-hand fold. This is quite simply, brilliant. You pull a handle in the seat that says "pull to fold", and voila! You cannot find another pushchair with a fold better than the BJCM.
2) The frame is a sturdy flat folding frame, as opposed to an umbrella folding buggy, which gives it more rigidity and a definitely sense of quality. I couldn't go back to using an umbrella fold buggy after using this.
3) The hood is fantastic - it pulls forward in 2 separate actions, completely protecting baby from the elements, and eliminating the need for a parasol. It also has 2 viewing windows so you can peek at your baby however far down the hood is lowered.
4) The shopping basket - as far as strollers go, this is enormous! And later models (2012 onwards) have improved the access to the basket, by lowering a bar in the frame at the back, and elasticating the sides.
5) The wheels are really chunky rubber, and even with very frequent use, do not wear down easily. You would be very unlikely to need replacements. They all pop off easily for cleaning or transport, and the front swivel wheel/s lock decisively to make it handle rougher terrain more easily. This is not an all terrain pushchair however, but grass, cobbles, shingle etc are all fine.
6) The fabrics are water resistant and very easy to wipe down, or even remove and wash.
7) At around 8kg, it's very lightweight and easy to transport - despite the solidity it's not at all weighty or cumbersome.
8) The roomy seat and capacity to hold a much heavier older child if necessary. The BJCM will hold more than the standard 15kg (although officially UK safety testing don't test beyond 15kg).
9) Finally, the customer service of Baby Jogger's UK distributors. They are always easy to get hold of and deal with everything very professionally - be it a problem with your pushchair (not personally had any issues but heard great things), or if you want to buy spare parts/fabrics.
The BJCM comes with many accessories, including:
Raincover (which has a zip so you can access baby without removing it)
Belly/bumper bar
Footmuff
Child tray (with an integrated cup holder)
Parent console (which you attach to handlebar and has insulated pockets for drinks, snacks, keys etc)
Liquid holster (cup holder)
Glider board/branded buggy board
Maxi Cosi car seat adaptors - brilliant as this is the most popular brand of infant car seat
Carrycot
Unfortunately, none of the accessories are included with the pushchair - not even the raincover which is an essential, yet still needs to be bought separately. It is unfortunate as the pushchair is not cheap at around the £250 mark - however, each of the accessories are of such a good quality, that I can understand the reasoning that perhaps they are "too good" to be thrown in as freebies.
The BJCM is lovely to push, with a fixed height rubber solid handlebar. It is quite a high handlebar, but the perfect height for both me at 5ft 6, and my husband at 5ft 11. The seat unit is really roomy, with many height adjustments for the 5 point safety harness. It will comfortably seat an older heavier child up to 20kg (although the UK only safety test up to 15kg), and even with a larger child, feels very light and nippy to push.
Despite the extra cost of the accessories, I would highly recommend the fantastic Baby Jogger City Mini. It may be pricier than some, but it will see you through to the end of your pushchair needing days, and they have excellent resell value, which makes it a great deal long term.
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Baby Start Pushchair With Canopy
by xmum2threex
The stroller
Before we went to Disneyland I knew I wanted to purchase a cheap stroller for my son. He is soon three, but with the amount of walking needed in the parks he needed a little help getting around as he would just be too tired. I did not want to pay too much as it was only going to receive a week's use, but I also ... wanted something that was going to be practical to push around an amusement park. While searching I came across this pushchair in Argos for just £25 on sale, and so it met the budget requirement. Not only that but with over 100 reviews averaging at 4 starts I was sure it must be doing something right so decided to purchase it. It was available in both red, and black. We would have preferred the black but it was out of stock so we decided red was still suitable for my son anyway.
It is a very basic stroller nothing fancy, and not overly attractive on the eyes. With the pushchair there is a canopy attached to the top. This is perfect for protecting little one from the sun, or in our case shielding some of the wind. It flips backwards very easily which was a godsend for us as we found it is rather low, so for my son it touched the top of his head slightly. You also receive a rain cover which is fantastic considering the price, but we never actually needed to use it due to no rain although it was extremely cold.
The material of the whole pushchair is very thin, but for the price I expected this. Also the bars of the pushchair are very thin, but it still feels very sturdy so I had no concerns about its durability. My son still does not talk a lot but he would have made it known if he was uncomfortable. He was happy to get in it, and although he looked a little large in it we had no problems at all. The basket is very basic but we were able to get three autograph books, a changing bag and a spare blanket underneath. It isn't going to get any amount of shopping under there, but still came in handy for small bits and bobs.
In use
One of the things I love about this pushchair is how compact it folds. It is an umbrella style pushchair and folds down into a tiny stick. We drove to Disneyland and unfortunately with the two back seats up in a Zafira it leaves minimal room for baggage for a family of 6. We already had my daughter's pushchair with us, so it was essential we found something small to fit in the small space available and this was perfect. Also it folds down very easily there is no messing about pushing and pulling at bars. With one push on the leaver it folds down with ease, but it is still durable enough that it could not cause a hazard while little one is inside.
I was a little worried as the pushchair looks very cheap, but actually the quality isn't too bad. The seat is thin but comfy enough for my soon to be three year old son to sit in. The canopy does sit close to his head, but as this can be pulled back very easily and does not get in the way this was easily solved. Again the wheels look really cheap, they are made of plastic and very small. They do swivel round to make it easy to push, and despite low handle bars it actually moves around perfectly. It can turn corners with ease, and even weaving in and out of the large crowds at Disney land it fared well. It is recommended from six months plus as the seat does not recline, so it is not suitable for smaller babies.
As you would expect as there is very little material it is light to push. This is perfect as with my son's weight in it, and even with me having to crouch to the low handles it is still easy to push. The harness ensures your child is safely secured in the pushchair but can be a little stiff at times. This did begin to loosen up towards the end of the week, and I suspect it would improve with time.
Negatives
The handles are very low. I am 5ft 6 and found them extremely low to push. While this is fine for short time use I did find at the end of the day my back was sore from the leaning down to push this along. My husband attempted to push it but just found it too low he was nearly bent in half. It was OK for the holiday as it was just for short time use, but if you were going to use this on a more regular basis I suspect it would hurt your back. Also the pushchair does not recline at all. I was not expecting it too for the price we paid, and again it was fine for my son who only fell asleep once or twice. I did find it was a little rubbish for support while he was sleeping so again fine for short time use, but for day to day usage it would be a problem. Finally of course this is a basic pushchair which means there is no suspension or anything fancy. This means it would not be suitable for rougher surfaces, and it does get stuck on uneven ground.
Summary
I would recommend this pushchair, and we found it to be the perfect stroller for our short holiday break. It is well made considering the money you pay for it and because it folds down compact it is easy to take along with you. We found it to be light to push and perfect for short amounts of use. The height of the pushchair is very low so any more than occasional use I feel you could end up with a very sore back. I'm not sure how long it would last with constant use, but it certainly feels sturdy enough. This is a perfect holiday stroller, and or would be perfect for a grand parent's house. It is available from Argos for £29.99, but can often be found on offer.
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OBaby Zezu Pramette & Infant Car Seat
by sas87
Before I get too in depth with my personal review - I would like to point out that it is for the pushchair/pramette ONLY. I have no experience of using this as a travel system with a car seat.
The Obaby Zezu pramette is a stylish low budget system where the top unit can easily be switched between a pram and pushchair by ... simply adjusting a few straps. This makes it an appealing choice for those who don't want to have separate pushchair seats and carrycots to store and wrestle with! There is a matching Obaby infant car seat that can be attached to create a travel system, or you can buy Maxi Cosi car seat adaptors which allow you to attach a Maxi Cosi Cabrio or Pebble infant car seat - which is fantastic as the Maxi Cosi car seats are a very popular choice amongst parents due to their Which? ratings.
I personally bought my Zezu second hand (it was approximately a year old), but I believe they are around the £200 mark to buy new - obviously more if you buy the matching car seat. Buying second hand gives me a good advantage above others perhaps, to indicate how durable the pram is. And durable it is! The canvas type fabrics were immaculate despite a good year of use from it's previous owner, and the wheels showed little wear. I will now talk a bit about the two different modes of use.
Pram mode -
To use the Zezu as a pram, the bucket style seat unit must be reclined fully, and there is a drawstring behind the backrest to make it flat. There is also a strap to unclip behind the footrest which allows that bit to flatten. You end up with a walled carrycot, which you then line with the included white quilted pram liner to make it more comfy for a small baby. There are holes in the pram liner to thread 3 points of the 5 point harness through should you wish to make it more secure - although to be honest there is no danger of the baby escaping anywhere unless you tipped it upside down (NOT recommended!). The liner is not particularly padded, and you can feel the pushchair straps through it slightly, so I personally used a folded blanket or flannel sheet to pad it out a bit more.
The 'carrycot' is a very generous size and would definitely fit a baby until they were of an age to sit up and beyond. Would you believe many other pram carrycots don't fit a baby beyond a few months old?! But this one is definitely wide and long enough to fit my long 8 month old even now if she weren't such a nosy girl preferring to sit up!
Pushchair mode -
To put the pram back into a pushchair seat unit, you basically reverse what I mentioned above - remove the pram liner, push the backrest drawstring back up and re-clip the strap behind the foot rest. This creates a 'bucket' style seat unit. The seat can be clipped on to either face forwards or parent face, and there are 3 recline positions for both directions - upright, semi reclined and fully reclined.
There are 3 sets of buttons on either side of the seat unit where it attaches to the frame - all of which are easy and smooth to operate, and feel reassuringly decisive.
The first (lowermost) buttons are to remove the seat unit from the frame - you have to press both simultaneously and lift to remove. To put the seat unit back on you simply place it in position and it gives a satisfying "click".
The second (middle) set of buttons are large oval ones which operate the recline. Again, you have to press both sides simultaneously, and rock it backwards or forwards to recline/sit up, and again, it gives a reassuring click to lock it in position.
The final (top) set of buttons are for the bumper bar, which you press simultaneously to remove. To attach again you simply push both sides in until they click.
The pushchair seat is a good size and seems very comfortable for both my 8kg 7 month old, and my 3yr 3 month old, who is approaching the 15kg weight limit. Obviously with an older, heavier child, the pram becomes heavier to push, but it still glides along easily with my 3yr old in it (I just avoid hills!). One thing I would mention is that I find the pram much heavier to push when forward facing - presumably because the weight isn't as well distributed - so I tend to always have the seat unit parent facing, which is fine (preferable even) for me, but a point to note nonetheless.
The pushchair chassis has two rear air filled tyres - for which a pump comes included in its very own pocket in the (good sized) shopping basket, labelled "air pump"! There are two smaller rubber front wheels. Having the air tyres makes the pram a dream to push, and makes it feel much lighter than it's pretty hefty 15kg! They also make it incredibly easy to push in snow - which, at the time of writing, we have had rather a lot of recently! The chassis is also quite bouncy and has excellent suspension, so brilliant for long walks. There is a large foot plate at the back of the chassis with a central brake pedal, and another pedal on the front of the chassis which locks/unlocks the front wheels. Both are incredibly easy to use, chunky and decisive.
There is a height adjustable rotating handlebar, which adjusts via two buttons on either side which, like all the others, have to be pressed simultaneously. There is a huge range of height adjustment - the uppermost being comfortable for my 5ft 11" husband, and the lowermost being easily reached by my 3 year old! The one thing to point out however, is that I have found anything lower than the two highest settings make the pram harder to manouver up curbs and things - I guess because the leverage is smaller.
A raincover and apron come included with the Zezu, both of which fit well in both modes. The raincover in particular is a good, thick quality - which folds up easily to fit in the shopping basket. However I do find it steams up easily in very cold weather.
In conclusion, I would say this is an excellent pram for the money. It does everything you could want from a large comfortable pram for walking lots with. It's quite a heavy system and bulky when folded - so if you are in and out of the car a lot, or use public transport I would say this isn't the pram for you. But for those who walk everywhere it's a great "workhorse" pram, with plenty of basket space for trips into town.
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