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Chicco Echo Pushchair
by scooch12
We have a lovely travel system that my parents bought us before our baby was born, but when we decided to go on our holidays when she was 6 months old, there was no way I was taking that on the plane, I just wasn't taking the risk of my expensive and indispensable pram getting bashed about and coming home worse for wear. So my husband ... and I decided to get a second pushchair, just for on holiday, days out and about and when my parents look after her, but we promised that we'd spend up to £100 and if it got damaged in transit then so be it. We looked around for a while and to be honest, a lot in our price range seemed low quality, the ones that looked good were way above what we wanted to pay. But this one, the Chicco Echo Stroller, was in Babies R Us for £89.99. We also got an extra fiver off via their catalogue vouchers. It felt like the sturdiest one we'd tried out of all of the ones in our price range and looked really good on display too. The pushchair is suitable from birth, although only using certain positions. I was only comfortable using it from when our baby was 6 months old when she was able to sit in an upright position. It's maximum weight is 15kg. The pushchair weighs 7.7kg when folded.
The pushchair comes in garnet red and lime green (jade in their words) and both colours are lovely in my view, both colours suitable for boys and girls. We chose the garnet red, mainly because of my hubsand's obsession with a certain football team! I love David Hasselhoff as much as the next person but I wasn't going to choose my daughter's pushchair colour to co-ordinate with his famous Baywatch shorts (although to be honest, this garnet red is a much deeper and dare I say nicer colour than those shorts, sorry Mr Hasselhoff).
The pushchair comes in a box with the wheels detached, these need to be tightened onto it but this did only take my husband a few minutes and then that's it, it's ready to use. The handles measure up to 108cm and both me and my husband found it very easy to push around - there's a foot difference in our heights and neither of us had any problems. There is a detachable hood to the pushchair that can be fitted very easily if desired - we used this as a sunshade on holiday as it pulls over quite far across the seat. The hood also has an extra piece of material that falls behind the seat and this was great ensuring that her neck and upper body didn't catch the Sun from the back, it was just the front that we really had to be careful with. There is also a raincover that comes with the pushchair, although we've only had limited use from this (although I'm sure in time we'll get our money's worth from that!)
The seat has adjustable straps but I would advise referring to the instruction booklet before using the pushchair as we found that when we strapped our daughter in using the most obvious way it wasn't actually correct. The seat is quite padded so my daughter finds it very comfortable to sit in and she seems happy to spend quite a lot of time in the pushchair, more so than in our main one! The best thing about the seat is that the back can be adjusted and can be completely upright, lie flat or somewhere inbetween. This was great when we were walking around and my daughter fancied a snooze as we'd just put it down to lie her flat and she'd soon go off to sleep with the movement of the pushchair. The setting is easily changed by lifting the small handle on the back of the seat. The bottom of the seat can also be adjusted for bigger babies so that they can put their feet on the footrest provided but this isn't something that we've used yet because of her age. This again can easily be changed back to the seat's original setting when required.
One of my main requirements was a basket underneath the pushchair to hold the vast amount of stuff that we have to take everywhere with us on days out! The basket on this pushchair was one of the best we came across when looking - it is quite deep and held all of our suncreams, hats and toys that we took with us and there was always room to spare.
The only downside to the pushchair we found was the wheel noise - after about a week of intense use, the wheels would not stop squeaking everywhere we went! Although reading reviews about other pushchairs, I think this is a very common thing. The wheels are very good in the respect that the front ones can be adjusted so that they move in whatever direction the pushchair is going, this is the setting I use and it makes it very easy to push. Otherwise, there is a clip that will hold them in place to push in a forwards only direction. There is a brake bar that can be pushed onto the back wheels, this is fairly useful but sometimes I didn't feel it was locking them in place as much as it could do.
Obviously with our pushchair going on a plane, it had to be able to collapse easily and fold nice and compactly. It does seem to be a little bulkier than others when folded, but it isn't noticeably so and still looks quite neat. It folds very easily by pushing the big button towards the bottom of the frame with your foot and the frame then folds into a compact position. There is a clip to hold it in place and most of the time, this clip grabbed onto the stopper itself, without us having to hook it over the stopper manually. The pushchair was then secure and so perfect to hand over to the luggage handlers, we had no worries that it was going to start flapping around whilst in transit.
And finally - after the two plane journeys it arrived home safely with no damage whatsoever - the only thing that we can see is a small black mark on the side which isn't even very noticeable and it is all in full working order so we were very pleased.
I have no hesitation in recommending this pushchair, it's fantastic value for money - we've had our money's worth from it already after only 3 months. It's definitely worthy of a 4 star rating with only the brake bar and the wheel squeaking letting it down, otherwise it would have been a five.
Thanks for reading :o)
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Mama and Papas Zoom Pram and Stroller
by kgilford
I was very lucky to be given this pram absolutely free, however I only got the stroller section. It is normally sold as a combination pram, now retailing at around £300 in the sales, including carrycot and raincover. You can buy a car seat which is compatible with it too, so if your child is asleep in the car, you do not have to wake ... them when you reach your destination-really handy!! If you are looking for the correct car seat you can either purchase the Primo Viaggio (£165) or the Aton (roughly £120). When buying from the Mamas and Papas website, you can buy the pushchair in two different colours- black or purple. Both look reaally stylish and modern- I think the purple looks gorgeous but I was given the black one.The Aton carseat comes in a few great colours too, and they currently have an offer in which you can buy the pram and car seat for £389 saving £30. You will also need car seat adapters which can be bought seperately for approximately £30.You may also want a footmuff which would also cost you around £30. There are cheaper ways of buying the additional parts eg.ebay or amazon which are always worth a try.
Setting the pushchair up was surprisingly simple. In fact, I had no instructions and managed to do it in 5 minutes. I had to attach the front wheel which was really simple, no screwdriver needed. Then I needed to unfold the chassis (unclip, pull out until it clicks.) Then you just put the stroller seat on top, it literally clips in! To then fold the pushchair down , it is just as simple- the stroller seat has bits you push in to pull it out, you then pull up the levers to fold the chassis. You cannot fold the pushchair as a whole, however neither part takes up too much room, easily fits into the boot of my Nissan Almera.
When using the pushchair, firstly you can adjust the seat so it lays back, or sits straight up- whichever is more comfortable or age appropriate for your child. secondly, the seat can face forward or face the parent. I love this!!! My daughter is 6 months old and I currently have her facing me still, but when she gets to toddler age I will have her facing forward like any other stroller. The 3 wheels swivel all the way around so it is really easy to manoeuvere and although it looks fairly bulky it feels light to push. The shopping basket isn't as big as I would like, however holds a small amount of shopping. The hood can be pulled right forward if needed to block out the sun, and when folded back there is plenty of room and strength to hold, for example, a bottle of milk whilst walking around the shop. The handle is adjustable so even if you are really tall, it can be your ideal buggy. The seat itself looks really comfortable and can be made more cosy with a footmuff. My only downside is that the straps dont seem to loosen easily, especially with the footmuff attached.
I absolutely love this pram, it is perfect for what I need and suitable from birth-3 :-) highly recommended
I absolutely love this pram
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