When we were looking for a pram for our new son, we did a lot of research to try to find the best one for us. We wanted a travel system that wouldn't break the bank. We ended up purchasing the Sola in red.

The Product
The Sola is available in five colours (Denim, Green, Red, Orchid and Black) The frame is silver with black highlights. The seat can be faced forwards and rear facing. It is suitable from birth to 15 kg as the seat can be laid flat and then adjusted as the baby grows. The seat comes with a five point harness and a removable bumper bar for safety. There is a window on the rear of the hood so that when the seat is facing forward, you can still view the baby.

The frame is easily collapsible and folds flat. It can be locked in place when folded to make carrying easier. The front wheels can be locked in the forward position or can be unlocked for extra manoeuvrability. The set comes complete with a shopping basket and a raincover.

There is also a carrycot (available in black, denim and plum), a footmuff in matching colours and a car seat available in the same range. The carrycot and car seat can easily be slotted into the frame to replace the pram seat although you will need adapters for the carseat (these adapters are suitable for mamas and papas car seats but can also be used for a maxi cosi car seat) This pram is available from mamas and papas and also most pram centres. The retail is around £300 for the basic pram but deals can usually be found especially if buying the other components.

The review
We purchased the pram, carrycot and car seat as part of a very good deal (coming to around £400 for everything) as we wanted a whole travel system. We have had good use out of it so far so in my opinion, this has been very good value for money especially when you stand it up against other travel systems which can cost around £1000. We haven't used the pram seat out yet as we have been mainly getting our use out of the carrycot and car seat while we can.

The colour of the pram is bright and gorgeous, we had a look at all the range and I can say there wasn't a colour I didn't like. I was a little bit disappointed that the carrycot didn't come in the whole range of colours though as I would have liked the whole system to match but this wasn't a major problem.

We have tried the pram seat at home to try to get our son used to it when he eventually grows too large for the carrycot. Between the soft fabric and five point harness, it looks really comfortable and even as a newborn, he sat in it really well. The adjustable seat means that when your baby grows, the pram will also grow with you and we hope to still be using this for a while yet. The fact it can be used up to 15kg means there is plenty of life still left in it! The window in the pram seat is a really good idea, meaning you can check on your baby when the seat is forward facing. In practise, it isn't the best, it's cheap clear plastic meaning it isn't the easiest to see through.

Changing the system from pram to carrycot etc was really easy. It was just a case of pushing both sides and lifting off and on. This was a plus as it means less disruption to my son when he is sleeping. The pram is also easily folded, this is just a push button and slide. It also locks in place when folded, I find this makes it easy for me to lift it into the car boot. It perhaps doesn't fold as small as I'd like, but it still fits into my boot well and as it's a really well made sturdy chassis, this doesn't bother me too much. I'd rather sacrifice space than quality!

The adjustable handle is also excellent. My partner and I are both quite tall and when test driving prams, we found that a lot of the handles were very low and we were stooping to push, hurting our backs. At it's highest this is a perfect height and ideal for tall parents. The pram manoeuvres really well and has coped with everything we have thrown at it, from country walks to city pavements. The wheels are also holding up really well and have hardly marked yet.

We had a problem with the manoeuvrability at first and were finding the pram wasn't as good at cornering as stated. After googling why this was, we found that the front wheels weren't fully unlocked. There is a lever to unlock these and even though we thought we had pulled the levers up fully, they still had to be clicked into place meaning the wheels were still locked. We found this had happened to several people and although easily remedied, could lead someone to think there was a problem with the pram if they hadn't researched this. I think a piece about this problem either in the instruction booklet or the mamas and papas website would have helped.

The system has a wide range of accessories to adapt your pram to all weather conditions including matching parasols and footmuffs, but we found these were very expensive, especially when they were part of the package of other systems. We purchased our own cheaper versions and although they say the pram is only suitable for sola accessories, these fitted very well.

I would definitely recommend this pram and would say it stacks up very well compared to the higher priced travel systems. I would say this is an excellent purchase for people who want style but at a reasonable price.