Review

Bugaboo Bee Baby Stroller in Pink

Before I set my eyes on the Bugaboo Bee I didn’t think it was possible to fall head over heels in love with a stroller – and at first sight, at that! But then again I’m a certified pramaholic so I should really have seen it coming!

I could still remember how I got so nervous trying it out because I was dreading the possibility of it “breaking my heart”. What if it was all looks and no substance? What if it wasn’t as reliable as it looked? What if using it wasn’t as easy or pleasurable as a dance in the park as the advert portrayed? Well, only one way to find out…

Bugaboo Bee Travel System: The Pros
When I first tested it at the shop I had to keep telling myself to remain rational (I had a feeling that there was a huge possibility that regardless of the test “outcome” I was still going to buy it!). I couldn’t help myself- t’was a jaw-dropping eye candy. Like a puppy so cute and adorable, you wanna steal it from the mother and take it home with you and wish it wouldn’t ever grow up and change.

So yes, I bought it!

That was about 3 months ago, so I’ve had enough time to evaluate it. And yes, I still love it just as much as the first time I set eyes on it.

It’s so gorgeous that it turned heads. Sometimes I even felt disappointed for people noticing the buggy first, before my li’l Natalie! Lol! It’s obviously been designed for the fashionistas who’d willingly sacrifice practicality and functionality over looks, but thankfully the Bee actually delivered well over my expectations.

One of the best thing about it is that it’s a dream to push. Rounding corners, getting it over kerbs, getting on and off the bus, turning it in tight spaces… all It’s so easy to manoeuvre that I can even do it with one hand sometimes.

A really handy feature is the reversible seat, which was a huge plus for me. I was due in about a week when I got the Bee so I wanted a travel system that would let me have my baby facing me during the first 3 months.

Another great feature is the bright coloured hood that’s also washable. Even though mine suffered a lot of spillages it hadn’t stained (so far!), so I really appreciate that because the hood is one of the biggest factors that makes up its overall look.

The seat recline has 4 positions, but it doesn’t recline to more than 150 degrees so even though it is suitable for newborn, it’s actually not the ideal position for them. That’s why I bought it with a car seat.

I think the Bee is compatible with many car seats, but I use the Maxi Cosi cabriofix car seat with it which works great. It’s so easy to attach and detach.

I love the fact that it’s teensy so have no trouble putting it in the boot with enough room for other things, too.

I think it weighs about 8.5 kg, which is relatively light for a travel system. I have no trouble carrying it when I need to, but then again I’m fairly fit so someone else might find it quite bothersome.

The height adjustable handle bar goes from 89 cm to 107 cm, so in my estimate people from 5′2″ to well over 6 foot tall will be able to find a comfortable handle height for themselves. I’m actually 5′7″ and my darling hubby is 6′2″ and we both find the Bee’s handles comfy enough.

The tyres are rubberized with spring suspension, making what could have been bumpy ride like a walk in the clouds. It’s not an all terrain though, so I wouldn’t use it on the country side too often.

Many parents complained about the brakes in reviews, but Bugaboo had already fixed the issue now. Mine definitely works and I had no problem with it whatsoever.

Bugaboo Bee: The Cons
Although I’m fairly in love with the Bee, I have identified several factors that for our purposes here may need highlighting:

As I mentioned earlier it doesn’t lie fully flat which is best for newborns. So my recommendation is to get it with a suitable car seat.

The storage basket is hard to access, and can only be accessed from the front which is a real bummer.

The seat is narrow and there’s little headroom that it’s very easy to outgrow it. Taller and bigger children will easily and quickly outgrow it. My Big Ben is now 3 years old and he could barely get his head in the hood.

Lastly, it is expensive (about £420 a pop) but that’s part of what makes it iconic and precious, i guess!

Conclusion

Yes, I would definitely recommend it to parents who would like a trendy, lightweight, versatile, easy to use city buggy that will fit anywhere. It’s pricey, but the Bugaboo Bee is a style icon so worth the price!

Specifications

Specifications

Bugaboo Bee is Available in the following colours:

• Pink
• Black
• Red
• Yellow
• Blue
• Khaki

Gallery

Video

Accessories

Pushchair Accessories Included in Price (May vary from Merchant to Merchant):

• Sun canopy
• Shopping basket
• Raincover
• Demo DVD + user guide
• Hood convertible to a canopy during summer

Optional Pushchair Accessories

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Alternatives

Bugaboo Chameleon

Review

Graco Quattro TourDeluxe TSB in Air (Grey)

I love the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe because it’s a great off-roader and travel system in one. It’s very versatile, feels sturdy, ultra comfortable, and extremely easy to use on Public Transportation. If you want a reliable, good value pushchair and you don’t mind it being heavy and bulky, this is definitely a suitable Best Buy.

Graco Quattro Tour: The Pros

First off, you’re getting a lot for your money. Included in the package are your: Pushchair with hood, large shopping basket and apron, carrycot, baby safety base, and junior Graco autobaby car seat. As mentioned earlier because it comes with a car seat it also forms a travel system.

The safety base just remains inside your car, attached to the passenger seat. This enables you to conveniently get your baby in and out of the car with the least fuss possible.

The Graco autobaby car seat fits easily into the pushchair. It’s suitable from birth to 13 kg and comes with a head hugger to support your newborn baby’s neck during those early crucial months. What’s brilliant about it is that it can also be used as a feeding station and a rocker – very handy especially when you want to conveniently send your baby to sleep. It also has an adjustable hood and a level indicator that lets you know whether or not you have fixed the car seat at the proper recline angle.

The soft carry cot come a skirt of fabric that attaches via a zipper onto the hood of the pushchair to extend the hood to cover the carry cot , allowing you to use it like a pram with the baby facing you.

Now let’s talk about the pushchair. It has a foam-covered, ergonomically designed handle positioned at 107 cm in height. The hood has a mesh viewing window which also provides good ventilation during hot days. The mesh window can be closed and opened up by a flap that can be rolled down or up and secured by velcro.

The pushchair also has a well-padded seat for luxurious comfort, an adjustable 5-point harness, and what with it being an off-roader buggy, it has rubber wheels to give a more comfy ride and all-round suspension, too!

Yet another great feature of the pushchair buggy unit is the play tray which can be easily opened up and taken off, and the calf support can also be set in various positions and can even be tucked in to offer more support and stability to the soft carry cot when it’s in use (see video).

On top of all that, the pushchair can easily and conveniently be folded with just one hand, and the back support of the seat can easily be adjusted to recline up to 5 different positions (from completely flat to completely upright). The brakes are easy, too – just push on one side to lock or unlock.

But the best thing that tickles my fancy about the Graco Quattro Tour DeLuxe is the uniquely adjustable shopping basket. As you probably already know, accessing the shopping basket whenever the pushchair’s seat is fully reclined is awkward, if not impossible. Well, not with this pushchair, because the basket can be put up or down, allowing you to easily get things in and out of it without disturbing your sleeping child. How brill is that!

Other pros worthy to note:

• lockable swivel wheels
• freestanding when folded
• sunglasses case
• bottle holders
• clock
• temperature gauge
• a pocket for your small bits and bobs like house keys or mobile phone

Graco Quattro Tour: The Cons

The only downside to the Graco Quattro Tour is its weight and size. Even when folded, it’s still a chunky good-sized pushchair that will easily occupy the boot of a medium sized car leaving not much room for anything else.

Weighing about 13.5 kg, some parents find it rather heavy and especially difficult to carry up and down stairs. So if you want this travel system but live in the upper ground floor flat, well you better get ready for some good exercise!

Conclusion

The Graco Quattro Tour DeLuxe TSB is an excellent off-roader Travel System with lots of great thoughtful features and useful accessories all included in the package. It gives an absolutely comfortable ride for your child, it’s so easy to use, simple to fold and unfold and is reasonably priced, too. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an all-in-one package that can be used from birth until toddler years but doesn’t mind a heavy and bulky pushchair.

Next: Scroll back up and click on the next Tab, ‘Specifications’

Specifications

Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe: Specifications

Graco Quattro Tour is Available in Colours:

• Air
• Fudge

Next: Scroll back up and click on the next Tab, ‘Gallery’ to see product images

Gallery

Video

Accessories

Pushchair Accessories Included in Price (please check before buying):

• Apron
• Carry cot with detachable fabric hood
• Large hood that adjusts to several positions
• Graco car seat
• car seat base

Optional Pushchair Accessories

Compare Prices

Alternatives

If you’re not too happy about the weight and bulkiness of the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe, there are lighter off-roader travel systems that you may want to check out such as Mothercare MY3 and Mothercare MY4 but they are considerably much more expensive (by as much as £135 more), and only lighter than the Graco by a few kg’s.

If price is what’s causing you to hesitate from buying the Quattro Tour Deluxe, then you may want to consider the Graco Mirage, Graco Mosaic One Travel System, Mutsy Spider and Hauck Apollo RS Travel Systems.

Review

Graco Stadium Duo Midnight

The Graco Stadium Duo is a great all-rounder tandem pushchair , designed for 2 children of different ages. Affordable, feature-rich and practical, it also transforms into a Travel System when a Graco car seat is attached to the rear seat.

Graco Stadium Duo: The Pros

It’s called “stadium” because the rear seat is higher so that the child on the rear can see over and beyond the front seat’s hood. It means that as the younger child grows they can get a good view of the world around them. And because the rear seat is higher, it’s also closer to you, making it easy to check up on your younger child. Each seat has a max capacity of 15 kg.

It comes with 2 hoods, both of which are easily adjustable. There are also windows on both hoods, positioned to let you to easily see what either of your kids are up to.

Both seats are well padded, soft and very comfortable as well as having an easy, simple recline mechanism. Both seats also have an easily adjustable 5-point harness.

There are height adjustable shoulder restraints, allowing it to suit your fast growing babies, but some parents find the buckles a tad fiddly. There are play trays at front of each pushchair, which comes handy for toys and food. However, when placing a child in the seat, you may want to take out the play tray first as it’s easier that way.

The front seat has 2 recline positions and is suitable from 6 months to 3 years, and comes with an apron. The rear seat on the other hand has 4 positions, from flat to completely upright. It also comes with a head support for newborn babies. Another feature you’ll find really useful about the seats is the removable and washable seat covers.

For a tandem, it is actually easy to fold and has a self-catching clip. It folds in a concertina style and can fit in the boot of most medium sized cars. It also stands on its own when folded, making it easier to store.

The storage basket is fairly large, can hold up to 5 kg, easy to access when the rear seat is fully upright.

The brakes are easy to engage and disengage in a single motion. The front wheels are swivel wheels that can be locked when going over rougher terrains.

Graco Stadium Duo: The Cons

Note that when buying tandem pushchairs, there will be issues inherent to this type of pushchair because of its structure. Tandems are supposed to accommodate 2 children, so naturally its length will be longer than average pushchairs, and it will be heavier, too.

So for the convenience of having one stroller for 2 children, you may have to learn to put up with using a pushchair that’s bulky, heavy, difficult to carry, more difficult to manoeuvre than a single stroller, and harder to push.

If you anticipate that you will need to lift this tandem pushchair up and down stairs regularly, be prepared to always have someone to help, as it can be heavy. It will be trickier for the person holding the front of the pushchair to carry it as there’s nowhere to get a really good hold on the front of the stroller, but on the bright side there’s a carry handle that one of you can use.

One thing about its design that could annoy you is that accessing the basket when the rear seat is fully reclined is awkward, if not impossible. However there’s space in between the seats that you can use to access the middle of the basket. If this is too much of a hassle for you, you can always purchase pushchair accessories designed to give you more storage solutions like net bags that you can hang on the pushchair’s handles.

The Stadium Duo weighs 14 kg (30.8 lbs), so you can imagine how heavy it might feel for you. It can also be difficult to get up kerbs – remember that your older child is sitting on the front – however most pushchairs with the combined weight of two children would be difficult to get up on kerbs anyway so it’s unfair to blame this factor on the Pushchair.

Lastly, it doesn’t come with other useful accessories like a compatible car seat, rain cover, or changing bag. However this is reflected on the price so if you want these accessories you can just get them as extras.

Conclusion

The Graco Stadium Duo isn’t the lightest nor the most compact of pushchairs out there, however the price, comfort, practicality and features make it a very good option for anyone looking for transporting two children of different ages, especially those on a budget. It is by no means the perfect stroller but it does the job and is very good value. It’s obviously not as easily steered as a single stroller and can at times feel like a tank, but it is manageable.

Specifications

Graco Stadium Duo: Specifications

Graco Stadium Duo is Available in Colours

• Midnight

Gallery

Video

Accessories

Accessories Included in Price (please check before buying):

• Play trays
• Cup holders
• 2 hoods
• 2 footmuffs

Optional Pushchair Accessories

Buy Now

Alternatives

Think this pushchair isn’t the right one for you?

These are pushchair models that are strong in the areas where The Stadium Duo is weak.
Mothercare Phoenix

Review

Mutsy 4 Rider Light

Mutsy 4 Rider Light Baby Stroller can also function as a Pram and Travel System if bought with the relevant kits. It’s perfect for those looking for a sturdy, well-built, extremely versatile pushchair that handles well on most terrains, easy to fold and unfold and easy to manage for public transport use.

Pros

One look at Mutsy’s product range and you can easily see that they are catering to young, fashionable parents who values both looks and functionality, both design and practicality. We are yet to meet a parent who owns it who’s got something big to complain about the Mutsy 4 Rider.

The 4 Rider is one of the most versatile pushchairs in the market to date. If used as a travel system ( with the Mutsy Safe 2 go child car seat), the 4 Rider will give you the convenience to take your sleeping baby while she’s in a car seat, move her out, clip the car seat onto the chassis, and off you go. No need to disturb her while she’s fast asleep.

We found it quite easy to clip the seat unit, carry cot and car seat directly onto the frame. The chassis is very lightweight and it’s so easy to attach and detach accessories to / from it. You just put a car seat/ carry cot / on it and it easily clicks in place.

The storage basket, as you can see in the pictures here, is easy to reach and will remain accessible even when the seat is in full recline position. It’s quite spacious, too albeit slightly shallow for my liking.

The baby stroller comes with a big and easily removable hood with window so you can easily check what your sweet li’l ‘un is up to. The hood also has a back pocket – handy for storing little things like your iphone, purse or house keys.

It’s got a reversible seat, and it’s suitable for newborns as the seat can lay almost completely flat, but as we mentioned earlier you can attach the Mutsy carry cot to the chassis and there you have a pram. Parents we spoke to love using the carry cot with a matching Mutsy footmuff.

One of the things that’s really great about the Mutsy is that it’s so easy to push and steer, so it’s great to use when you’re in the city but because of the rear pneumatic tyres and lockable front swivel wheels at the front, it’s also great on rural areas, too. Some users often said that they can easily push and steer this Mutsy with one hand. It also performs well on stairs – it’s probably one of the easiest pushchairs to pull/push when going up/down stairs.

A common problem with tall people is that many pushchair models seem to have been made only for shorter people only. The 4 Rider’s designer however, considered tall people’s concerns as well when they made this stroller. The Mutsy’s foam-covered handles adjust from 93 to 114 cm at a single click of a button so this is rather handy when there’s a big difference between your height and your partner’s, making the 4 Rider easy to push for either of you.

Mutsy also has a wide variety of compatible gears and kits and accessories that will cater to every whim. You can purchase a carry cot, a nursery bag, footmuff, sun canopy, step up board, car seat and probably the best loved of all is the “Fun Seat” – a seat with a steering wheel – presumably made for your little race car enthusiast (please see the Pushchair Accessories Section for more details).

Other Pros worthy to note:

• The fabric is very easy to clean with a wet sponge.
• Easy to fold and unfold
• Easily removable front bumper
• Seat reclines to 4 positions
• Safety harness is well padded
• Leg support has 3 positions
• Self locking and free standing when folded

Cons

The Mutsy 4 Rider is relatively bulky,but the wheels are easily removable so this makes it easier to fit even in a boot of a hatchback. It won’t leave much room for anything else though, so you are probably better off with a bigger boot if you are going to store this pushchair in your boot a lot of the time.

It can be heavy for some and awkward to lift, but again this is down to your personal fitness. Some parents find it heavy, others find it moderately heavy, while others don’t mind at all. It also doesn’t have a carry strap, which makes it more awkward to carry. However, many of its users seem to find this inconvenience to be a very trivial thing.

The reclining button mechanism requires 2 hands to operate.

While it’s quite easy and simple to fold , it cannot be folded with one hand.

Conclusion
Despite being heavy and bulky when folded, the Mutsy 4 Rider Light made it to our Best Buy List because of its versatility, durability, impressive performance and handling, and because it’s so easy to use and push. Not to forget of course, that it’s an extremely good looking but practical and fun pushchair.

Specifications

Specifications

Mutsy 4 Rider Light is Available in the following colours:

• Cargo Black
• Colllege Green
• College Red

Next: Scroll back up and click on the next Tab, ‘Gallery’ to see product images

Gallery

Video

Accessories

Pushchair Accessories Included in Price (May vary from Merchant to Merchant):

• Car seat
• Hood with window
• Apron
• Raincover

Optional Pushchair Accessories

Compare Prices

Alternatives

Think this pushchair isn’t pressing all the rigth buttons for you? You might like to consider these Stroller Pushchairs…