Buggy/pram..overwhelmed

emz8

My mam has kindly offered to buy us our pram. I want to save her as much money as possible so wanted to get it in the sale. Been looking the past couple of weeks and I'm completely overwhelmed by it all.

I've been reading over other posts about prams on this, but in all honesty, I have no idea what I should be looking for. I don't drive so something that would be easy for the bus and good for walking with I guess.

Any brands I should totally avoid/ look into? Any advice at all would be helpful. Thanks

Chattastrophe!

What kind of price range are you looking at?

I found the choice pretty overwhelming too. We went with the Uppababy Vista in the end. A big selling point was the fact that the carrycot is one of the only ones on the market approved for overnight sleeping. Also it has handy UV screens on the buggy and carrycot, haven't seen that on many other brands. It folds up very easily and stands upright when folded - so you don't have to put it lying down on a dirty bus floor, and also takes up less space. Oh and it has a very decent sized basket, which I'm told is important too!

Roselm

emz8 wrote: »

My mam has kindly offered to buy us our pram. I want to save her as much money as possible so wanted to get it in the sale. Been looking the past couple of weeks and I'm completely overwhelmed by it all.

I've been reading over other posts about prams on this, but in all honesty, I have no idea what I should be looking for. I don't drive so something that would be easy for the bus and good for walking with I guess.

Any brands I should totally avoid/ look into? Any advice at all would be helpful. Thanks

Maybe have a look at www.mumsnet.com/reviews/pushchairs
Looks like you might find some useful info here

Millem

emz8 wrote: »

My mam has kindly offered to buy us our pram. I want to save her as much money as possible so wanted to get it in the sale. Been looking the past couple of weeks and I'm completely overwhelmed by it all.

I've been reading over other posts about prams on this, but in all honesty, I have no idea what I should be looking for. I don't drive so something that would be easy for the bus and good for walking with I guess.

Any brands I should totally avoid/ look into? Any advice at all would be helpful. Thanks

I know exactly how you feel! All my research gave me a headache! It really depends on your requirements! I would highly recommend going into a buggy shop that sells loads of brands and get the staff to do demos for you. We went to tony kealys and had it down to two the uppababy vista and the bugaboo cameleon. We went for the cameleon. I don't think either are great for public transport to be honest as they are not very compact! I presume you will need something that can fold down super small? I loved the bugaboo bee but it does not have a carrycot only a cocoon. It is more of an umbrella stroller but meant to be great for city life! I was shocked over the cost of all the travel systems to be honest!

pwurple

If you don't drive you don't need a travel system at all I'd say.

I'd say a good strong and light 3 wheeler that goes flat for long walks (we have out and about nipper 360, highly recommend), and an umbrella stroller for buses is what would suit. We go for loads of long walks in woods and on beaches, umbrella stroller wouldn't be great for that. But the 3 wheeler is a bit bulky for packed bus. Out and about is ~ 330, and the umbrella stroller should be less tham 100 I'd guess. A lot of travel systems come to about 1000 euro, mad money if you don't need one. We didn't need one.

Go into a shop (tony kealys is very helpful, you can push them all around, fold, unfold etc) and try them out. Might narrow things down.

Depends on your own lifestyle really. You may only need a sling and umbrella stroller if you are not walking far.

uck51js9zml2yt

kealys or Euro baby in walkinstown. both shops have experienced helpful staff. found kealys other branches weren't as good.
you could also look at second hand systems.
we got a brio, now uppa baby on our first and using it again now.very solid system. found bugaboo very gimmicky and expensive.

beauf

Theres good value in 2nd hand buggies as some people buy them and don't use them much. We had Jane and its worked out well, if expensive. But as our needs changed we bought and sold different models to suit. For example moved from a 2 seater Nipper 360 to a single one. As the kids got older.

Check what fits in your boot. Some are Surprisingly bulky.

cerastes

emz8 wrote: »

My mam has kindly offered to buy us our pram. I want to save her as much money as possible so wanted to get it in the sale. Been looking the past couple of weeks and I'm completely overwhelmed by it all.

I've been reading over other posts about prams on this, but in all honesty, I have no idea what I should be looking for. I don't drive so something that would be easy for the bus and good for walking with I guess.

Any brands I should totally avoid/ look into? Any advice at all would be helpful. Thanks

I was shocked by the prices of new prams/buggies when the time came to look for that kind of thing,
You can save an absolute fortune by looking secondhand, some stuff is like new. Check adverts, donedeal, buy and sell, basically anywhere you can find that kind of thing, but online is good for filtering through whats available obviously. Its a possibility.

beauf

When buying second hand you can often buy a lot of new spares to freshen it up, like new fabric, or wheels etc. Just check the cost, as sometimes its too expensive. Some it isn't.

anncoates

We had Phil and Teds and loved them. Great buggies and very light and easy to handle.

Agree about going second hand. We bought the last buggy new but sold it on adverts when we finished with it and it was in fine condition and sold it for less than a third of its original value.

Millem

beauf wrote: »

When buying second hand you can often buy a lot of new spares to freshen it up, like new fabric, or wheels etc. Just check the cost, as sometimes its too expensive. Some it isn't.

Would you believe because I bought a package it was actually cheaper brand new than second hand. (Because I wanted brand new car seat and base!) the only shop we went to was tony kealys in walkinstown and they were excellent and spent so much time with us. I priced around and found that Tralee nursery was the cheapest and kealys matched it no problems. Have a good 'play' with them in the shop putting them up and down etc. We went after our 21 week scan (I could lift and bend no problem plus some systems need to be ordered in!) With buggies I really think it's a case of different strokes for different folks! I can't cope with my sister's one, (graco Quattro) find it so heavy, bulky and I find the harness soooo hard to open, but she swears by it where she didn't even consider the cameleon. I know a lot of people are getting the baby elegance one you can get some deal with everything you need for your baby for €999. But I have never test driven it!

PicturePerfect

It really is so overwhelming indeed! I've done my online research and am now very eager to go and check out the baby elegance beep twist. Just can't seem to find a lot of reviews on it online.

OP if we didn't have a car and were relying on public transport id say id go with something like the city mini available in mothercare. They have a sale on at the moment.

cerastes

beauf wrote: »

When buying second hand you can often buy a lot of new spares to freshen it up, like new fabric, or wheels etc. Just check the cost, as sometimes its too expensive. Some it isn't.

Sales are a good option too, but replacement parts are available
I got a second hand car seat for next to nothing (Britax make), the polystyrene foam was damaged but got it replaced from manufacturer, posted from the UK, I think it was £7.99 plus some postage on top, removed the covering and washed it, vacuumed the plastic bit and cleaned and wiped it all down, like new for around 20-25 euro.

Definitely worth checking to see whats available new,in the sales

Millem

PicturePerfect wrote: »

It really is so overwhelming indeed! I've done my online research and am now very eager to go and check out the baby elegance beep twist. Just can't seem to find a lot of reviews on it online.

OP if we didn't have a car and were relying on public transport id say id go with something like the city mini available in mothercare. They have a sale on at the moment.

That beep twist is the baby elegance one I was talking about! It seems to be very popular I see a good lot of them around. It is a very good price too

loveday

emz8 wrote: »

My mam has kindly offered to buy us our pram. I want to save her as much money as possible so wanted to get it in the sale. Been looking the past couple of weeks and I'm completely overwhelmed by it all.

I've been reading over other posts about prams on this, but in all honesty, I have no idea what I should be looking for. I don't drive so something that would be easy for the bus and good for walking with I guess.

Any brands I should totally avoid/ look into? Any advice at all would be helpful. Thanks

There are different kinds and brands of prams available with different prices. So what is the most suitable for you depends how old your little one is and how much you want to spend.

For example, if your little one is newborn, the standard storller is the best chocie. If you need a lightweight one, the umbrella stroller is the right one. Aslo some stroller brands offer car seat to form a travel system.

As for price, the First Years Ignite Stroller is very cheap and popular around 60 dollars. But I don't remember its current price and it is not good for a newborn I am afraid.

As for brand, I think BOB, GRACO or JEEP are all great, and there are always discount available in stores or online shops.

I find a great stroller review site called bestumbrellastrollerreviews.com. It offers very good information about stroller, especially the stroller blog categroy, where you can get the rough idea and better understanding of the brands, types or prices of prams.

Hope it helps.:P

Gee_G

I agree what everybody is saying about looking at second hand stuff too!!
We paid €700 for our travel system and there is just as good brand new for about 200 or second hand ones of these on adverts for about 100! If I could do it again I wouldn't go as mad
We bought the baby elegance neyo and I have to say I love it, but one thing I hate about it is the actually buggy part doesn't sit full upright at all and most of the time my little man is holding on to the bar across from it trying to look out!!