Help needed for pram choice - Joolz, City Select, iCandy, Strider? What else?

[lyra stardust]

I have a bugaboo bee plus and LOVE it. It's narrow, light, great suspension, comfy seat, rear and forward facing, easy fold, good sized basket.

Drawbacks I would say are 1. no bassinet for newborn (not sure how I will go with this as I got it when DS was 12 months old and I'm worried it will be an issue for number 2) but you can get a cocoon insert or use it with a car capsule. If bassinet is essential I have heard that you can fit a dreami quinny bassinet with maxi cosi adaptors but have never seen a picture.

2. It's pretty low to the ground. I am 5'2'' so I actually love this about it, some of the prams I tried felt like I was pushing a bus around, but I can see why a less vertically challenged person might find it a bit dinky. Having said that though DH uses it with no issues. The handle bar is adjustable.

I love my Bee!! Happy shopping.

[Cassius2]

i love my bugaboo. and they are now getting pretty good on ebay price wise (now that everyone wants the new bugaboo donkey the other models are being sold left and right to pay for the new one ).

have you checked out how much it would be for a stokke sent from the US? they are considerably cheaper...maybe maybe?? i know how much a good pram changes everything.

[megs]

I believe phil and teds have a new pram out called the Promenade, don't know anything about it but I know it does the rear facing, and Phil and Teds are always a narrower pram.

[Dr. Tal]

I have the strider Plus and I can't recommend it more highly. Only problem is it is DEFINITELY NOT narrow.

If you are going to be doing a lot of walking my biggest recommendation is to make sure you don't bang your shins on it. My DH is a bit taller and his biggest problem with a lot of the prams we looked at was when he was walking (he takes fairly big strides) he's hit his shins on the undercarriage and it drove him insane.

Didn't have that problem with the strider. It's also really good for off roading. We have a property so are on dirt a lot and it's quite easy to push. And the tires are puncture proof. My DH (much to my horror) even got a screw out in the middle of the shops and tried his best to pop it through the tire.

I LOVE the capsule attachment as well. Nothing better then taking my sleeping baby out of the car, and locking him into the pram, no fus….no waking baby and no toting around an incredibly heavy and cumbersome capsule on my arm.

As for selling other skills, I recently had a dream (gotta love preggie dreams) where DH became a stripper for geriatric old ladies in retirement homes….made a heap of money off it in my dreams…..maybe your DH could try that

[LuluHB]

i love my bugaboo. and they are now getting pretty good on ebay price wise (now that everyone wants the new bugaboo donkey the other models are being sold left and right to pay for the new one ).

have you checked out how much it would be for a stokke sent from the US? they are considerably cheaper...maybe maybe?? i know how much a good pram changes everything.

I was going to post today about this. I have just paid for a beautiful brand new Stokke with bassinet to come from the UK. Its ridiculous - $1,000 Aus with $40 for delivery. More than we can really afford to spend but like you say, a good pram is just so important - for our lifestyle anyway.

Thanks for all the suggestions ladies. I'm soooooooooo excited about my Stokke. Now I just have to wait patiently for it to arrive . . .

[Liviam]

Awesome buy hun!! Fingers crossed it arrives quickly so you don't have to wait too long. What colour did you end up getting? Can't wait to see a picture!!!

[thirdtimelucky77]

Great work Lulu!!

I loved my Stokke - really, really loved it! I gave it away 2 weeks ago to a good friends sister, a) because they were really struggling to pull things together financially for their new baby and b) because I'm having twins. The first thing I thought when I found out I was having twins was - now I can't use my Stokke!

Lulu can you offer any advice on how I would check out buying a Bugaboo Donkey online overseas? I read the comment about side by sides being not so great? Any feedback girls? I just don't like the idea of stacking two babies of the same age on top of each other? The Donkey seems quite ugly when it has bassinets side by side - but when you use the seconday seat when they're a bit older it doesn't look so bad?

I'd really appreciate any advice. I'm just getting my head around being a 6 car seat family!!, twins plus an almost 3 years old x 2 cars (one for me and one for DH).

Thanks! X

[LuluHB]

I had side by side double prams for my DDs and TBH I loved them. Yes, they can be a monumental pain in the bum in some shops - don't even get me started on how I feel about Dymocks at Morley at Christmas time!! - but IMO so much better space and visibility for the kids and much better manoueverability. I hated the P&T's I tried out with my two and while I'm happy to believe the newer ideas are improved, I still think I would go a side by side if I had to do it all again - so much so I am only just now selling my doubles now that I'm sure I'm only having one this time.

I found a great shop in the US that was really helpful and had great prices for the Stokke, which was then beaten only in delivery amount by the UK place. Google baby on the run. The guy that runs it is fantastic and really helpful with any queries you have. On the website it has a price for the Donkey of uS$1,199 - not sure how that compares to here.

I got my Stokke through a UK buyer on eBay (hence part of my concern about it being too good to be true!) - just did a search of stokke xplory and ticked the little bit in the advanced search search about looking for items available to Australia and she had listings of stokkes. The only checking I've done is ebay reputation and comments so fingers crossed it will be all good. All of the actual "proper" stores in the UK say they don't do deliver to Aus, although maybe they could arrange something if you contacted them direct? There is an online store - google pram centre online uk - that sells Donkeys but it doesn't give the price. They had very good prices for stokke so might be worth an email to see if (A) they'll ship to Aus and (B) what price it is.

If there's anything else I can think of I'll let you know. Likewise if you've got any other queries hit me with them. I looooooove pram shopping!

[ButterflyForever]

Quinny Buzz.