Choosing a pram... controversy.
12 March 2009
I finally bought a pram. I looked at a number of different ones and finally narrowed it down to two. Phil and Teds and Mountain Buggy. The particular models I was looking at were the urban elite and the Phil and Teds dash and vibe (probably the natural competitor of the urban elite).
I had many strong recommendations for the phil and teds from closely trusted and valued friends and it did present a strong case. However my problems with the Phil and Teds were...
- It is a compromise pram. Bad for one child but good for two.
- The second seat needs to be removed before the pram is folded.
- It felt really clunky to drive especially with one child. I felt like I needed a longer handle.
- Having the capability for two seats upsets the balance of the pram when you have one child. I found it really difficult to maneuver around up and down curbs and bumps when I tried it out.
- The phil and teds (vibe) had very large footprint ruling it out.
- The hand brake while sounding good seemed fiddly to use in real life.
- Everyone has Phil and Teds (I'm not a follower of pram trends).
- All the Mountain Buggy prams felt beautifully balanced. Compared to the dash and vibe the urban elite wins on overall feel and drive-ability (all far superior).
- The urban elite and vibe cost about the same. The dash was slightly cheaper.
- The handle seemed to be slightly longer suiting the taller person.
- The Mountain Buggy is undoubtedly the better pram in terms of quality and make. The urban elite made from more durable fade resistant, water resistant canvas. The dash was just made from normal cordura (not as good).
- While it had a slightly larger footprint it still fitted easily in the small hatch of my car.
- When I thought about it I'd rather have a good one seat pram for a while then trade up later.
- The mountain buggy looks way way cooler.
* If you are wondering about Christine's opinion, she was happy with either pram. My feeling was that I should buy the best pram I could for her and the Mountain Buggy simply best met that requirement.
tags linkage, review, thinking
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Good decision bro.
Headship++
Thanks for the review! Now maybe you can film a Top Gear style test drive? ;)
Ah, that reminds me - some friends who have the Phil and Teds and do like it said that it's really heavy and big and sucks to get in and out of the car (she is quite petite). So if you live in the burbs (or Hobart!) and often travel places by car it's not the best choice.
4 wheels good, 3 wheels bad.
why is 3 wheels bad?
I felt a strange sense of deja vu reading this. Indeed, one of my friends reached the same conclusion 18 months ago :)
http://todaysmum.blogspot.com/2007/07/buying-our-mountain-buggy.html
What about getting one where the kid can see you, instead of her facing the world with you invisible behind her? or is that not a consideration anymore (in this modern world, I mean, she said with a luddite sigh)?
They still make them like that (or at least ones where the handle can be slid over so you can push from the other side) But... and I only realised this the other day, that ain't gonna work if it's a 3 wheeler cos you'd never be able to steer if there was one wheel at the back and two at the front.