Review: Maclaren Techno XT

Maclaren is well known for being an English company that makes high quality strollers. Founded by Owen Finlay Maclaren in 1967, Maclaren has continued to base their designs on his original stroller and today their strollers are sold in over 50 countries worldwide.

Easy on public transport.

The Maclaren Techno XT is one of them which allows you to recline the seat fully down so the child can lay flat as well as include a handy pocket for the raincover and a UV protection shield that can be lifted out within the hood. It has smooth and comfortable handles and can easily be folded down in the umbrella fold which many strollers do. You are able to use this from birth all the way up until they are old enough to walk on their own and no longer wish to be in the buggy. The hood also zips out to cover the child further which is perfect for newborns that require extra shade from the sun. It’s a brilliant stroller with slightly larger plastic wheels that make it more stable then strollers with small plastic wheels.

Harness has 2 buttons
for extra safety!

Fitting this into a car boot was something we knew had to be done for our reviews and thankfully we have a mixture of cars with different size boots. We tried this out in a Ford Focus, Renault Megané, Mini Cooper and Volvo V70. Because it’s simple umbrella fold it would fit in three car boots but one of them failed for us. Had a little bit of trouble with the Focus as it only left us enough space for a small suitcase, the Megané was tricky mostly due to the fact the boot had a large sound system built into it but the stroller fitted nice and snug. As for the Volvo V70 the large boot could easily take on another two or three more of these strollers without much hassle at all. Sadly the Mini Cooper was not so great and in the end the only way to get it in was to put some of the back seats down.

Overall this is a great stroller, lightweight and easy a smooth ride for both parent and child. Downside to this stroller was not easy to find as it did a great job and having the pocket for the raincover meant the shopping basket was actually for shopping.

The UV flap helps protect your little one's eyes.

So what do our judges think of the Maclaren Techno XT? Here comes the scores...

Petit Boy's Rating: 10/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 10/10 

Wow, An amazing score from both judges! Well done to Maclaren, who once again have made a brilliant buggy for little ones and parents to enjoy.

You can find Maclaren Techno XT on Amazon

Review: Britax B-Smart 4 Pushchair

When I was asked to test out and review one of Britax's pushchairs I jumped at the chance as we own a Britax car seat and had heard many good things about their products in the past. So we got sent the B-Smart and here's what we thought of it.

Waiting for our train - I love how big
the shopping basket is!

I picked the B-Smart 4 as this suited us more than the B-Smart 3 would have. Putting it together wasn't too hard, I was shocked to see the size of the back wheels which are huge! The manual was fairly easy to follow, although it came in so many different languages the first task was to find "GB" for English. Everything clicked in with ease and didn't come back out without the use of a button of some kind, which puts your mind at ease knowing the wheels you just put on aren't going to pop off whilst out doing your weekly shopping. Unfolding it was also simple to do too. It's slightly wider then I expected and bigger looking and first downfall for me was the handle bar isn't as soft as it could be. I do however like the brake system which you just press it down so it clicks in and shows red. This means it's on and won't move at all. You then press it again and it goes green, meaning the brakes are off and can move the pushchair again. The only way you can not put the brake on properly is by not clicking it down enough, but if you see red and it stays red then the brake is on fully. The hood is very large and there's a zip in the middle so if you have your child forward facing and want to check on them then you can unzip the hood and see them with great ease. I also like to point out that the shopping basket is very big and has two pockets as well. Thumbs up so far from me!

In Town
Taking this around supermarkets was a breeze, however a few times whilst clothes shopping I found it was too wide and I ended up dragging a bunch of clothes with me as I passed them. The wheels easily moved around and felt smooth when on a bumpy bit of pathway.

In the City
I didn't have much trouble getting around the city, however in some of the shops where they have put stands in the middle of their floor space I found we'd get stuck and unable to get around them due to being too wide for the gap that they considered to be suitable.

In the Country
No real problems here, thanks for the big wheels. I must say the wheels have taken some damage though and did collect a bit of dirt on them. Disappointing there but this didn't have trouble on bumpy ground.

On Public Transport
Getting this on the train was tricky as it meant picking up it. This pushchair is 12kgs which is 2kgs more then what I'm normally use to. It can be little hard to hold onto when someone is trying to help by picking up the front, and a few said it was pretty heavy. However the big wheels did help once again and where there were gaps between the platform and train the wheels were big enough that didn't lose control of the pushchair and it was safe on the platform.

So what problems did I have overall? Well the raincover doesn't fit very well when you have it rear facing (baby facing you) and when I did get it on when rear facing it was tight and Baby Al got upset as it pressed against his feet. Also for the £329.99 price tag I'd expect a footmuff.

You can change the height of the bumper bar.

Pros
- Big wheels helps with bumps and taking down stairs.
- Black base makes it look very stylish!
- Easy to maneuver.
- Huge shopping basket with two pockets!
- Comes with a raincover.
- Easy click on and off braking system.

Cons
- Wider than most pushchairs.
- Expensive.
- Raincover only fits properly when seat is forward facing.
- Doesn't come with a footmuff.

Baby Al's Rating: 7/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 7/10

We do really like this pushchair, but the price of £329.99 is a bit much for us, specially when it doesn't come with a footmuff. I must say I did get the raincover on the B-Smart 4 to fit when rear facing, but it stopped us getting to the shopping basket and was very tight.

This product was kindly provided to us by Britax.

Review: Mamas & Papas Sola Pushchair

Some of you may remember my post about our current pushchair situation and now that we no longer need the infant car seat or the carry cot it was becoming too much of a space waster. Mamas & Papas kindly offered us a chance to test drive their Sola pushchair and here is what we thought of it. I understand we live in different areas and some pushchairs work best in urban places whilst others may suit the country life best. For each pushchair review I shall be testing them in all sorts of ways, including in our car (we have a Ford Focus) and on public transport.

This is my second pushchair that I've ever had to put together, the other being the Hauck Condor. Both were partly put together already so the first few steps were something to ignore such as how to put the shopping bag in. The main difference between this and my old pushchair has got to be putting it down and back up.With the Mamas & Papas Sola it was quite simple and would go down into a flat position, which I find much better for storing as I can rest it against the wall and it wouldn't take up a huge amount of space. The wheels are also bigger and actually makes having to take it down two flights of stairs not so troublesome as I thought they would, infact they made it easier. It's 10kg in weight like my old pushchair, yet it felt much lighter and easy to lift. The soft bar handle is also very comfortable to hold and I would probably say I prefer the bar handle style now, specially as I could set it to different heights which made things easy for me as a petite lady. Turning it so he can face me was very easy to do! Just click the two side buttons, pull it off and turn it around then.. click! And because the seat is light, it's not that hard to do at all. If I can do it, anyone can!


In Town
Taking it around town was a breeze. Barely had any problems with bumps in the pavement and it felt smooth and easy to push along. Getting in and around stores wasn't a problem as the wheels turn very well an with such ease.

In The City
I found getting around the chaos of Birmingham city very easy with this. The front wheels turn like a charm and the big back wheels help make it smooth and enjoyable for little one.

In The Countryside
The big wheels did help, and the option to lock the front wheels can be of use when on muddy grass or somewhere that is very bumpy. Perhaps it's just me but I found these wheels didn't keep the mud and dirt on them all the way back to our flat, or at least most of the dirt was got by the time we were home. Our old one would collect everything and meant leaving it outside our front door so we could scrub the muck off before wheeling it in onto our wooden flooring.

In the Car Boot
We own a Ford Focus from 2004. It's a fairly good size car, however getting this pushchair in wasn't easy. We had to remove at least one of the wheels and once we did there was no space left in the boot. It wasn't possible for us to put it on the back seats either.

On the Bus
I took the bus from the city back home and it fitted well. The bar can be placed down to put it out of the way and once you hear the brake button make a "click" sound you can be sure that it won't be going anywhere. At first I didn't push the brakes down fully but when I did I had no worries about it sliding about, he even fell asleep as we waited for our stop.

On the Train & Underground
I was lucky to have gotten an invite from Dettol to go to London as well as given entry to The Baby Show. I took the pushchair with me on the train and tube. The train I was on had no baggage area, but cos it is very easy to put down and fold up I had no problems doing so in a short space of time. The Underground I had problems mainly getting on the tube trains, otherwise easy to get off and the brakes being so easy to use and very strong he wasn't moving around as the train sped off to the next station.

So here are the Pros and Cons.

Pros
- Easy to put down.
- Simple to change seat between forward and rear facing.
- Handle bar can be put up or down to suit your height.

Cons
- Doesn't come with foot muff (sold seperately at £66).
- Can't fold it down when seat is rear facing.
- Too big for car boot.

So what do we think of this? Our judges have come back with their scores and...

Baby Al's Rating: 9/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 8/10

Baby Al would have liked a foot muff, but he does not care as much about the car issue then Petit Mom does!

This product was kindly provided by Mamas & Papas.

My Kingdom for a Pushchair!

Okay maybe not my whole Kingdom. How about the bath tub? No really, my bath tub for a decent pushchair! Anybody interested?

You see when I was pregnant my parents bought me a Hauck Condor which came with everything and was just £149.99 from Tesco Direct at the time. It gave us everything we needed and wasn't too expensive. The problem however was it wasn't fitting for our home. We live on a second floor flat where there is no lift as they no longer are required to put lifts into appartment buildings anymore, only that the ground floor flats must have wider doors throughout for wheelchair access. Some of you may know that pushchairs are not lightweight and the best ones tend to be the ones that weight nearly the same as you. I do like our Hauck pushchair but it was killing my back!

My partner's parents gave us a hand-me-down stroller when Baby Al was able to sit himself up but it's so old the wheels at the front barely work, and there's no space under it to even put the raincover in, so I have to either not take it with us or put it on and see if it does rain whilst I'm out. It's very nice of them to give us a stroller but it's awful and I'm pulling my hair over how much I dislike it, but saying so would make me look like a right git.

So I'm asking for help, my bath tub for a simple stroller that is lightweight enough to drag up two stories of stairs, folds neatly, comes with rain cover and has space to hold the cover underneath. Simple... isn't it?