Joie - Joie Tourist

All the options and systems are overwhelming. We went to a baby shop and tested them all out and bought the Joie Tourist and the Ramble XL carrycot. It's highly rated on Which.co.uk, it's light weight and compact which is exactly what we wanted as we have a smallish car and not a lot of house space for multiple or large ones.

Joie tourist - one handed fold down to cabin size, reclines to lie flat and comes with a travel bag. Got ours on gumtree for about £50 and it's great.

We got a Nuna Mixx travel system for our eldest, and he was using it until he was about 2.5yo, when we switched him to an umbrella stroller - partly because the Nuna felt perhaps a bit big for everyday use at that point, but also because we were expecting another baby and wanted to separate him from the pram before baby started using it. We love the Mixx and it's just as good second time around. I always get comments on the fancy features like the dream drape and the pockets everywhere, they are very handy to have. Also the basket is huge! While still using the Nuna, we bought a secondhand Joie Tourist for holidays, as it's very lightweight, folds to cabin size and was cheap enough that it didn't matter too much if an airline damaged it if it did have to go in the hold. That worked for us until about age 2, then he was too heavy for it (15kg limit, and we have a heavy boy!). For the umbrella stroller, we got a Silver Cross Zest and that's pretty good for nipping about, although the basket is absolutely useless, it's so small. We didn't use it for very long but it helped for longer days out, and for weekends away/holidays after he'd outgrown the Joie, although umbrella fold does have to go in the flight hold by default. This one goes up to 22kg (as does the Nuna) so more longevity. I panicked when baby #2 arrived that my eldest might still want to use a buggy, as he seemed too tired to use the buggy board for longer periods, so I panic-purchased a secondhand Bugaboo Donkey. While I have not used this as much as I thought, it is a very good pram overall and might be a good choice if you think you will have two kids, as it can be used as a single with a side basket, or with the frame extended to become a twin pram that holds 22kg per seat. It's very clever! Overall the Nuna is my MVP and I would definitely recommend it.

I have the Nuna pipa and trvl lx and tried to forgo the bassinet. It was such a pain to strap baby into the car seat each time and she hated it. Baby wearing also took a toll on my back and your arm range is limited. I ended up caving and bought a (cheaper) stroller the Joie to use the bassinet function for walks. Huge storage under that makes it perfect for going grocery shopping. No regrets!

When I first moved here I thought it was silly seeing so many Cadillac sized strollers with big wheels- seems contradictory. But then I realized its the cobbles stones, albeit not so wide spread in Berlin, I’ve now traveled with a stroller to Copenhagen, Prague and Lisbon and the bigger the wheels the better really or else they get stuck between stones. Thats why in Berlin and CPH buggaboos are so popular. Also, easywalkers, joolz and joie.

If you drive a smaller car, make sure the stroller is gonna fit in the trunk. We have to take the wheels off our stroller when we take my husband’s Golf. Luckily, the Joie stroller we have is meant for that but still.

I have a Joie too and love it!

As a new parent, buying and choosing stroller felt like a total new world with so many choices and things to consider. To be frank, it was overwhelming when starting out. We quickly realized, we wanted lightweight and easy to use ones as we would travel quite a bit. I would suggest: 1. Go to a shop like Baby Kingdom where they will explain different type of strollers. 2. Choose the stroller type you want and then look for sale or discounts over next few months. 3. We finalized Hamilton Z1/R1 something like that and it was 450, but we got a sale on Mothercare and got it for around 320. 4. As others said, carousell can be a good option and 2 years later after quite heavy use of Hamilton stroller we bought a like new Joie on carousell. For new born, I think it is important to ensure the stroller has at least 170 degree recline if not 180. We didn’t buy car seat or baby seat attachment for our stroller.

I used to go to Mummy's Market at Suntec to try different brands of strollers, then bought during Shopee sale. Personally I used Joie until my baby was about 15 months old, by then the seat was getting too small for her, so I switched to Baby Jogger and been using it for about a year now. I think both are pretty good for the price. I know Bugaboo / Babyzen Yoyo brand is very popular but it's beyond my budget, and I'm not keen on getting second hand due to personal reasons.