A couple of months ago I spent a good bit of time looking for a baby travel system for our on-the-way little one. I was surprised to learn that on average, Irish mums spend between €700 and €1,000 on a buggy. This seemed like a lot of money to me and I was keen to see if I could find some budget alternatives.
I began searching online and enlisted my dad's help on what looked good and what did not in terms of weight and quality. Eventually we narrowed down my research to the above three packages, all under €500. After looking at so many online, our list of must-have criteria was as follows:
- A lightweight chassis and good quality tyres,
- Three easily interchangeable main components of carry cot, car seat and stroller seat,
- No extra adapters or small parts that could be forgotten or lost,
- Included extras like rain covers and foot muffs, and
- The option to purchase an additional ISO-FIX base for easy in-and-out of the car.
Initially my favourite package was the Stomp v2 - I loved the vibrant red and silver option and all the extras including a nappy bag and changing mat - and I almost decided to go for it. Ultimately the extra car seat adapters and the fact that you'd need a Maxi-Cosi or BeSafe ISO-FIX base with another set of adapters put me off. The Ickle Bubba team were very helpful and responsive via their Facebook page, but the info about the car seat and compatible ISO-FIX bases was hard to find and then difficult to interpret (I'm still not sure I have it right!).
The Beep Twist Package ticked all of my criteria and was the only one of the three available to view in a store near me. While I was ready to buy my travel system online without seeing it in person first, the option of being able to see this in either the Blanchardstown or Dundrum Baby Elegance stores moved this to my number one spot. While the Beep comes in a lot of colour options, the red version really did not have the same appeal as the red in the Stomp v2. For me, the nicest colours were black or the City version.
I spent a good bit of time on the Uberchild EVO system too. I couldn't believe how cheap it was - considerably less than the other two. I spotted a lady with one while out shopping one day and decided to ask her what she thought about it. She loved it as it was modelled on the expensive Bugaboo but was so much cheaper, but she did have some concern over the car seat only having a three-point harness (as opposed to a five-point). At the time of my research I emailed and messaged the Uberchild team with a question and the response back was slow. I also read a couple anxious messages on their Facebook page of mums still waiting for their deliveries to arrive. Ultimately the lack of an ISO-FIX base option ruled this one out for me.
In the midst of all my decision-making, Baby Elegance were having their January sale and the Beep Twist Package was on offer at the reduced price of €399. This was the final push that I needed and we went along to the Blanchardstown store to see the Beep in reality. A really helpful store assistant demonstrated all the components, buttons and switches and it all looked good to us. We decided to go for the Beep and used our 'saved' cash plus a little extra to purchase the compatible ISO-FIX base and a nappy bag. The store assistant let us know that we could secure our order with a deposit and collect/pay the balance closer to our baby's due date. She also said they would unpack and assemble our set and have it ready to wheel out of the store on our collection date - saving us the hassle of boxes and assembly. Yippee! I was delighted with our choice.
So that's my round up of three really good budget baby travel systems. I hope this might help some other mums-to-be out there with their buggy buying decisions!
*Prices correct at time of writing
*I was not compensated by Baby Elegance in any way for this post
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