With a second baby on the way and Georgie not yet two, James and I have been considering our options when it comes to pushchairs. Ideally we wanted to avoid buying a double buggy as (a) I just don’t like them and (b) they cost a lot of money for something you don’t use for very long! Georgie has already started to show a preference for walking and I don’t think we would get our money’s worth from an expensive double buggy (and let’s face it, they’re all pretty expensive for a family on a budget!).
The side by side double buggies are almost always too wide to be easily practical, and I always feel sorry for kids sitting underneath their siblings when I see the inline styles out & about. We got a Maclaren Techno XLR when Georgie was born, and we love it to bits – it has always been very reliable, sturdy and easy to drive. It works as a travel system with our Recaro infant car seat, which we are planning to reuse for Squidge – so it makes sense to stick with the pushchair it attaches to.
Instead of opting for a double buggy, we discovered the Buggypod. We bought the Smorph 2 at Kiddicare Merry Hill at the weekend, and have fitted it to the Maclaren for Georgie to use. We also converted the pushchair back into car seat mode so that it’s all ready for the baby – exciting stuff.
(As per tradition, Homily is giving it a try in the above photos – Georgie had gone to bed already!)
The Buggypod is an ingenious invention which basically converts almost any pushchair into a double buggy. The sidecar type seat folds away when not in use, adding just 12 cm to the side of the pushchair. You can also easily unclip the whole thing if you’re not going to use it, and so you can fold your pushchair like normal. Our pushchair still fits through doors, is still easy to steer, and Georgie will have the option to walk or ride without too much hassle for us!
We also took a look in the sale at the lightweight pushchairs Kiddicare had to offer, and picked up an “I love Kiddicare” Jet Pushchair to use for Georgie on her own, as I plan to use my wrap sling a lot for the baby when out and about, popping to the local shops etc. it seems great so far, really light and easy to fold/unfold one handed!
I plan to post full reviews of both of these once they’ve had a test run but our initial impressions are favourable for both. At a total cost of £125* for the two, thanks to a 10% discount voucher we had, they’re certainly a cheaper option than buying a double buggy I just know we’d have regretted! We need to order a raincover for the Buggypod which is about £20, and then we are officially sorted for transport. One step closer to welcoming our fourth family member!
* Buggypod Smorph 2 @ £99.95 + Kiddicare Jet Pushchair @ £39.00 = £138.95
I totally agree with all your reasons not to get a double. I don’t like any of the styles. We have 21 month gap and it’s working out fine with me baby wearing my 9 week old and toddler is in our bargain bugaboo fr eBay. He also uses buggy board (we looked at pods but he already loves walking) which is great when he’s tired but doesn’t want to go in buggy. Hope this works out well for you all too!
I’m so excited to see this! We also have a Maclaren XLR and we’re going to have a 2 year age gap. I love my Maclaren and didn’t want to have to part with it to get a double buggy – the exact reasons that you mention. I’ve been looking at buggy boards and I’m undecided, but this looks great! I know you say that it folds up neatly when not in use, so I presume that when you fold up the pushchair it doesn’t affect it at all?
Hi Raewyn, thanks for the comment!
To fold up the pushchair, you just unclip the folded Buggypod from the brackets which are permanently attached to the pushchair (obviously you can move these if you decide to buy a different pushchair altogether). You then have the two separate parts folded up for transport/storage; a folded Buggypod & a folded pushchair – if that makes sense!
To put it back up, unfold the pushchair, clip on the folded Buggypod, and then unfold it as normal. Easy peasy!
The trick is to get it set up as well as possible to begin with, it does fit the XLR but its at the extremes so it took a bit of adjusting to get it perfect to start with. I can get the whole thing up, down, on or off quick as anything now though. It gets loads of “that’s clever” type compliments!