Crap. Now I kind of want one.
We went to the zoo with some friends who have a Bugaboo.
I have never wanted a Bugaboo. I’m not actually that crazy about how they look, I know they are (to me) ridiculously expensive, and everyone stares when someone with a Bugaboo walks by. I don’t like being stared at, and I don’t generally do expensive. There’s a lot of hype around them and I don’t generally do hype. So I have never wanted one.
Well, I have never seen one in action before either. There may be something to the price tag.
I have pushed one around in a store. Yes, it pushes very nicely. But watching it in action was something else. For one thing, when our friends’ daughter got sleepy, they literally picked up the seat with a click, turned it around, and popped it back in. DAMN that was COOL. I have seen reversible chair strollers before (and I do think they’re wonderful!) but I have never seen one quite that easy to switch! I about had a heart attack from shock.
Bugaboos also have reversible handles. I never understood the point of this before. Why would you reverse the handle so that the fixed wheels are in front? Well I got the answer to that on an email list the other day. Apparently when you reverse the handle and lock the swivel wheels, the thing magically turns into a pram and will go over pretty much everything. Well, damn.
There are lots of other niceties too. Like the fact that the brake is on the handlebar. Nice touch. Like the bumper bar. In fact I like the colors on the Chameleon which is, of course, the most expensive one. And the thing about these hybrid strollers with one set of swivel wheels and one set of all terrain wheels is that you can just pop up the front to go over anything as well (if you can’t be bothered to reverse the handle I guess).
Now suddenly I’m thinking well, nothing else on the market does all that. Suddenly the price tag doesn’t seem too bad. I honestly didn’t want to know that it was actually really nice. Crap.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Hi Carrie,
Wandered onto your website and couldn’t resist…I am having the exact same quandry as you with strollers, so glad to hear I’m not suffering alone. Sigh…except you actually added I’coo Croco to my list of confusion. It has all the features I’m looking for, and not as expensive as the bugaboo, which I’ve been lurking around on ebay for….waiting for a deal on a used one. (for 6 months) The only deals I find are from con artists using hijacked accounts, and no real strollers. I spend all my time reporting fraud to security and no time left to shop.
Well anyway, I’d like to hear what you finally decide on! I have to have the reversible handle or seat option because my baby hates to look forward. I’ve heard some horror stories about reversible seats, and that the reversible handles are nicer…not to disturb sleeping baby. But your description of the bugaboo sounded fairly easy. Hmmm…
Sigh…
Just so you know, after checking out the poor Mom’s version of bugaboo–the Fisher Price–I notice the design of the hood hit my son’s head, and the seat is so short that I’ve heard toddler’s legs hit the wheels. Just FYI. My son screamed when I tried it out in the store.
I still like to dream there’s a magical stroller out there, with air tires, that doesn’t weigh 35 lbs. (like a zooper zydeco) that looks like a bugaboo for under $200??? Sigh…
Take care,
Julie