If you’ve ever tried to take a baby or toddler on a trip abroad – or even just on public transport – you’ll know that lots of pushchairs really aren’t geared up for being carried around.
This becomes even more apparent when you’re doing things solo and trying to carry your baby, their bag(s) and their pushchair down 30-odd steps because the train station you’ve stopped at doesn’t step-free access.
Thankfully there are a variety of lightweight strollers on the market which are appealing to parents even more as their little ones hit the six-month mark (although lots of these pushchairs are classed as suitable for newborns, too).
Many of these pushchairs are cabin friendly (perfect for air travel), easy to fold and much lighter than others on the market. Some even come with straps, bags and handles to make the process of carting them around a whole lot easier.
Over the course of the next few weeks we’ll be sharing our very honest reviews of a selection of lightweight strollers on the market. This week it’s the Chicco Goody Plus stroller. How does it compare to the rest? Read on to find out.
Chicco Goody Plus Stroller
How heavy is it? 6.9kg
Price: £229 from John Lewis (price correct at time of writing)
Does it come with accessories? A rain cover.
A quick lowdown:
- Suitable for babies from birth up to a weight of 22kg
- Five-point harness
- One touch folding stroller
- Extendable UV50+ canopy for weather protection
- Detachable bumper bar
The review
The Chicco Goody Plus is a surprisingly plush-looking stroller considering it’s one of the cheaper models on the market.
When I opened it from its box I was impressed with just how easy it was to set up and the overall feel of it – it looks the part (I particularly like the gold detailing against the black seat fabric) and my eyes were immediately drawn to the decent storage compartment at the bottom. You can easily fit multiple shopping bags in there or a large changing bag.
The pushchair is really easy to manoeuvre and I love how simple it is to open and close – probably one of the simplest mechanisms I’ve tried.
You simply press two buttons on the handle (one on the top, one on the bottom, so you can do it one-handed), push the handle forward and it collapses. Once collapsed, it stands up on its own – which is very handy from a storage point of view.
Unfortunately the buggy doesn’t come with a handle or strap for carrying, nor does it come with a carry bag, however given the cheaper price it’s not the end of the world. I also found that if I needed to carry it down some stairs, I could carry it by the harness strap (and so far it’s held out).
To open it up again, you simply pull the handle up with a bit of force and the pushchair folds out and snaps back into shape.
The seat and five-point harness looks comfy. I like that the seat is pretty upright as standard (so you can feed your child while sat in the stroller, if needed) but also that it’s very easy to recline – you simply lift a lever on the back of the seat and recline it as far as you want to go (it goes all the way back so your child can lie horizontally).
The main downside of this stroller is the brake mechanism. It will occasionally stick and stop working, and I’ve noticed on shoppers’ reviews that this seems to be something impacting other people, too. If it wasn’t for this one thing, I’d say this buggy could easily rival the Babyzen YOYO2.
But on the whole, despite the hit-and-miss brakes, I’m really impressed with the overall design of this pushchair and its ‘one touch’ folding mechanism is particularly handy for when you need to get your buggy up and ready in a matter of seconds – which is pretty often when you have a small, energetic toddler in tow.