Pushchair review: Silver Cross 3D Pram System In Henley - £299 (Babies R us) and Quinny Zapp Xtra In Electric Blue - £230 (Mothercare).

It’s been six months since Riley was born and I’ve already had to buy another pushchair. Admittedly I wanted a new one, for reasons I will explain in a moment, however I didn’t expect to HAVE to buy a new one.

A pushchair is one of the main/big/expensive items you’ll purchase when you’re expecting. I spent hours looking for what I wanted online, which was probably my first mistake not actually going to look at them. Eventually I decided the Silver Cross 3D Pram System in Henley was the pushchair for us. My reasons for this were based mostly on how this pushchair looked as a pram, BIG MISTAKE!

Silver Cross 3D as a pram.

Silver Cross 3D as a pushchair.

What I initially loved about this pushchair was that when Riley was born we would be able to use the pushchair as a pram, and then as he got bigger we would be able to use the pushchair as, well, a pushchair.

So what was the problem? Well, where to begin; Riley outgrew the pram function of the pushchair pretty quickly. He wasn’t the biggest of babies, an average sized little boy at 7lb 3oz. We therefore found ourselves constantly using the car seat (Ventura £114.99 – Babies R Us), which is compatible with the 3D Pram System, so that we could have Riley facing us, as at a few months old he still seemed too small to be facing outward and I wanted to be able to see him when we were out and about.  The problem with this was that it made the already heavy pushchair even heavier, not to mention it was a bit of an eyesore.

Silver Cross 3D with Ventura car seat attached. 

The size of the pushchair is pretty big in comparison to some of the other pushchairs on the market and this was evident whenever I took Riley out shopping. Navigating the lifts (oh yes, lifts, you cannot go anywhere without needing to use a lift when you have a pushchair) was an absolute nightmare. Trying to squeeze in, and out, with my huge heavy pushchair, which had a mind of its own due to the wheels taking us in whichever direction they felt like, whilst other mums seemed to be whizzing about hassle free made going out quite a stressful experience. Getting buses was equally as bad. Even when folded down the 3D Pram System took up the whole boot space of our Citron Saxo (we have since brought a new, bigger, car) and lifting it in and out was heavy work, as was putting it up. You’re meant to just lift the “1” and “2” labelled levers and just “flick” the pushchair up and vice versa when folding it down, Voila! Easy! Maybe for Superman but not for an energy drained mother.  Furthermore, we always had problems with the right side of the pushchair, which refused to click into place when being put up.

The final straw came when we had a drama in Sainsbury’s car park a couple of weeks ago. This spelt the end of our time with the Silver Cross 3D Pram System. It just would not fold down! We battled with it and even turned against each other in our quest to put it down. After about twenty minutes James found a wire, which was linked to the mechanism that folds the pushchair down. We managed to get it down and get home. This was the end of the 3D Pram System’s time with us.

There are some positives to the Silver Cross 3D Pram System. In terms of comfort for baby, the Silver Cross 3D pushchair is brilliant. It’s cosy and has several seat positions, including upright and a recline to laying down position. There is a bar which toys can be attached to (something my new one doesn’t have). The basket can carry heavy loads … I know this from carrying six litres of coke in mine. The pushchair is sold with baby bag, footmuff, raincover and pram liner.

For me however, the negatives outweigh the positives and for my next pushchair I wanted something light, easy to get about with and small.  I chose the Quinny Zapp Xtra in electric blue.

Quinny Zapp Xtra forward facing.

Quinny Zapp Xtra rearward facing.

What I loved about this was that I could have Riley facing me without the need for a car seat on my pushchair, though this is compatible with Maxi Cosi car seats and adaptors for it come with the pushchair.  The seat has two positions when rearward facing and three when facing outwards – perfect! The fact the pushchair has a rearward facing function means it is suitable from birth, whereas the original “Quinny Zapp” isn’t. There is also a little footrest that pops into use, and out, for when baby is older and requires it.

 Footrest not in use.

Footrest in use. 

As I alluded to before, there is nowhere on this pushchair for toys to be attached (I have been hooking Riley’s onto the hood). I also think comfort has been sacrificed to enable Quinny to make such a compact pushchair. The Quinny, I believe, is the smallest folding pushchair on the market.

Quinny folded down.

This pushchair is a dream to take out it’s light and easily manoeuvrable. We don’t take up the whole floor space of a lift or the whole disabled bay on a bus.

One negative is that the seat must come off in order to fold the pushchair down whereas on its predecessor, the “Zapp”, the seat folds with the frame. I don’t need Popeye muscles to lift the Zapp Xtra in and out of the car and so far the wheels listen to me. Putting it up did require watching a YouTube video as the written instructions were wasted on me; pictures, argggg. The video on Quinny’s website consisted of women parading about with different colour variations of the Zapp Xtra … not exactly a guide for idiots on how to put it up and down. It really isn’t difficult once you know how though: press the “1 and 2” buttons in and lift the handles and frame up towards you. Then pull the number “3” handle toward you, until it all clicks into place. To fold down, push “1 and 2” buttons in and fold the handle and frame away from you and then push the number “3” handle in and the pushchair will all fold in.

The Zapp Xtra doesn’t come with all the mod cons the Silver Cross 3D does. It does however come with a raincover, basket and adaptors, for a Maxi Cosi car seat. It also has a built-in sun canopy on the hood and the seat cover is removable and therefore washable, which is good as I can already see some grubby marks. I have done some research, as I would like to purchase the matching electric blue footmuff and I have found that a Quinny footmuff is around £50 to buy.

In my opinion based on the experiences I have had with these two pushchairs, the Silver Cross 3D Pram System would get 3/5 marks and the Quinny Zapp Xtra 4/5.

With the busy lives mums lead and the unfriendliness towards pushchairs on the highstreet, practicality far outweighs any other feature a particular pushchair might have. Whilst the Silver Cross 3D Pram System looks very comfortable, it's not really practical and at a cost of £299 (other shops sell this at a higher price), six months use is not acceptable. We were not excessively rough with this pushchair, though you do expect a fair amount of durability with such a product. On the other hand the Quinny Zapp Xtra, which appears to lack slightly in comfort, is a practical lightweight pushchair and at a cost of £230 isn’t too pricey in comparison to similar products on the market.