We love reviewing pushchairs, and with another baby on the way (due September!) my mind has been wandering to which pushchair we would like for this new baby. A few years ago I was lucky enough to work with a popular parenting magazine reviewing pushchairs, but it occurred to me that despite running the review in the press I had never actually published a review on my blog!
Silver Cross Wayfarer
The Silver Cross Wayfarer is a popular choice of pram for many parents to be. The 1980’s version of the Wayfarer proved to become a very popular model, it was the best selling pushchair of it’s era. But is the new re-model just as practical, stylish and well quite frankly, as useful as the original?
Looks are Important
The Silver Cross Wayfarer has some fantastic features. The pushchair looks exceptional, and can be customised with different colour hood and apron sets. The whole look of the pushchair has been very well thought out. There is wonderful detail on the whole system, such as the leather coverings on the handlebar and bumperbar, chrome on the handlebar and hood. Small decorative studs can be found on the foot-muff and carrycot cover, which simply catches the eye without being in-your-face. The pushchair can be used with a carrycot, car seat or seat, depending on the age of your child. With whatever you choose to put your baby in, the pram remains looking sleek and beautiful. Nothing is clunky and the whole design is sleek and looks very stylish. This pram is certainly for parents who want style as well as practicality when out and about with baby. The Silver Cross Wayfarer is available in 5 colours- black, sand, vintage red, vintage pink, vintage blue and finally, silver.
Carry Cot
For newborn babies, you can use a carrycot on the pram chassis. The carrycot comes with a lovely white mattress, and soft white sides which all easily zips on and off for cleaning. The carrycot mattress is firm yet comfortable and thick enough for baby to sleep in for a long time, such as overnight sleeping. We used the carrycot when staying over night with the in-laws and while baby is small it makes the perfect makeshift travel cot! When baby was asleep and the weather outside was bad, I could easily disconnect the carrycot from the chassis and bring baby inside to continue her nap. A very comfortable safe place for baby to sleep!
An extra handy feature is that the carry cot also can be folded flat for those that need a space saving option, and it folds back up again in seconds. Great when storage space is short! The carrycot also has a safety bar that sits across the carrycot. The carrycot cover has magnets inside the flap so it folds over the safety bar and is held down in place without the need for fiddly poppers or buttons.
The Chassis and Basket
The chassis/frame is very easy to fold and unfold. When used with a carrycot, the carrycot must be removed before folding the frame. This is easily done with simple clicks of buttons either side of the frame. Just simply lift the carrycot off of the chassis in an upright motion and the two shall separate.
The chassis folds exceptionally well, and folds away small. To fold the chassis, simply push a button on the side of the handlebar and loop your fingers through the folding-hoops (I have no other way to describe this!) and slide your fingers up, and the frame will fold. This is a very easy manoeuvre and is easy and fast to do! The chassis is lightweight and easy to fold down… ideal when looking for any pushchair. Great news for the Wayfarer.
The shopping basket is extremely generous on size and can hold lots of shopping securely. I managed to do a few food shops in town and fill the basket with all of my goodies. Nothing fell out either- bonus! The handle bar height is adjustable and this is managed by squeezing a trigger on the top of the handlebar. There are 4 heights to choose from- great if you’re short like me but your hubby is tall!
Despite looking chic and stylish, the wheels are very small and smooth, meaning that travelling over rough ground becomes tricky work. The small wheels are suited to town and city life, but once hitting anything remotely rural the wheels seem to catch and collect the slightest bit of mud and clog up. Don’t even attempt gravel!
Seat
The seat is suitable from when your child is around 6 months of age, and up to 25kg (around 3 years of age). The seat has a wonderful harness, that sits between baby’s legs, around their waist and over both shoulders. It simply clicks into safety with ease and is released by pushing the round button that holds the harness points into place. You do need to push with some force to release the buckles, but this is certainly a good thing. You don’t want baby getting themselves out of their seat mid-walk!
When using the seat on the chassis it can be rear or forwards facing. I prefer rear facing for young children because can talk to baby about our surroundings, encouraging speech and language development! The seat can be changed from forward to rear facing within seconds, but clicking small switches either side of the chassis and lifting the pram in a smooth upright motion. Turn the seat and simply click back into place. Easy 🙂 The seat is quite deep and holds a baby’s bottom in place comfortably. Some pushchairs that I have seen or reviewed, the seat has been very shallow and my girls have looked rather unbalanced.
The Hood
The hood has 3 positions when in use and simply just clicks up and down to whichever position you choose. The hood stays in place well, even in strong winds. There is also a UV cover inside of the hood (this is the silver lining) and stops harms sunrays from getting to your baby. When folded back, the hood sits nice and flat against the seat and doesn’t seem too bulky. I would have liked to have seen a viewing visor inside of the hood, to check on baby when outwards facing, although this wasn’t much of a thought for me as I tend to always have baby forwards facing anyway.
In Summary
I think the pushchair had potential to be fantastic in every way, if the designers had not skimped on a few of its design features. I loved the way the pushchair looked- very modern, yet remained beautiful (as if we ever expected none less from Silver Cross). The pushchair was fantastic when used with the carrycot for baby. It caught the attention of many eyes, and was super easy to push around the shops and through my home town of Milton Keynes when visiting family) but unfortunately the pram suddenly became hard work when used a pushchair for our toddler on board. When I fitted the pram seat and my 2 year old had taken her place the chassis felt rather flimsy. It struggled when going up and down curbs from the weight of her (and she isn’t a big baby at all). At times, I was concerned that the chassis was going to bend and break. For people who would mostly use the pushchair in shopping malls or on smooth pavements, it would be an all-round excellent buggy, but unfortunately for the area we live in, it gave us a little more than a workout!
Rate this model out of 5 for:
Value: 3
Practicality: 3
Quality: 4
Style: 5
Overall: 4
Looking for something else? Check out my Quinny Moodd review here or my Omnio Stroller review here.
