Long term review: Quinny Buzz

When my wife and I learned that she was going to have a baby, like many expecting parents to be, we began to research the topic to no end! We read, checked, compared, tested and prodded literally tons of baby equipment. One thing we settled on pretty early (and thanks to Grandpa!) was the carriage we wanted, the Quinny Buzz. Our model is no longer the Buzz, but the Buzz 3. I've been meaning to take a look at what's been improved from the one we currently use.

After having used this stroller for two years, I can easily find a few improvements that I would like to see implemented by Quinny:

1. Larger diameter front wheel: Although still usable, increasing the diameter of the front wheel assembly would improve stability and directional control.
2. Move the steering pivot point a little further forward: We have found that during use on rougher terrain, the front wheel tends to dig into any depression in the ground, leading the wheels to pivot in that direction, which changes the centre of gravity of the stroller.
3. More positive engagement of rear wheel lock: With extended use, the wheel locking levers feel rather mushy and unresponsive, which makes it difficult to tell if the brake is properly engaged.
4. Larger width of webbing material for belts: The current belts tend to twist, making them both difficult to thread through the plastic lock fittings, and uncomfortable for our boy as well.
5. Better folding lock: In colder climates, like we have here, the plastic of the current design's clip becomes very hard and therefore difficult to press in order to release the folded stroller's frame to extend open. A better mechanism would be a improvement.
6. Make it narrower: The current width of the stroller makes it difficult to get into some smaller car trunks and hard to get into city buses and other transports. Narrower and longer would be a simple solution to this one.

Now don't get me wrong, there are many things we appreciate about this stroller. In the summer months, it is a great city stroller. It moves well, manoeuvres simply, folds fairly easily, all in a pretty lightweight model. We live and learn is the lesson. We now know what to look for in a stroller and we have become used to this one's quirks. But new parents, you might want to shop around and actually run them around the store a bit more than we did!