Quinny Dreami Carrycot

The Quinny Buzz is suitable from birth and takes only minimal effort to fold and unfold automatically. Really comfortable seat has three reclining positions in forward-facing mode and two rear facing.

Turn your Quinny Buzz into a travel system by adding the Quinny Dreami Carrycot and the Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix car seat (these are sold separately).

The seat will grow with the child and the Quinny Buzz is very manoeuvrable with a lockable front wheel that rotates 360 degrees. Height adjustable handle bar, foot and back rest. Included are a sun canopy, clip-on change bag, raincover and necessary adapters to attach the Quinny Dreami carrycot in Storm, Strawberry, Raccoon, Greystone, Iron or Breen.

• Unfolded: 87 x 33 x 100 to 108 cm
• Folded: 87.5 x 60 x 31.5 cm
• Weight: 14.4 kg (Buzz 3) 15.7 kg (Buzz 4)

Your will find versions 3 and 4 of the Buzz currently available and looking at the reviews, you will see that the Buzz 4 is the most popular. For your convenience, there is a complete review posted below this text (good and bad!). To see the original just click on the the Buzz 4 picture.

All in all, the intelligent design of the Quinny Buzz offers a degree of comfort and user-friendliness not found in any other product of its kind. The Quinny Buzz gives you a feeling of total freedom and if you invest in the Quinny Dreami carrycot and the Maxi-Cosi or Pebble car seat you will have a complete travel system to last you for as long as you need it.

Unedited review follows……

By     T. Stainer (UK)

Have being using our Quinny Buzz 4 for 18 months now.

To address some concerns in previous reviews:

Front wheel(s)

Some reviewers seem a little confused and I wonder if they actually have the three wheeled Quinny, an earlier model, as they refer to the front “wheel”. The Quinny Buzz three-wheeled version does have stability problems and can suffer front wheel pivot issues – which appear to have been addressed with the Quinny 4. It’s much more stable and the two front wheels can easily be locked in one position for rough terrain, or unlocked to swivel, giving very good maneuverability.

Any pram can suffer issues with its wheels and mechanisms if not cleaned properly and dirt and dust is allowed to build up in moving parts – this is true of any mechanical device…so whatever you buy, make sure you brush it off regularly!

Collapse/expand mechanism and clip

The Quinny Buzz has a pneumatic system which automatically expands it from flat when you tug on the handle. It’s a bit gimmicky, especially as you need two hands free to push the safety clip back to allow it to work, so you don’t get much advantage from other methods of folding. The clip, in my experience, does work 99 per cent of the time although I have had the pram expand unexpectedly in the car boot once or twice. It’s possible the design has been changed on our pram from a previous reviewers, but in my opinion you’d really have to try hard to break it.

The mechanism itself and the buttons you need to press to collapse again require two hands (sometimes it feels like three, as you also have to apply downwards pressure as you push one button in and another one forward). Again, in our experience, once you’ve done it two or three times, it’s second nature and we’ve never had a problem with it.

The mechanism, as mentioned by another reviewer, does occasionally start to collapse in use – but this is not as dramatic as it sounds. In my experience, too much weight on the handle – either mum or dad pushing down to hard, leaning on it, or hanging too many other bags on it, will result in a slight click and a small movement in the pram frame. However the gas-ram which drives the expansion mechanism is capable of holding the pram up even without the final lock and all you need to do is marginally lift the handle until it locks again. I’m convinced the pram would never collapse any more than a few millimeters and the child is certainly never at any risk.

Seat unit

Again, in our experience, the removal and reattachment of the seat unit, plus adjusting the angle of the seat is extremely simple once you’ve done it once or twice – I’m not sure why others have found it problematic. I’d agree that the angles, especially in the rear-facing configuration are limited – but our child soon bored of looking at mum and dad and now insists on facing forward anyway, so he can look at much more interesting things in the world ahead!

The pram will collapse with the seat in place, but only if it is facing forward and in one particular angle setting – which is a small limitation.

The seat cover is removal and washable (only by hand however) and the Quinny comes with two different size covers – one for infants and one for older toddlers.

Size/wheels

This is a “system” pram, which allows you to slot on a seat unit, carrycot or car seat. As such it is much bigger than more compact “umbrella” strollers. However, in comparison to other similar systems, it doesn’t seem much wider or more difficult to navigate round shops, through doorways etc. it certainly fits through all the doors in our 1930s house.

Its air filled wheels are bigger than some prams and therefore while sometimes catch on more things – but it’s the pay off for having the comfortable ride and all-terain ability of the pram.

And like other system prams it’s not the lightest or smallest pram when collapsed (although the “2D” collapse system and the fact the seat can come off completely means it does tend to take up less volume than other prams and the volume it does take up is “flatter” and can be split into several locations – for example our pram will slide behind the passenger seat of a VW golf sized vehicle, while the seat itself can sit on top of other luggage in the boot). It’s certainly not designed to be portable while folded in the way an umbrella stroller is.

Buyers need to remember their needs – we needed a robust pram that could cope with a fair amount of “off-road” on parkland walks, up at the allotment and in nearby woods. The large air-filled wheels are ideal for this sort of use, but like any air-filled wheel, can get punctured (we have only suffered one puncture since we’ve had it). It’s just as easy to repair as a bike puncture and Quinny provide a pump with the pram.

If you’ve likely to only use a pram on pavements, or use public transport a lot, this definitely isn’t the pram for you.

Storage

Yep, this lets the Quinny down, although there are solutions (although at a cost). It ships with the “buzz box” which clips onto the back of the pram. This is quite well designed, with easy access and a built in rain cover. It is close to the ground however and can get splashed easily. It’s also limited in space, and will only hold a nappy bag, or the waterproof covers for the pram – not both.

You can buy, for around £20, the buzz basket, which hangs between the struts of the pram and gives you some extra space for toys, covers, shopping etc. Again space is limited and the sides of the basket are not that high, so you can’t pile a huge amount in.

You can hang bags with shoulder straps over the handle of the pram, but there are no supplied hooks for shopping bags, and if you overload the handle you suffer two problems a) the pram can overbalance backwards and b) the folding mechanism can start to collapse.

Other issue not mentioned you might like to consider

There are no built in waterproof covers. You have to buy these at additional cost, or make sure the package you get has them. Because they are not built in, it means you also have to find somewhere to store them when not in use. The advantages of this however is that on a dry day, you can leave the covers at home and not lug them around. They are easily replaceable when junior tears them, meaning you avoid the “gaffer tape” repair look of many prams and you can get separate covers for each of the different attachments (car seat, carrycot) meaning every cover fits perfectly, rather than a one size fits none approach.

So why buy?

All of this might seem like the Quinn is plagued with problems, but I don’t believe this is the case – and certainly all pram systems have similar criticisms. If there was one pram system that worked for everyone, I suspect there would be a lot less of them on the market!

The Quinny is very expensive, which is why I suspect more people end up unhappy with it – for that price you expect it to work straight out the box and do everything you need.

Any pram purchase is a compromise between differing needs. For our needs the Quinny was perfect and we’ve never regretted buying it. As I’ve alluded to, if your needs differ, buying the Quinny could be a huge mistake.

For us the big plus points were:

Rugged, “off-road” capabilities – we rarely use public transport so no need for an ultra-light, compact design and do a fair amount of walking off pavements, on unmade forest trails etc.

Suitability for a tall dad (I’m 6ft 4in), the Quinny is one of a few prams which has a long-enough and adjustable enough handle to give me the “kick space” which means I’m not having to walk with short strides to avoid kicking the back of the pram.

Compatibility with the best car seats and carry cot attachments, not stuck with a Mama’s and Papa’s or a Silvercross car seat because it’s the only one which fits it, for example.

With use of attachements, was suitable from birth, until three or four years old – rather than option of buying two or three different solutions over the same period.

Flexibility of having the little man facing us, or facing away, plus a lie flat angle for sleep.

Relatively easy collapse and expansion system, relatively flat profile when collapsed.