Laurel Tomlinson 'Living With' the Graco Evo Mini

Living With Review

 

First Impressions

I had to stop myself running to the door when the man arrived with my special delivery, I walked into the living room with my box and a huge smile on my face, the Evo Mini was here! Hurray! Pulling it out of the box I fell in love with the bright blue colour of the fabric. The wheels came separate to the chassis but were easy to attach, they just pushed on and automatically clipped into place. I was amazed at how light the pushchair was, easily lifted with one hand and the basket... wow! Its enormous!

The seat seems spacious as there was plenty of room for my eldest who just turned 3 but it was still snug enough for my 7 month old. My favourite feature so far is definitely the mechanism for folding and unfolding which is done easily with one hand! So far so good, we are really looking forward to heading out for our first family test run to the park this weekend!

 

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June the 10th 2013 

We decided on a nice walk down by the canal today as the weather was so nice! I must say, the hood on the Evo mini is fab! When it was fully extended it kept Logan nice and shaded which is always good when the sun is out. The basket is lovely and big and holds so much stuff, big bonus when you have 2 kids to cater for, the only flaw is when the seat is laid back the basket is a bit hard to get into. I love how lightweight this pushchair is, it made pushing it across cobbles, gravel and grass a lot easier than most pushchairs and its incredibly easy to push one handed as well. 

June the 19th 2013

This week was a busy one including trips to town and shopping! The Evo mini was great on the bus, its quite narrow as you can see in the photo of daddy pushing the pram so it was really easily to navigate to the designated pram bay on the bus and even left enough room for me to put the seat down for my eldest to sit on. Also whilst in town a lady in mothercare stopped me to compliment the colour of the pushchair which then prompted about 3 other ladies to come over and start talking to me about it! Daddy has his first go at pushing the Evo mini as well this week whilst out and about and he loved it, I actually think this is the first time he hasn't had a complaint about one of my prams whilst using it, so, bonus points there Graco!



June the 28th 2013

I have started to notice that my 7 month old loves having naps in the pram, if he's tired but wont go down in his bed, I tend to lay him down in his pram and rock it, within minutes he's asleep! The seat is nice and padded and it lies back quite flat which makes it ideal for him to sleep in for shorter periods of time. We did have our first spillage in the pushchair this week as my little one decided to tip his bottle upside down which resulted in a nice white puddle in the seat! I think that all pushchairs should have removable covers for this exact reason, I cant find any way of removing the seat covers on the Evo mini which is disappointing however the material didn't seem to soak up the milk so it made it a lot easier to clean. 

July the 9th 2013

July the 13th 2013

I'm beginning to find the break on the Evo mini quite irritating, The wheels have to be in a certain position for the break to engage properly. The other day whilst on the bus I thought the break had gone on but when the bus turned a sharp corner the pram nearly went flying to the front of the bus, its a good job I have quick reflexes and managed to grab hold of it before it went anywhere! Its also not very "flip flop friendly". On a brighter note, I LOVE how vibrant the colour of this pushchair is! It looks amazing when the sun is shining on it :-D 

July the 21st 2013

I finally got around to testing the pram out in the boot of the car this week. We have a really small boot in the Kia Picanto and I was skeptical as to whether the Evo Mini would fit in, However, It did. I was so pleased that it went in and I think I could even squish a few shopping bags around it if I needed to so the pushchair definitely ticks the boxes if anyone wants a lovely compact pram to fit in a small car! I haven't really said much about the actually frame of the pushchair.. Its actually quite sturdy and strong, I haven't noticed any scratches on it yet from folding, unfolding, storing etc which is great. It doesn't wobble around as some of my previous 3 wheelers have and I personally think the deep grey colour is much nicer than black or silver and really compliments the beautiful colour of the fabric.

August the 1st 2013

Well the sun seems to be going in again and we are getting back to the rain, I may actually get a chance to use the raincover soon, so I decided to get it out of the basket and have a test run at fitting it onto the pushchair. It's actually very easy to put on, the only bit I don't like is the press stud at the bottom that clips together around the front wheel fitting.. I can imagine it being a bit messy whilst out on a walk if the front wheel is muddy but it's not really a major issue! The raincover is very well fitted and looks great on the Evo Mini. 

August the 11th 2013

I made the mistake of letting my little man have a little kinder chocolate bar this week whilst he was in his pram, as you can see he made quite a mess as most of it ended up over him and the pram than in his mouth! I wasn't at home so had to use wet wipes to clean the mess as best I could, as you can see, they actually did a great job cleaning the Evo Mini. The fabric is so easy to wipe clean without the need for any soap or fabric cleaning products .. definitely a helpful feature as the seat covers aren't removable!

August the 17th 2013

I finally got the chance to use the rain cover in the rain last week, however, my phone hasn't been working so I haven't managed to get any photos of anything recently! It's now fixed and ready for action again. The rain cover did a very good job keeping my little man dry, as I thought a while back though, my hands did get a bit messy whilst clipping the press studs together around the front wheel but I didn't mind too much! Still in love with how easy the Evo mini is to push, one handed down a cobbled street whilst holding my 3 year olds hand was no problem with this pram! I definitely haven't got bored of it yet as I have done with previous pushchairs and LOVE going out and showing it off to the world. It really is a lovely design!

August the 25th 2013

So far I have had the Evo mini for about 2 months and I was very sad to notice one of the screws has gone rusty on the frame already! I haven't noticed any other screws going rusty, just this one but I think it looks awful having rusty screws on a pram :-( It is hard to notice unless you're up close but now I know its there its been bugging me! My little sister took my son out for a walk the other day and commented on how lovely the Evo mini was to push and how lightweight it is. On the way home from my sisters my 3 year olds legs got tired and seeing as though I was alone with the kids I told him he could sit on the end of the seat. My youngest was sat quite far back so Ethan squeezed on the end and put his feet in the little footwell part.. Although I wouldn't usually use the pram like this, the large seat was a god send as it would of been a very slow and upsetting walk home for us! It was amazing that even with the extra weight, the pushchair still handled very nicely! :-)    

September the 2nd 2013 

Started having a slight issue when folding the pushchair. The base of the basket keeps getting caught between the wheels as its folding down so the easy one handed fold action is turning into a slower messing about two handed fold. It may just be me folding too quickly but its happened a few times so I thought I should mention it! School runs begin on Wednesday so lots more trips out with the Evo Mini to come!  

September the 5th 2013

Back to school this week, my eldest started nursery class at primary school so we will be getting even more use out of the Evo Mini doing the school runs! Tonight I sat Logan in the pram to feed him his dinner as the safety harness on the high chair was in the wash, I wasn't worried about the mess in the seat anymore as I have previously found the seat fabric is very quick and simple to wipe clean.. He even fell asleep afterwards and the easy recline feature came in handy to drop the seat flat whilst he had a nice nap, no fiddling about, just pull the clip downwards and the seat carefully reclines back... Not quite as easy to put back up but still fairly simple, you just hold onto the drawstrings and push the clip back up or you can also push the seat forward and just pull the strings down.

September the 15th 2013 

VERY busy at the moment, on top of all the school runs I have now started back at work since having my son in November 2012! Sadly that means our walks have been very minimal recently besides the school runs but we are planning a nice family day out on payday so hopefully we will be able to get out and about with the Evo Mini again.. However, upon closer inspection in the past week I have noticed more of the screws starting to rust which is really disappointing, I thought with Graco being such a fab brand little things like this wouldn't happen, maybe its just mine as I've not heard this being a problem off anyone else with the Evo Mini!  

October the 1st 2013

On one of my days off this week we went for a walk down by the canal to enjoy the weather whilst is was nice! Always a pleasant walk with the Evo Mini, nice and lightweight for maneuvering round the cobbles and gravel paths. We have also been taking the pram out on our school runs most mornings when the huge basket really comes in handy for carrying bags and coats etc!

October the 8th 2013

Time really does seem to be flying over at the moment! I can't believe we have had the Evo Mini for 4 months already! It is such a joy to go out anywhere with the pram now, previously I have been so fed up of prams I have had within a few weeks but this one is just perfect for us. Lightweight, simple, easy to steer and it looks fab! Its so sleek and modern.. yes, there are few things we have found slightly irritating such as the fussy 5 point harness and the messy clip around the front wheel whilst fitting the rain cover but honestly, these things are minor issues. I am always recommending the Evo Mini to anyone looking for an easy to use, lightweight pushchair!

October the 22nd 2013 

The raincover has broken! After only a few uses, 5 maximum, the clip that holds the raincover around the front wheel has come away from the plastic part of the raincover when it ripped! Not very happy about this as we are unable to use the pram much at the moment as its been raining lots and the raincover wont stay put so my son ends up soaking! Never expected this to happen as the raincover seemed to be quite a good one :-( 

November the 6th 2013

Just a quick update. Due to the raincover being ripped it wont sit on the pushchair properly anymore and due to it being november and its raining quite a bit at the moment I haven't been able to use the evo mini much sadly and I really am missing it! The evo mini makes life so much easier, the huge basket to carry things around in, the easy steering that makes it a pleasure to take the youngest anywhere in! Hopefully I can afford to replace the raincover soon so I can start using the evo mini a lot more often! My 3 year old is enjoying it being in the house so much though, he loves to push it around!

  

 

 

Final Summary 2013 

I have been testing the Graco Evo Mini for 6 months. Its had quite a lot of use and as a family it has fitted into our busy lives perfectly. Its small, lightweight, easy and practical. Out of all of my prams I have had, the Graco Evo mini just outshines them all by far.