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£820.00
Lauren Gee 'Living With' the iCandy Peach Jogger
Laid back and quirky, we are a family of four (plus cat) that like to enjoy life indoors and out. Staying in and crafting, baking or reading; or out and about exploring crunchy leaves, trekking through the forest or just taking a walk or bus into town (look! there's a seagull!), we always have a whale of a time. I love gadgets and innovation, and our house isn't modernist and tidy - we like to live in the moment, with maybe just a little bit of an eye on the future. We're social, friendly, and generally happy to be alive.
Living With Review
Jump to a Month: March 2012 | April 2012 | June 2012 | July 2012| August 2012 | September 2012 | October 2012 | November 2012 | December 2012 | January 2013 | February 2013 | March 2013 | Final Summary 2013 |
First Impressions:
Unpacking the two giant boxes, my first impression was wow, it's BIG! I'm used to a fairly lightweight stroller so the iCandy Peach Jogger seems a monster in comparison - the wheels especially are huge.
After getting all the bits out, I was impressed how easy it all was to put together - it was up and running ready for a trip on the bus in a matter of minutes.
Despite its sturdy size it's lovely to push, even one handed – I did have an initial issue with steering to the left but after pumping up all the tyres (hooray for the provided pump!) it seems much better.
The storage basket seems very roomy and we managed to fit in all our stuff for a day out with no problems – no mean feat !
Bubby D was amazed to be facing me when I put her in the pushchair (our stroller has no parent facing option) and looked very comfortable. My toddler insisted on climbing in too and is now clamouring to ‘go on an adventure' in it at every possible opportunity.
And we are looking forward to doing just that!
First time out with the iCandy in the rain - time to test the raincover. Really easy to put on, took a matter of seconds - very pleased with that. Did steam up a little bit, which Bubby D didn't like too much. I also didn't realise how open to the elements the basket is compared to old pushchair - things got a little bit damp until I covered them with a plastic bag.
March the 18th 2012
The Wee Man commandeered the iCandy for a little snooze. Digging in the allotment is tiring! (photo attached)
March the 22nd 2012
We are dogsitting! My Mum's German Shepherd Roly is staying with us while she enjoys a few days in Norway, so out I went with the iCandy (with Bubby D in it), a toddler and a dog for a lovely walk in the sun. The easy one handed steering was a definite bonus, even over bumpy grass and through muddy patches.
March the 25th 2012
Took Bubby D on the bus in the iCandy - one of the new double deckers. Despite the many, many poles and seats the iCandy manouvred through with no problems and parked up easily in the pushchair area. Getting off the bus a little more tricky though - still not mastered steering a three wheeler...
March the 28th 2012
Making the most of the sun and out for a walk with Bubby D in the iCandy. Love how far down the hood goes, means the sun stays out of her eyes but she can still see what's going on.
March the 31st 2012
Today we took Wee Man to see CBeebies Live at Wembley Arena - which meant navigating the tube with the iCandy. Although a little heavy to carry on stairs, it was easy to take on the escalators and onto and off trains, and didn't take up too much room in the carriage either. All in all a good experience!
We went camping for the Easter weekend and the iCandy folded down small enough (with wheels, seat and chassis separated) that it fit in the car - pretty amazing as there wasn't much room with all the camping gear in there too. It's also been great for bumpy walks across fields and through woods around the site. Now i just need to wash the wheels!
April the 20th 2012
Went for a day out in Stratford, which is currently full of roadworks and lumpy bumpy pavements due to the Olympic work going on. The iCandy made it really easy to get around - smooth over the bumps and great up and down kerbs.
April the 27th 2012
The recline mechanism on the iCandy is making me mad this morning - you have to press a button either side of the seat and every time I get one pressed in the other pops out again! Taking at least two minutes every time I want to adjust the seat. On the plus side, I love how the raincover has the name of the pushchair sewn in - makes it really easy to identify in our pile of raincovers.
Grandma came to visit and took Bubby D for a walk in the 'newfangled contraption'. She is now converted: 'I love the high handle and it's easy to steer, I didn't keep kicking it when I walked either!' The Grandma seal of approval...
April the 29th 2012
The Other Half came out with us to a birthday party and took a turn pushing the iCandy for a change. He's 6'5'', so over a foot taller than me but because the iCandy has an easily adjustable handle he had no problem pushing it at all.
The toy bar is really coming in handy as Bubby D is seriously teething, and I can attach a teether to it on a toy tie meaning it's in easy reach for Bubby D, without her being able to chuck it out of the side of the pushchair (something that used to happen frequently with the Wee Man). I do find it quite a task to get the toy bar off the pushchair once its on, and it would be better if it was hinged - but it's great to have one.
May the 18th 2012
Took Bubby D in the iCandy for a hard days shopping at the Baby Show in Birmingham. It was lucky it folded down small as with two adults, two babies, the ICandy and my friends double pushchair in the car, plus all the shopping, I wouldn't have got home otherwise! The storage capacity was a great benefit too as we managed to get loads of goodies into the shopping basket.
May the 22nd 2012
Today, thanks to Bubby D attempting to feed herself an ice cream, we got to test how well the iCandy can be cleaned. The toy bar wiped clean easily enough and the seat cover, which zips into the seat to prevent it slipping or leaving gaps round the edges, was reallly easy to remove and put through the wash. A couple of hours later and it was dry, zipped back in and the pushchair was ready to go again!
Took Bubby D on the tube to a Baby Sensory class which involved bumping up and down quite a lot of steps. I can't lift the iCandy by myself to carry it up and down as it is quite heavy, but because it has large wheels its actually quite easy to 'pull' up and down - and it was obviously a smooth ride for Bubby D as she managed to stay asleep throughout.
June the 27th 2012
Bubby D shared the pushchair with the cat today as we had to get her to the vet and the car was out of petrol. With other pushchairs I'd be a bit wary of hanging the cat basket from the handles (even though the cat only weighs 2.5kg...) but the iCandy is so robust and sturdy that it didn't feel a problem at all. I put Bubby D facing frontward for a change so the basket wouldn't be in her way and it was really easy to do - just a simple click and flip the seat around.
Took the iCandy into London on the tube and despite its size in comparison to the majority of lightweight stroller type pushchairs that we saw others using, it still fit snugly into the corner of a central line carriage - providing a handy seat for the Wee Man to inspect his shopping in.
With no seats on the tube Wee Man commandeers the iCandy from Bubby D. It's great how easy it is to change the seat direction, push the hood up and click the footrest down so that it fits a 3 year old instead of a baby - even in a busy environment like the London underground.
August the 14th 2012
August the 23rd 2012
August the 25th 2012
Took Bubby D for a jaunt to the local park, and as often happens lately a little rain shower started. These days Bubby D does not like her view of the world to be inhibited as she is remarkably intrigued by just about everything, and so she was very pleased when I discovered in my rush to get the raincover on that it stays up really well with the hood only extended a little bit. A much better view for her and she was still snug and dry inside the iCandy. Next month we will be travelling to the Isle of Wight and Madrid with the iCandy so I'll have lots of updates coming about travelling on boats, planes, and unfamiliar foreign public transport, as well as our experience of using the pushchair as a travel system with a car seat and handling having limited luggage space to fold it all up in!
Today the iCandy got to go on another trip to the Olympic Park - this time to the Paralympics. We were just on our way when suddenly we noticed the left hand side rear tyre was flat. In other pushchairs, this may have been a disaster (we didn't have time to go back home or find somewhere to get it fixed or we would have missed the swimming!) but luckily the iCandy has a pump stowed away handily in the storage basket. It was a slow puncture so we got by using the pump to add a bit of air every now and then throughout the day - and what a fantastic day it was!
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September the 17th 2012
How do you fit two adults, two children, packing for a week away, a pushchair and a stroller all into one car? The answer is - make sure the pushchair is the iCandy! We were heading off to the Isle of Wight and managed to fit everything we needed in, thanks to taking the wheels off the frame of the pushchair, meaning it folded really small and flat under the suitcases in the boot. The seat unit with the toy bar removed fit in between the two car seats in the back, with space on top for more packing, and the wheels went in the footwells of the passenger seats. I'm always amazed just how small it can fold down.
September the 18th 2012
The weather was lovely and sunny, so we decided a trip to the beach was in order. Where we were staying had steps down the cliff to reach it, but with two strong men in our group the iCandy made it down with no problems. I myself find it a bit difficult to carry down steps as it's fairly heavy, especially now Bubby D is getting bigger, but the Other Half can still manage to carry it on his own.
In the evening we headed back to the beach for a barbecue, and initially I managed to bog the iCandy down in some squidgy sand - until I remembered you can lock the front wheel! One quick adjustment and the Wee Man and Bubby D in her pushchair were taking part in the beach 'Lympics (that's what the Wee Man calls them, anyway) with no trouble at all. With the wheel locked it was incredibly easy to push, even through deep sand.
September the 19th 2012
Bubby D fell asleep in her
Maxi-Cosi Pebble car seat while we were out and about this morning, so I
made good use of the travel system functionality of the iCandy and
moved the seat onto the pushchair frame with the help of the Maxi-Cosi
adaptors. At 13 months Bubby D still has plenty of room in the seat and
it is easy to lift onto the frame without waking her - just two quiet
clicks and it's firmly attached.
The adaptors make the seat much higher than usual which Bubby D seemed
to enjoy, as she could have a good look round. It felt a little bit
wobbly to me to start with, being used to the fixed seat unit, but I
gave it a good shaking around to satisfy myself and the car seat stayed
on and firm with no problems.
September the 20th 2012
The iCandy came along with us to Blackgang Chine, one of the theme parks on the Isle of Wight - and when I say theme park I mean in the traditional sense - its a park designed around a theme...which is a bit eclectic but includes strange mirrors, dinosaurs, fairies, pirates, the wild west and nursery rhymes. And also, as anyone who has ever been will know, a lot of really steep and winding hilly paths. I was really glad of the iCandy's sturdy wheels and excellent brake for this very reason, although being a three wheeler there were a couple of hairy moments around steep, tight corners where I felt like it might tip over... (it didn't though!)
The adjustable handle height came in really handy too as pushing it
up huge inclines with the Wee Man in it after he refused to walk any
further was really tiring, meaning that the Other Half and I took turns
quite frequently. Whilst the handle does adjust quickly, I do find that
it sticks fairly often on the left hand side and doesn't click into
place immediately which can be frustrating.
September the 22nd 2012
We went on a lovely trip to
Paultons Park, home of Peppa Pig World. Both the Wee Man and Bubby D
absolutely love Peppa Pig, and they were absolutely amazed by everything
to see and do. The weather was very sunny, and when Bubby D finally
gave in to the need to sleep the large hood provided a great blocker to
all the over stimulation going on around her, as well as keeping her
nicely shaded from the sun. The seat has plenty of space for her to
sleep snuggled up with her bear on her side too, which is her preferred
sleeping position.
September the 25th 2012
As part of my work, I was required to attend a conference in Madrid - and with Bubby D still breastfeeding I convinced the Other Half that the family should come along too. He then convinced his Mum that she should fly over from New Zealand and meet us in Madrid - and so it all turned into a bit of an extended family holiday (except that I had to work for most of it!).
We decided to take the iCandy as a travel system, because the Maxi-Cosi Pebble is FAA approved for use on an aeroplane and we would also be able to use it in the taxi to and from the hotel in Spain. I looked into getting the travel bag for the iCandy because I didn't want it to get damaged in transit, but it proved pretty much impossible to find one anywhere so eventually I went for a generic car seat travel bag which actually fit the iCandy with no problems. With the Maxi-Cosi Pebble attached to the pushchair frame, there was plenty of room underneath to put the seat unit on it's side in the basket, meaning the whole travel system was easily transported through the airport before being checked in right by the aeroplane gate.
September the 29th 2012
Today I got the chance to spend some time with the family in Madrid and we opted to take a trip to the Zoo Aquarium, which meant negotiating the metro system and walking through quite a lot of La Casa de Campo de Madrid (1800 hectares of hilly, sandy parkland - although we did not walk through ALL of it!). The Other Half had no problems taking the iCandy up and down the escalators on the metro, and we were able to get it through the metro gates easily all but one time, when the pushchair gate remained stubbornly locked and there was no staff member around to help! Eventually we just lifted the pushchair over the gate - problem solved. The metro trains are very pushchair friendly with wide carriages and plenty of space for the iCandy to be parked without causing an obstruction. The big wheels meant there was no problem wheeling it on or off the train, and once we started walking through the Casa de Campo we had no problem steering through over sand, pavements, grass, mud...and up and down the hills at the same time.
The pushchair seat was just at the right level for Bubby D to have a
great view of all the animals, and I'm impressed with how small I still
manage to fold down the raincover so that it fits in the basket
alongside all our various other day-out paraphernalia. Good thing I did
pack it in as we were treated to a little rain shower just before we saw
the penguins.
September the 30th 2012
Today we went to El Teleferico (a
cable car) and as the cars are so small, we had to leave the pushchair
while we went for a ride. I take a bike lock out in the pushchair
wherever we go as I don't like to leave it anywhere unsecured, but I'm
always a bit concerned (the Other Half says I worry too much...but it
could happen!) that someone might take just one part of the pushchair if
they aren't all locked together. Although extremely unlikely, this is
the one downside of incredibly easy to remove wheels and seat unit (they
all just pop off or out with the press of a button). Luckily the
Spanish seem a bit security conscious too, and they had an extra chain
available that I could use to attach the pushchair to the wall.
We've had the pushchair for about 6 months now, and it's starting to show a few signs of wear and tear:
1. Scratches on the handle area
2. Nicks in the fabric of the handles
3. Fraying around the edge of the shopping basket
4. Scuff marks around the footrest
5. The fabric on the toy bar is hard to keep clean and now looks a little bit grubby despite washing and scrubbing
6. The seat-to-frame connection is a bit bent on one side, making it a
little more difficult at times to get the seat to fit properly
On the plus side, the tyres still have lots of tread, considering
we've used it practically every day over all types of terrain and in all
weathers - and the hood is still extremely sturdy and in good
condition.
October the17th 2012
I'm beginning to struggle every so often getting the seat to recline - often its difficult to press in the buttons on one or both sides of the seat and irritatingly sometimes I'll get one button to go in and then the other side pops out again!
October the 29th 2012
The weather is starting to get a bit more miserable
and we're having to use the raincover a lot more, it's still in great
condition and really easy to whip on and off the pushchair.
November the 8th 2012
Bubby D is pretty much always forward facing now,
she likes to be able to have a good look at what's going on in front and
gets cross if I accidentally forget and put the seat on parent facing!
With the hood up I find it a bit strange not being able to see her,
although she's is talking a bit now so she can usually communicate if
she wants something.
November the 27th 2012
We went to the local high street to watch the
Christmas lights being turned on and the weather has got a lot more
chilly. I've been looking around in vain for a footmuff to match the
pushchair - it's really hard to get an iCandy Peach Jogger footmuff from
anywhere online. In the end we've settled on using a fluffy blanket for
now and the lip of the footrest works fairly well with keeping it on
the pushchair.
December the 13th 2012
The nights are really starting to draw in now -
after I had collected the Wee Man from preschool and nipped to the shops
for some groceries, earlier it was dark and on the way home we had a
near miss with a car. I realised that the pushchair, being all black and
with no reflective bits is quite hard to see. We've invested in some
little LED bike lights for it now!
December the 16th 2012
I took the Wee Man shopping to get his sister's
Christmas present and when we got to the shops he said he was tired and
wanted to go in the pushchair. I had the iCandy in the boot so I whipped
it out and was amazed to find that with the hood scooched up, he still
fits in it pretty well - and he's a 3.5 year old who's tall for his
age...
December the 23rd 2012
Bubby D's legs have got longer - so we've moved the
footrest down a position and she loves being able to kick her legs
about a bit.
January the 3rd 2013
We took advantage of the boot being cleared out
after Christmas to see how many different ways we could fit the iCandy
in it, and which way was the most space efficient.
Turns out, there are rather a lot of possible combinations, and that's
not even with taking the wheels off which allows the frame to be even
more compact!
January the 13th 2013
The
handle has started refusing to engage on the left hand side sometimes
when I try and extend it. Usually a couple of jiggles help it to click
in to place.
January the 18th 2013
The snow has arrived! We started walking up
the road to a playdate just as it started falling, and by the time we
left there were two or three inches on the ground. I had no trouble at
all steering the iCandy through it, even through bigger build ups of
snow. The wheels handled it no problem, and it meant we could still go
out to play whenever we wanted to - which made the Wee Man very happy!
January the 23rd 2013
The snow has gone but
the wind is very chilly, and Bubby D has an ear infection - so I use the
raincover as a windshield when we go to pick up the Wee Man. It's rigid
enough that it keeps it's shape without the hood up at all, and Bubby D
is happy to get a good view of the walk without a face full of wind.
February the 6th 2013
The car needs a
service, so we have to spend a day out and about without it before
getting the bus back to the garage to pick it up. The shopping basket of
the iCandy easily holds everything we need to take with us - once again
I'm amazed by how much I can get in it. No problems parking it up in
the bus either :)
February the 10th 2013
February 14th 2013February the 21st 2013
February the 22nd 2013
March the 2nd 2013Today I am getting a bit frustrated with the iCandy as when I disengage the brake, sometimes the front wheel seems to lock and it doesn't always move straight away - a bit of a problem when I'm trying to cross the road quickly! I've also noticed that a plastic bit is coming away from the hood hinge - not sure what it was in there for but fingers crossed it doens't seem to have affected the hood going up and down.
March the 7th 2013Bubby D loves the bumper bar on the iCandy - she's taken to using it as a handy footrest. I have found that it's quite hard to keep clean - the foamy material that it's covered with isn't very wipeable and it is showing quite a lot of scuff marks now thanks to her foot antics.
March the 8th 2013Bubby D doesn't nap so often in the pushchair now that she's getting older, but today she did fall asleep and I was reminded how great the hood is - it's great how far it comes down to block out a lot of the light and goings on outside, even in a noisy environment like the tube.
The iCandy Peach Jogger has easily met all of these criteria. When it first arrived it looked fairly monstrous, compared to my previous umbrella fold pushchair. But despite the thick tubular frame and chunky wheels it's actually surprisingly compact - it fits through the aisle of our local buses with no difficulty. With it's variety of folding options it's been amazingly adaptable and we managed to take it camping (removing the wheels and folding the bottom of the frame in line) even though we had a LOT of stuff to fit in the car. I was initially dubious about the two part fold (it can't be folded with the seat unit attached) however it's very quick to remove the seat, and the shoulder harness for the frame (which collapses and unfolds again incredibly effectively) makes carrying the two parts very simple.
The carrycot was brilliant for Bubby D when she was tiny - easy to click on and off the frame, nice and roomy and with the option to tilt it slightly when she got a little bit bigger and wanted to see more of what was going on. The ability to use her Maxi Cosi Pebble car seat on the iCandy frame was also a bonus, athough the car seat adaptors did make the seat feel quite wobbly (even though it was on tight, I checked!) and left her sitting very high up compared to the carrycot or seat unit.
And - most importantly of all perhaps - both kids love it. It's the pushchair of choice when we're going out, and it's obviously a comfortable ride as whichever one gets to sit in it will happily stay in it, awake or sleeping, without any complaints. The other half enjoys using it, and reckons it's a bit of a 'man's pushchair'. Even my mum thinks its great - and she's not generally a fan of 'newfangled contraptions'.
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