Price as tested:
£140.00

Louise Palmer 'Living With' the Koochi Speedstar

Date added: 5th February 2014

Hello, I'm Louise! I am 35, and live in Kent with my partner of 3 years Kevin (Kev), and our gorgeous (but boisterous!) son Jude. It's all go for our Jude - he will be a year old in just a few days! Time sure travels fast!
I work full-time in Recruitment in London. And Kev? Well, let's just say he has drawn the better end of the deal... He looks after our own business - a live music events company from home and gets to spend all day building forts and playing with Jude!
Myself, Kev and especially Jude (who is quite the discerning "little" man about town!) are really looking forward to putting the Koochi through its paces and letting you all know what we think of it!

Spacious seat

Lightweight

Compact fold

Warm footmuff included

Hood needs to come further forward to provide sun protection

Harness and clip move around a lot when trying to secure your child

Our score

4.5 stars

Living With Review

First Impressions:

I was ecstatic when I found out we were chosen to test the Cosatto Koochi, and could not wait to see it!
We looked at buying it a few months ago, but got the Chicco London instead, so looking forward to seeing how the Koochi will compare!
The pushchair came in a fairly compact box. Unfortunately, Jude was asleep whilst I quite gleefully opened it up to see what was inside!

The Koochi has a metal frame, was already assembled and the accessories (more about this in a minute) were all individually wrapped. All we had to do was click on the two front wheels, attach the hood and the Koochi was ready to go! It feels sturdier that the Chicco London which is made from hard plastic, but the Koochi is still fairly light. We travel to London a lot with Jude, so I wanted a light weight stroller to use for ease, hence why we bought our current strolle. The lightness of the Koochi was a nice surprise!

Now for the accessories! The Koochi comes with cool stuff included in the price: A foot muff, which on first inspection felt cosy and good quality, a changing bag, a cup/bottle holder, and rain cover. The changing bag also comes complete with separate changing mat and a decent size plastic wallet for all those dirty clothes/plates/bottles etc. It is in black and bright yellow to match the pushchair, so very distinctive.

Which brings me to the aesthetics of the Koochi. When I showed Kev the link to the Primary Yellow style we were getting, his first remarks were "Well, thats a bit bright, ain't it?"! Surprisingly, the Koochi wasn't as in your face bright as we thought it would be - it's quite stunning actually! The yellow looks great against the black, and would suit a boy or a girl. I can tell that the Koochi was made with dad's in mind too, especially with its almost Formula 1 racing appearance.

Whilst finishing our initial appraisal of the Koochi, Jude woke up and as you can see by the picture, he also seems to be taken with it as he seems very keen to get in it! We are off out in a bit so will fill you in on how we get on our first outing with our new addition!

Our first impressions:
Easy to assemble
Striking and stylish looking
Cup holder :-D
Wide padded seat
Padded 5 point harness system
Feels sturdy, but surprisingly lightweight
Comes with accessories such as foot muff and changing bag

*******************************************

June the 2nd 2014

The sun was out this weekend, so we decided to take Jude and the Koochi out to the park!

Putting Jude in the Koochi and strapping him in posed no problems at first, however the pads on the 5 point harness system move around quite a bit, especially the crotch pad. It could be that Jude is just to squirmy! Jude seems to really like the Koochi, especially the brightly coloured wheels as he kept trying to look at them spinning around and laughing when he was successful!

Navigating the Koochi over grass and bumpy surfaces was good too - it has excellent suspension and the wheels can be locked as well as be free.

Both myself and Kev took turns pushing Jude and found that even though Kev is 6"1 and I am 5"4, we both felt comfortable pushing the Koochi. So far so good!

It was Jude's first time on the swings and judging by the photos, he seemed to enjoy himself!

June the 8th 2014

It was a beautiful weekend so we decided to take Jude for a walk by the beach!

We are very lucky to live minutes away from the sea, and when the weather is beautiful, it makes sense to make the most of it!

The Koochi looked great in the sun!

Its is a very cool looking buggy, and we have had comments on its look which is nice too!

We have had the Koochi now for about 3 weeks, and as much as I like the look and manoeuvrability of the Speedstar, I do have a couple of issues with it:

The chair - The chair has a toggle system to move it from upright to laying down. This is very easy to use, however it does not make the chair sturdy - every time Jude leans forward, the back of the chair comes with him. There is nothing on the stroller (that I can see) where the strap can be attached, to keep it in place. However, thanks to the 5 point harness system, there's no way of him falling out, but it's still a gripe.

The Hood - I feel it is not low/deep/big enough to give good coverage from the sun. Especially since Jude can lean forward so much (see above!). It could really do with a sun brolly, so I'm now looking for one that matched and fits the Koochi!

I am also going to look online to see if there is anything that can be done to keep the back of the chair stationary. Will fill you in when and if I find anything!

June the 18th 2014

Yesterday Kev took Jude and the Speedstar out to get some bits and bobs for dinner, so this is his review from a Dad's perspective!

As with typical British Summer weather, we got to the top of the street when the heavens opened! It's the first time that the raincover has been used, but was easily put on. Jude had plenty of room in it (which was something I was concerned about!), and it didn't look like he was (as Kev put it!) "cling filmed in"!

The nice thing about the cover is that snappers hold it in place, not Velcro so it's going to stay put with no fear of it coming undone and getting your child wet. Another nice feature of the cover is how clear it is - some covers can be all creased up or "cloudy" but this is super see through. This is great as Jude loves being able to see everything and usually gets ratty when the rain cover gets put on. No problems with this one!

Kev also likes the manoeuvrability of the Speedstar and the fact it's super lightweight. He does however prefer pushing Jude around in a buggy that has a bar opposed to handles, but that's just a personal choice.

All in all a good first run with just dad!

July the 3rd 2014

We have managed to buy a sun umbrella for the Speedstar! We managed to get one for only £10 from Mamas and Papas as there is a sale on, and as you can see on the picture it works well!

We really needed one as the sun is getting a bit fierce here on the coast! We have been going out a lot with the Speedstar, and the hood just wasn't cutting it in regards to keeping Jude shaded.

Now we spend more time in the sun and enjoy summer!

July the 22nd 2014

Had a busy few weeks, and we also went to Latitude Festival in Suffolk for the weekend!

Of course we took the Koochi with us :-)

We were very lucky as the weather was glorious during the day, however we suffered severe storms during each of the four nights we were living in the tent!

Navigating Jude in the Koochi through the mud was hard at times, and I was sometimes envious of some of the buggies that other families were pushing. Some looked like the pushchair equivalent of a range rover!

The umbrella fold of the Koochi is great though. I haven't written much about the fold, but it has been great. Until recently. I now find it "sticks" when opening and folding.

But the Koochi fits nicely in the boot (even with all our camping gear, clothes and food for 4 days!) so that is definitely a plus.

Once again the shade of the Koochi let it down. It was blisteringly hot, bright and sunny so bought a sarong to cover Jude when it got bad - and also to help him sleep! Will definitely get a SnoozeShade now!

Had a great time, and would definitely go next year! We loved the colourful sheep, and Jude seemed to enjoy his first festival also!

August the 10th 2014

Spent a nice day on the beach - Jude loved playing in the sand, but it wasn't that warm to go in the water - gotta love British weather!

The Koochi was OK navigating over the sand, the fact that the wheels can lock forwards or be left to move freely really helps with the manoeuvrability of the pushchair. What still worries us however is the fact that the hood really does nothing to protect Jude from the sun :-( it's just not big enough.

August the 21st 2014

We went to London today to visit my sister. The Koochi is very good on public transport and even though I went on my own with Jude, I found it easy to fold up with one hand, getting off trains/tubes/buses and to carry up and down stairs - to be fair I had loads of people wanting to help too :-)
Even on the busy Streets of London, the Koochi looks the part in its bright yellow colours. We definitely stood out! Even with pounding the pavements, I didn't feel shocks/bumps which I sometimes felt when pushing Jude in his lighter "London" stroller, and with the padding on the seats and the fact that Jude quite happily snoozed in it I knew that he was comfy too!

September the 5th 2014

Jude is getting bigger and taller by the day, but luckily the Koochi has loads of room left for him. Kev is over 6ft so it's no surprise that Jude is so tall for his age too! One of the first impressions I had of the Koochi was that it had wider and longer seats which we really liked. This hopefully means that family's will have lots of years used left in it which is one of the things that I look for when buying anything - longevity and value!

September the 19th 2014

We went to the park today and once again the Koochi did well on grassy, gravel and uneven terrains. We have been using the Koochi as our preferred pushchair and it seems to be taking all the abuse we throw at it!

October the 3rd 2014

The fickle weather seems to be playing havoc and it is cold here in the south coast! Luckily now that the weather has turned, we have taken to using the cosy toes that came free with the Koochi. This is a great extra, and on a par with some of the expensive ones that are available to buy individually. Lovely warm fleece inside kept Jude warm all day and is long enough for him to grow in too - it also fits easily on the pushchair (through the straps) and the top part can be taken off very easily on the go should Jude get too hot.

November the 16th 2014

We are still out and about with the Koochi and thinking about Christmas coming up! Only a few weeks to go!!!

We are planning a massive Christmas as it's our last one in the UK - I have been offered a job in Australia and it starts in February! So as well as planning for Christmas, we are also getting ready for our big move abroad!

Shopping with the Koochi is great. I was a bit sceptical about the basket below when we first got the Koochi, but it is deceptive as we found we can fit quite a few things under there! It's great when we are out and about, as we take quite a few things out with us, and Jude loves taking his trucks :-) Even when Jude is reclining, there is still room underneath. The bag that came with it is useful too, however we do not use it as much as it is much too small to fit stuff in - we much prefer a bigger parent bag.

Final Summary

The Koochi has been a great little stroller with very few negatives to mention. Being super lightweight with a compact fold it is ideal for use on public transport and general trips out and about. The seat is roomy and therefore ideal for larger toddlers and the colours certainly ensure you stand out from the croud! The cupholder, change bag and footmuff being included with the stroller is a definite bonus and helps reduce additional cost.
It would be better if the hood could pull further forward to help protect from the sun, but otherwise using the Koochi has been a great experience.

Back to results