Relentlessly Purple

Earlier this year I began looking for a new stroller for my 16 month old daughter (Izzy). Ideally I wanted something light weight with an umbrella fold that could be put away in a cupboard if we needed hallway space as we live in a flat.

I wasn’t happy with the stroller i had for tons of reasons and my main one being Izzy just wasn’t comfortable or happy in it which made going out stressful , so I started googling purple strollers, prams buggy’s etc in the hope of finding something comfortable for the little one and easy to push that i could fit a few bits underneath, could handle a few bags of shopping on the handles too and purple.. Of course!

I spent months researching different strollers but i found most were well out of our budget even second hand. I wanted something around the £60 mark whether new or used. Preferably in purple. I spent a good few months googling purple strollers/buggy’s/prams/pushchairs.

I came across the Zeta citi stroller on Amazon. I had seen one or two go past in town and loved the extended hood. Sunlight in Izzy’s eyes make a quick trip to town seem like a very longggg trip to hell and back.

That pretty much sold it to me but the fact it came in purple! Amazing! I decided to give it a go as the price wasn’t bad at all at £29.95 & £10.59 delivery. I showed Izzy and she shook her head.. And pointed to the RED one!! :'( Of course I tried bribery but after a few tantrums (from me) I gave in and agreed she could have the red one.

I opted to buy the stroller without a rain cover as I already had a universal one ill blog about later. I did choose to add on the black & red foot muff for £7.95 from the same seller so I only paid one delivery fee, still under my limit of £60! At least there was a win for me even if it wasn’t purple.

When it arrived we pulled it out of the box, popped the front wheels on and put it up with ease. Izzy instantly went crazy and tried climbing in. She was over the moon bless her!

Straight away the frame seemed much sturdier than the hauck stroller we had been using. The seat was deeper making it easier to get her strapped in without me having to wedge my knee between her legs whether the foot rest is up or down.

The seat reclines fully and easily by pushing down the two levers either side underneath the seat and can be adjusted to several angles, the foot rest adjusts too by 2 little levers underneath, meaning no matter how fussy Izzy is being I can move it around until she’s comfortable enough to stop moaning loudly.

Our previous stroller had a drawstring to adjust the recline which isn’t easy to do if you have a ton of shopping and a child screaming at you. Now I can adjust the seat quickly and easily, the adjustments are smooth meaning she doesn’t notice if I lay her back when she falls asleep upright.

One thing my Mr does find annoying is that when the seat is fully reclined you cant get into the shopping basket underneath without popping the seat back up which for some children is likely to wake them, for me its not an issue as Izzy doesn’t notice if she is asleep but I can see his point and know a few people whose little ones wouldn’t tolerate it at all.

Asleep within minutes of getting in

As I mentioned the main reason I was drawn to this stroller was the extending hood which has been extremely handy and one thing I hadn’t noticed on Amazon was that there is a small clear window across the hood allowing you to keep an eye on your little one even though they are world facing. Its the perfect position for me to see Izzy, however my Mr finds it a struggle and he says it would be better if the window was moved up the hood by an inch or so.

Being a shorty at just over 5ft and having a partner who is a good few inches taller we needed handles that weren’t too short making the Mr bend as he pushes and not too high for me, again I absolutely love the height of the handles personally but again the Mr would prefer them to be an inch or so higher and tilted back ever so slightly.

We attached the foot muff to check how it fits the stroller and Izzy as it is a universal foot muff. We found it fits lovely and comes right up to Izzy’s chest meaning on a cold windy day with her foot muff right the way up and the hood right the way down I can keep the majority of the wind and cold away from her without needing to put her rain cover over and making her moody. Since its got colder we are using the foot muff regularly and found it is soft and warm for Izzy and much better than our previous one.

Spot the baby!

We bought the Zeta citi stroller back in September and we’ve put it through its paces over the last 2 months doing shopping & school runs in all kinds of weather and overall I am very pleased with it. The Mr obviously would prefer a few changes because he is taller than me but for us short mums that just want something lightweight, easy to store for nipping around town in that can handle a few bags of shopping on the handles then its almost the perfect stroller. If only I had been allowed to order it in purple…