Graco Excursion Travel System Review

When my husband and I started looking at pushchairs we were pretty gob smacked at how much one might cost, especially as the bill was going to land in my Mother-in-Law's lap because she had agreed to buy one for us. While there was no denying that the posh designer pushchairs looked very plush, I think it might have been a little cheeky to expect her to fork out for something like that!

Ideally we were looking for a well priced travel system, wherein for one price we would get a pushchair and car seat. We needed a chair that would fit easily into the boot of our car (something that's easily overlooked but so important), was easy to put up and down, was lightweight and crucially easy to manoeuvre. As a non-driver who would be getting out and about with our little un it was crucial for me that those three last points were met.

When we saw the Graco Excursion system in Babies R Us it seemed absolutely perfect. We played around with the pushchair in store to assess how it folded and unfolded, how it would feel to push around and it seemed to tick all the boxes. Even better was the price tag. At full price it represented good enough value but as luck would have it when we looked at it there was a sale on so the whole lot was about £120. Now that's a bargain.

The Excursion travel system comprises a three wheeled pushchair and matching car seat, as well as a footmuff and two handy pannier bags which attach to the side of the pushchair. All we could really need. The car seat fits into the main pushchair allowing baby to be facing mum and dad when being pushed around and when baby becomes a bit bigger, he or she can sit forwards facing in the pushchair itself, in an either upright or reclined position as the chair can be adjusted. The underside of the pushchair has a fairly roomy shopping basket area which we have put to the test on many a shopping trip and it is surprising just how much you can stuff under there.

One of the main criticisms levelled at Excursion – and certainly one I have read on a number of forums – is that it doesn't have swivel wheels like with some other pushchair designs. While this is true, it hasn't presented a problem for us. Admittedly it takes a while to get used to moving the pushchair around bends etc. but once you do it's a piece of cake. At the end of the day, this is not an expensive travel system so it would be silly to expect it to be an 'all singing all dancing' model. It gets me and Lily from a to b with ease and that's the most important thing.

When it comes to using the car seat of the system we did, however, opt for buying a separate car seat base which is permanently positioned in the car. It has proved much easier to pop the car seat in and out of this as opposed to strapping the car seat in on every trip. The car seat, I should also point out, has doubled up as a place for Lily to have the odd power nap in the house.

Obviously the pushchair itself will outlive the use of the car seat. We will eventually have to invest in a bigger seat as Lily grows but will still be able to use the main part of the chair to transport her around.

One final point. You may wonder how you protect baby from the good old British weather, notably rain! When using the car seat in the chair, it's simply a case of flipping the hood up and the sun canopy over. That way the car seat is pretty much covered up. If Lily could speak she could testify to the fact that I ended up drenched walking her to the doctors last week while she stayed warm and dry! The pushchair got a good soaking though and I am pleased to report that it dried off pretty quickly! When we use the chair independently of the car seat we have a rain cover, sold separately but designed to specifically work with the Excursion pushchair.