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Kidz Kargo Duellette Review

The Kidz Kargo Duellette is a very interesting tandem pushchair with lots of different seating combinations including the much sought after parent facing options!

My first impressions of the Duellette have been very very good. The chassis looks great. It opens smoothly and closes easily.

The seat units feel relatively heavy compared to other tandems, but the seat fabrics look good quality and both seats have a removable comfy fleece liner on top. The seat units are identical and so can be placed in either the upper or lower position. This is very useful if you have different aged children with whom you would like to swap seating positions, because it means you can simply swap the seats around, without the need to alter harnesses.

The huge appeal of the Duellette are the different seating positions including parent facing options for either two babies or for a toddler and baby. I must at this point stress that the seat units are NOT suitable from birth. The seat units do not lie flat and they are bucket, rather than flat seats. The seats are suitable from six months old. However I believe the Duellette’s designer is working on adding a Britax Babysafe car seat option to the next version which would then give a ‘from birth’ option.

The easiest way to show you the various seating options is through our Kidz Kargo Duellette photosets. There are many different options. The Duellette can be used either as a single or as a tandem. As a single the Duellette can parent or forward face. It has three recline positions, upright and two semi reclines but not flat. When in single mode, the Duellette adaptor sockets are cleverly hidden with two fabric covers which when not in use are attached by elastic and neatly velcro to the end of the basket. A fab touch that shows attention to detail. The Kidz Kargo Duellette will fold with the seat on forward facing, but the fold is very long and it only takes a second to pop the seat off and reattach it.

The seat removal buttons are unlike any others I have seen and are very easy to flick up to remove the seat. The large round recline buttons simply need pressing in at the same time on each side, to make the seat tilt easily. The seat unit has an adjustable footrest which can go up high or down low to accommodate the requirements of a small baby or older toddler. There is plenty of room on the footrest for larger feet. This is one of the few pushchairs where my 3.2 year old hasn’t really preferred to dangle her feet. When she did let her feet dangle there was a very well placed footrest on the chassis which she could reach.

The hoods are large with an additional hidden fabric panel which can be unzipped. The front panel has a lock on each side to maintain rigidity but the rear (hidden) panel doesn’t. This means that the rear hood panel became a bit floppy or even closed up at times. But with the extra panel, the hoods are very large. There is a large velcro fastened peekaboo window on each hood. The hoods however are quite low. My tall 16 month old, just fitted under the hood. My tall 3.2 year old didn’t come close! But it was easy enough to unclip and unzip her hood to remove it, and she was fine. I know from the designer that this issue is being addressed and that from January one seat will have a taller hood. At this point, I guess an upper / lower seat will be defined.

But it is the addition of the second identical seat unit which really makes the Duellette special because the seating position options are fantastic and unrivalled in such a neat double pushchair.

The identical seat unit sre important because it means both childrens seats recline the same in 3 positions, the harnesses are the same, the hoods are the same and importantly, each seat has the adjustable footrest. The adjustable footrest is important to ensure maximum comfort for each child in whatever position you choose for them.

For information on all the seating positions please refer to the photos. But generally the seating options for the Duellette are:

  • Both children forward facing
  • Both children facing each other
  • Both children rearward / parent facing
  • The front child facing forwards and the rear child parent facing.

In reality, unlike the Baby Jogger City Select, all of these seating positions do work and do allow both children to be reclined. Occasionally there are compromises eg where the footrest goes; or that one seat needs reclining; or that you wouldn’t use a certain combination with certain aged children because they are too tall; but in reality most options work and every tandem currently on the market requires similar or greater compromises. The Duellette is certainly a pushchair that grows with your children.

Forward facing the only compromise seems to be that the lower child, if tall enough, may want to put their feet in the basket. But there is still room for shopping alongside and in front of little feet. There is an enormous basket with zippered and velcroed front access which is fab for access. when both seats are on.

My children are really too old to use either of the rearward facing positions. When the children are back to back, the upper seat was resting on my son’s head (he is 16 months) but if he were a little smaller it would not be an issue. With both children rearward facing, there is a clip under the upper seat, which was in the way of my son’s head. Even with the clip removed, Mr BB was not happy to leave the baby in the seat for long. When both children were facing rearward, I was unable to see the lower child because the upper footrest was in the way. It’s not ideal, but its much easier to bend down and have a look at the lower child than to have to run around to check on the child in a forward facing double pushchair.

But for a typical sized 6-15 month old, the rear facing seats are good options. The only thing to be aware of is that when the children are back to back, the upper seat base, and the lower seat hood, do interlock. The lower seat can dig into the upper seat which causes the upper child to ‘hang’. The upper seat really could do with being an inch higher up the chassis which would alleviate all issues. I know some people will comment on how low down the child at the rear is. I don’t see how this would be an issue for any child until they were old enough to reach the ground. My son at 16 months was nowhere near the ground.

I am the first to admit that I was put off buying a Kidz Kargo pushchair because of past reviews. I must also stress I currently have a brand new pushchair, so can not speak for how it will fare long term, and there is only a 6 month warranty on this product. We did note that there is some slight sideways flex in the chassis when pushing,  BUT the Duellette has handled very well and it has carried approx 28kgs of child plus a lot of shopping far better than some other more expensive tandems have. I am happy based on what I have seen to take a chance on this being Kidz Kargo’s new premium pushchair and I would recommend it.

All round the Kidz Kargo Duellette is a ground breaking pushchair. It is the first tandem that has really good two seat parent facing options. I certainly think it will be a hit with twin mums. It pushes very well, has plenty of room for the children, a huge basket and a neat fold. I have to say I really really like the Duellette!

Many Thanks go to Kidz Kargo for allowing us the use of a Duellette to do this review.

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