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Kiddy City ‘N Move Review by Best Buggy

I am the first person to admit I am not a huge fan of umbrella fold pushchairs. I have pushed my fair share in my time, so it takes a good umbrella fold to get me interested – and the Kiddy City ‘n Move certainly got my attention!

First Impressions and styling:

The first thing I noticed was the beautiful aluminium chassis. The chassis curves beautifully giving a very eye catching line to the City ‘n Move. Some of the City ‘n Move strollers have a black chassis, and I have been told that the black looks even more stunning. However I like the aluminium finish.
I spotted a gorgeous looking pushchair at the school gate one day. I did a double take, because it looked like an iCandy but an umbrella fold pushchair. My eyes ran down the chassis to try and work out what it was, and it was only when I reached the name on the basket did I realise it was actually our City ‘n Move that I had asked someone to try out with a younger baby in!!! Thats how great looking the City ‘n Move is! It got me looking!!

The City ‘n Move is an unusual umbrella fold pushchair in that it freestands when folded at the handle end. It feels tall when folded, but it does stand well and its been easy to store here at BB HQ. When unfolded, the City ‘n Move feels like a tall pushchair and yet the measurements on paper have the handlebar height as just 103cms! This prompted a big debate here between our Best Buggy Focus Group because as time goes on, we realise that handle height as a measurement really means nothing without knowing the handlebar angle or whether the pushchair has two handles or one. The City ‘n Move has two foam covered, angled, fixed height handlebars which come up very high on me (5ft 6ins). They are absolutely perfect and comfortable for me to hold and push. I believe that is because the handles make you stand quite close to the pushchair, but not enough for me to kick the back. I walk very erect when pushing the City ‘n Move, and when I mentioned this to my Kiddy contact, I was shown a small blue award on the Kiddy website which says that the Kiddy City ‘n Move has been certified and recommended by the Campaign for Healthier Backs; as being orthopaedic approved by specialists to offer BOTH a good pushing position for the adult, but also the correct seating position for the child! It is apparently the first pushchair which has been awarded this certification. I have a bad back, and I have to say, I have felt the benefits of walking in a more upright position. The City ‘n Move is really comfortable to push! I was surprised because I usually prefer a one handled pushchair, rather than two handled.

The quality and the attention to detail is probably the next thing that I noticed. I will discuss this as I progress, but I absolutely love how the Kiddy logo is carried through on the wheels and seat back. A small detail, but neat! The Kiddy is full of small details which really make a difference.

Child Comfort, Seat Recline and Harness:

The Kiddy City ‘n Move seat is huge! Its rare these days that our 4 year old looks on the smaller side in a pushchair, but she does in this stroller!  The tall, bolt upright seat is great for older children. We liked how the footrest is shaped to curve outwards (instead of being straight across) allowing a child to easily put their feet on the footrest. We absolutely loved the easy to undo, swing away bumper bar. It was simple to undo with a press in button, and allowed our eldest to have easy access in and out. Both our two have looked very comfortable in the pushchair. The boy in the photos above was between 2 years 3 months and 2 years and 6 months old in these photos, and he was 87.5cms tall (on the 9th centile).

The City ‘n Move seat has 3 recline positions: very upright, semi reclined and lie flat. Although the latter, is very flat, (and would be flat enough for a newborn under British Safety testing,) under new EU safety rules mean that the City ‘n Move has been certified as suitable from 6 months. There is the option to use a car seat, which fits onto the chassis with adaptors, for a child under 6 months old.
The recline is accessed via a button / handle at the rear of the seat, which is lifted up to release the mechanism to recline (pull down), or to sit the child upright (push the seat up). We had minor issues with one side of our seat not locking into position each time, but it was fine still to use.
There was plenty of space for our 2 year old to lie flat. We liked the lift up calf support for when he napped. There was even room for our 4 year old to lie flat. The top of her head did push the fabric out at the back, but her head was supported underneath, and we would have been happy for her to nap in there, should she have wished. Importantly, she said she was comfortable and she seems happy in the photos!

There are 3 harness height positions. These are really simple to alter – simply push the plastic ‘buckle’ through the hole from the front, and push it back into the correct hole.
The harness is ample big enough for our tall 4 year old. However, one of our few criticisms of the City ‘n ‘ Move is that when we used the stroller with a small 7 month old, the straps were too big on her. I spent a long time adjusting them  but I could not get them tight enough. To be fair, she was small for her age; and the straps were absolutely fine and could be tightened properly on our older children. But its just something to be aware of if buying this pushchair for a younger baby.

One thing that we did find a little annoying was a fabric flap at the top of the seat. This forms head protection / support for a reclined child. For a younger child it would form a mini hood and be out of their way. However for our two taller children, this fabric flap really needed folding over the top of the seat each time after being reclined. It can be unpoppered as well. You can see on some of the photos where we have been in a rush, the top of the seat looks a bit messy.

Fabrics & Hood:

The main fabric on the City ‘n Move is good quality – it feels like cotton canvas. Fabrics are something that are easy to take for granted,  but I notice good quality or poor quality ones! The City ‘n Move fabrics have a really good quality feel. The seat has reflective stitching around the edges which is great for dark winter evenings. There are mesh panels down each side of the seat, which to be honest I am not keen on – mainly because here in the UK having your child snuggly is more important for most of the year than ventilation for a few hot summer days! However the mesh panels are easily covered with a footmuff in winter. I like the small details – for example having a fastener over the zip ends of the bumper bar fabric to stop a child constantly undoing / playing with the zip, but yet that the cover can be removed for washing. When a company looks at the small details like this, you know they will have taken care of the bigger details too.

The hood on the Kiddy City ‘n Move is huge! If you look at the photos, it just seems to keep on extending forwards!! The hood fabric feels strong and the hood rim is sturdy. The main front panel of the hood has two side locks to keep the shape taught and prevent it being blown shut. I did keep forgetting to undo these before closing though! But they dont need to be locked in place. There is a rear hood panel behind this. The rear panel can be fastened together with a toggle if not required. To be honest the front hood panel is probably enough for every day use.
The front hood panel also has a peekaboo window with velcro closures. In some ways this peekaboo window feels a little too far forwards if the rear hood section is open, but it is fine if just the front panel is used. The peekaboo window has a total of 3 loops on it which can be attached individually or in combination to a toggle. This level of detail is extraordinary to find on any pushchair, let alone an umbrella fold pushchair! The peekaboo window can be fully open, or opened to one side for example if the sun is on the other side. The rear section of the hood is used when the seat is reclined, and again, is good quality fabric. I would feel confident that a baby would be well protected on a windy day. However there is a small piece of mesh running around the rear above where a sleeping child’s head would be. I am not a fan of open mesh near a sleeping child’s head during our bitter UK winters. However it could be argued that ventilation is important in other countries, but it is easy enough to roll the rear section up for air flow on a hot day. I would always prefer cosy to ventilation! The hood also has a flick out visor – probably one of the best flick out visors I have seen for sturdyness, thickness, shape and also size.

Basket:

The basket is a typical umbrella fold mesh one: on the smallish side with access restricted by the X of the pushchair chassis. However Kiddy have thoughtfully added in zips at the front edges to give better access to the basket. It is possible to squish coats and soft / small items through the frame to sit on top of the X as well. I wouldn’t buy this pushchair for the basket, but it is enough storage to get us through an average outing.

Quality and Handling:

I really enjoyed pushing the City ‘n Move. The handlebars felt good in my hand. I walked more upright than with most pushchairs. The City ‘n Move handled great and was nippy and manoeuverable. It felt sturdy and solid. Earlier I mentioned about the attention to small details – the attention to detail continues with the addition of reinforcing plates on the rear of the chassis. The chassis is curved, not straight. This is to help distribute the weight more effectively when pushing. The City ‘n Move has been bolted together rather than riveted to prevent the joints from snapping. The wheel bearings are good quality and the pushchair can be tipped easily up kerbs. These details really are what sets the City ‘n Move apart for us. The City ‘n Move has been built by people who care and who really know what they are doing technically, but also know what a consumer is looking for. Kiddy even include a cup holder for your morning coffee! Most manufacturers charge you extra for a cup holder!!

The wheels are slightly soft to the touch ie feel rubberised. This gives a smooth ride. Ours has been used for some months now, and the wheels still look as good as new, with no stone chips in them. The front wheels are lockable, swivel wheels – it only takes a very small movement to get them to lock or unlock, which does not feel very decisive.

Travel System / Car Seats:

The Kiddy City ‘n Move takes several car seats parent facing: Kiddy Relax Pro, Kiddy Smilefix Pro, Kiddy Nest, Maxi Cosi Cabriofix & Pebble and a Britax seat. There are different adaptors for the different types of seat. With the pushchair, comes one small set of adaptors – these are more triangular in shape. These simply fasten onto the chassis giving a fixed, stable base for the car seat adaptors themselves to be inserted into position. At first this seems fiddly to do – especially having two sets of adaptors. However the adaptors can be left as one piece, or the lower section could be left on when folding to make life easier. One of our testers found this all too much hassle, and preferred to remove her baby from the car seat each time. However we did not find the adaptors any harder to fit than other car seat adaptors that we have tried.
We had the Kiddy Nest car seat and this slotted on the top of the adaptors really easily. The pushchair felt nice and stable when pushed with the car seat in situ. We liked how the hood of the pushchair can be pulled right down over the feet of the child in the car seat to give good all round sun and winter protection.  The handle of the car seat needs to be lowered once the seat is secure on the pushchair. Releasing the car seat was easy too. All round we found userbility good as a travel system.

The car seat itself seems very well padded and comfortable. Its also very light to carry. The car seat is secured using the car seat belt. The baby we tried in the seat seemed comfortable with room to grow.
I do not know of many umbrella fold pushchairs which take a car seat as a travel system – let alone one with such a large range of car seat options – and this makes the Kiddy City ‘n Move an interesting travel system option for anyone who needs an umbrella fold stroller because of the shape of their car boot, or for storage in their home; but yet wants an easy transfer of their baby between their car and pushchair.

Unfold / Fold:

The Kiddy City ‘n Move has an autolock on it. This needs releasing before the buggy can be unfolded. If the buggy is stood up in storage position, then it is very easy to release this with one hand and open the City ‘n Move up with the other hand so that the pushchair ends up on its wheels. Being an umbrella fold means that the pushchair needs ‘locking’ open by pushing down on the centre of the frame low down at the rear. To be honest, this for me was one issue – the point where the frame needs pushing down is quite high up and I dont have good balance! So trying to stand on one leg with my other high up in the air was a disaster! I have found it easier to use my hand to push frame down to ‘lock’. But the buggy is not hard to open, and you need to find the way that suits you best! There is also a handy handle which could in theory be used to push down to ‘lock’ the chassis with too.
Closing is easy. Push up the handle at the bottom, 0r pull the handle at the top of the rear of the pushchair. Then step on the bar on the right hand edge of the chassis like most umbrella folds. The stroller then begins to fold forwards. Fold the pushchair down to the ground and the autolock will snap into place. Then stand the pushchair on the handlebar end to store.
There is a handy carrying handle on the side of the City ‘n Move plus, no matter which way the pushchair has been stored in the car, or in the house, we have always managed to find somewhere to hold onto it to move or carry.

Probably the biggest drawback of the City ‘n Move is that although the standing fold is great, the City ‘n Move does have a curve to it when folded. Thus although it takes up a relatively small footprint, the shape makes it feel quite chunky when folded. We struggled to fit it into the boot of a VW Golf. This is probably the main thing to be aware of if you think you need an umbrella fold pushchair in order to take up less space in your car boot. It is also not a light pushchair to lift and carry.

Brake and Raincover:

The brakes on the City ‘n Move are down by the rear wheels. They are two jutting out small black bars. The brakes are linked so that you can step on one bar, on either side, and the brakes then are applied. The brakes apply with a satisfying clunk and it is easy to see if they have been applied or not. The brakes flick off again easily when you are ready to go.

The raincover is included with the City ‘n Move. It is easy to throw on, and fasten and fits well. One of our parents was surprised how well it fitted.

In Conclusion:

The Kiddy City ‘n Move offers an umbrella fold stroller with a good quality frame and materials, and great attention to small details. I can well believe that this pushchair promotes a good position for back health. because you do noticeably stand up straighter when pushing it. The City ‘n Move feels lovely to push. Our children both look great in the seat unit, whether sat up or reclined. We like that a bumper bar, cup holder and raincover all included as standard. I have to say, I am amazed that Kiddy have managed to get this amount of quality and attention to detail in a sturdy, well made stroller that is so competitively priced.

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