Stokke Scoot Review by Best Buggy

The Stokke Scoot is a fresh approach to a small pushchair - it is a posh buggy! The Scoot is a pushchair to downsize too from the Xplory or Crusi.
The Stokke Scoot has lived here at Best Buggy HQ for quite a long time as one of our personal collection of pushchairs, which means it is pretty good but with compromises. We will admit that we do have very mixed feelings about the Scoot.

We absolutely love the neat chassis. We love the easy to access basket. We love the slim handlebar which feels great to push. We like that the Scoot folds into a very neat compact chunk with the seat facing in either direction. We love the one handed fold which can go straight into carrying the pushchair. We love that the Scoot freestands when folded. We love that the seat is large. We like the clips to hang your changing bag from under the seat. We like the chunky seat buckle and wide harness straps – Stokke make some of the best harnesses we have tried.

However we do not like the top heavy look of the bulbous seat unit. We do not like how there is lots of excess fabric around the head of the child. We do not like that protective button on the hood gets scuffed on the floor when folding. We do not like the vibration of the wheels on the floor as we push the Scoot. We do not like the ‘missing bits’ for accessories - the piece in the handle bar for the non existent cupholder or the hole in the side of the seat unit for the not needed parasol! We do not like how the Stokke blanket simply does not fit correctly even though Stokke provide the poppers for the blanket to attach. We do not like the two handed handle adjustment – it is hard to undo both catches and slide the handle equally at the same time!

Our biggest dislike is the seat recline – there are only two positions for the seat unit – sat upright or laid flat. There is no in between option at all. The seat reclines by undoing two clips and the seat then falls flat down (it takes practice to master a slow recline). The hood positioning means that the lie flat recline is like a cavern – with high sides and top. Our son (2 years 6 months old) is very good at being transferred asleep either from the car to a pushchair or vice versa and staying asleep. Not so in the Scoot. We never managed a successful transition from one vehicle to the other, partly because it was impossibly hard to get inside the cavern, and then bring him forwards and out, rather than scooping from the side, like you can with other pushchairs; nor could we ‘post’ him in asleep. The lack of an in between recline meant our son could not simply relax and fall asleep – he either had to be laid down awake (which meant he strained to see out) or sat upright which led to bad head loll until he was reclined. The Scoot also just looks very odd when the seat is reclined, and I did feel that my son’s head was vulnerable in the back heavy hammock style seat.
However it was not just about the seat recline – but the lack of calf or leg support for a sleeping child. In the photos of our son, it is not obvious, but his feet are not touching the footrest. Thus his legs are dangling uncomfortably. There is nothing about seeing him asleep in the Scoot which looks comfy at all TBH.

When awake the footrests were well placed – the footrest can be moved to the front or rear positions as required. However the footrest can be a tad fiddly to find where to lock it in, and it is easy to scratch the chassis fumbling around, hence why in many of our photos we haven’t moved it. The footrest was the cause of our other big dislike: our son took great delight in banging the heels of his shoes on the hard plastic footrest. Bearing in mind we test many pushchairs each year, the only pushchairs he has ever done this with, are the Stokke’s. He banged and banged and banged and banged until we can’t stand it any longer and remove his shoes!! When walking along especially in a quiet place, this rhythmic banging really grated!

Sat upright our son did look pretty comfy in the huge seat unit. However we needed a reclining seat and to be honest the Scoot simply does not work for a sleeping child. The Stokke Scoot is suitable from birth. A small baby may be able to sleep comfortably with its legs supported on the front edge of the seat, but there comes a point where feet and legs start to hang off the end. When most small babies start to sit upright, there is a phase where they want to sit up, but they dont necessarily want a bolt upright seat. We are not sure at 6 months old, that we would have put either of children in a bolt upright seat all the time during our outings. Mid reclines can be very useful! However the Scoot will take a car seat although we would not recommend this option for long periods of time.

Our 4 year old looked very comfy whenever she used the Scoot. She was very easy to push around too. The Stokke Scoot is very easy to manoeuvre and steer even one handed. We loved how sturdy the Scoot was - this was refreshing considering at the time we also had a Bugaboo Bee which feels quite rickety and flimsy in comparison. However the Scoot is a surprisingly fairly heavy pushchair to lift and carry into the boot of the car. However the fold can be done one handed by first folding up the front of the seat unit, and then sliding the hidden white button to make the pushchair rather suddenly collapse into your hand. This would make the Scoot a handy pushchair for public transport. The Scoot is neat to store and we loved that it freestands. The seat can also be detached for more compact storage. We love the large hood with the detachable sun visor.

The brake and wheel locks were very easy to use. The seat is very simple to turn around to face in the opposite direction. We like the coloured indicators which confirm that the seat is correctly placed. Stokke use the ‘high’ seat unit as a selling point, but compared to the Xplory and Crusi, the seat on the Scoot is really low. In our line up of 5 pushchairs with neat folds in either direction, the Bugaboo Bee is regarded as having a low seat, but the Scoot seat is not much higher than the Bee, and indeed the Scoot is a similar height to the Strawberry and Versa. If anything, the lack of a calf rest makes the Scoot seat look a little odd suspended in mid air.

The Stokke Scoot is a pushchair which I would love to redesign because so much is nearly right – but not quite. The chassis by and large is beautiful, top quality and great for a neat look. However there are so many small things which could be refined and made better, and thus create a superb product. As things stand, I would struggle to recommend the Stokke Scoot to anyone whose child naps. However it is excellent for an older non-sleeping toddler, and I think it would be a great urban stroller for these older children.