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Stokke Scoot 2014 Review by Best Buggy

We were delighted when we discovered that the Stokke Scoot was having a redesign for 2014. The older Scoot lived here at Best Buggy HQ for some time. Our review of the 2013 version of the Scoot is here and we recommend that you read that through first before continuing. I concluded by saying that: “The Stokke Scoot is a pushchair which I would love to redesign because so much is nearly right – but not quite.”

Stokke appear to have made three fundamental changes:

1. The handlebar – this now rotates through three positions.
We have no idea why Stokke decided to change the handlebar. We have heard people discuss that they found the 2013 Scoot difficult to get up kerbs, but we never had an problem. There is no issue getting the 2014 Scoot up kerbs either with the seat in either direction. The handlebar only has three positions across a small range. This is not a lot for a rotating handlebar.
There are two bigger issues. First of all, our Scoot handlebar has a lot of side to side movement. Bearing in mind this pushchair is literally brand new from the box, and I was moving the handlebar with one finger, there is far too much play here for such an expensive pushchair! There was no movement like this on the older Scoot.

The handlebar length now means that the Scoot will not freestand any more when folded with the seat parent facing. This used to be a really very useful feature and we are sad that it has gone.
The fold all round is larger. The natural inclination is to fold the handlebar down in order to make the fold more compact. However, we forgot to move the handlebar before opening one day, and we ended up with the Scoot half open with the handlebar jammed behind the wheels, and we had to carry the heavy, half open, Scoot to a place where it wouldn’t get scratched to put it down to release the handlebar off the wheels. Not good! We were glad that we were at home and not in the middle of the street somewhere. Bring back the old extending handlebar please, Stokke!

2. There are new chunky off road wheels.
We like the new chunky wheels a lot. They are like air tyres but are non puncture. They make for a very smooth, comfortable ride. They are a big change from the old small, hard, vibrating wheels of the 2013 Scoot. These are a big positive. However, the wheels on our Scoot 2014 are incredibly hard to lock straight. Most people will never use this feature, but we lock wheels for photos, and we had problems getting them locked. They were easy to undo.

3. There is now a mid recline between upright and lie flat.
We got all excited about this change because the biggest issue on the 2013 Scoot was that there was no mid recline. A 6 month old could only sit bolt upright or lie flat. Most 6-12 month olds like to be partially reclined at some stage during an outing – it is certainly good to have the option. The ‘cave’ like interior of the seat still remains, and we are glad that we didn’t have to extract Master BB from a sleeping position, as it is extremely hard to get your hands inside – especially when the seat is parent facing – to remove a child.
Stokke have addedtwo mesh panels – one on either side of the hood. This was unnecessary, and now a child has a draft across their face and around their neck instead!  The mesh also lets light in, which is not what you need when trying to get a baby to sleep.

The clips to do the recline are really fiddly. They are difficult to squeeze and each requires two hands to do. Reclining pushchairs is something we do many times during a photoset, but we eventually gave up doing the clips because they hurt so much that we really couldn’t be bothered. With a child in the seat, this is even harder to do, especially as one side drops, whilst you attend to the other side. I don’t recall the Scoot 2103 clips being quite so difficult. When moving from an upright seat to a mid-recline, there are four of these clips to undo and do up. It takes longer than it needs to, to recline the seat.

The actual mid recline to be honest is disappointing. It is nearer upright than we would have liked, and we feel that it needs just a little bit more of a recline to be really useful.

Quick overview of the Scoot 2014

The rest of the Scoot is really identical to the original Scoot, so we are just going to whizz through the other pros and cons as we see them.

Pros

Large seat.
Huge open basket.
Lovely to push and manoeuvre.
Fairly neat to put into a car boot, but not as neat as the old Scoot.
Seat is very easy to pop off and turn around.
Coloured indicators to ensure the chassis is opened correctly.
Bag attachment points for a changing bag.
Poppers on the hood to attach a blanket.
Parasol and cupholder sockets.
Will fold with the seat left on in either direction.
Reflective line on the hood for dark evenings.
Decisive, if small brake. Needs good shoes to flick off.
Harness is easy to alter – both the height and length.
Great chunky buckle which can be undone, and done up, one side at a time.

Cons

Master BB was still quite small last time he was in a Scoot. We felt he wasn’t comfortable when reclined. There is no calf or heel support for a sleeping baby unless you can tuck their legs up inside the seat (possible for younger children). Master BB just looked uncomfortable. However, the Scoot has a large seat and we sincerely thought that it would suit Master BB very well, now that he is 18 months older. Unfortunately, what we discovered is that although the seat looks a generous size, the Scoot seat does not have the necessary depth to make an older child look totally comfortable. There is a movable footrest which has one position on the front, above the fixed footrest, and two positions when the seat is parent facing. Unfortunately, Master BB at 98cms tall, had legs which are too long for the upper front footrest, but for him to reach the lower footrest meant he had to practically lie flat to reach it. The Scoot would have benefited from another set of holes in the chassis to provide a middle height for the footrest. The footrest is still incredibly fiddly to fit and it took ages to move – which is the reason why we didn’t move it to the rear for the parent facing photos. It took us ages to get the footrest fitted to the front! See this photoset of the old Scoot if you need to see what the footrest looks like when moved to the rear.

The Stokke Scoot seat fabric still looks messy inside when the seat is upright. There really is nowhere to tuck all the excess recline fabric out of the way. It either has to sit behind the head of the upright child, or around their head like a halo.

Despite our Scoot being literally new out of the box, the visor was already bent. From the first fold outdoors, the Scoot was already getting damaged. The front edge of the footrest is scraped. The button on the hood (meant to prevent damage) has done its job, but looks messy. The handlebar was filthy from storing it for just a few days because of the way it rests on the floor.

The slider to fold the Scoot 2014 is incredibly stiff. It has been difficult for my hands to do in the cold. That may simply be because the Scoot is so new. It may loosen up over time.

In Conclusion

All round, for such an expensive pushchair, we feel that the new 2014 Stokke Scoot V2 has too many issues.
The wheels are a big improvement, however, these have affected the neat fold of the original Scoot; which for us was worth more than the chunky tyres. A neat fold, but with better small wheels would have been preferable.
The recline is a definite improvement, but not enough to be honest. A toggle type recline, would be simpler to do, and easier all round than trying potentially to deal with two sets of clips.
The handlebar was better left as an extending handlebar, rather than the rotating handlebar. The latter caused issues with the fold, and also we suspect has introduced the side by side movement of the handlebar.
However, Stokke Scoot is also let down in the attention for detail – the difficult do use clips, the messy fabric around the child’s head, and the bent visor.
Stokke, we think you can do better!
We have given the new Stokke Scoot 2014, a 3 and a half star rating.

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