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Mutsy Nexo Review by Best Buggy

We fell in love at sight with the Mutsy Nexo at Harrogate this year. It was small and cute. The fold was extremely compact. The seat looked a good size. There was an extending handlebar, generous extending hood, calf rest and gorgeous fabrics and leatherette detailing. So we bought one!

However this is going to be a relatively brief review of the Mutsy Nexo. We will explain more at the end, because quite frankly, this is a really excellent little pushchair, and we don’t want to spoil what potentially is great. The Nexo really is the ‘smart buggy’ – the ‘posh’ alternative to an umbrella fold buggy! At just £249 the Mutsy Nexo is a little bargain!

First Impressions

We pretty much said everything about our first impressions of the Nexo above, however, opening the box gave us the opportunity to look more closely at this pushchair. Although generally we were really impressed by the styling, especially considering the price because first impressions are of a really luxurious pushchair – lovely looking fabrics, with the tan leatherette handlebar and bumper bar. However, upon closer inspection the basket has some really flimsy attachments, and the basket feels cheap. Mr BB pointed out areas where the stitching on the leatherette handlebar is rough. We do find this pushchair a little odd because it has all the hallmarks of Mutsy quality like good quality fold sliders and handle adjustment, and a lovely chassis; with some cheaper elements thrown in! It is a shame that Mutsy appear to have cut corners on what could be an outstanding pushchair.

Child Comfort, Harness and Bumper Bar

The Mutsy Nexo seat is surprisingly large. Master BB did fit in the seat really nicely aged 5 years 10 months (109cm) which really is extreme for most children. He did still fit under the rim of the hood, but he is absolutely at the upper limits. But this is not the norm to have a child as large as Master BB in, and it would absolutely fit any younger child perfectly. To be fair to Mutsy, we had planned to review the Nexo with younger children, but we had to return our Nexo, and have had to use the images that we already had. There is a good footrest which is excellent for an older toddler. The seat depth and knee to footrest lengths are great. If we had removed the hood, Master BB actually is sat really comfortably. There is also small calf rest which is useful for small sleeping legs. It is raised using a bar underneath which is squeezed to raise or lower. This is an example of good attention to detail by Mutsy.

The harness has three height settings. The harness was super easy to alter – other pushchair companies take note – simply because the holes at the rear of the seat were large enough to slide the harness through. There is also a choice of two crotch settings – for a baby or an older child. The buckle is really difficult to undo. We have struggled. You are also likely to just get one side to pop out, and then have to have another attempt to get the other side out! The harness will split into 5 points, but it is difficult to break and will stay as 3 points, which is good as far as we are concerned as it is easier to do the child up if you aren’t chasing 5 pieces around the seat. There are two good quality, harness pads on the harness.

There is a toggle recline. Again, there is great attention to detail – the button which lowers the recline down is sturdy – a proper button as opposed to most other more rudimentary toggle reclines we see daily. We like the way that when you need to put the seat upright again, the button pulls the cords back up automatically to upright. Genius! We did manage to get the seat really upright for Master BB. The recline wasn’t quite flat as we thought it should be for a suitable from birth pushchair, but it is pretty flat (just don’t expect flat and you won’t be disappointed!) It is flat enough for us to put a newborn in the seat, especially given all the harness adjustments that can be made for a small baby.

There is a swing away bumper bar. No matter how many times we put the bumper bar on, we did it wrong first time every time! There is a button on each side to release which isn’t logical and takes a good push to do. However, to have a swing away bumper bar on a small fold stroller is great. It gets even better when we discovered that the Nexo can actually be folded with the bumper bar left in situ! Wow! The bumper bar is beautifully stitched in tan leatherette and really finishes the pushchair nicely.

Hood, Raincover and Basket

The Mutsy Nexo hood is beautiful. It really looks the part, and makes this pushchair stand out as not being your average buggy. There is a large extending hood with a front sun visor which is trimmed in tan leatherette fabric. The hood has two panels, and then a middle zip out panel. There is no peek a boo window. The fabric especially of the zip out panel does feel more flimsy that you would expect given the other attention to detail, but we can forgive it this because the Nexo really does look smart and stylish. One sign of quality is at the rear of the hood. The hood would simply flop at the back if left, but Mutsy have thoughtfully recognised this looks messy, and two magnetic closures draw the fabric together in the middle to give a much neater line.

There is no raincover with the Mutsy Nexo, although the lovely company who we bought the Nexo from, did put one in the box. Thank you.

The basket….this for us is the one detail which let the whole pushchair down. When you open the box, you have to fit the basket. Simply doing this, it was clear that the fixings were similar to some found on cheaper pushchairs. Whilst we appreciate that the Nexo is just shy of £250, so relatively cheap, it did not warrant being let down by small attention to detail. There were plastic pieces to slide onto rivets, there were press studs to fit. The fabric felt plasticky. Unfortunately, as we opened the Nexo box, one of the press studs which attached the basket to the chassis fell out onto the floor. It was bent and looks like it has snapped off. The press stud fitting itself inside is also warped. This is why this review will only be short, because our Nexo now has to go back to Mutsy to be repaired or replaced. We couldn’t get our basket to reach the other press stud.
On the very positive side, the basket is a very generous size for a small pushchair. Accessibility is fantastic, and we had no problem packing the basket well. We were concerned that the basket may give way under the weight of our bags, but it has held fine. A fellow pramaholic also bought a Nexo at the same time, and her basket spent a day at a safari park with everything they needed in the basket. So whatever, we have thought about the basket, it has been very practical. She was unable to get her basket to hold onto the press studs either.

Wheels, Handlebar, Handling and Brake

The wheels on the Mutsy Nexo are plastic EVA wheels. The front 6.5″ wheels apparently lock straight, but how to do this is not obvious. There are some plastic swivel pieces under the front footrest which we believe are maybe the rudimentary locking system, but we only found them when we were boxing the pushchair up! We will stand corrected if someone would like to tell us how to lock the front wheels, and what the swivel black pieces are! The rear wheels are 8″ inch wheels. Now, we didn’t go very far with the Nexo – however, even with heavy Master BB on board, the Mutsy Nexo was an absolute dream to push. The all wheel suspension and the ‘>’ shape frame gives a lovely bounce and cushions out all the lumps and bumps. It is just enough suspension to give bounce without being overtly bouncy. The Nexo was lovely to steer even in small spaces, and is really narrow. We turned it round no trouble in a small lift for example. The Nexo really was one of the most beautiful pushchairs we have had the pleasure to drive. We absolutely LOVED it.

The handlebar is hand stitched tan leatherette. As discussed at the start, Mr BB pointed out it was poorly executed in places, however, I never noticed, and if it doesn’t bother me, then that’s fine! What is brilliant about the Nexo is that it is absolutely dinky, but yet there is a 4 position extending handlebar. This takes the handlebar up to a decent height – it is absolutely perfect for me at 5ft 6ins. The handlebar mechanism had us scratching our heads for a while whilst we located it. On each side of the handlebar are black plastic joints. The lower part of this can be slid upwards to fold the pushchair. However, look carefully, and there is another black joint, and this can be slid upwards to release the handlebar! Very neat, and very clever, and one of the signs of Mutsy quality and engineering that shines through. The handlebar slides up and down very nicely.

The brake is foot operated. It is at the rear of the pushchair and simply presses on and presses off. It seemed quite decisive when we applied it. The only word of caution we will say, is that at just 8.6kg, this is a very light pushchair. We had the Nexo outside today, and the wind was quite gusty. It did catch the Nexo a few times and literally blow it away down the path, despite the brake being applied. Yet, we also had the Babyzen Yoyo next to it – which weighs less at 5.8kg, but the Yoyo didn’t move an inch.

Fold

The fold on the Mutsy Nexo is dreamy – it is really what a pushchair needs – a really easy, very compact fold.
Simply lower the handlebar down. Use both hands to move the two lower black plastic joint sliders upwards and let the top of the pushchair fold over the top towards the front wheels. At the rear of the pushchair on each side, are very slim black plastic rods. Simply squeeze these, and the Nexo slides neatly down to the floor in a very compact, squarish fold. Even with the wheels on, the package is very neat.
There is ‘apparently’ a fold lock which will apply when you stand the Nexo up. However, in reality the hood gets caught in this, or you need to give it a squeeze together to catch. However, each time we have folded the Nexo, we have barely taken a couple of steps before the pushchair unfolds again. Very annoying! This is a small attention to detail which in our opinion, Mutsy could try better with. The fold lock is very hidden inside the chassis, so remember to tell Granny where it is if you hand the stroller over to her!

To open, simply release the fold lock, lift the handlebar up, and flick the base open as you go. We don’t think we quite have got the art of making this look elegant yet, but we are sure practise would make perfection in a short space of time! It is very easy though.

In Conclusion

This is a bit of a mixed review. If we reviewed the Mutsy Nexo with our hearts, there is no doubt we would be giving this cute little stroller a 5 gold star rating, because it is beautiful to push with a perfect bouncy suspension; small and compact;  but yet with a large seat. We love the good attention to detail like the magnets in the hood, and the handlebar mechanism as well as the classic look given by the fabrics, bumper bar and handlebar.
However, we have to say that Mutsy have let themselves down on small details, on what could have been perfection.  A better quality basket and fittings; poppers which don’t fall out, and a better fold lock for example. Our pramaholic friend has also had to return her Nexo after the recline button broke. So, because two of us bought first batch Nexo’s and both had issues, it doesn’t reflect well. Mutsy to be fair did offer to repair the Nexo for us, because they had no stock to replace the Nexo with. The retailer we bought from have been excellent, and did give a us and our pramaholic friend, both a full refund.

All round we feel really sad about this review, because the Nexo held such great promise, and our hearts loved this dinky, smart looking pushchair.  It does a cracking good job of being gorgeous to push, but small, neat and easy to fold. This is one pushchair, which we hope Mutsy take away, have a really critical look at, and re-release perfectly finished. So whilst we would love to give 5 stars, we can not. There have been two breakages, and too many little details to sort. We are giving the Mutsy Nexo a Best Buggy 4 Gold Star rating, although we wish we were giving 5 stars instead. A real shame to be honest, and maybe this is one pushchair we can re-review later and give it a 5 star rating one day! Give the Mutsy Nexo a go, and enjoy, but we advise buying new with a warranty, just in case.

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