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GB Q-Bit Review by Best Buggy

We at Best Buggy LOVE small folding pushchairs, so the arrival of the GB (Good Baby International) Q-Bit caused great excitement.
The cardboard box was tiny and lightweight! We couldn’t wait to open it.

First Impressions

The GB Q-Bit is a lightweight pushchair with a very practical freestanding fold. It was easy to lift from the box and place on the floor. The fabrics looked smart, although a little thin, and the chassis looked sturdy.
The first challenge, was to find the fold lock! This is situated near one of the joints of the pushchair. The clue is a tiny white lock icon on the chassis!

Child Comfort, Harness and Bumper Bar

The GB Q-Bit has a very upright seat which was perfect for Master BB. Amazingly the Q-Bit has a maximum weight capacity of 17kg (or 22.5kg in the US) which is huge for such a tiny folding pushchair. Master BB fitted into the seat (aged 5), with his head just under the rim of the canopy. He looked very comfortable in the seat; and the footrest was perfectly placed for him. There is an easy to lift up small calf rest to support sleepy legs or to extend the seat depth for larger legs. This folds back down just as simply. We like the large fairly chunky hard plastic footrest for older children to rest their feet. This is perfectly placed.

A press-button toggle at the rear of the pushchair allows the seat to lower a small distance. This is just be enough for a toddler to nap, but in our opinion although this pushchair is suitable from 6 months of age, we would not recommend it for a baby under 12 months old to sleep in. The seat is lightly padded, but the board underneath can be felt. We would recommend adding a liner to the seat to add comfort. When the seat is in the upright position, there is a velcro tab which keeps the seat in position. This is tricky to engage with a child in the seat.

We like that the 5 point harness has a robust buckle, with just two points going into it. This makes for easy fitting. The harness is adjusted using a strap system – so that the shoulder parts can slide up the strap, or down the strap to the perfect height for your child. There are padded shoulder pads and a crotch pad. The shoulder pads are held into position with press studs and an annoying elastic band at the top which pings off constantly and is tricky to put back on!

A bumper bar is included, and it is a really neat jointed, swing away bumper bar, which opens on both sides. This is rare to find on a small pushchair and a really lovely touch.

Hood, Raincover and Storage

The three fold hood is small but does the job adequately! There is a peekaboo plastic window at the rear of the hood. GB have thoughtfully added a press stud tab so that this rear window panel can be brought together, thus hiding the window if a child is sleeping. However, this then only leaves a two panel hood to cover the child. A fabric flap would have done the job better, without the loss of a hood panel. The hood is a nice shape and does look good on the pushchair.

There is no raincover included with the Q-Bit, however there is a fantastic storage basket. This is a generous size and stretches the full space under the pushchair, with good height and excellent access, both from the back, but also from the front. It holds 5kg of luggage. The Q-Bit is therefore a brilliant shopping or travel pushchair.

Handlebars, Handling, Wheels and Brake

The biggest surprise of the Q-Bit was how sturdy it was. The fold and design is very similar to the Recaro Easylife, but the Q-Bit is solid as a rock. There was no give in the chassis even with heavy Master BB on board. It was absolute pleasure to push and steer. The fixed height handlebar is covered in a fairly dense, slightly squashy foam which is comfortable to hold. The handle height is 104cm but it felt an ok height for me at 5ft 6ins. This is probably because the handlebar is fairly upright in relation to other pushchair handlebars.

The Q-Bit has 4 sets of 14cm double wheels with squashy tyres and rear suspension. The front wheels can be locked straight. The wheels are probably the only thing that really let the Q-Bit down, simply because although the wheels themselves were quite, the whole stroller felt quite rattly to push. Most small folding pushchairs these days have single wheels, and it was very noticeable how smooth the Babyzen YoYo was in comparison. However, don’t let this put you off, because we are probably simply extra fussy! The Q-Bit is very much a City or occasional pushchair though.

The brake is a bit clunky looking, but it works – flick on and off to engage and disengage. The brake is very firm once applied.

One of the huge plus points of the Q-Bit is the small and narroe footprint. The Q-Bit can literally go anywhere.

Fold

The fold is an absolute joy! The Q-Bit can be folded one handed. Simply press in the small white round button on the back of the handlebar, and squeeze in the long large button underneath the handlebar. The Q-Bit simply glides straight down and concertinas to the floor where it ends up in a freestanding position and autolocks! Very smooth and slick, and easy to do with a baby tucked under one arm. The pushchair can then very easily be picked up by the bumper bar or the handlebar and carried. It would be a pushchair that would probably benefit from having a carrying strap so that it could be flung over a shoulder. The weight is 7.1kg although it does feel lighter – probably because it is so comfortable to pick up and carry.

The pushchair folds into a freestanding position, and GB have thoughtfully added rubber stops to the chassis to protect it from getting scratched. We love how easy the Q-Bit is to store.

The fold size is a tiny 38 x 48 x 52cm which makes it just a little too big to go in an overhead locker of a plane We would recommend you invest in a travel bag for your Q-Bit if flying, simply because parts could get easily caught and potentially broken.

Opening the Q-Bit is just as easy, once you have played the game of “Hunt the fold lock”! Everytime we go to the Q-Bit to open we stand looking puzzled because there is no visible sign of a fold lock, but yet the chassis will not open! No matter how many times we get the Q-Bit out, we forget every time where this lock is hidden!
There is a tiny white padlock symbol painted on the frame which is best spotted from the rear of the hood; and the white fold lock is usually hidden underneath fabric. However, if you push away with your fingers, the lock moves and the chassis comes free. Simply pull the handlebar upwards and fling the pushchair forwards, until it is stood upright on all 4 sets of wheels and the chassis clicks into position.

The Q-Bit can have car seat adaptors added for a GB or Cybex car seat to be fitted. However, we did not try this out. A Cybex Cloud Q lie flat car seat, used in conjunction with the Q-Bit, could make a very useful travel system though.

In Conclusion

We have thoroughly enjoyed using the GB Q-Bit. It surpassed our expectations for a small folding pushchair. There is enough luxury about it to be more than simply a buggy; however, the fabrics and padding could be better. The basket size and access is superb and is one of the main selling points for us. We love the seat size and the sturdy footrest. The recline is slight but just sufficient for an older baby, however, we wouldn’t recommend using this pushchair until at least 12 months of age. We liked how easy the Q-Bit has been to lift and carry; and we love how it can be plonked unceremoniously on the floor and will freestand without getting dirty – very useful! All round taking into consideration our recommendation for use for a baby over 12 months of age, our only other real negative is the slightly rattly feeling push. However, we would absolutely buy this pushchair again, and we have enjoyed using it. We are therefore giving the GB Q-Bit a Best Buggy 4 and a half gold star rating.

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