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Mima Zigi Review by Best Buggy


First Impressions

We are huge Mima fans, so when we first saw the Mima Zigi, we knew we needed to review it. The Zigi’s sister pushchair, the Mima Kobi, was the most beautiful pushchair we have ever had the joy to open. We knew the price tag would be high, so we asked if we could borrow one. We were expecting a pushchair full of surprises, and we weren’t disappointed when we first opened the Zigi box.
First we spied a drawstring storage bag which is something not usually seen with a pushchair of this size. Next, a beautiful silver stitched leatherette handle bar appeared. Leatherette handlebars are usually a detail saved for larger pushchairs, and the choice of silver was really surprising and unique. The surprises kept coming with amazing see through plastic wheels!!!
We couldn’t wait to start reviewing the Mima Zigi!

Child Comfort, Hood, Harness and Bumper Bar
The Mima Zigi has a unique hood system but it comes with an orange warning label attached! Given this is the first thing you see, and it is important, we are starting our review with the hood.
The hood is unlike anything else we have seen: it starts neatly tucked behind the seat, in a similar way to the Easywalker Mini and Mosey strollers. At the rear of the seat is a rubber covered handle which you need to use to lift the hood up with. As you lift the hood up, the hood self opens to any point you wish to stop at. However, as you pull the hood open, it also moves upwards, thus giving more headroom – this detail is important – so if the hood is closed then it is positioned low down, if the hood is open, then the hood lifts up high. You can not have the hood closed above the seat back like a typical pushchair. (See photos).
The mechanism takes a firm pull but it is smooth and simple to do. What you must not do is to try to open or fold the hood using the front rim as you would typically do on a pushchair. This takes a bit of getting used to, because we are so used to pulling a hood open or closing it using the rim!
Our younger toddler’s mum loved this system and was a huge fan. However, for an older child, this hood has a downside: unlike other pushchairs where you can conceivably use the seat for longer because the hood makes the seat look taller, the Zigi seat with the hood folded back, makes the seat very short. An older toddler tried to hop in, but despite having a maximum weight capacity of 17kg, and there being brilliant leg room with his feet flat on the wide footrest, he looked way too big for the seat. He refused to have the hood up, which would be true of many older toddlers. If the hood had been able to sit folded high behind the child, then the older toddler would have probably have looked fine in the seat, but with the hood down low, he looked huge.
The hood itself grows ie the number of panels open is linked to the height of the hood. So you get a one panel hood by pulling slightly or a two panel hood by pulling the hood all the way out. So there is little control on how large the hood is. There’s a flick out fabric visor which has a stiff edging. It sits neatly back on top of the canopy when not required (usually flick out visors sit inside the hood) and is finished on the visible side with the same grey seat fabric. Underneath is a silver leatherette fabric which shows when the visor is flicked forwards. The hood is also edged with silver leatherette fabric.
The hood itself is not lined, which we felt was an oversight on a luxury stroller. There is a mesh peekaboo window on the rear hood panel which surprisingly has a Velcro fastening which again is what we would not expect in a high end pushchair – we would have expected magnetic fastenings.

Other than the aesthetics of the hood, the children appeared very comfortable in the seat, although there isn’t much padding in the seat base itself, and we feel that it would have benefitted from a liner. There are well padded supportive side wings on each side which will allow for a comfy nap.

The seat reclines using a neat circular button just below the hood at the rear of the seat. Pull up the button and the seat smoothly reclines through a semi recline, and a deeper, flatter, recline. However the seat doesn’t go flat enough to make it suitable until a baby reaches six months of age. There is no lift up leg support for a sleeping baby, and as mentioned the footrest is a long drop from the seat edge for a little one. The photos show how the reclined child doesn’t always know what to do with her legs. It is fairly easy to push the seat up again but the seat does come down a long way and the recline button isn’t at the top – it is about a forearm’s length down, so you need to bend and reach for the button! We found this a little uncomfortable as if you get your positioning wrong, then weight of the seat is resting on the inside of the top of your arm which hurts, unlike pulling upwards with your hand if the button was positioned at the top.

The harness is huge. Plenty of silky soft webbing with three harness height settings which feed into the classic chunky Mima glossy egg shaped buckle. The buckle can be locked one side at a time which is great for wriggly little ones. The clips need a firm push in and give an audiable click. It releases both sides at once. There are harness pads in the silver leatherette with breathable fabric on the rear, and a fabric padded crotch strap. It was very simple to adjust the height of the harness straps from the front of the pushchair. We could quickly adapt it for children of different ages.

There is a carrycot available to make the Zigi suitable from birth which could be very useful especially if you travel a lot. An infant carrier can also be added with the addition of car seat adaptors.

Raincover and Storage
The basket is small but beautifully formed. Unusually it is made from the same fabric as the seat and hood, all edged with the silver leatherette. The back panel is stiff and bears the ‘Mima’ logo. The back panel is hinged and when opened reveals an elasticated pocket in which was the raincover! This is a stroke of genius on this small pushchair as it gives the raincover a defined place to be kept, which doesn’t fill up the basket. The pocket would be very useful for small items or keeping cups or bottles upright too. The hinges back can be folded right down to the back axle for access. Access under the seat is very limited – we estimate about 20cm high but the opening is wide. If you choose your changing bag carefully you would be able to slide a satchel or messenger type bag into the basket. It isn’t a basket to fling a carrier bag of shopping into though! The instructions warn you to put nothing on the handlebar either.

Our raincover is a work of art! Space age silver with a large spaceman like viewing clear window for the child to see out of. The window does zip open, which is great to stop steam building up and to give the child a better view when its not raining hard. However we would have preferred a clear raincover so that we could see the child through the mesh window, and so that the child had periferal vision. We liked that the raincover fabric is flexible with no rods, thus it folds down very small. We did have to practice fitting the cover, and it is reliant on the hood being open to fit easily, and stay away from the child’s face. There is a useful loop under the footrest that braces the raincover whilst you fit the velcro tabs around the side struts.

Handlebars, Handling, Wheels and Brake
The handle folds down very small but extends up to a very good height. There are three positions in total – the very low one and two higher ones. The handle is a comfortable thickness to hold although we found the rubber stopper on the handlebar and the handlebar height button to be distracting when pushing one handed. We were not fans of the silver handlebar cover, although we appreciate that this may be a stylish selling point for many. The cover can be easily zipped off which reveals a plain foam handlebar, which we preferred, although the foam was a little squashy!

The wheels are one of the highlights of the Zigi. They are small with see through hard plastic centres! Really unusual and eye catching. The tyres have some slight give in them for an exceptionally smooth ride. We couldn’t find any obvious suspension though, and there were a few creaks from the chassis. The front wheels swivel but don’t lock. Above all the Zigi is very light to push and super easy to manoeuvre about town. The pushchair is very sturdy and easily too took the weight of larger children up to 17kg well.

The brake needs pressing down firmly to lock. It makes a really good click. It also needs a firm push up from underneath to disengage, so not one to do with your summer open toe shoes on which is a bit of a shame as the Zigi would be a good holiday pushchair.

Fold
To fold the Zigi first locate the pull handle in the centre of the seat and a small rounded rubber loop next to it on the right of the seat on top. The loop needs to be pulled towards the pull handle and then the pull handle needs to be pulled upwards. It is extremely difficult to start with, and we did struggle, but it gets easier the more the pushchair is opened and closed. You need to be very firm with the pull loop – with more force than the tiny loop seems to indicate it can take. We were scared of breaking it to be honest, and whilst doing this final write up of the review, it has just taken me approx 6 attempts at pulling the two handles before the chassis would finally start to fold! The Zigi literally folds in half backwards and can be done one handed.

The Zigi freestands very nicely, and is very neat when folded. We like the rubber stopper to protect the handlebar from the floor. You would need the travel bag to protect the fabrics if flying.
The hood and seat fabrics can all be quickly removed using zips and an unlock button at the base of the rear of the seat in order to add on the carrycot or car seat.

The Zigi fold is 50 x 45 x 25cm which whilst compact, is not quite small enough to meet IATA Hand Baggage guidelines adopted by most airlines. The Zigi weighs 8.4kg and can be carried using the fold handle although this isn’t terribly comfortable. The chassis doesn’t self lock, so could open during carrying, however the fold is firm and tight enough to be carried by the chassis if you get it right without the chassis flapping. One of our testers did specifically mention that they wished that there was a fold lock. The folded Zigi is small enough to hug and lift into the car. It fitted extremely neatly into the boot of a VW Polo with plenty of spare room.

In Conclusion
We don’t usually mention price in our reviews because we prefer to focus on functionality. However, it is impossible not to mention price here because the Mima Zigi is priced at a huge £650 which is extremely expensive for a small folding stroller! All the accessories are extra cost: the footmuff (£99), bumper safety bar (£35), carrycot (£250), car seat adaptors (£35), winter kit (£139), proper travel bag (£129), changing bag (£120), cupholder (£23), mosquito net (£45). We have been doing this job a long time now, and whilst we absolutely appreciate the quality and uniqueness of the Zigi, which is why we wanted to review it, you could be looking at in excess of £1000 for a stroller from birth, which we think is off the scale. This is very close to the cost of buying a stunning Xari which includes the carrycot, seat liner, raincover and bumper bar with it for the same sort of cost. Whilst the Zigi is unusual and great quality, the Xari stands head and shoulders above the Zigi for style, quality and functionality. The Zigi has no parent facing option, or calf rest support for a sleeping child which really at this sort of cost, we would expect.

However, we have worked in the past for wealthy families who travelled lots, and for whom the Zigi would tick all the boxes. If money is no object and you live the sort of lifestyle where you want your stroller to stand out and turn heads; or want a stand out second pushchair; then the Zigi would definitely be for you. The look is definitely unusual, and there is a wow factor with it with the clear wheels and silver leatherette touches. We certainly had comments in the school playground! The fabrics are stylish and hard wearing. The manoeverability and handling is good. The basket is small but perfectly formed. The carrycot and car seat adaptors means that the Zigi can be used from birth, although the short seat back does limit its potential life span. We like how the Zigi freestands when folded, and tucks neatly in a corner which is great for hotel rooms and packing in the car. We wish the hood stayed up when folded back to give the impression that the seat is taller, or even work independently like a typical pushchair hood does, and that the hood should have been lined. We feel that the seat could have been more padded or a liner included, and that there needed to be a calf rest. The fold takes some practice too.

However all round we have all thoroughly enjoyed using the Zigi, because practically the Zigi works well and is a pleasure to push. However, we simply can’t justify the cost when there are numerous other smart looking small folding pushchairs on the market, some with parent facing options too. The Zigi is a very difficult pushchair to give a Best Buggy star rating to, simply because for once we feel that the price should influence. However, we will stick true to our ethos, and will mark on functionality and quality, and as mentioned above, we think certain items could be improved or added. We are giving the Mima Zigi a Best Buggy 4 gold star rating which we are a little disappointed about with it being a Mima. The Mima Zigi is good pushchair if you have the money, and want to stand out from the crowd, but we do however feel that anyone seriously considering buying a Zigi should look at, and compare what else is on the market first.


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