Maxi-Cosi Streety Review by Best Buggy

 

This is just a quick review of the Maxi-Cosi Streety, simply because there is a new version – the Streety Plus now available to buy.

The Maxi-Cosi Streety, we were told, was invented to fit inside a very small car boot, and to be honest the small, neat fold is the selling point for buying a Streety. The fold is incredibly neat. To achieve this involves 3 steps and some very nifty mechanics. There is an easy to do manual lock for the chassis to hold it all together. Once folded the Streety also freestands, AND can be towed along behind you! Great features on a small folding pushchair.

The seat is a good size. There is plenty of room for our small 2 year old (88cms) in the seat but our tall 4 year old (107cms) is too large for the seat, and we could not get the canopy over her head. However, the Streety should easily take a child until the age of 3, at which point most toddlers will be happy to walk.

The seat can be forward or reverse facing. However the Streety can only be folded with the seat forward facing. Removing the seat involves pressing in two blue buttons – one on either side of the seat and then giving a sharp tug upwards to lift the seat off. The seat then concertina’s together into a slim narrow fold. However when putting the seat back onto the chassis, one side needs dropping into position, and then the seat needs pulling hard apart to be able to drop the other connector into position. It is not difficult but it can feel a bit floppy at the start, and does take 2 hands and a good tug!

There are 3 recline settings on the seat. The recline requires 2 hands to squeeze a trigger upwards, and then using two plastic loops above the trigger, the seat can be lowered down. The hood can be brought right down almost to the child’s knees when upright or pushed back. It is a generous hood. We like that the footrest is linked to the recline, so that as the child lies flat, the footrest is raised up too.

We love the bumper bar which can open in the centre for easy access for the child. The harness is a typical Dorel / Quinny / Maxi-Cosi jigsaw piece one where the 2 shoulder straps need to be put together before being inserted into the buckle. This is a little fiddly. It also means that both sides have to be released at once when undoing the harness.

The basket is HUGE for a stroller type pushchair. There is good access into the basket when the seat is upright. The basket access is a little more tricky when the seat is reclined, however there are gaps in the frame to push things in and out.

The brake is very obvious – red pedal for on and blue pedal for off. The pedals did need a bit of force to press and I am not keen on having to use one foot to put the brake on, and the other to take it off. It is easier to just have one on/off brake.

However the compromise for the small fold size comes with a low, non adjustable handle which to be honest is uncomfortably low for me at 5ft 6 ins tall. Mr BB said it was too low for him to even push. The handling is really bad mainly because there is flex in the frame. We used the Streety a couple of times and then simply we could not bear to push it again. It really is THAT bad. We sincerely hope the new Streety Plus is much better.

Our other BIG issue was a safety. First of all, even though we thought we had put the Streety up, it audiably clicked etc. we then discovered as we put a child into the seat unit, that the chassis hadn’t locked on one side, and the chassis dropped on that side. It happened several times to us, so was not a one off. The other safety point is that the first stage of folding involves turning a barrel on the handlebar. This is extremely easy to ‘knock’ round when walking, especially with the handling requiring more force than usual to manoeuvre the pushchair. Also it is very easy for another child to turn when ‘fiddling’ with the handle, or holding on with you. Twice as we were walking along, the barrel got knocked and the pushchair started to collapse with a child in the seat (see the last photo). I doubt the pushchair would have collapsed any further, but it was quite alarming to be honest, and it was then hard to get the seat to fully click open again with the child still sat in the seat.

All round the Maxi-Cosi Streety has some nifty features, especially how it folds. However the compromises to the push combined with the low handle made this pushchair hard work and uncomfortable to use.

We really hope that the new Streety Plus is better – and if Dorel had sent us the Plus version as they promised, then maybe this review would have been more positive!!