Sunday Review: Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 with birth inlay

Today I’m quite excited – partly because yesterday Autumn discovered her foot and I’m hoping today’s the day she puts it in her mouth (I find it so cute when babies do that) and because today is the start of the ‘Sunday Review’ posts I’ve decided to start writing!

I enjoy reviewing products – in the past I’ve been sent vouchers or products for free in return for reviewing them for companies. These have included Tesco’s Free From Range products, a Veet Easywax, YUM spreads and Dove compressed deodorants. As such, I thought I’d start reviewing products each Sunday here. My current plan is to review beauty products and baby things alternate weeks, but that may change in the future. Anyway, my review this week is about the Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 stroller and the birth inlay that you can use to enable you to use it for babies before the age of 6 months when they can use it without.

When we were looking for a pram/buggy/stroller for Autumn when I was pregnant, I had a Daewoo Matiz. They have an absolutely tiny boot which is at an angle, so it was nigh on impossible to find one that would fit in it. We headed to a Mothercare that had a car park with a special space for customers so that you could try out car seats and prams in your car to see if they would fit. There were other prams that folded compactly, but none folded up quite as small as the Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 and fortunately it fitted in my boot. In my Toyota Yaris and my husband’s Skoda Fabia it is still beneficial that it’s so compact as it still allows us to have remaining space in the car for shopping bags and additional passengers.

The Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 comes in a choice of 4 colours: Red Rumour, Rocking Black, Blue Pastel or Pink Pastel. The pastel colours are lovely, but perhaps a little less practical being lighter colours and we couldn’t choose one of the pastel colours anyway as we decided to not find out what sex our baby was at the scans. I see so many black prams around, so I thought I’d go for Red Rumour as it’s a little different and suitable for both genders.

We bought a birth inlay so that we could use it from birth and not have to worry about having separate prams and then strollers, we can use the same one until she’s a toddler. The birth inlay was a pain to fit according to my husband, but once it’s done, it’s done. You wrap them up and then tie it – it looks super cosy!

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You can have it rearward or forward facing, so of course we have it facing us at the moment as she’s so young. There are 3 forwards and 2 backward facing positions. As she’s little at the moment, we have her laying practically flat. We’ll make it more of a slope when she’s around 6 months old. This is what it looks like:

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As you can see, it has a canopy. The picture above shows it on its ordinary setting, but you can also unzip it to make it come over your child a lot more to protect them from the sun. Parasols are also available for purchase (we have one, but haven’t used it yet as it’s not the weather for it). The fabric is water resistant which is brilliant as rain doesn’t come through it and you can wipe things off of it with ease. It also comes with a rain cover which is also very good – I don’t have any pictures of it, but it is largely transparent so that you can see your baby. Autumn looked very amused as she watched the rain drops on it.

One of the other things worth noting are that the shopping bag underneath it can carry up to 5kg. It’s quite small, but with a stroller so compact I wouldn’t expect to have a particularly big bag underneath and it’s quite big enough to carry the essentials you want to have quite close to hand – I can’t say that I’ve personally felt particularly restricted by it. Another potential downside is that the brakes are quite tricky to use – sometimes you think you’ve taken them off only to realise you can’t move and sometimes when I’ve gone down particularly big kerbs, a brake has gone on. The wheels are also quite small, so its easy for them to get clogged up on muddy terrain and it can sometimes become quite tough to move. The front wheel swivels though, which is useful on rough terrain.

Another brilliant thing about the Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 is that you can use it with Maxi-Cosi car seats as a travel system. This is incredibly useful for quick journeys and moving Autumn in and out of the car without waking her up as she doesn’t need to move! Here’s a picture of it in action:

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So would I recommend the Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 stroller to people considering buying one? Yes, I would!

Here’s an overview:

Pros:

  • Straightforward to fold and unfold
  • Compact
  • Good choice of colours
  • Practical
  • Can be used as a travel system with a Maxi-Cosi car seat
  • It has a shopping bag which can hold up to 5kg
  • Canopy which extends
  • It comes with a raincover
  • Water resistant fabric
  • Swivelling front wheel
  • Birth inlay can be purchased separately for £50, allowing it to be used from birth
  • Parasols, footmuffs and cup holders can also be purchased separately

Cons:

  • Brakes are a bit tricky
  • Putting in the birth inlay can be a bit tricky
  • The shopping basket isn’t that big
  • Could be better on muddy/rough terrain – bigger wheels would handle this, but then it would be less compact (other Quinny products have bigger wheels, it all depends on your needs)

Have you got one of these or are considering buying one? Let me know!

5 thoughts on “Sunday Review: Quinny Zapp Xtra 2 with birth inlay”

  1. Nice review. The one thing that annoys me about my own Giggle 2 pram is that it’s so massive when folded that even in our large boot there isn’t much room. Thanks for linking up #reliablereviews

  2. Hi Autumn’s Mummy
    This is really helpful, thanks 🙂
    Just wondered if you could let me know – does it fold easily and compactly still with the birth inlay in it?
    Thanks in advance!
    Lianne

  3. Hi Lianne, unfortunately you have to take the birth inlay out before you’re unable to fold it. Fortunately the birth inlay itself is pretty compact. Hope that helps!

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