Graco Mirage Travel System > Reviews (32)

Graco Travel System

Suitable from birth to approx 3 years
Car seat suitable from birth to 13kg.

Dimensions: L: 90 cm, W: 49 cm, H: 103 cm.
Folded: L88 x W49 x H37 cm

Net weight: 7.3 kg. Car seat weight: 3.6 kg

When expecting my son, born earlier this month, my husband and I saw the Graco Mirage Travel System at a local store. We were impressed by the design, the idea of a travel system instead of a pram, and also the price in comparison to others available at the store.

Being a bit of a web-nut, we had a look online to see what kind of price it was at various stores.

As Graco is a well-known make, we discovered it at most well-known stores, including Mothercare, Toys 'R' Us, Argos, Index, and many more, and also both new and second hand on Ebay.

Prices varied, but at the time I was looking, they varied from £100 - £140, with the exception of www.nurseryandtoys.com (see my other reviews) who offered it for £80!

Needless to say, we bought it from nurseryandtoys.com and looked forward to its arrival!

The colours of the Travel System vary, depending on the season. A Full range can be seen on the Graco website.

The travel system comes packed in a box and requires some assembly. Following the instructions, it is simple to put together, and a one person job, much to my husband's delight, he likes that kind of thing!

Use of the Travel system is very simple. When the baby is newborn, you seat them in the car seat, mounted on the push-chair with 'one click technology'.

The car-seat gives the support that a newborn needs, complete with head-snugger, and allows the baby to be in a rear-facing position, letting them see you and vice-versa.

The car-seat can be used independantly in a car, by strapping it in with a seat-belt, or alternatively can be teamed with an 'autobase' which is permanently fixed in the car and allows the car seat to be dropped in, again with the 'one click technology'.

By having the permanently fixed base, it means you don't have to fit the seat-belt each time, and the car seat is easy to put in and take out meaning less disturbance to a sleeping child.

When the baby is a little older, the car seat can be removed from the push-chair and the push-chair used as an ordinary pushchair. The bar onto which the car-seat attached becomes the play tray for the child.

The push-chair folds very easily by pulling two handles, and folds small enough to fit in the boot of most cars - I drive a three-door corsa and it fits in my boot. Care must be taken when folding the pushchair, however, as the play tray can get bashed on the floor.

The Travel system is light-weight and easy to steer, which makes manoeuvering in shops and crowds easy. The handle-bar is one long one (rather than a seperate handle on each side) which makes one-handed steering easy, and both me (5'4") and my husband (6'3") find that the handlebar is at a good height.

I did find recently, however, that the travel system is a little too light-weight in heavy wind, and care must be taken that it doesn't get blown over or away!

So long as you have a firm grip on it, it is ok!

There is a handy shopping basket underneath the pushchair which is a good size for storing changing bags and shopping, and it is only open at the back so noone can reach underneath and steal anything.

There is a padded canopy to protect the child from the elements which has a window panel allowing you to still see the child while they are covered - my only complaint is that with the canopy fully up, it is quite dark inside - I like to watch my son, the novelty of him being a newborn hasn't quite worn off yet!

The pushchair is fitted with front suspension, and front swivel lockable wheels. The Brake is fitted to the rear wheels, and so far seems to be effective.

The car-seat and the seat pad of the pushchair are removable for washing, which is very simple on a 30oc wash.

The Mirage is available as just a pushchair should you not need the car seat, and from what we have seen this retails at around £50 less than the travel system.

So far, we have been very impressed with the travel system, and have found it ideal for the purpose and good value for money, with a good company name behind it, meaning that spares should be easy to come by, should the need arise. I would definitely recommend it to parents!