The day that I had to pack our Britax double buggy away (because Lara grew out of it) was a sad day! So i was REALLY excited to be asked to review the new Britax B-Motion 4 pushchair which is described as Britax's lightweight pushchair with air-filled rubber wheels.
I've recently got on my high horse about pushchairs that claim to be compact so the VERY first thing I did when the B-Motion 4 arrived was test it out in the back of our car and I'm happy to say that it is by far the most compact non-umbrella pushchair I've tried. The folding system is brilliant - to unfold you simply undo the clip and then woosh, it pops open in one swift movement. To fold, you have to release a catch and then pull hard of a single strap on the seat base and woosh, it folds in half.
But despite being compact when folded, the Britax B-Motion is not a small pushchair by anyone's standards. It is huuuge and really spacious. Holly looks tiny in it! I can see that the B-Motion 4 really can be suitable upto 4 years old as Lara can still sit in it (which she only does when she is being a minx). I think I would probably contest Britax's claim that the B-Motion 4 is 'lightweight'... OK, at 10.5kg it probably is lighter than many others on the market, and certainly lighter than many travel systems... but to me it does feel chunky and bulky (and relatively heavy when I lift it into the car boot).
I like the adjustable handlebar which offers enough height for me, but is easily folded down for my slightly shorter husband. I also think the fastening is one of the best I've tried in terms of ease of use and ease of adjustment (funny... because I remember the Britax B-Agile Double being much harder to adjust!)
The Britax B-Motion 4 is one of the only pushchairs in the Britax range that has air-filled tyres - the benefit here being that it makes the buggy suitable for lots of different terrains and I've certainly put it to the test both walking around town and also out in the woods... it took me a while to work out that I needed to lock the wheels in place if I was planning a bumpy ride but once I worked that out, it became MUCH easier to travel even over roots and branches while out for a walk in our local woodlands. When the wheels are unlocked and I'm pushing the B-Motion 4 through town, I find it (as I did our double Britax buggy) extremely manoeuvrable for such a large buggy.
The B-Motion 4 is suitable from birth because the seat is reclinable all the way to a lie-flat position. I find the recline really easy to use and great for when I'm trying to get Holly to sleep. I also like the large sun hood but wish there wasn't a mesh part in the middle as this limits the protection I can give Holly from the sun tright now. The B-Motion 4 can be used as a travel system for Britax BABY-SAFE infant carriers too with clip-in adapters (which I found tricky the first time I used them but once I knew the mechanism, I found it easy to replace them with the bumper bar).
The basket underneath the B-Motion 4 is reasonably sized and reasonably accessible (not the best but certainly not the worst in recent experience!)
To me, the nice compact fold and ease of fold makes the B-Motion 4 the most appealing general use pushchair that I've tried with Holly. The Britax B-Motion 4 is available exclusively at Kiddicare for around £249.99.
