Easywalker MINI Stroller

Quick Summary: The luxury touches make this pushchair stand out from the crowd, and make it feel that little bit more special. The leather handlebar, the gated bumper bar and the adjustable hood height all make for a practical and premium quality pushchair that will outlast the competition and provide you with a flexible and sturdy everyday stroller that would be a joy to own.

Easywalker are a relatively new brand to the pushchair market, only having been around since 1989. Their pushchairs are designed as ‘premium' strollers and billed as sporty, all terrain models that allow you to go anywhere and everywhere. The Easywalker MINI stroller is unique to the range, coming with genuine Mini logo branding, leather finishes and several other quality features that make it stand out from the crowd.

Colours

Union Jack, Black Jack, Laser Blue Stripes, Black Stripes and Chilli Red Stripes. There is also a choice of black or silver chassis, and black or white trimmed wheels.

This year they are also due to release a new colour into the range - Pepper White!

Chassis

The Easywalker MINI stroller chassis is a smooth rectangular shape with the matte frame stretching from the handle down to the footplate. There are levers halfway down the handlebar – these flip open to allow the telescopic handlebar to be adjusted to the desired height – the height range is extensive, extending from 79cm – 107cm so it should be a comfortable push for almost everyone. The handlebar itself is covered with leather – this feels so luxurious and comfortable when you are pushing, and the Mini branding embossed into the leather screams premium quality.

The shopping basket is rather small, especially when you have the raincover stored in there. With the seat parent facing, it is very difficult to access from the front or rear, and you need to pop things in and out from the side. It can take 5kg in weight which is fairly strong, but you might struggle to get that amount of shopping in there!

On to the wheels. I love the wheels. There are four 22cm pneumatic tyres, that provide amazing manoeuvrability and cushioning from even the bumpiest terrain. The suspension provides a very smooth ride for your small person and an easy push for you. For very uneven surfaces, sand and snow, you can lock the wheels into a fixed position using locking buttons above the front wheels. The grip on these tyres is second to none, offering a slip free ride. The brake is operated via a simple flick lever on the rear wheels – push down to apply the brake and flip up to head off again. Easy to use, and very effective – once the brake is applied you are going nowhere!

The Easywalker MINI stroller feels super lightweight when pushing. At 9.9kg, it is not the lightest on the market but when you are using it, it feels nowhere near this weight. You can easily push one handed, you can turn on a sixpence and it is ever so simple to slalom in and out of the busy crowds! Even when lifting it out of the car, it is not as heavy as expected – the weight is very evenly distributed and manageable.

There is a bumper bar that can be used when the seat is in forward facing mode. It is a shame that this is not leather to match the handlebar, but I do love the fact that it is gated – allowing you to easily remove your little one from the seat.

Easywalker MINI stroller seat

The Easywalker MINI seat unit is deceptively spacious. At first glance it looks quite small, but once you assemble it you get a pleasant surprise. The hood attaches to the rear of the seat with a zip, but that is where the ‘normal' design stops. The hood can slide up and down behind the seat to provide more headspace as your baby grows, and with the seat backrest being a roomy 49cm high, it is large enough for tall children too. It will easily last from babyhood to toddler-dom.

The MINI hood is large enough to offer good protection from the elements. The design pack offers you a removable seat liner, which is padded, bright and will protect the seat from mucky fingers.

Seat removal is a little tricky, and definitely takes some practice. You need to unlock the seat from the frame by unclipping 3 levers at the footplate. You then need to find the red grab lever underneath the seat unit and pull towards you while simultaneously pulling the top of the seat unit. It will then collapse in on itself and you can remove the seat. If you are turning the seat round to face the other direction, you need to locate the silver tensioner bar at the bottom of the frame near the basket – lower the seat unit onto this bar before locking into place again using the levers near the footplate. Once you have got it, you've got it – but it takes several ‘trial runs' before it clicks. It is not the most user friendly option I have seen, but as you are not likely to be changing the seat from rear to forward facing on a regular basis, it is probably something you can do at home in your own time.

Easywalker Mini stroller's seat recline is activated from underneath the footrest – ideal when baby is parent facing as the recline is right in front of your hand. When your baby is forward facing it means you need to stand at the front of the pushchair, but I actually don't mind this as it means you can check on your baby as you use the recline. There are 3 recline positions, ranging from almost flat to a very upright position which will suit toddlers who want to see the world.

There is an easily adjustable 5 point safety harness, again with the Mini logo, and the shoulder strap pads are beautifully padded for extra comfort. There are 3 height positions for the shoulder straps and 2 levels for the crotch strap – meaning you can adjust to fit as your little one grows. The strap pads can be changed to match the colour of your design pack, as can the fold lever covers on the side of the pushchair. This gives a real colour co-ordination which will please the fashionistas out there.

Seat fabrics feel very good quality, and the colours are bright and eye catching. Everything can be removed for washing although with a wipe clean feel, you shouldn't need to do this too often.

The raincover is very straightforward to use – it's just a case of pulling over the hood and securing with Velcro. It folds down very tidily when not in use.

Fold

The Easywalker MINI can be folded with the seat on or off. In fact, it even fold small enough with the seat in place to fit in the boot of an actual BMW Mini!!

To fold without the seat in place, you first remove the seat as described above, then just squeeze 2 trigger buttons on the side of the chassis. The back wheels will swing towards the front wheels providing a very small fold, which can be maximised by telescoping the handle down to the lowest position. The seat unit itself will also fold almost in half, meaning you end up with a very compact fold. I find this by far the easiest way to fold the pushchair.

You can also fold the MINI with the seat in place, facing in either direction. Make sure the hood is closed and in the lowest position. If the seat is world facing, then the handle must be high enough to allow the seat to fold underneath. You then just follow the directions above – you can slide the handlebar down to the lowest position once it is folded to save space. With the seat unit in place the fold is obviously not quite so compact, but it is still very reasonable, and not nearly as bulky as some systems. It would be manageable on public transport, although you do need 2 hands to fold.

The folded pushchair can freestand – it is a bit of a balancing act to get the correct angle for this. It is however, a great feature to have as it means it can be stored almost anywhere, and again is perfect for public transport use.

To open the Easywalker MINI again, just unhook the locking latch and swing open – you should hear a click to let you know it is open securely, and you can further test this by pushing down on the handlebar to ensure there is no movement.

Conclusion

The Easywalker MINI stroller is a premium quality stroller with some really beautiful touches. The seat is spacious enough for larger toddlers, especially with the adjustable hood height, but it is cosy enough for smaller travellers too. It is exceptionally easy to push – a combination of the pneumatic wheels, the good suspension and the lightweight frame make it a pleasure to use. The recline is in an unusual place, but I actually really like the positioning of this – it gives you an excuse to check on your tot when they are world facing, and for parent facers it is in the perfect place for quick and easy reclining. The recline positions are more than adequate for all little ones.

The fact it is so spacious makes you worry that the fold will be large and bulky, so it is a lovely surprise when you have a go and realise that actually, the fold is very compact and would fit in pretty much every car boot - even a BMW Mini

The bad points? There are not many. The seat removal is fiddly, but as this is something you are not likely to do too often it is not a major issue – unless you plan to remove the seat on a regular basis for folding. In this case the unusual seat removal system may be a niggle for you. It certainly needs practice and is not one to be attempting in a rush! The only other thing to mention here is the basket – it is quite shallow and a bit tricky to access – it is not one to transport your weekly shop home in, but for everyday use it should be adequate. At just over £600 it also could be considered a little expensive.

The luxury touches make this pushchair stand out from the crowd, and make it feel that little bit more special. The leather handlebar, the gated bumper bar and the adjustable hood height all make for a practical and premium quality pushchair that will outlast the competition and provide you with a flexible and sturdy everyday stroller that would be a joy to own.