Should we get a Bugaboo Bee or Chameleon? (Or something entirely different?!)

[devsdev]

Hi all,

We are about to buy our first buggy and have narrowed down our choice to the Bee or the Chameleon (unless anyone has very strong recommendations otherwise). Our key requirements have been:

- Mainly urban use, with potential for some country use.

- Lots of bus use (and some dragging up and down stairs in unhelpful train/tube stations!) so width and weight important

- Durability so we can use this for baby 2 whenever that may be

- Maneuverability and safety

I really liked the Chameleon when we tested it (albeit only on the tiled floors of John Lewis), but am concerned it's a bit too wide and bulky for our needs and that the Bee is more suitable. I like the idea of the bassinet in the Chameleon, but for 3-4 months I don't know how much importance I should give this.

I'd love to hear from anyone who thinks the 3 inches extra width and ~1kg extra weight is worth it (or not) for the Chameleon. I'd also love to hear if anyone thinks I'm not considering anything else important when assessing buggies which will become evident when I actually have a baby!

Thank you so much for your advice in advance!

Dev

[Strawbs]

I have the chameleon and whilst I love it I rarely go on a bus with it, the times I do it's doable but bigger than the other prams definitely.. 40 bus I can get on the front door but 484 back door only.. Easy enough to get in and out of the boot but you need a lot of space.. I love the bugaboo as so easy to push, light but steady and baby strawbs seems very comfy albeit now he can crawl and stand he hates being strapped in to the pram!

Good luck!

[Strawbs]

Ps what I should have said is of you will be public transport heavy then the bee might be better

[nabz]

I have a chameleon and take it everywhere! I dont drive so you an imagine i use public transport everyday! It takes some getting use to but i fit in all buses with no fuss, personally i like the bee because its so light but chameleon is so comfy for my 6 month old,as its wider and bigger i think it feels more comfy then the bee. She was using the bassinet till 6 months and feel asleep straight away so to me it was important to have :) nabz x

[hellosailor]

I would say the bee, ready your requirements, the newer model (bee plus) is wider than the older model (we have the older model and is still totally comfortable for our toddler but the bee plus is that little bit roomier but still just as nippy)

[Convex]

I would really recommend that you get one secondhand, whichever you choose. (the bee and chameleon are both great prams in my opinion. loved my bee but switched to a micralite after 6 months)

Then you have the flexibility to change if your needs change without losing too much dosh.

Overall I personally think the bee is better than the chameleon but it won't cope with country walks! Wheels are too small. One major advantage is that you can carry it by yourself which is invaluable on stairs or when the bus stops too far away from the pavement.

Other prams I think worth looking at are the micralite toro, mountain buggy swift, baby jogger (amazingly easy fold) all have carrycot options.

Also I read somewhere that the micralite toro carrycot can be used on the bugaboo bee using the maxi cosi adapters. Haven't tried this myself! Carrycots can be picked up for around ?30 and are usually pristine as they are used for so short a time.

Have fun choosing!

[uptime]

We have a Bee for our now 20 month old and while we love it's size, weight, manoeuvrability and look, we have had a few problems with quality. Shimmying wheels, broken handlebar lock and difficulty removing the seat. The first two are common enough problems that they have readymade ?fixing kits? which they send to you if you complain. Make sure you keep your receipt somewhere safe. We lost ours and had a nightmare showing proof of purchase which they said was absolutely necessary before sending us any of the kits (which was galling when you see the kits probably cost them less than a pound to make).

[mima08]

Hiya - 18months on, I still love my bee and LO seems always very comfortable. I am not very tall and find it easy to lift into the bus, simple to fold and manage to pack a huge amount of "stuff" into the bottom basked. We too had the shimmying wheels but absolutely no problem to get the repair kit (I phone the helpline no. in Holland, I believe, and they were very relaxed, no questions asked about purchase, just sent us the kit within 3 days).

I have seen there are places that allow you to hire a buggy for a week or so to try it out (obviously difficult if you don't have a baby, too :))

One reason I went for the bee was its high resale value (currently, at least)...

mx

[oimissus]

just wrote a massive long response which I lost, so, in short, the Bee!

[tomo]

I'm a huge fan of my Uppababy Vista. V similar to the chameleon, but comes with a generous bassinet as standard. My 6 month old has only just outgrow this. It was massively useful for naps and the mattress it comes with is suitable for overnight use. It is quite wide, and I've not yet taken it on a bus, but I have managed trains on my own with it fine.

I think it's a really well designed pram and doesn't seem to have a lot of the problems bugaboos have. I think John Lewis have just started stocking it. You can also attach a 'rumble seat' for when baby number two arrives. Oh and it's the number one Which best buy and cheaper than the chameleon.

[Caroline_S]

If you were considering a second-hand buggy, we are selling our Bugaboo Gecko (see the classifieds). Sorry, I know this sounds like a shameless post, but I'm only mentioning it because the Gecko combines the best of both the Bee and the Cameleon! Bugaboo discontinued it after the Bee came out. Essentially it is a smaller version of the Cameleon which means that it is narrower and therefore slightly less cumbersome, like the Bee, but has the advantages of the Cameleon, namely the flat pram attachment and the large rear wheels which makes it very easy to push even on grass which is harder with the Bee. I used it a lot on public transport and never had a problem with buses etc. The downside for us was that, like the Cameleon, it is bulky to fold so we also had a maclaren to keep in the car boot.

[Fmm]

Another shameless post, as I am selling my Cameleon on the forum (Family Classifieds), but I love the Cameleon. I used it on buses/ trains nearly every day and never once had a problem, although I do get on the back doors of the bus. I've never noticed it being wide, but then there are so many double buggies around here I think most single buggies look compact! I think babies/ toddlers just look sooo comfy in the Cameleon! Both kids were in the bassinet for 5-6 mths, with plenty of room, a proper mattress and totally flat (which is advised until 6mths). They have always slept really well in this buggy as its spacious and goes flat even in toddler mode (not sure if the Bee does this too). The toddler seat is a good size - still plenty of room for my 3 year old who is desperate to oust her little bro - I know people whose little ones were uncomfortable in the Bee seat even 6 months before this age. I also think it works really nicely with the great Lascal buggy board, still feeling sturdy and (I found) still manoeuvring (sp?) fine.

[sanity girl]

Baby Jogger City Mini - I love mine so much. Wins hands down over Maclarens, but I've never tried a bugaboo

[kittysailing]

Ah buggies - it's all horses for courses - I had Cameleon with first one and loved it - I took it up mountains and on planes and always loved the fact it was so comfortable for baby and me to push and gotta love that huge basket - after a year or so I bought maclaren too as found mum/babysitters are all familiar with it and nippy for car and bus - friend s with bee never did the maclaren thing so that's a plus for bee - but just to throw spanned in - if your planning another.. We've ended up getting a phil and teds which I was loathe to as its a heavy bugger but brilliantly versatile for baby and toddler - I'm hanging on to Cameleon as when we go back to a single in a year of so - that'll once agai. Be my pram of choice - so having done the rounds I've come to the conclusion - that the Cameleon wins out as the prince of prams!

[oimissus]

I would also say, whatever you get, a really good thing about bugaboos is the single handle - very handy when you have a toddler who wants to get out and walk as you can easily push it with one hand, as the other hand desperately hangs onto the back of your bolting child . . . you can get pram hooks for a few quid in Mothercare or John Lewis so you can hang shopping from it. Also, it's very height adjustable, for example sister 5'2 and her boyfriend 6'3 can both have it at comfortable heights.

[crystal7]

We had a chameleon for first child and loved it. So easy to push, baby really comfy, lots of storage. Took it on buses a lot, always fine although never tried it in really busy periods. We did buy a Maclaren when baby was about a year as the Cameleon takes up a lot of boot space. Maclaren much harder to push whilst holdiing toddler's hand plus no storage. The Bee looks fab though, really small and nippy plus cosy. Think if I were to do it again I'd get one as prob no need for Maclaren?? The adjustable handle is great as mentioned apobove, stops it sticking out on the bus.

[Pickle]

I had a Cameleon for my 1st child which was great, followed by a P&T when #2 came along. Now I'm on #3 and have a Bee+ which I love. For travel, be it by bus, putting it in the boot of a car, or air travel, it is far and away easier than the Cameleon. Much smaller, lighter, and one piece fold is a huge bonus.

We previously used a Maclaren as our travel/boot of the car buggy, but no longer use it since getting the Bee. I'm currently in NZ and it has been great in terms of ease of fold when boarding planes (3 of them involved in our journey to get here).

On the way here we had a very tired 5 year old in Singapore Airport, and he ended up sitting comfortably in it for a while too!

[uzma]

I love both. I have a chameleon though! The carry cot swayed me. It's a great pram light and easy. My baby looks safe and secure and when we go out I know she is comfy in the carry cot!

X

[Saffron]

If you're thinking about buying a used buggy, look at Bugaboo Gecko. The Gecko is similar to the Cameleon, but a bit smaller and a couple less features. We had a Gecko, and I loved it. Bugaboo discontinued the Gecko when the Bee was introduced, but you can find complete Geckos on ebay for around ?200 I think. One great thing about the studiness of Bugaboos is how well they last! We never had problems with any of the major components of our Gecko the 2+ years we had it. If you do need spare parts, many Cameleon parts are interchangeable with Gecko, or you can find parts on ebay. We gave our Gecko to friends with a new baby a while back, and the buggy scrubbed up just like brandnew.

[Ramble66]

Have you looked at the new baby jogger versa or uppababy cruz? The Versa is similar to the city mini but allows for parent facing. The cruz is like the vista but smaller (lighter and narrower) but still has the same big seat and basket. With the Cruz you can either buy get the carry cot or use the snug seat.

Tommy's in Peckham stock the Cruz.

[dnjc99]

As a dad who was bombarded with Chameleon propaganda, ok, i admit it now, despite costing a fortune they are good and very practical for new borns and young kids. But I think if you took a poll almost everyone buys a MacLaren somewhere in the second/third year!

My advice, with hindsight, is buy a second hand Chameleon (say around 400 quid) and expect to buy a MacLaren Techno XT (as we did, and we both love it - very hard wearing, not too big and really tough)

[Strawbs]

I agree re second hand, got mine second hand on here for ?250 and it's been great!

[devsdev]

Thank you all so much for the advice and insight (and hope this is helpful to others too!).

I'm still confused between the two, though as people have mentioned maybe the Bee means not having to get a Mclaren or similar less-bulky stroller later. Also needing a double buggy can't be anticipated as you never know how far apart the kids will be in age (baby carrying for the youngest could be a potential solution to having a double buggy?). My niece is over 2 years old and still sits in the Bee comfortably and I generally like it (now that the wheel problem has been fixed). I just really liked the way the Chameleon handles. Need to be realistic in terms of money and what we really need though.

I think a trip to Tommy's or Mothercare this weekend is in order to do a good comparison (including to look at some of the others mentioned on this thread), followed by scouring the classifieds for second-hand deals.

Quick question...was the wheel problem fixed in the Bee+?

Thanks again - the EDF is fantastic!

[snowboarder]

As mentioned above the Babyjogger versa looks great. Not out until September. There is also a GT version with all terrain wheels which is out in October and looks amazing. I'm wondering how many buggies I need to sell to buy it....I'm thinking of flogging my bee+ that is sitting in the loft for it actually!

[Pickle]

We emailed away for a kit to fix the wobbly wheel problem on our Bee, kit arrived within a couple of days, 5 minute job, and it's been absolutely fine since.