It's small, but is it mighty? Read our Mountain Buggy nano Review here.
Quick Summary: The Mountain Buggy nano is designed with one true purpose in mind – to travel, and travel in style! Of course this brings the need for some compromise, especially when you consider that this product must fit in an overhead locker on an airplane, but don't panic – it's a great pushchair especially when you consider the £199 price point, and the compromises are not that bad!
Whats good?
- Small Fold
- Lightweight
Whats not so good?
- Small Basket
- Small Hood
There is a bit of a battle hotting up in the travel/ultra compact fold pushchair market. Established products like the Quinny Zapp Xtra now have to compete with a range of products such as the Babyzen YoYo and RECARO Easylife. We’ve had the latest travel stroller to hit the market – the Mountain Buggy nano – into test. How does it stack up against the rest? Find out in our Mountain Buggy nano review!
Chassis
The Mountain Buggy nano follows a very strict form-versus-function philosophy. Right from delivery of the tiny box, it is clear why the nano looks the way it does. It is designed to fold VERY small – in fact it will even fit into an overhead luggage compartment on a plane. If that isn’t a great feature, I don’t know what is. I speak from experience – being able to place your child straight into their pushchair just as you get off the plane is a life saver!
The Mountain Buggy nano is delivered in a cube shaped box. Once you’ve taken it out, you only need to take it out of its travel bag, fit the rear wheels and you’re ready to go.
The whole point of a pushchair like the nano is to fold as small as possible while maintaining most if not all the features of a regular stroller. This necessitates some clever design – especially when it comes to ensuring the fold is small. Therefore, when you first see the nano, you may be inclined to think it looks a little odd. It seems almost skeletal with a narrow upright profile and a ‘sticky out’ seat and hood. Mountain Buggy have coloured the chassis black, which when combined with the back seat fabrics, was the right choice. It looks cool and works well with the black plastics.
The handle on the nano is not adjustable, no doubt because it’s such a key element in the fold. It’s covered in a comfortable black foam and has a wrist strap included as is customary with all Mountain Buggy products.
Even if it is a travel pushchair, the Mountain Buggy nano has a basket that can hold 5kgs. It’s not huge, measuring 26cm x 33cm x 10cm, but it’s easily accessible from the front and actually has more usable space than many strollers. You’ll need to empty it when folding the nano though!
The brake is perfect for holidays, as it’s flip flop friendly (hooray!). It’s on the right hand side, and is of the press-on and press-off variety.
Looking down at the wheels you will find four, all the same size, each measuring 15cm. The fronts are lockable by way of a grey tab to push down. The nano even has suspension, but only at the rear.
The function defines the chassis design on the nano and this in turn defines the look. It’s very distinctive with an open looking seat and jutting seat squab and hood. I would not say it is the most cohesive of designs, but I don’t think that will matter when you unfold it having just left the plane!
Seat
Seat design is something we see in many shapes and sizes, the nano seat throws up no surprises. It’s forward facing only, measures 30cm at its narrowest and has a usable seat back height of 45cm. You can seat a child whose head is above the top of the seat back, but there is a flap of material which forms part of the protection which may get in the way.
You recline the seat by pressing the button on the strap recline clamp and putting back on the clamp itself – with a child in the seat the seat slides back without the need to pull on the clamp. To put the seat back up, you can use one hand to push the clamp and seatback and one to pull the strap through the clamps. It is not the perfection of a one handed recline, but as strap reclines go, this one is executed pretty well.
The seat only reclines to around 130 degrees, so it is not suitable from birth, however if you were looking at taking the nano on holiday with a baby, you can actually place and strap a car seat onto the nano’s seat (most leading car seats or the Mountain Buggy protect car seat can be used) . It’s a clever little idea!
The five-point harness is simple to adjust using the single cleats that can be found up on the shoulder straps. There are three positions for the shoulder straps that are really accessible from the back of the seat. The harness itself can be done up one side at a time, but it’s a bit of a two handed faff to undo. The plastic clips are quite hard to press and you need to press the red release button at the same time. Perfect for Houdini, not perfect if you have to extract your child quickly!
Lastly, the hood is a bit small and doesn’t offer must protection from the elements. It’s quiet to fold and unfold and has a little flip-out sunshade at the front, but it may not be big enough for some.
The nano has an optional rain and sun cover set that come in a convenient carry pouch, so they don’t take up basket space (great idea!). The raincover is really nice and flexible and a doddle to fit, covering the whole of the pushchair. The UV filtering sun mesh will do a good job of shading your little one, however it’s not a substitute for total sun block. The mesh will allow a good breeze through on a hot day as well.
Fold
Folding the Mountain Buggy nano is simple and produces a really compact result. So compact, in fact, that it fits into the airline size gauge for overhead luggage – yes you read that right, it’s officially able to be taken on board an aircraft and placed in an overhead locker – this fold and its resultant size define everything about the nano!
To fold the nano, you first need to ensure that the seat is in the upright position. Next you need to fold the handle round and underneath. To do this, locate two buttons on the inside of the handle and press them in. Now rotate the handle down and tuck it under the chassis. Bring the lowered handle and chassis together with a click. This click releases the main chassis lock. You can now fold the handle and chassis forward all the way round until the chassis lock holds the chassis together, picking up the pushchair with the grab handle at the back.
Once the nano is folded, you have the option of a convenient shoulder strap to carry it, or you can pop it into the carry bag that is comes in when you bought it. It will also free stand – which is a great feature if you’re in a restaurant, for example. To unfold, open the autolock, pull the uprights and handle round allowing the wheels to spread out. Then all you have to do is pull the handle up and round until it clicks into place.
Folding and unfolding the nano sounds a little tricky, but I can assure you that one or two goes are all you need to become familiar with what to do – it’s simple really!
Conclusion
The Mountain Buggy nano is designed with one true purpose in mind – to travel, and travel in style! Of course this brings the need for some compromise, especially when you consider that this product must fit in an overhead locker on an airplane, but don’t panic – it’s a great pushchair especially when you consider the £199 price point, and the compromises are not that bad!
As well as doing the whole travel thing, the nano makes a compelling proposition as a pushchair /stroller. OK, the seat doesn’t recline to fully flat, the basket is a little small and the hood isn’t really big enough, but it’s light, nimble and has that amazing fold.
The recline is done using a strap, but this design and method is one of the best I have seen, making the recline quite simple, and not the three-handed job we’re used to with many other strap reclines.
I really like the nano. It does everything a travel pushchair should, it folds tiny, it’s light and it actually has most of the functionality of a regular stroller. At £199 it’s well priced. If you’re looking for a small folding set of wheels that can also be used when you’re not on your holidays, check out the Mountain Buggy Nano – it’s a great little pushchair!
