Stokke bill the Scoot as the Smart Urban Stroller, we find out if it really is in our Stokke® Scoot™ review.
Quick Summary: The Stokke®Scoot™ is a handsome pushchair - especially in the Grey Melange we tested. It is certainly well made exuding quality. Once again Stokke® have produced a pushchair that looks and feels like a premium item.
Whats good?
- Rain and Mosquito nets are great
- Hood provides superb coverage
- Looks beautiful
Whats not so good?
- Very heavy
- Lacks support when reclined
- Vents cannot be covered
The Stokke® Scoot™ has been on the market for a little while now. We have our hands on the upgraded design. Find out what we think in our Stokke® Scoot™ Review
Chassis
Stokke® has dropped its beautiful packaging for the Scoot™. On opening the box, you are presented with the familiar box full of tightly packed parts all placed inside plastic bags.
Getting the Stokke® Scoot™ ready for action is a simple affair. Pop on the wheels and attach the hood extension, all you need to do is fit the seat and you are good to go.
Once complete the Stokke® Scoot™ has a familiar brand feel with dark grey plastics and light grey buttons for operating the pushchairs features. As to be expected, the product quality stands out, the plastics are beautifully made and the finish oozes style. With almost no rivets in sight, the chassis is a clean and uncluttered design.
Stokke® have designed a swinging handle for the Scoot™. Push the light grey buttons on the inside of the handle and you can move the handle between its 3 positions. The maximum height is 105cm and the lowest setting is 89.5cm. The handle itself is made from high quality dense foam, has a comfortable feel and should last well.
Stokke® have changed the tyre design for the Scoot™. The tyres are now foam filled pneumatic design which is great for the urban environment, they provide a little suspension, yet cannot be punctured; the side effect is also a smooth push. The rears measure 25cm and the front measure 20cm these tyres are an ideal size for urban adventures, they will even be able to take a little rough stuff.
The Stokke® Scoot™ has no front suspension; however there is rear suspension, that being said it is not very effective. Combine it with the tyre compression however and you have a pretty smooth ride.
I like the brake position on the Scoot™ it is up at the middle of the rear cross beam and very clear. It is easy to push down, however if you have sandals on, the effort to take the brake off by lifting the pedal may not be entirely to everyone’s liking.
The Stokke® Scoot™ has a fair size basket, it measures 38cm x 46cm x 13cm. Access is great with the seat both parent and world facing. I would like to see a little more depth if I am honest, but this is perhaps just a personal view, it is easily big enough for two shopping bags, you just need to be careful to ensure things don’t fall out.
Seat
Stokke® have broken the mould with the Scoot™ and produced a bespoke seat for it. It has the Stokke® ‘look’, but the way it fixes to the chassis is different, as is the method of recline.
Reclining the Scoot™ seat is done by releasing two fabric tabs behind the seat, the seat then drops back into its lay flat position, well almost, the seat does not go completely flat; it drops back to an almost flat position. Stokke® have now introduced a mid position recline by adding in two slightly longer straps. Bring the seat back up and clip this 2nd pair of straps in to recline the seat in the mid position. The recline is simple to use, if a little rudimentary.
Stokke® have included some little vents at the back of the seat that appear when you fully recline the seat. This is great on a sunny day, but it would be nice to be able to cover them up on a windy cold winter’s day.
The footrest on the Scoot™ is attached to the chassis and therefore does not move with the seat recline. This has the unfortunate side effect of leaving your child’s legs dangling over the seat front when you recline the seat. This may be ok for short naps, but some children may find this uncomfortable especially if they have long legs.
The seat itself is actually quite heavy and can be a little tricky to fit back onto the pushchair. Removing it is easy, just lift the seat with the grey buttons and it will come off. To put it back on you need to drop it onto the mounts, this is not always smooth as the mounts are sometimes a little wide for the seat.
Stokke’s 5 point harness design has a lovely feel to it. The plastics are lovely and smooth and the button is nice and large. I really like the way that you can connect one side at a time – perfect for wrigglers….
It is disappointing to find that the Scoot™ does not come with a bumper bar or even the facility to be able to fit one. While it is not everyone’s choice, I still think people would like the option.
The Hood is excellent providing great coverage. Undo the zip on it and you will find a mesh panel that is perfect for letting the hot air out in the summer. Hood operation is smooth and quiet. What I really like is that when the hood is open, all the fabric is stretched nice and tight – it looks great!
Stokke® supply a rain cover and a mosquito net with the Scoot™. Both are tailored to the Scoot™ and are simple and very quick to fit.
Fold
The Scoot™ can be folded with the seat in place, however this can only be done when the seat is in parent facing mode. If you want to fold the pushchair world facing, you must first remove the seat.
Folding the Scoot™ with the seat in place can be a bit fiddly if I am honest and takes a couple of goes to get smooth.
First, you need to fold the handle under itself – press the grey buttons and lower it and turn it under the handle uprights. Once this is done you need to access the fold button. Lift up the base of the seat and you will reveal a grey button. Slide the top of this button and squeeze it in. You can now rotate the back of the seat forward. Next you need to squeeze the button and push the handle down to the ground to fold it. The chassis then folds like a book and auto locks. The natural thing to do at this point is drop the pushchair onto its plastics, which is a shame, but I just cannot find a suitable way of avoiding this.
Unfolding is a little tricky, there does not seem to be natural way to do it. You must squeeze the central grey button to release the auto lock and then lift the handle, once the pushchair is open, you can pull up the seat back and fold down the seat base.
The fold is clever, but it is a shame that there is no real way to fold and unfold it without plastics of fabrics touching the ground and getting dirty or even damaged.
Conclusion
The Stokke®Scoot™ is a handsome pushchair – especially in the Grey Melange we tested. It is certainly well made exuding quality. Once again Stokke® have produced a pushchair that looks and feels like a premium item.
It is a shame that some key elements let it down. Firstly for an urban pushchair, it is heavy; you won’t be happy lugging 12.8 kilos up and down steps to the underground, or when you have to put the pushchair in the boot of the car. The seat itself lacks calf support when reclined and the recline method feels like a bit of an afterthought, oh and I would like to be able to cover the vents in the seat when it is reclined.
There are some great bits, I love the fabrics and the rain cover and mosquito net are both excellent. The hood provides superb coverage and is well vented. I also like the looks.
The Stokke®Scoot™ is an odd product, it is high end and feels and looks it, and there are just a few elements that will frustrate its owner from time to time. If you love the Stokke® brand and are looking for an urban stroller that looks ice-cool, then the Stokke® Scoot™ may appeal.
