Obaby make a great range of pushchairs designed to fit every lifestyle and budget, here we take a closer look at one of their most chic single pushchairs, the Obaby Zynergi Condor 4S.
Quick Summary: The Obaby Zynergi Condor 4S is a well featured parent or forward facing pushchair. It looks modern and smart and the choice of a black or silver chassis option and the ability to customise the seat colour with comfort packs is a nice touch. The pushchair is easy to push and feels manoeuvrable and easy to steer, it’s nice and sturdy with a great feeling of quality.
Whats good?
- Looks smart and stylish
- Well built
- Extensive colour options
Whats not so good?
- Large folded size
- Poor unfolded latch engagement
- Not much coverage from hood
Colours
The pushchair chassis is available in chrome or black, and comfort packs are available in red, purple, pink, orange, lime, anthracite and black.
Chassis
Once you have the Condor 4S out of the box, the wheels easily pop on and the brushed silver coloured frame of our test subject is easy enough to open up, making sure the locks on both sides of the front of the chassis are engaged. The seat unit is ready to go except for popping the hood on and adding the comfort pack in your selected colour choice. The frame is noticeably square, with the wheels positioned right at the corners of the chassis.
The chassis looks a little bit unusual and quite stylish too, although not so unusual as to get people turning their nose up. The chassis feels good quality and robust and is nicely finished, although a few rivets, bolts and welds are left exposed. The fact that the pushchair base stays as it is when the pushchair collapses means that the frame has a very rigid feel that gives great confidence.
The large diameter rear puncture proof foam wheels give a comfortable ride and an easy push, and there is some decent suspension to give an even smoother ride over the bumps. The front swivel wheels can be locked easily with a snib on the front of each one and all the wheels feel good quality.
The brake is the often seen paddle/flip on flip off style and gives a very reassuring clunk when engaged. The dense foam covered handle bar is height adjustable using the large squeeze button in the centre, it has a great range – especially at the lower heights, so great for shorter people.
The shopping basket is a lightweight mesh material with a reflective detail, and although a great length and width it’s shallow and I get the feeling things might bounce about in there quite a bit – although with the seat in forward facing position there is great access and plenty of room under the seat. It’s not the lightest frame in the world, but as a full 3 in 1 travel system compatible pushchair it’s not too bad, and the hefty feel suits it well.
Seat
The seat, which is suitable from 6 months to about 3 years (15kg), sits nice and high on the frame and can be used in a forward or rear facing position. It is easily switched between the two by lifting two handily located latches just below the bumper bar. Just lift the latches and pull the lightweight seat away and drop it back down to reattach, it clicks into place to let you know it’s secured. You have to mind your fingers when doing this in parent facing mode though – they do tend to get trapped between the seat frame and the pushchair chassis.
The seat itself is a nice size and well padded. The fabrics have an unusual soft yet robust feel to them. The calf rest is adjustable to one of three settings using two buttons on either side, but I am not too keen on the fabric footrest – I think it would easily get mucky once your child is old enough for shoes and as the covers are not machine washable it might start to look tired quite quickly.
The five point harness is adjustable at the shoulders and waist and comes with nicely padded chest pads. I am a little disappointed to see there is only one height setting for the shoulder straps and I think a smaller 6 month old might slide out of the straps easily. Although the crotch strap is not adjustable it is well padded and you have the nice detail of having a cover for the buckle, great if your little one is wearing thin summer clothes or tends to try and undo the buckle themselves.
The comfort pack can be placed on the seat and adds extra padding with a cool flow type material; it has integrated head huggers which look really comfy. The hood with its large covered viewing window looks stylish, although it comes well forward it sadly doesn’t actually give that much shade to the seat – if you were pushing with the sun directly in front of your child it would most likely be in their eyes – even with the added visor from the comfort pack, this is a shame as the hood itself is actually SPF50+ rated, so if it did give more shade you could rest assured your little one was protected to that level.
The bumper bar is easily slotted in and out of place, and is gate opening – accessible from either side, it is covered in a zip off cover for ease of cleaning and the comfort pack also contains a small co-ordinating cover to keep it even smarter.
The seat can be reclined using a tilt mechanism to one of three settings, a nice high upright, a slight incline and a flatter laid back setting. Although the pushchair is well balanced the seat itself has quite a wobble to it; almost alarmingly so when going up and down kerbs, this is something often found on reversible seats (as they only attach at one anchor point on either side) but seemed especially pronounced on this pushchair.
Fold
The fold is easy to do, and is best achieved with the seat removed, technically you can do it with the seat on, fully reclined and in the rear facing position – although I wouldn’t recommend it as it takes up a huge amount of space this way.
So, with the seat removed, lower the handle bar right down to its lowest setting using the squeeze button, whilst twisting the swivel cuff located on the left side of the handlebar, you will feel the locks disengage. The handle will then continue to lower as the chassis collapses downward in a scissor or concertina style. You can then use a short eyelet strap to keep the frame folded down.
It’s pretty big when folded if I’m honest, although you could take the wheels off if you wanted which would greatly reduce the size. You can stand the pushchair frame up when folded but you need to rest it on its own handlebar which isn’t ideal. The locking strap is located in a slightly awkward position – you have to almost squeeze your fingers down between the wheel and the frame to latch and unlatch it.
To unfold it undo the strap and lift the handle, it’s a little stiff so you need to rest a foot on the rear axle as you do it, once almost fully up make sure you give a sharp jerk upwards to fully engage the locks at the front of the frame. I found that sometimes one would engage and not the other so always double check before you put the seat on.
Carrycot
The Obaby Zynergi carrycot fits a range of pushchairs including the Condor 4S and provides a lie flat option until they are approximately 6 months old, at which point the seat of the Condor 4S may be used. The carrycot co-ordinates with the seat and you can purchase matching colours. Fairly spacious inside and with a soft mattress included the carrycot should last until your baby is ready for the seat. The hood is similar in style to the one on the pushchair seat – with a wide viewing window which can be uncovered to let more light into the carrycot. The carrycot clips onto the chassis using a similar method to the seat – a socket on either side locks it into place on the chassis. The carrycot is collapsible and can be squashed flat for storage, it comes with a colour co-ordinating apron that attaches neatly with poppers.
Conclusion
The Obaby Zynergi Condor 4S is a well featured parent or forward facing pushchair. It looks modern and smart and the choice of a black or silver chassis option and the ability to customise the seat colour with comfort packs is a nice touch. The pushchair is easy to push and feels manoeuvrable and easy to steer, it’s nice and sturdy with a great feeling of quality.
A few areas let the pushchair down – the fold is large and unwieldy, the seat has a little too much of a wobble to it, the hood doesn’t provide much shade and I’d prefer the pushchair to lock into the open position easier. All in all though; a smart and stylish looking, reasonably priced pushchair that can also be used as a 3 in 1 travel system.
