Acro Compact Pushchair from Mamas and Papas: A review

As soon as we booked our trip to Italy we knew we’d need to think practically. What does travelling with a baby actually involve? The answer – a lot, a lot of stuff.

Aside from the travel cot and the car seat, the biggest item we’d use the most would undoubtedly be the pushchair. We needed to get something suitable for our trip that was compact but hard wearing. (This is no relaxation week!)

Our daily pushchair is a SilverCross Pioneer (also highly recommended!), and the car seat can be secured to the base. It is, however, a bulky and expensive travel system. Not something you’d want to watch be thrown into the hold of the aircraft.

After much research, we purchased the Acro Pushchair from Mamas and Papas.

It’s perfect. It ticked all the boxes we were looking to fill. Our requirements were:

• Compact – I needed it to qualify as hand luggage
• A sun shade that actually shades (some were tiny!)
• Easy to manoeuvre with one hand
• Reliable, sturdy wheels
• Reclinable seating position

And that’s exactly what we got.

First things first: the size. The Acro is compact and qualifies as hand luggage with most airline companies. The benefit to this is you can keep baby in the pushchair all the way to the door of the aircraft, and then keep it with you so it’s at hand immediately when you land. Not all airlines return pushchairs at the aircraft door and you don’t know how long the walk is to the luggage carousel. Most airlines let you take two additional baby related items in the hold for free – I wanted to use this allowance for a travel cot and car seat, so I needed the pushchair to work as a carry on item.

• Buggy measures H:98cm x W:41.5cm x L:82cm approx.
• Folded measures H:19cm x W:41.5cm x L:57cm approx.
• Weighs 4.9kg approx.

(The Acro is 1cm oversized for EasyJet – take the risk at your own peril, but if they checked and it wasn’t accepted, they would put it in the hold at the door to the aircraft.)

This is the Acro folded up, the handle remains out for easy carrying: (It also comes with a large protective cover travel bag but I don’t think we’d bother with this)

In just a few clicks, the pushchair is up and assembled.

We gave the Acro a test run in our village: uneven ground, cobbles, a very sunny morning, a small village shop to navigate.

Our daily pushchair doesn’t fit in the aisles of our village shop if there’s so much as a small box on the floor. The Acro wheeled quickly past all of the obstructions, it just felt so much easier!

The general ride is smooth – there’s little bounce, and Clara was comfortable. The four point harness meant she was secure, even when leaning forward to look around (hello world with a front facing seat!). It’s easy to adjust the seat to a reclining position if Clara was to fall asleep en route.

The handles are quite low – at 5’6 I would have preferred them slightly higher so I’m not sure how comfortable my husband (at 6′) would find pushing the Acro for any longer than a short walk. I’ll report back on this! The angle of the handlebar is adjustable but I’m not sure many would want it lower than full height.

The hood was a big selling point for me. It’s going to be sunny in Italy – and a lot of people buy compact pushchairs for holidays- and yet so many hoods were no more than a mere lip. The Acro provided the most cover by far.

The Acro will be far more than a holiday pushchair for us. Originally it was going to also be a pushchair to store at the grandparents, but actually, given how quick it is to assemble and how light it is to manoeuvre, I think we’ll keep it in the car for ourselves.