Task 1 – Unpacking and Setting up the Maxi Cosi Loola
I was delighted when I found out we had been chosen as a Maxi Cosi Reporter, testing out the new Loola. Little Miss A has had to have lots of hand me downs from Little Mr A so I was really pleased she would be getting her own pushchair, and better still, it would be pink and girly!
Our first task as a Reporter was to unpack the Loola, put it up and test out all of the features.
On opening the box the first thing that struck me was the colour. From pictures online I was expecting a much duller pink rather than the hot pink it is. I am not disappointed though, I love the colour much more than I thought I would and it really suits Little Miss A.
Setting up the Loola…
Although the instructions were not particularly helpful, the frame was fairly easy to set up and took me only a couple of minutes once I have figured out which buttons to press. It felt very sturdy when set up and what I noticed was how large the shopping basket looked.
Putting the seat unit on was also fairly straightforward, simply slotting into the sides of the frame. I did find that I had to really stretch it out though to ensure it fit into the frame fully.
Putting on the hood and the bar was very simple, both attaching easily to the relevant points on the frame.
And that was it, ready to go! I found the straps a little fiddly to reinsert through the higher up section on the seat, however, this is not unusual, I find most pushchairs are the same! Once the straps were in the right place though they were incredibly easy to adjust to the right size for Little Miss A – in fact I would go as far to say they are probably the easiest straps I have ever had to alter!
Features & Accessories…
My favourite feature on the Loola is the large, double aspect hood. It has a zip segment that you can leave zipped up for a normal sized hood or, you can unzip it which gives an extra width to make the hood stretch down even further. This has been extremely useful with all of this sunny weather we have been having as it provides that extra protection. I also like that there are little windows at the side so Little Miss A can still peer out of the sides of the hood so she feels less enclosed.
The seat reclines to fully laid back and is very easy to do and can even be done with one hand. When reclined, Little Miss A has found it very easy to fall asleep in on the school run and has looked incredibly comfy. The seat can also be used either front facing or parent facing, which I think is a great feature for younger children.
The basket underneath the pushchair is incredibly large and a good depth so you can actually fit a decent amount in it. Even with the raincover in there I could still put all of Little Mr A’s school belongings underneath with room for a shopping bag too. With the seat reclined it was still easy to access.
With the Loola we were also sent a baby nest, raincover and car seat adaptors. Unfortunately Little Miss A is too big for the baby nest which is a real shame as it looks so cosy and comfy and I can imagine any baby would happily settle in it. I really liked the raincover (although thankfully it has not been needed yet!). It fits very easily and has little air holes down the side which I can imagine will prevent a lot of steaming up inside the pushchair!
Collapsing…
I did find collapsing the pushchair a bit difficult to start with and it took me a few attempts to get it right. I think this is mainly because it is so different from the pushchair I was using rather than a design fault. After a couple of attempts I cracked it and now find it a fairly simple process. For such a large travel system I am incredibly impressed with how small it folds.
First impressions…
Our first impressions of the Loola are all good! It is completely different to anything we have owned or used before but we are really enjoying using it and can’t wait to put it to the test more in the coming weeks!
If you would like to see the setting up of the Loola in more detail I have made a short video…
