Emmaljunga Strollers

[hychamaz]

My wife and I went looking for carriages yesterday for our little one who is due in a few weeks. From what we have read online and have been told by salespeople is that the Emmaljunga brand is the best out there. We were being pushed by the saleswoman towards the Emmaljunga (3 in 1) Duo Edge which is good from birth through 3 years of age. It looks great but is 820 euros. Does anyone have any reccomendations for us since the price was pretty steep. We live in Jarvenpaa so the carriage will be for much mor ethan city use. Any and all help would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

[simon]

We had 2 Brio's but I dont think there is much between them. But they are that expensive if you want a good one forthe conditions that Finland throws at you. Imagine pushing a small wheeled stoller through this mornings snow.

[Sara]

We have the Duo Edge with a classic base and our little one is just 2 months old now.

We are very pleased with it. I would say if you have a car, test it in the boot as it needs a lot of space. We bought ours in the summer sale though so we only paid about €600.

Have you checked the sales? http://www.lastentarvike.fi has been having a sale but dont know if they finished it already.

[Keke]

We went for the Emmaljunga City Cross a year and a half ago, mainly due to its size when folded (smaller than the Duo Edge). We have a medium sized hatchback car and the Duo Edge wouldn't have fit in the boot.

As the City Cross (and Cerox) are pushcahirs, you have to buy either a 'hard pram section' (City Koppa) or soft carrycot (Duolift Kantokassi) to convert it into a pram. It's a bit cheaper than the Duo Edge, but not cheap! I think the City Cross, Cerox etc retail at EUR 525 and the soft carrycot at EUR 130, so EUR 655 in total. If you go for the harder City Koppa section, you'll be paying nearer EUR 700 in total.

We've been very pleased with the City Cross. It's been on forest tracks, rough ground and through water and it's very sturdy. We also liked the soft carrycot, as you can also use it as a carrycot inside the house. The soft carrycot has an insertable wooden base too, so it's rigid enough.

Nowadys, I'd say all the well-known brands e.g. Emmaljunga, Teutonia, Brio etc are fairly similar. One thing to think about with these sturdier prams is the boot space in the car. Even our City Cross fills the entire base of the boot. Also, they're not brilliant in crowded shops because they're difficult to turn in a small space. We bought a cheap umbrella stroller for shopping centre trips.

[Paul_D]

Does anyone have any reccomendations for us since the price was pretty steep.

My wife and I have been looking at the strollers for a few weeks. At first, we were looking at the Emmaljunga, but we will probably not buy one of these. We will rather buy a Graco, the deluxe one. It's (much ?) cheaper, but that's not the only reason for our choice.

When it comes to choosing a stroller, everyone has a different story, there are so many different facts to consider.

- Price? I think Emmaljunga is one of the pricest. People swear by it here, but who knows this brand outside the nordic countries? Also, a human tendancy is to promote the things that were bought with a high price tags... nobody likes admitting a costly mistake!
- Width? The door in the street-gate of our building has a width of ~61 cm, that limits the choice a lot.
- Weight? No elevator in our building, so even if it's the 2nd floor, weight is important for us. Even if you have elevators in your building (or living 1st floor), it's good to notice that some strollers seem to weight twice as much as others.
- Season? Having a new born in beginning of January or beginning of June, it's different stories.
- Location? South or north of Finland have different issues, regarding snows, mosquitoes, sun, temperatures, etc.
- Type of wheels? This depends a bit of the 2 points above... If you intend to drive the stroller in sand or deep snow that had not been covered by little pieces of stones, I guess that the huge wheels of the Emmaljunga are appealing to you, and that's normal.
- Turning wheels? Many strollers of Emmaljunga don't have turning wheels. For turning, you have to push down the bar, so that it lifts the front-wheels, and then you turn. Terrible, isn't it?
- Easiness for folding/flattening it? Some strollers can be folded with one hand, some strollers are folded by loosing one finger.
- Size when folded/flattened? Can matter a lot for cars...
- Use in transportation? Car, tram, bus, subway, escalator... I have a tendency to believe that 3-wheelers are not so nice when they go floating, for instance in an up-wart escalator, or when lifted up for stepping in/out a tram, a bus or a train.
- Use in jogging? I never run (and neither do my wife), so I haven't tried to figure out what would be good/bad regarding this activity
- Appearance? Well, everyone has his/her own taste...
- Solidity, sturdiness? I guess everybody prefers a stroller that look solid, that has as much shock-absorbing bars as a funfair dodgem car. Yet, a dodgem car is not the most elegant one for carrying a baby...
- Shopping basket below? It has its good and bad points... It should be easy to access, but things should not drop from it... It should be spacy, but it has to be emptied everytime the stroller get folded, or get attached at the bottom of the staircase...
- Extra storage? There are the bags attached to the driving bar (humf, they are sometimes so stuffed that one can wonder if they're going to catapult the baby at some point), or the Graco Deluxe has a clever plastic pocket on the driving bar, with just enough space for the keys, the mobile phone and the wallet.
- Stopping system? An other 2-folds issue: breaks should be good, but they should be a system that one would not fear that it gets loose or broken.
- Convertibility? Most of the strollers can be converted from the lying-position to the sitting-position, so that's not much of a criteria, in fact.

Find out the criteria that reduce the choice (like width), find out the criteria that you don't want to pay for (such as the appearance, the shopping basket, etc.) Then, try to find the strollers that fulfill your real need, especially the need of lowering the cost.

Among the strollers of Emmaljunga that were fitting the basic conditions for my wife and I (mainly: the width limited to a max of ~60 cm), the front+back wheels were not turning-ones. We are urban people, my wife does not go shopping only to "wide-alleys" Stockmann, so that is an issue for us. A personal opinion is that the Emmaljunga looks like the armored version of the strollers, the hummer-stroller, and non-merci, no war-like appearance for me. An other good point of the Graco we saw, is that it had a great system for folding: folding was done by a kind of button in the middle of the driving-bar, so it could be done with only one hand, and no risk of loosing a finger!

A seller told us that it was usually not possible to change the wheels from one type of wheel to to an other type of wheel, for any brand Anyway, in the city-center of Helsinki, snow is not an issue.... and our baby's delivery date is planned for middle of June, so no snow during the first months after birth, for sure, even if the baby comes one month ahead of time!

The strollers of Emmaljunga are certainly the best choice for those having to push often the stroller in paths covered by 20cm of snow that the municipality does not take any care of... which is not the situation of my wife and I, so we'll take the cheaper brand that offers more, thank-you-very-much.

/Paul

[hychamaz]

Thank you all for your help (just a few more questions) . Our boot space is not a problem as we drive a Peugeot Partner (minivan). We so agree that that a quality one (therfore expensive one) is a must, especially in snowy days like. We checked and there are currently no sales on any right now. We looked at the Emmaljunga City cross as well but have decided against anything with a soft carrycot as my wife tells me they have been linked to SIDS.
We have searched and read other posts about mailordering from the UK and Germany but in addition to shipping, wouldn't we get taxed by the Finnish customs, therefore making it not very cost effective?
Last if we could run one carriage by you who are familiar with them, we would appreciate that. We have read great things about the "Ora JOVI AIR yhdistelmävaunu (Special edition 2008)" and it seems to be just like the Emmaljunga but alot less money. What do you all think of its features for the price of 379. (There are several large pictures at the bottom of the page) Thanks again in adavance for your help.

[Paul_D]

have decided against anything with a soft carrycot as my wife tells me they have been linked to SIDS.

Ah, in my list of criteria, I should have add medical/religious/ethical belief Well, all couples of parents have their not-so-common preferences about taking care of children and raising them up. Now that you mention this soft carrycot issue, you put me into doubt

What do you all think of its features for the price of 379.

It looks very good.

Note that that it is heavy: more than 20 kilos! If you won't have to carry it often, lightness is probably a criteria which you don't want to pay for, so that's not an issue for you. Apart from the weight-issue, one would probably struggle to find much differences between this Jovi Air and a basic model of Emmaljunga.

Note as well that, as for many models of Emmaljunga, the wheels are not turning. It means: easier to drive in snow, harder to drive otherwise, especially in small spaces or crowded shops, as Keke wrote above.

Personally, I would not take it, because city-centers don't have snow (thanks to very efficient snow-removal companies), because city-centers have plenty of nice cafés and shops, and because carrying almost daily more than 20 kilos in the staircase would kill my back on the long run... But as I said, everyone has different stories.

/Paul

[Mook]

have decided against anything with a soft carrycot as my wife tells me they have been linked to SIDS.

Ah, in my list of criteria, I should have add medical/religious/ethical belief Well, all couples of parents have their not-so-common preferences about taking care of children and raising them up. Now that you mention this soft carrycot issue, you put me into doubt

Although they are convenient for carrying up the stairs, so you can leave the big bit chained somewhere at the bottom. In Winter, they end up wrapped up so the carrycot would be the only rigid thing - the koppas aren't terribly flexible. Also, if you go somewhere they can sleep in it rather than taking a travel bed.

Fashion is something to be aware of - we have a fairly out-of-date stuff. At muskari, the ladies of Töölö can be quite snobby.


Finally, I'm told that ordering online from Germany will save 20% or so on Finnish prices. Especially with brands like Teutonia...

[Paul_D]

Although they are convenient for carrying up the stairs, so you can leave the big bit chained somewhere at the bottom.

Yes, and that will happen as you write. My wife, when using the pram, will not carry it up and down in the stairs. She will just leave the big bit down the stairs, probably folded, attached with a chain. But I will probably carry it up in the evening, and down in the morning, because there is not much space at the bottom of the staircase, and I hate feeling like a nuisance to others.

Fashion is something to be aware of - we have a fairly out-of-date stuff. At muskari, the ladies of Töölö can be quite snobby.

So, what did they do to you ?

Finally, I'm told that ordering online from Germany will save 20% or so on Finnish prices. Especially with brands like Teutonia...

I don't know about this one, but I have checked the prices in Tallinn last week-end, at the Järve keskus (not in the touristic shopping center, no english spoken in the pram-shop), it was not much lower. Maybe 5-10% lower for the model we were interested to buy (Graco Deluxe), so that's not really worth the effort to buy it there.

/Paul

[milou]

I flag for Teutonia (sold by AT Lastenturva in Varisto, Vantaa - for example).

For most people Duo Edge would be too big (for example Cerox would be a lot better). It's ok for the first couple of months but when your baby turns about 6-9 months and likes to travel in an upright position you'd love to get something bit more compact, lighter and easier to manouver etc. (I've witnessed many families switching their bulky and expensive Emmaljungas for something lighter after first 6-12 months).

Teutonia has many models that aren't as heavy as Duo Edge is, but sturdy enough to cope with the Finnish winter. It's a very big German brand and known for it's good quality. Check out for example Mistral, Rocky and Spirit S3 -models. You can use these models from birth to 3+ years, with a carrycot for a baby and for a 1-3 years old as a handy pushchair. Teutonias are also a lot spacier than Cracos for taking naps etc. (lie down area is total 90cms of length.)

http://www.lastenturva.fi/kauppa/index.php?cPath=94_99

(Rocky costs 423 euros+carrycot and is better quality and a lot nicer to push around than Ora Jovi-prams). And not to mention sales and campaign prices.

*m*

[hychamaz]

(Rocky costs 423 euros+carrycot and is better quality and a lot nicer to push around than Ora Jovi-prams). And not to mention sales and campaign prices.

We liked the Teutonia Rocky 07 but that price was quite deceiving. The Rocky costs 423 euros +13,90 for the mosquito net, +189 for the carrycot, +69-96 for wheels (I wonder what is wrong with the stock ones since they offer so many choices. So we are over 700 euros with the Rocky as well. But we really appreciate your advice and will definately have a look at them.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice. We really appreciate it. We will take everything into consideration and go carriage hunting again this weekend.

[milou]

Wow! 189 euros for a carrycot!

A little advise - check out Carena, Emma, Ora, Brio... etc. carrycots. They cost about 45-80 euros and fit Teutonias just fine. Cheaper carrycots usually come in black, maybe blue and beige so you should be able to find a carrycot that fits about any Teutonia design.

If you're not in too much of a hurry, I'd recommend using German web-stores. Usually delivery times for Teutonias are 5-6 weeks. You would save about 25% compared to Finnish prices.

And one last advise: http://www.huuto.net
I spent 650 euros on a new pram two years ago and later I noticed that used one would have done the same thing. I could have bought a pram via huuto.net for 300-400 euros. For that price you'll find Teutonias and Emmaljungas in good condition with carrycot etc. So if the pram doesn't need to be brand new, I'd warmly recommed this option.

*m*

[Patricia]

Hello,
We just ordered ours from Germany with this website: http://www.mypram.de/

Good Luck....it's all terrible bewildering trying to decide what to get....

[Rosamunda]

We have searched and read other posts about mailordering from the UK and Germany but in addition to shipping, wouldn't we get taxed by the Finnish customs, therefore making it not very cost effective?

No additional import tax within the EU. If you mail-order from the UK or Germany you will either pay VAT at the local rate or, in some cases (eg Amazon), get charged the Finnish rate. The £ is really low at the moment:

Live rates at 2008.01.10 07:00:08 UTC

1.00 GBP = 1.33341 EUR
United Kingdom Pounds Euro

1 GBP = 1.33341 EUR 1 EUR = 0.749955 GBP

[milou]

What on earth just happened to my previous post (end of message?) Did I you some forbidden words? Don't think so.