Wha wha wha?? Bugaboo Cameleon At babystyle Now

Nice, but way too expensive and extravagant for my taste. I'm more of a Target shopper. ;-) [Ah, then the Gecko's for you. My wife's at Target right now. -ed.]

update...i went to the babystyle today and took the cameleon for a whirl around the store. it was nice. they even gave me a thick little book with a bunch of pictures of the cameleon and gecko.

and yes, they had them in stock and they were selling them and people were buying them. they actually had a decent selection but did not have the red/orange that i wanted (they told me to place the order on their website). like i said...i actually placed an order with strollandgo.com and it shipped yesterday...i have the tracking number. it arrives on thursday. strollandgo charges the full $879 but no shipping and no tax. babystyle.com makes me pay tax in california.

the fleece is nice...soft, etc. the top colors come in a separate box and you can actually buy these boxes separately for $99. so if you want multiple colors, you can do that as well.

this was at the babystyle in manhattan village mall in manhattan beach, ca.

so if anyone wants go...go get em. didn't look like they were having any kind of inventory problem as the lady said they've been selling well today but they have plenty more in stock.

Dan.

Can someone post the differences between the Frog (which I have) and the new Gecko/Cameleon. Looking at it is very hard to see physical differences aside from the fabric. Did anything fundemental change: weight, handling, operation, etc.?

[I'm working on a post that does just that. in a nutshell, the Gecko is lighter, loses the crossbar--it has black handgrips on the side instead--and has a different pivoting mechanism under the seat. The fabric is basically the same as the Frog. In some of ways, it's closer to the original Bugaboo prototype.

The Cameleon is slightly bigger overall: taller, the seatframe is wider and longer, the bag's bigger, and the wheelbase is longer, too. The handle has telescoping adjustable height. The Cameleon's front suspension is much more sophisticated than the Frog/Gecko, too.]

that's basically correct. the gecko is smaller, no bar to grab onto for the carrier and bassinet, and only available in 3 colors (black, green, red i think).

cameleon is bigger, adjustable bars, carrying bar for the carrier and bassinet, multiple color combination.

obviously this stroller isn't for everybody. it's one of the most expensive strollers out there and your baby may or may not be any happier in this stroller than a cheaper one. if you need to go from point A to point B you can take the bus, taxi, honda civic, mercedes, or ferrari...same thing here.

Dan.

I just saw all three together today at Buy Buy Baby in Manhattan. Got the whole 'show' of what they do. The salesguy informed me that the Frog will be phased out in the next few months. I'm still buying a Frog rather then the Gecko or the Cameleon.

I don't understand why the fleece top. In the humidity that is the summer in the northeast, carrying anything fleece is insane. That and hte very fact that washing fleece 9 times out of 10 allows for nothing but 'pilling' and I'm not about to dryclean my bugaboo stuff. But then again I can spend MORE money on extra covers as they are available separately since the salesman also informed me and my husband that one customer bought the fleece in every color.

Still a shame they're discontinuting the frog. In all honestly I think they should keep it

what is the difference between the frog, chameleon and gecko?

[short answer: $50/150. longer answer: scroll up. -ed.]

Awesome! That's the color combination that we got (orange/red). Thought we'd be one of the few who has a cameleon since we ordered from Holland 2 months ago. Oh well! BTW, baby boy arrived 1 month early! Xaiden Rhys born August 16, 2005. He was 6 lbs, 9 oz.

[congrats all around. -ed.]

Hi -- thanks for this info!
I'm very glad to have found this site. My wife and I are expecting our first in 4 weeks and I've been going back & forth on which of these to get. It seems to me that the only advantage of the Chameleon is that it's slightly bigger (and so will take a kid to an older age? ..but want the kid walking asap) and has a longer handlebar (which might be key as I'm 6'5".) I don't care about multiple colors, particularly. But question -- is there any difference between Gecko & Frog?

Thanks again

David...
From what I can tell between Gecko and Frog...

They are the same size.

Gecko plus: sweet chrome details.
Gecko minus: no nappy bar (carry handle for the bassinet), which I think is a bizarre thing to lose.
Gecko minus: limited color selections (I dig that Blue frog with the creme interior)

[That's the Frog we have, btw. It does rock. When I asked the Bugaboo folks about it once, they said there are people who would look at the handle and say, "What am I supposed to do with this? I never use it, but it feels too expensive to just throw away." It's a question of how you lift it, and with the handgrips on the sides, you'd just lift the Gecko by holding the sides. If it's lighter, it should be(come) no big deal. -ed.]

I had to get my two cents in on the Bugaboo Frog, Gecko, Cameleon, etc... Definitely nice products but for people leaving in crowded European cities with cars parked up in every thing and narrow sidewalks (we live in Istanbul), these Bugaboos are just two damned big.

We went for what in my opinion is a similar and perhaps muore succesful stroller design - the quintessentially Euro Maxi Cosi Taxi Citi CX Mobi-System [whoa. best name EVER. -ed.] with the removable Cabrio car seat. With out six month old daughter, we started using this system from day one when we left the hospital and have been extremely happy with its flexibility, design and durability. The aluminum body is quite strong yet folds up in a jiffy to an extremely small bundle with a handle. The car seat is very useful for quick transfers from car to elevator to apartment. The color/pattern selection is nicely nuanced, we have a red/black/checkerboard pattern which is quite Mod. The Cabrio is so well designed the Bugaboo people have designed their products to be used with this car seat. Check out their new ImageLine series and be enlightened...Maxi Cosi

any way to get a maxi cosi cabrio here in the US?

my cameleon arrived today. i put it together and it looks nice. the bassinet seems very big to me.

putting it together was a little confusing here and there but not too bad overall.

Dan.

[congratulations. ours arrived thurs, too, I'm told,, but I'm in a different city at the moment. work.

as for the cabrio, you have to import them grey market from European retailers. Try places like babycare.nl Saw one yesterday at MoMA on a Buzz. -ed.]

We ordered our Maxi Cosi Cabrio from Babycare.nl. We use it on our Quinny Zapp. We got the Orange Flash and it looks great with our orange Zapp. First time we took it out with our newborn, we got questions about where to buy, how does it work, etc. We've used it 2 times and each time we take it out, we've gotten questions. Very cool!

It might sound kinda crazy but the best way to get the Maxi Cosi is to grab one on a business/shopping trip to Europe or ask a very good friend to. Crazy? Maybe, but in order to prevent our house becoming fuglified by crappy plastic baby gear I've had to hoof it all over London and New York to grab certain items while on business trips or have had various relatives and friends bring over other things. The rest we make do with the limited selection here in Istanbul. So all of you in the U.S., Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam, London... very nice this time of year.

BTW, dunno if it was mentioned here but in the great high chair debate my wife won. So instead of a Stokke or Svan, we purchased the Per Perego Prima Pappa Rocker with the red leatherette seat. OK, its got some plasticky bits on it I know but the chrome and red leather seat balance those bits with some flash. And our daughter likes the throne like seat...

Great website! We are buying the stroller for our first child. (arriving in less than 2 months!) Personally we like the Frog because of my wife's petite frame - 2+ pounds does make a difference! The extras on the Cameleon are nice but the Frog have all we want already. Our #1 concern is that Frog will be discontinued soon -we plan to have another baby in 2~3 yrs and if something breaks on the Frog, where to find replacement parts after 3 years........ Maybe we should go with Gekko?????? Any thoughts?

We have the Gecko and its really fab. My wife is quite short so couldn't get to grips with the handle height on the Frog, but the Gecko is that little bit shorter which made all the difference. Its easy to lift off the frame too with the side grip handles. We decided to steer clear of the Frog as with it beong discontinued parts will be a problem in 3yrs. So for all of you who don't own a Gecko its really the Frog but with out the folding problems I've heard so much about. Ste

Does anyone know where I can order a replacement cover for my Gecko..? Need the seat and sunshade.. they got stained and a small tear. Thanks!