If the only thing holding you back from buying a Mountain Buggy was the inability to lash a butt-ugly American car seat onto it, your wait is over. Mountain Buggy has introduced a car seat adapter for its strollers, which works on both single and double models.
While you've always been able to cart a newborn around in the optional bassinet attachment, now you can go straight from car to stroller with "minimal inconvenience." The adapter appears to be an elaborate bracket/harness/belt setup. Given the fugliness of the car seats, Mountain Buggy's designers didn't knock themselves out making the adapter look good.
But why should they? What with all the supermarkets collapsing around them, Mountain Buggy drivers don't have a lot of need for fussy design. So if it looks like you strapped Aunt Edna on top of your stroller, you'll have the last laugh when you climb out of the rubble unscathed.
Seriously, though, has anyone tried this yet?
Mountain Buggy Car Seat Clip, $48 [mountainbuggyusa.com via babychic101]
[update: duh. The European version sold at babycare.nl (EUR59, steep} fits the Maxi-Cosi and "all current newborn carseats (groep 0+)"]
If someone out there has this carseat clip, let us know how it works. Do you have to attach something to the Buggy frame? Is it possible to snap off the carseat clip and snap on the bassinet? Or is it a pain-in-the-allen-wrench?
Thanks
Judging from the photos, it attaches to the stroller frame like the carrycot, which has two big one-step clamps on either side. If you're getting out of a car, though, it probably involves the extra step of attaching the carseat clip to the frame, then attaching the car seat. You might leave the clip on the frame, but you wouldn't leave it on the carseat itself. Check out these pics of the carrycot and clip attachments.
Let's hope it works for carseats across the board -- we've got a Combi and that was our only downer, that it wasn't compatible with the Mountain Buggy we hope to get.
edit: it's not. curses. :(
[graco and peg perego only. -ed.]
Alas, the clips only work on one side for double stollers, meaning you can only attach one car seat at a time. The Valco double has the same problem, forcing you to buy a separate (and kinda butt) Snap-n-Go frame. Damn you Austrailia and New Zealand, why can't you make a sweet double stroller with two car seat clip-on attachments! Why!
several people in our neighborhood have these, so I didn't realize it was something new.
Most seem to use the Peg Perego primo viaggo carseat (most stylish of the infant carseats sold in the US, IMO)
I have this and it works great (I had to special order it from the distributer the minute they had them available). Basically you pop the carry cot off and pop the car seat adapter on (no allen wrenches). The car seat adapter has the appropriate bars and a strap (like a seat belt) to attach the carseat right to the stroller frame. The instructions also say that you can put the carseat attachemnt onto the stroller frame without removing the stroller seat, but I haven't tried that since the kid isn't big enough for the stroller seat anyway.
These have been around for more than a year. You can buy them from www.mbeans.com. Don't blame the stroller companies for not making side by sides that take 2 carseats. The carseats themselves are too wide.