[Closed] STW Dadsnet .... Which rucksack style carrier?

We have the macpac vamoose. Seems good so far. bought S/H on ebay.

I got a tomy one I think, s/h for a tenner. See if you can try one first, some kids hate them and those posh ones are pricey!

We used a Littlelife one which was ideal and quite comfy with a proper rucksack back system etc.
Colleague is looking to buy it at the moment but if she decides not to I'm flogging it for £50 (new £130) if you're interested.

We had a Little Life - pretty good and well worth getting 2nd hand.

The wee buggers get very heavy very quickly as they grow! They also find your head more entertaining each trip.

little life one as well - works well with our 10 month old. definitely get one 2nd hand as they are expensive and generally not used that much so condition is still good.

I second the Macpac Vamoose. Brilliant bit of kit - not cheap but they seem to retain their secondhand value well.

Got a Macpac Possum. Bought 2nd hand. Pricey new. Very rugged.

we've got that deuter one, both our kids were happy in it. It is now no longer needed by us and we were talking about selling it last night. If you're interested let me know, although postage may be a bit of a hassle. email in profile

IMO that Deuter one is a bit OTT. We have the model down, a kid commfort II and would recomend it. Comfy to wear and we have not complaints from the little one.

Although she would struggle to put it into words!

We've got a macpac but I can't remember which one right now. Very good, confortable to wear with a slidely adjustable thing for tall people and short people.... and for sale!

To be fair it's very big. It's more of an "all day outing up snowdon" type pack rather than a "1/2 hr walk round the field with the dogs"

little trb #1 got bored in it after twenty minutes and howled until I took him out
little trb #2 loved it and would happily sit in there for a couple of hours.

Little life traveler here, £30 from ebay. I'd suggest going for one with a large pocket and not much else as you have to take it off to access the pockets if you are on your own. Also they get heavy very quickly. I had my son out on Sat after not using it for a couple of months and he felt a lot heavier!

The traveler now seems to be called cross country:

http://www.littlelife.co.uk/html/child_carriers/cross-country-s2.html

EDIT - the harness is very adjustable and fits my Mrs as well

I had one of those old steel framed Karrimor ones off ebay. Then I bought an expensive deuter one.
The advantage of the deuter one was the sunshade and rain cover. All the extra padding and straps were negligible. A little bit more comfortable but more sweaty. Used it for a backpacking trip in Asia.
Went back to the karrimor one , but this time using the straps correctly and it was really much better ( although baby was 3 now and not falling asleep in it) ...
I sold the deuter one and won't sell the Karrimor one. It's much lighter, easier to clean, smaller so easier to carry on a plane. I'm sure you could rig up some kind of sunshade/ umbrella type thing.
The deuter ones do have good re-sale value though.
In fact , this is the one I had http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/fs-ot-karrimor-baby-carrier although I paid 20 quid for mine off ebay

MacPac Vamoose - ace bit of kit. Very very tough, lovely features and really well put together.

A few of them on eBay recently - I got mine three months ago for the princely sum of £5.50! Brand new, just a little dusty from storage!

Another happy Little Life customer here. We've got the Freedom:

http://www.littlelife.co.uk/html/child_carriers/freedom.html

Ours has been in regular use since our little one was about 7 months old. Comfy and very adjustable. He's now 3 and although he's now happy to walk himself we still use it occasionally - an example being yesterday in the Lydford gorge. Water was pretty high and it was a bit too slippery and tricky for little feet so we popped him in the carrier for the difficult bits.

He's getting a bit big too carry in it for more than a couple of hours now but when he was younger we did proper full day hikes with all our kit without any problems.

Littlelife here. Very good, lots of adjustment and a good sized storage pocket. That said, carrying the nipper up steep hills is getting harder and harder!

We took our baby to a good outdoor equipment shop so we could try her in a couple of different carriers - I suggest you do the same.

+1 for what Ransos said. Cotswold were really good and let us try out all the carriers they had in stock.

I got mine three months ago for the princely sum of £5.50

really? I watched pretty much everything going and paid about £60 which seemed the going rate.

Macpac here. Great item.

We've got a Littlelife Voyager S2. It's brilliant.
We went from the Babybjorn front carrier to a Deuter Kid Comfort (1, I think), but didn't get on with it due to the rain cover not being very good in the wind - it just sort of opened up and flapped around, letting the rain in, it also restricted little madams' arms which she wasn't happy about. (The first 1/4 to 3/4 of a mile of any walk we do from the house is very, very exposed - think watching the rain/snow/hail pass in front of you, but going uphill)!
We got the Littlelife from Little Trekkers in Barnsley, they've got a really good selection that you can try. From memory, the Macpac ones (which is what I thought I wanted) had a very good harness, but the seat and childs harness wasn't as good as the LL. I think that they may also have had different back lengths that meant we couldn't buy one that would fit me and my wife, but that may have been a different brand.
I'm sure there was another brand available but again felt the bit where the child sits wasn't very good. They also do Deuter. If you're in the area they are worth a look.

Sorry for the slight hijack (but thanks also for suggestions; I'd already mostly decided on a LittleLife so comments helpful). However, until its time for a LittleLife, we're looking for a carrier for 0-12months-ish. Uncharacteristically, mrs deadly, after some encounters with some friends with richer brothers and sisters, who bought them a Stokke MyCarrier, is mad to get one. To be fair, I'd normally be the one to splurge but we've bought nearly everything second hand. Is there any reason (other than the ridiculous price) not to get one?

DD it looks a good piece of kit but is mega expensive. We had a second hand Baby Bjorn one which was very secure, but you only get a few months use from it. They can go into the rucksack from about 6 months from memory.

DD - for our second lad at that age we used what was effectively a very long fleece scarf. Very comfortable, soporific beyond belief, light and easy to stash. Then daddy's shoulders.

Like others on here, our Littlelife rucksack style carrier, complete with raincover will be going on eBay soon - unless someone wants to make an offer - email in profile.

Thanks guys. I fear the decision's already been made though. 😐 tbf to mrs deadly, she's let me buy everything apart from car seat second hand. The poor thing has been wearing maternity hand me downs and jeans from eBay. I think she's having her own way on this one. 😳

Plus, they sell for not much less than rrp on eBay when you're done with it anyway. It'll get used at least twice a day for dog walking by one of us - I don't really expect her to wear the big back pack thing quite yet. 🙂

[sales pitch]
We have an expensive BushBaby one that had very little use for sale. Cost us somewhere around £200 (has suspensions and everfing!), so would hope for close to half price if anyone is interested. Anyway, drop me a line...
[/sales pitch]

I have a Macpac Vamoose that I am now selling if you are interested?

Sold ours on eBay YESTERDAY 🙁 £15
They have them now & then in lidl.
They are great until about 18 months I found, but then too heavy and the constant ear pulling got the better of me. 🙂

However, until its time for a LittleLife, we're looking for a carrier for 0-12months-ish.

We used the Littlelife from 6 months.

Littlelife Voyager S2 here. We bought the big one with the removable backpack so we can get everything we need for a day out in one pack. You also get all the extras included with the Voyager so no future expense.

Our little one has been in it from nine months old, she's now 20months old and still goes in it. Amelia loves it, she can see everything thats going on, and can snooze when she's bored or tired.

Very comfortable on the back because of it's adjustable back and similar strap design to some high end rucksacks I've used over the years.

Great investment.

See below for pic of happy child excited about seeing pandas, while being carried around by dad. Beware that kids will use your ears as reins to steer you and encourage you to move faster, or maybe that's just my child.

[img] [/img]

just going to pop this here to remind me to check this thread in a few months. 🙂

jam bo - Member
really? I watched pretty much everything going and paid about £60 which seemed to be the going rate

Honest! Additional cost was a tenner to go and collect it from near Chatham. Fella wasn't very happy mind...

Bought a littlelife S2 as well, I really don't use it much (city boy!), but glad I bought it. Moving to the country in about a month so I think I'll use it a fair bit more. Check out mumsnet / gumtree classifieds as well, they do crop up

We were given a bush baby elite. Its great for us but I've not tried anything else....

The only thing I would say is that it seems a little short. I have the back system on its longest setting and I'm only 176 cm tall.

Friends gave us a Macpac which is great. At just over 2 and over 13 kg he is pretty heavy to hump now and the advent of the balance bike means he doesn't need it as much but still useful as you can strap the bike to the bottom bit of it when he gets too tired

As well as steering by ears mine has started practice for horse riding by kicking me giddy up style to make me go faster/run.

If I had been paying for it I would have tried several on for size though the Macpac fit great.