The Britax Vigour 4+ is a four-wheeler designed for urban mums and dads. While you can add an optional carrycot, the Vigour 4+ can recline fully to a flat position, so it’s suitable from birth without it.
You can also use the Britax Vigour 4+ as a travel system, buy purchasing one of the following Britax car seats: Britax Baby-Safe, Baby-Safe plus, Baby-Safe plus SHR (single handed release) or Britax Baby-Safe Sleeper. As a travel system, it’s a MFM’s sister magazine Practical Parenting awarded it a gold star – and 4-month-old baby Cormac and I weren’t disappointed.
While the Britax Vigour 4+ looks a bit bulky when folded, it’s actually surprisingly agile and easy to use. The seat unit can be used forward or rear facing. This is such a useful feature, and curious Cormac enjoyed looking out at the world as much as he liked ‘chatting’ to me. And when he needed a snooze, I was able to recline the back to a lie-flat position with one hand.
While had a few niggles, none were annoying enough to make either Cormac or I want to give the travel system back.
What we love
The versatility and ease of use of the Britax Vigour 4+ are real standouts. Unlike some competitors, the brakes go on and off easily, and being of average height, I hadn’t imagined much use for the adjustable handle height but it was handy when tackling steep hills or steps.
The buggy has a scissor-style folding mechanism, which makes it drop to a flat-ish square. It fitted surprisingly well in the back of my small car, although there wasn’t much space for anything else. In the past I’ve battled to fit some of the longer umbrella-fold buggies in the boot, so this was a big plus.
Britax should also be proud of the customer service department. One of the hinges broke when I folded the Vigour 4+, and within days we were sent a new chassis – very impressive!
What to watch out for
If you use public transport often, you could find the Britax Vigour 4+ is a tad bulky and heavy. It’d be a strapping mum who’d hurry to lug this buggy, even with a fold-up clip, in one hand with her baby in the other. The Vigour 4+ weighs 11.7kg – definitely not the heftiest pushchair, but by no means featherweight.
As I live in Scotland, a raincover is an essential piece of kit. One of the downsides to the Vigour 4+ is that the raincover supplied is hard to fit and even harder to fold up after use. As rain often comes with wind, if you aren’t careful, the loose bits will be caught be the wind and it’ll disappear off into air.
The 5-point harness is fuss-free to fit and adjust, but the padded covers were stiff, awkward, and dug into Cormac’s face. I just removed them and he seemed happier.
The basket doesn’t hold much other than the poorly folded raincover. It’s quiet low at the back and things can fall out. It also sits low and not too far above the puddles.
Who is the Britax Vigour 4+ best for?
Urban mums who don’t live in wet and windy climes after a good all-rounder
The Britax Vigour 4+ is a decent all-rounder that will go from newborn to toddler without any hassles. While the raincover and shopping basket aren’t great performers, all up the Britax Vigour 4+ is easy to use, with a few niggles you could be happy to live with.
