Silver Cross Wave 2020 pushchair review

A luxurious single to double pram which can be used as a tandem straight out of the box, the Wave 2020 has 7 single to double configurations to instantly try, or up to 30 if you add in a tandem seat (£250) or infant carrier (Dream for £375 or Simplicity Plus for £175).

Available for just under £1,000, the Wave 2020 is a premium product in the market but has a luxe design to match, with plush leatherette details, high-end fabrics and new high-shine wheels that still retain their all-terrain performance.

Tested by

Annie tested the Silver Cross Wave 2020 in east London with her 2.5-year-old toddler Aria and 12-week-old baby Miriam. They went from their doorstep of a first-floor apartment or from their car to the park, shops, and for long walks around town.

What were your first impressions of the Silver Cross Wave 2020?

When it arrived, we first wondered if all the large boxes would fit in our living room (they did, just about!). The pram looked spacious, stable and elegantly-designed with two-tone fabrics and tan leatherette details.

How has the Silver Cross Wave 2020 been updated from previous models?

Overall the design is sleeker and more stylish – it boasts new fabrics, better handling, shiny wheels, plus the seat unit is lighter and wider and the carrycot now has a zip-on apron. It’s also 1kg lighter as a whole, making it easier to manoeuvre.

MFM reviewer Anna who tested the original Wave didn't like how the pram went below the seat unit in double mode, making it difficult to see your baby. Although this is the case for the Wave 2020 straight out the box, you can position the carrycot above the seat unit by purchasing additional accessories to get the full range of 30 configurations.

How does it compare to similarly priced buggies?

The iCandy Peach, a similarly-priced buggy at £999, is one of the most universally popular buggies with parents and like the Wave 2020, it has the option to expand with your family. Unlike the Wave 2020 however, it’s not instantly ready to go as a double as you need to purchase additional accessories separately, like the seat unit and adaptors. However at 52cm wide, the Peach is narrower than the Wave's 60cm width.

The UPPAbaby Vista V2 is another big crowd pleaser in the single-to-double market that’s slightly less expensive at £979.99. A robust, modern buggy, it’s wider than the Wave 2020 at 65.3cm , but it’s slightly lighter at 12.4kg (single seat configuration), while the Wave 2020 comes in at 13.5kg. The Vista V2’s impressive 13kg basket fares well against the Wave’s smaller 5kg capacity, but it has a lower maximum weight limit of 22kg, compared to the Wave’s 25kg.

The Bugaboo Donkey3 (£1049 on Amazon) is one of the most expensive convertible buggies. With such a premium price comes an innovative design and a clever frame that expands outwards to turn it into a double buggy. The Donkey3 is just slightly lighter at 13kg compared to the Wave’s 13.5kg and its one-piece fold is relatively compact and similar to the Wave 2020.

How easy is the Silver Cross Wave 2020 to build?

It’s fairly easy – we managed to put it together in about 30 minutes without the manual, although we did consult it to double check everything was in the right place.

At first, having looked online, we thought that there were more seating configurations. In fact, there are 7 straight off the bat but to achieve the full range of 30, you need purchase more adapters separately.

In comparison to other buggies that are reportedly much trickier to assemble, like the iCandy Peach, the relative ease in which we built the Wave 2020 was a nice surprise.

What age is the Silver Cross Wave 2020 suitable for?

The Wave 2020 comes ready to use as a double pushchair with a carrycot suitable from birth and seat unit that can be used up to 25kg.

You can buy an additional carrycot or tandem seat if you have twins or a compatible Silver Cross car seat to use it as a travel system.

What do you think of the carrycot?

It’s lovely ­– it was really comfortable for Miriam, she had a few long sleeps in it both when I was walking and when stationary. It is lined with naturally anti-bacterial bamboo fabric, which helps regulate your baby’s temperature.

It also has a ventilation system – you can pull back part of the hood to reveal a net, which allows air to circulate around your baby’s head, which proved particularly useful during the heat wave in the summer months, when we tested it.

The mattress is firm and the best feature is that it can be used for overnight sleeping, which is very handy. This is a common theme amongst the Wave 2020’s closest rivals, who all offer overnight sleeping within their respective carrycots and many sell carrycot stands in order to hold it, including Silver Cross (£95 on Amazon).

The carrycot has a hood and comes with an apron. It weighs 4.2kg and is quite large, so the bumper bar needs to be attached for easy transporting. While it’s meant to last for 6 months or until your baby can sit up, as Miriam is tall we may not make it past 5 months.

How easy is the carrycot to take on and off the Silver Cross Wave 2020?

It’s so simple. To put the carrycot on, you slot it in and it clicks into place, and to take it off the chassis, you need to pull clips on each side to 45 degrees – both at the same time – so it can be removed. Like everything else about the pram, it doesn’t feel lightweight, but it does feel safe and durable.

Only the UPPAbaby Vista V2 offers an easier way to click a carrycot on and off the frame – with a single button on the handle of the hood that’s can be done one-handed.

What do you think of the Silver Cross Wave 2020 seat unit?

The seat is great for Aria – unsurprisingly, she’s another tall member of the family! You can adjust the bottom of the seat with the calf support, which we used so her legs didn’t dangle down too much. It has 3 recline positions, including lying flat.

We had a forward-facing pram for her when she was a baby, but we haven’t tried one since, so it was a real novelty to push her facing me, and an enjoyable one.

When used in single mode the seat unit can carry a child up to 25kg in weight. You receive a padded seat liner in the box, which makes the journey even more comfortable for your toddler.

Aria may outgrow the seat soon, but as the weeks went on, we tried the pram out with the Lascal buggy board and that’s now her favourite mode of travel in any case. She steps on it and says, “All aboard!”

How simple is it to fold?

It’s relatively straightforward, but it does need two hands – once you've removed the seats you simply press down on 2 buttons on the frame and it collapses and automatically locks itself into the safety lock.

How big is the Silver Cross Wave 2020 when folded?

This is not a compact pram and it’s rather overwhelming in size when folded. We live in a first-floor apartment and there was little room in the stairwell when moving it up and down, so it was slow-going and took more than one trip to get all the gear downstairs, which is not ideal. We now keep the chassis and toddler chair in the car boot, and the carrycot at home.

The size of the buggy when folded is L95 x W60 x H39.5cm, which is substantial and unlike the UPPAbaby Vista V2 and Donkey3, it doesn’t have a free-standing fold so it’s more difficult and cumbersome to store.

Does it fit in your boot?

The frame and toddler seat fit in the boot of our Volkswagen Golf, but the carrycot needs to go in the passenger seat. I imagine it’d be fine for larger cars, manageable for medium cars and perhaps a struggle for smaller vehicles.

How do the wheels perform?

The wheels are faultless; they are puncture-proof and manage all terrain. They have been redesigned and have a high shine look, which is very dynamic.

They also offer a mostly bump-free ride with independent suspension. Before the 2020 version of the Wave, many online reviewers praised the previous design for its excellent, smooth pushing, but this has been improved even further in the latest model.

How easy is the Silver Cross Wave 2020 to push and steer?

The pram is sturdy and easy to push on all surfaces – we’ve been on grass, pebbles and all over the unpredictable pavements of East London. When used as a single or double, the Wave 2020 is a total pleasure to push. When I took Miriam out alone, her chubby cheeks jiggled when we went over pebbles, but she remained happy and undisturbed looking up at the trees.

There is little resistance, every small curb is easily mounted and each move and turn are achieved with little effort. Deeper curbs are slightly harder work because of how much you’re lifting, rather than anything to do with the design of the pram.

I had visions of irritating people on pavements and in shops with such a large buggy, but I didn’t experience that at all. Of course, when configurated as a tandem, it feels bigger, but even on tighter streets, I didn’t feel it was that much bigger, or unmanageable, compared with other prams I have used. I even managed to squeeze through a small Sainsbury’s with both children in.

How well does it work on public transport?

Trains and buses were both fine, especially as I've been using the pushchair when they've been emptier. My husband and I carried the pram upstairs in various underground stations. But since it is so heavy, in future I don’t think I would feel confident to ask a stranger to help with this.

How easy is the brake to use on the Silver Cross Wave 2020?

The brake is simple to use – it’s a big red button to engage, and a smaller green one to release. When the Lascal board was attached, the brake needed to be pushed by hand because the space became tighter, but Silver Cross’s own buggy board (£95) appears to be smaller in size and a different shape, so this wouldn’t be an issue if you went for that one instead.

How much does it weigh?

In the single seat configuration it weighs 13.5kg and it’s 14.2kg when used with the carrycot. This is rather heavy when stacked against the competition in single seat configuration, with just the iCandy Peach coming in heavier at 14.2kg. Both the UPPAbaby Vista V2 (12.4kg) and the Bugaboo Donkey3 (13kg) are lighter.

What is the Silver Cross Wave 2020 chassis like?

The magnesium alloy frame is strong, stylish and durable. It doesn't scratch easily and has a matte finish.

How do you rate the buggy handlebar?

The extendable handles look great and are functional – they’re actually one of my favourite features of the Wave 2020. There are 5 settings and they are easy to use – you just click a button in the centre of the handlebar and pull. The tan leatherette is comfortable to hold and feels long-lasting.

I’m tall and my husband is 6’3”, so we appreciated being able to adjust the handle to make it lengthier. Walking with the handlebar at the right height makes such a huge difference – it really saved my back and makes taking the children out a dream. Compared to its competitors, the Wave 2020 has the highest maximum handle height of 109cm.

Given the 5 variations, people of any height would be able to use this pram easily.

How easy is the harness to use?

The 5-point safety harness is straightforward to use once you get the hang of connecting the parts to be locked in. It’s certainly strong and complex enough so curious toddlers can’t undo it.

How effective is the hood on the Silver Cross Wave 2020?

The hood is easy to use and the ventilation net on the carrycot is a really useful feature. On the cot, the hood comes up to just over 90 degrees with a pop out visor and provides a good amount of shade, but on incredibly sunny days, Miriam was squinting a bit at the light.

On the seat unit, the hood is quite shady and there is a peephole window.

How do you rate the basket?

The basket is spacious (it can fit a couple of bags of grocery shopping, plus a small handbag) and has a hard shell, which means your shopping and belongings don’t risk being scraped along the concrete.

It’s accessible when the pram is used as a single, but when both children are in, the distance between the cot and basket becomes very narrow, making it almost inaccessible (I gave up trying to put anything in in the end, and carried my shopping bag), so I wouldn’t recommend doing big supermarket trips with both children.

When used with a buggy board, however, the basket is still accessible and provides good storage. While it can’t compete with the unrivalled space of the UPPAbaby Vista V2’s 13kg basket, it certainly stands up against other rivals in the market.

What’s in the Silver Cross Wave 2020 box?

• Chassis
• Carrycot
• Seat unit
• Tandem adapters
• Seat liner
• Handlebar
• 2 bumper bars
• 2 mosquito nets
• 2 rain covers
• Shopping basket

What are the additional accessories that you can buy?

There are many optional extras, including an additional carrycot or seat unit (essential if you have twins), a ride-on board, a changing bag, footmuff, parasol, carrycot stand, cup holder and more adapters to enable you to achieve the 30 different seating configurations.

What do you like best about the Silver Cross Wave 2020?

Just how usable and easy it is. I was not a huge believer in double pushchairs before I used this. Until now, I had been continuing to use a lightweight pushchair for Aria while carrying Miriam in a sling. I don’t think I would dream of doing that now; with a baby and toddler, a double pushchair now feels essential.

When Miriam slept, it gave me much-needed time to connect with Aria with a simple face-to-face pram ride. It’s easy to manage both children and do simple things, such as put Aria’s shoes on and off or get a cardigan out for Miriam.

Is it worth the money?

At £995, the Silver Cross Wave 2020 is a serious investment, but it’s worth taking the plunge for such an impeccable level of quality, especially if you use it as a newborn with a first child.

Straight out of the box it comes with everything you need to get going as a double too, a nice bonus. The design feels long-lasting and the buggy has a 3-year warranty. It passed many tests for me, including a key one – my newborn baby slept in it very comfortably from the get go, and it was her first ever time in any pram.

Where can I buy the Silver Cross Wave 2020?

It is available to buy from Silver Cross, Amazon, and John Lewis

MadeForMums verdict:

The Silver Cross Wave 2020 provides safety and comfort to 1 or even 2 children, while its impeccable design gives you a spring in your step. Great for parents with twins or siblings close in age, this adaptable buggy may be hefty, but its sturdy frame feels robust, steers well and offers an extremely stylish way to get around town.

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