Chicco launches new Trio Living Smart 4 in 1 travel system

This morning I had the absolute pleasure of having breakfast at the Sofitel in London and a tour of the new 2013 range from Italian brand Chicco. It was all great timing as well as with just under two months to go I'm really starting to assess and look at travel systems for muffin so it was great to see what they had on offer.

In particular it was really interesting to see their latest offering the Trio Living Smart 4 in 1 in black and lime:

The system is comprises of a stroller, car seat and carrycot suitable from birth to three months old, and comes with several accessories including a padded leg cover, booster cushion, matching bag with changing mat, removable mattress for the carrycot, fittings for the car kit and booster cushion, shoulder pads and base for the car seat.

From birth the Living Smart system comes with a really sturdy carry cot that has a hard and practical base but it's softly lined inside. It attaches to the frame using their click-clack system so it's simply a case of clicking it in and lifting it off, which is nice and simple when you're in a rush and you don't want to disturb them.

Or if you don't want to disturb them when you've finally got them to sleep in their car seat then you can also attach it to the frame again using the click-clack system. I tried it all out for myself and really is very simple, plus both parts are pretty light-weight and something I think my little 5ft 4' frame could cope with. I should add that the car seat does fit their iso-fix system or can be used without but you'll have to get the base separately. The booster cushion for newborns also has a small hole in the head rest to help prevent them developing bald patches when their sleeping.

Then as they grow older the pram then simply turns into a stroller that you can either have rear or forward-facing depending on how you feel about privacy. However if you do want to take a peak at how their doing in the front facing position then you can take a peak through the transparent window on the full cover hood. The stroller also has a 4-position reclining function for the early months which you can adjust quite simply on the back of the chair.

There are four swivel wheels to make it easier when manoeuvring around town. Then the frame itself it designed to be compact when closed, which can be done in a couple of clicks without needing to remove any parts when used as a stroller. When I had a go at lifting the stroller it was reasonably light and could easily be lifted by one person in and out of the car. I certainly thought it was better then the Quinny Buzz and Bugaboo Cameleon systems I've tried. However, whilst when it's folded it is relatively compact it's not quite as small as the Baby Jogger if you're short on space in the boot but as I said it's still pretty impressive.

I'm still waiting for details on when the Living Smart system will be available but the RRP for the complete system (stroller, carrycot and car seat) is £599.99 in black or lime.