Bugaboo Lynx review: the compact convertible pram
29.6.2021
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
The Lynx is a lightweight city pram made by the Dutch company Bugaboo. I put the nimble rider to the test over the span of a few weeks.
My five-month-old is screaming, my three-and-a-half-year-old is acting up. It’s time for our annual family trip to Papiliorama. But I’m not too stressed out. We don't have to leave for another twenty minutes. That’s plenty of time to assemble the Bugaboo Lynx, which has been lying around for days waiting for me to test it. Baby in arm and with a toddler at my feet, assembling the Lynx takes fifteen minutes. Nothing stands in the way of our family outing now! I chose to mount the bassinet, but you can also mount a seat.
Good handling
Assembling the lightweight pram isn’t the only thing that’s easy. The Lynx ist also pleasant to push, be it on a sunny lakeside promenade, in a booming shopping mall or on the slippery city-centre cobblestone. I don’t recommend using it regularly on the latter or on off-road hikes, though.
The Lynx only has front suspension. As soon as I’m on the bumpy cobblestones, my son is being shaken left, right and centre. The lack of rear suspension and the hard rubber tyres are noticeable. The tubeless wheels may never run out of air, but they’re quite rigid. Fortunately, my son only stayed in the bassinet for a few weeks. Bumpy roads are less noticeable in the seat.
If the terrain is very rough – snow or sand, for example – you can also pull the Lynx on only the rear wheels. This is great for short distances, but too exhausting over longer periods.
At 28 centimetres, the rear wheels are significantly larger than the front wheels. They allow me to pull the Lynx up a flight of stairs backwards or to get on a train without any assistance.
Seat or bassinet
The Lynx weighs just under 10 kilos with the seat. With the bassinet, it’s a few hundred grammes heavier. Both the seat and bassinet are easy to mount and remove – press two buttons, detach, done. That's also how you can rotate the seat, either towards you or away from you. This is very convenient depending on the child and their age. I would have liked to have this option with my older son. He wanted to sit up very early on, but needed the security of visual contact for quite a long while.
The bassinet makes the Lynx more unwieldy due to the changed centre of gravity. I have to press down harder on the handlebars to lift the front wheels. Overall, handling is easier with the seat than the bassinet.
Shade and settings galore
The sun canopy on the Lynx is ingenious. You can open and close it with one hand, and it covers almost the entire bassinet when fully extended. It even has a window for my little one to look through.
The flexible seating positions are also great: the seat can be positioned upright, slanted or fully reclined.
What’s more, you can adjust the height of the handlebar. But the mechanism for adjusting it – two clips – is somewhat annoying. Sometimes it worked brilliantly, other times it was a battle. I didn’t manage to find out why that is.
Little Lynx, unfortunate brake placement
Folding the pram is also no walk in the park. It’s quite difficult to simultaneously press two buttons with a safety function, and it doesn’t always work the first time around.
When folded with the seat, the Lynx is very small. It should fit in the trunk of small cars, too. In our family hatchback, there’s still ample room for groceries. But if we wanted to go on holiday for several weeks, we’d end up a bit tight on space. If you can’t fit the pram in one piece, you can remove the bassinet or seat and store it separately. You might be more successful in your game of trunk Tetris then.
The Lynx is quite small overall, without being cramped for the child. You should have to trouble getting it in smaller lifts. Despite its small size, the underseat basket is roomy at 36 litres – that’s about the volume of a daypack. It’s easily enough room for smaller shopping hauls and for your children’s toys.
The brakes provide good grip in public transport or on slopes. The Lynx has three brakes: one for the rear wheels and two for the front wheels. The rear wheel parking brake is located at the rear left. Depending on the situation, it’s not always easily accessible. I would have liked the parking brake to be centred; it would be much easier to reach.
What else?
The Lynx has amazing build quality – the removable, machine-washable upholstery and fabrics show as much. This is a huge plus, as strollers have a tendency to get dirty.
The Lynx is supposed to be suitable for children aged 0 to 4 and can carry up to 22 kilos. Given the average four-year-old weighs just over 16 kilos, that’s easily enough.
The Lynx is available at Galaxus in three colours shades of grey: grey mélange with black chassis, black with silver chassis or black with black chassis. The rain cover is also available.
Verdict: a fun all-rounder
I really like the Lynx. My current pram, the Urban Glide by Thule, is rather bulky. So I appreciate how lightweight and compact the Lynx is. It’s simple to fold and doesn’t take up much space in the car. It’s a shame the Lynx only has front suspension. Rear suspension is only available on the Fox 2, which is unfortunately (currently) not available on Galaxus. Another small point of criticism is the buttons and mechanisms, which sometimes prove a bit difficult to use.
Apart from that, I have nothing further to criticise about the convertible pram. And that’s the way it should be. After all, the model I tested with the bassinet comes in at 1069 francs – a pretty penny. But it does buy you a well thought out pram, which you should be able to use for any potential siblings. And anyway, the pram is the last thing you should cut back on if you plan on having any more children.
The Lynx has served me faithfully over the last few weeks. And on the trip to Papiliorama, my youngest slept right through the two hours we spent waiting to get in due to COVID admission restrictions.
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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