Firkon Vesta Standard

We have had our Firkon Vesta for a year and a half, we got it second hand, and the stroller was half a year old. We have the quilted version and there is no sign of fading, maybe a little on the "basket" under the stroller.

Since it's a stroller system, it's not very compact, but it's very roomy. Later on, we just got a buggy for travel, but otherwise this is great as a pushchair too. Maybe the only thing I'd criticize about the pushchair part is the straps, which are hard to adjust.

It's great, larger, super well cushioned. It's so sturdy. I'm just so happy with the stroller. I just have a problem with the basket. It's impractical, it's small, and the clasp... I'd like a deeper basket, and if you can't get a bigger one, at least a removable lid that's big. This was a punishment. A winter baby and me post c-section, a raincoat was needed at any moment... and still unzipping, plus 2 zippers, what a massacre. And now in the spring, the most I can fit in there is a raincoat and the top of a footmuff, and it's already overflowing.

We have this stroller for our second little one and we are satisfied. It is sturdy, lasts a lot, has a nice design. We have used it interchangeably with another stroller and later with an umbrella buggy.

One time we complained that the bassinet was leaning back a bit and the little one was a bit head down, but they fixed it under warranty and full satisfaction, it hasn't been bad since.

MANIPULATION
Handling is harder when loading into the car as it is heavier and takes up a lot of space in the boot. But probably not unusual for a combination stroller..?

Manipulating the harness was more difficult, there is a buckle to separate the chest and lap belts, but it was difficult to push to release it. I solved this by adding a plastic ring to the velcro, which the buckle already went into and clicked nicely.

WHEELS
The ability to lock the front wheels is great for grocery shopping where the wheels don't vibrate and sit nicely on the floor, but I don't use it much outdoors. On less level pavements and when walking briskly the wheels vibrate a bit, but I slow down and it gets better, but I've heard that strollers with locking often do that, it's the uneven load and uneven surfaces I guess.

The inflatable wheels (front and rear) are great, we have driven everywhere we needed to - meadow, dirt roads, park paths, with the stroller. But for even more terrain (forest paths with roots), I would go for the option with the largest non-rotating wheels all behind each other next time.

The rear wheels are pretty sprung so it rocks which is great 👍 The wheels are easily removable.

BASKET
The basket is sufficient unless I need to stuff a rain cover, an apron, jackets, drinks, umbrellas, snacks, ... in there at the same time, then we fight for every centimeter 😉 Otherwise I can fit two smaller bags with groceries.

Cool are the two mesh pockets for small things at the bottom of the basket.

The basket has two zippers, the advantage is that it looks neat when nothing is peeking out of the basket and it is nicely covered, nothing falls out, no dirt gets in. When the basket is dirty from mud, you can usually just wipe it with a damp cloth and it's OK again. Otherwise, of course, it can be detached and washed more thoroughly.

BRAKE
The brake is central, in the middle between the rear wheels, I don't kick it. It is a bit difficult to unbrake.

COVER COLOURS, MAINTENANCE
Colour is great, we have the woven option, grey woven fabric with black pram fabric - and not a single part is faded at all.

POSITIONING
The positioning can be done from a full lying to a sitting position. The backrest positioning is fine, four positions are sufficient. The footrest positioning can also be adjusted to lying down. The only thing is, I feel like the canopy could be a little higher above the end of the backrest, because at two years old, the little guy's touching canopy with his head when wearing a winter hat 🤦 But at two years old, we were transitioning to a buggy, so I didn't mind.

Even with the bassinet there is an option to incline the backrest, which I took advantage of as the kids suffered from reflux.

ACCESSORIES
The great thing is all the accessories are included (except the car seat adapter).

Accessories: rain cover, mosquito net, cup holder, footmuff, bag.

The stroller is also pretty decently padded, but I added a purchased seat liner, both for the sake of getting dirty and to make the little one more comfortable.

What bothered me was the weak "mattress" in the bassinet, we had to pad that out with another, thicker mattress or blanket or stroller liner to make it comfortable for the little guy and not lay on the hard surface. The original "mattress" was totally inadequate, more like a thin pad. With the other stroller we had, the mattress was thicker, and we padded it anyway to give the little one a soft environment, but with this Firkon, the mattress is really inadequate.

The rain cover is universal for both the bassinet and the pushchair, it's made of thinner plastic so it's compact, on the bassinet bed it "fluttered" in high winds. But it could be fastened with a pin, or tucked under the changing bag on the stroller.

HANDLE FOR THE PARENT, BELLY BAR FOR THE CHILD
The bars are covered in leatherette. The parent handle is hard and the child bar is soft.

The child bar is fully detachable and can be fully open and rotated 360 degrees thanks to the joints on both sides. So it doesn't stick out when you squeeze it on one side, but can be turned and hang along the stroller.

The parent handle is adjustable.

VENTILATION
The cool thing about the bassinet is the ventilation at the back at the bottom of the canopy is the mesh, the pushchair could have ventilation integrated even at the back like the bassinet (the seat only has a small mesh window at the top of the roof for ventilation and to check on the little one). But the rear section on the seat can at least be unzipped at the top to open up the rear completely - it doesn't have a mesh there, but it does allow for a lot of ventilation of the seat. I don't know if it's primarily designed for this purpose, but we unzip it and vent on the hottest days 😁

SHADING AGAINST SUN AND WIND
Bassinet - nice to have a sun and wind visor on ot that can be folded inside the stroller when not in use.

For wind and cold, you just add the bassinet's apron to the canopy with a visor and the wind doesn't get in 👍 That canopy is foldable, so it can be lifted up even more and prevent blowing into the stroller.

However, to completely shade the bassinet, I used a bought-separately sun shade, which could be attached to the canopy and on the other side stretched and attached to the parent handle to allow air to flow into the stroller.

The seat canopy - the cool thing is the extendable canopy, which again combined with the folding apron prevents blowing into the stroller.

I would buy the stroller again, I was happy with lots of gadgets and the rocking, good suspension.

Beautiful stroller with many colours... Captivates at first sight.