4Moms Origami

We were honoured to be given the first UK photoshoot and review of the 4Moms Origami.

This exciting pushchair had Mr BB reaching for his credit card last year when they were first sold in the US, (but they would not ship to the UK!), so we were very very very excited to finally get to see the Origami here at BB HQ.

The Origami is a marmite pushchair – you will either love it or hate it. But we are real gadget lovers, and the Origami is right up our street!

We have to start with the awesome, amazing fold. It is more amazing in real life than we have seen on videos. To simply turn the dial, wait for the blue flashing light, then press the button and watch as the pushchair robotically folds to the floor in front of you. It really is amazing to see! It is just as easy to unfold the Origami by turning the dial and pressing the button. As our video shows, our 4 year old could fold and unfold the Origami easily. We are not recommending you let your 4 year old do it, but she was a willing demonstrator for us! To stop your 4 year old playing with the mechanism there is a safety catch (seen under the dial in the photos). Plus for extra peace of mind, the Origami has a sensor in the seat which detects if there is any weight in it. If a baby or child (or even your decent sized handbag) is on the seat then the Origami will refuse to fold! There is an LCD display (see photos) which shows a baby in the pushchair, or an empty seat during “pushing” mode. But the final picture of the baby with no pushchair and an error message, which is what gets displayed if you attempt to fold the Origami with a child in the seat. The display also has a speedometer (lower right), trip counter and lifetime odometer (lower left), the temperature (top right) and the battery life (top left).

But the Origami is not just a gimmick! Its got a really comfortable seat with a thick liner and shoulder pads. The leg length was excellent for both our children, but especially the eldest. The hood height is ample too. There is a flick out visor at the front of the hood, and also a mesh ventilation panel is hidden under the rear hood panel. The recline at first does not appear to be huge, but our sleeping 2 year old looked extremely comfortable, with no head loll. The recline is done using a simple toggle system at the rear of the seat. What was more tricky was altering the harness. There is a buckle with two clips. Each clip needed extending or pulling in to alter the straps. In theory it is simple enough but it did take a few minutes to do both sides and to fit the clip back in. But in reality, most people would only use the Origami for one child, not two children back to back as we did. But its worth noting for those autumn / spring months where weather is variable and thick coats may or may not be needed.

There is a carrycot option for the Origami. The seat can be removed using the red bolts at the top and bottom of the seat and then the carrycot clips on in its place. Apparently the carrycot is a wide carrycot.

Best of all the 4Moms team have appreciated that children require “stuff” – lots of “stuff” – whether is somewhere to put a nappy or wipes, or a cup, or spare clothes!! There is room for everything a child needs, and space for the parent to have a drink, to keep their phone, keys or purse and more. We were VERY impressed! There are two cup holders for the adult, two for the child and there are two further pouches at the rear which would hold bottles of water. There is an additional pouch on the rear of the seat, plus a really deceptively generous basket underneath. The demo model also has an additional pouch on the handlebar which is for the optional iPhone charging accessory kit to keep your phone and the wires in.  We LOVE how practical the Origami is – it has clearly been designed by someone who uses a pushchair in real life!!! We love, love, love a pushchair with storage!

We did not have the Origami for long, so are not professing to give a full review here, more of an overview of how it works. However from what we saw the Origami seems highly manoeuverable. The front wheels are beautifully nippy and swivelled on the spot. However they can not be locked. The handlebar felt comfortable for me at 5ft 6ins tall. The chassis shape means that even taller parents should not kick the rear of the pushchair. The Origami felt good to push, even with our heavy 4 year old on board. There is suspension on all 4 wheels. The brake is situated to the right hand side and was easy to click on and off.

The Origami has two sets of lights. The first ones are the daytime running lights and are situated just above the wheels. These have two settings – dim and bright. These are situated so that the lights can be seen from any direction – even from behind when you are pushing the stroller. The second set of pathway lights, situated either side of the small towing wheels, come on automatically when it is dark to light the way ahead. Again these may seem gimmicky, but having had the Recaro Babyzen, we realised just how useful having a head light is on a pushchair on these dark nights, especially on unlit paths or drives.

The battery is housed underneath the Origami, and is apparently fairly small. It is rechargable by plugging the pushchair into the mains, but the Origami also self charges as you walk!! There are mini generators situated in the rear wheels. They can even charge your mobile phone if you buy an optional accessory pack! The rep who brought the Origami said that she had had it for several days, demoing it, and that the Origami hadn’t yet needed recharging. But what if you run out of power when out and about? Well we discovered what happens when the Origami did actually run out of battery life. Obviously you can continue to push the Origami safely until you reach your destination. To then fold the Origami, there is a manual overide system – seen in the 5th to last photo here. There is a small dial which needs turning and then a catch to the right releases the mechanism and the Origami folds down easily.

The Origami weighs more than some single strollers (14.5kgs), so 4Moms have thoughtfully built in towing wheels which means that the Origami can be pulled along behind you e.g. to the car or house. However should you need to manually fold the Origami then the folding lock does not work and the Origami can not be towed in this situation.

So, are we still as excited by the Origami even after having played and pushed it??

DEFINITELY!!!!! We are already saving up for one and believe me, they can’t arrive in the UK fast enough for us!!!!

WE LOVE THE 4MOMS ORIGAMI!!

Huge thanks go to Kooltrade ,and to Katie, for giving us the opportunity to photograph the Origami first.