iCandy Peach 2018 Review by Best Buggy

The iCandy Peach is an iconic pushchair. It was the pushchair that many of us wanted to own and it turned heads everywhere you went. For us the iCandy Peach is a very special pushchair. It was the pushchair that we used most when our children were little because we were fortunate enough to test the Peach Blossom 2 for a year before it went into production, and quite simply, it was the best tandem pushchair at the time. Since then we have tested and tried out hundreds of other pushchairs and strollers, but when we stood behind the newest fifth edition of the Peach – the 2018 – it was just like coming home. You know…..that feeling when you kick off your shoes and put on your comfy slippers and relax? That’s what taking hold of a Peach handlebar is like for us. Its the familarity of a stunning pushchair, with a beautiful push – a pushchair that you LOVE to use every day and never tire of using.
We are in the fortunate position to have tried all the iCandy Peach pushchairs to date. We loved the changes over the years. However, the changes on the 2018 were really quite radical and really bring the Peach into line with the other iCandy products. Whilst the chassis remains very similar, the fabrics and way the seats and carrycots are constructed has changed a lot. Initially we will confess to not liking the new seat fabrics as they just don’t at first glance have that true luxury, tailored feel of the old fabrics. However, as you start to take a closer look at the Peach 2018, you come to appreciate it as a whole, and there is so much to love about the new changes.

We have written about the various Peach pushchairs in a lot of detail here on Best Buggy, so it may be worth reading some of those reviews first to understand the comparisons with this latest version. We will be focussing on the changes to the Peach and how they affect or improve use rather than all the details of re-reviewing what is one of the best pushchairs we have ever reviewed here at BBHQ. There are in total over 60 changes to the Peach 2018, however, we will focus on the main ones that we can see and which you use.

Chassis
At first glance the chassis looks just the same as the classic Peach chassis. However there are a few small changes of which is that there is now an autolock to the chassis. To be honest, we would prefer not to have this. Why? Because one of the biggest criticisms of the older Peaches was that they would scratch easily. Those who took pride in their shiny chassis, used to deftly open their chassis in the air so that the pushchair landed half open on two wheels on the floor. Now it is impossible to open the autolock without placing the Peach chassis on the ground even though the instructions imply that you can! This means that every time you open the Peach 2018, the front of the chassis is resting on the floor and will get damaged! We tried and tried to see if we could get the autolock to open from a freestanding or even slightly tilted position, and we were unable to get it to release until we put the chassis down on the ground.
The lock also makes the Peach a two handed unfold which is impossible if you are holding the seat unit with the other hand, or a toddlers hand. One of the good things about the older Peaches was that you could literally remove the chassis from your shoulder, fling it open and pop the seat on with a baby tucked under the other arm. The only positive is that it is also quite tricky to get the chassis to autolock (as with the old Peaches) – the wheels have to be in the correct position and it takes a big squeeze – so you probably could manage to not use this if you wanted a scratch free chassis.
The chassis now comes in three finishes – the classic Chrome, Satin or Phantom.

Carrycot / Seat Construction
The Peach is constructed differently to the older Peach pushchairs, there used to be a separate seat unit and a separate carrycot. However, this was expensive especially if you had two children because for siblings in the early days you needed two carrycots – originally one for single use and one for tandem use, and later you needed just one carrycot. Companies are aware that customers are looking for ways to save money and iCandy’s solution is similar to the one they now adopt for the Strawberry and the Orange, and which many other companies use. This new Peach makes use of one seat frame onto which are attached seat fabrics or carrycot fabrics. Both of these fabrics come in the box. The new Peach seat or carrycot fabrics attach on using zips and pressstuds. Whilst this is very easy to do, and does seem sturdy with children in the seat, we have accidentally unpoppered the seat at the sides at times by putting a hand in the wrong position! So be careful.

Seat
The seat size on the Peach 2018 appears to be visibly much larger than the older Peach, but it is quite deceiving. Whilst the seat is 3cm taller it is just 1.5cm wider at the front of the seat; just 0.5cm deeper and the knee to footrest measurement is the same. As with the previous Peaches, there is an adjustable, pop out footrest which has a deep footrest area for an older child. The upper weight limit is a massive 25kg which is superb for a pushchair.
The seat fabrics are one of the biggest changes to the pushchair. As mentioned, at first we didn’t particularly like the aesthetics of these, however, we can appreciate that iCandy have placed a breathable fabric behind and underneath the child to help with temperature regulation and to keep the child cool in summer or warm in winter. The fabrics down each side, on the harness pads and on the hood are super soft. The difference between these and the original stiff, starchy fabrics is huge, and the softness will be appreciated by small passengers. The seat unit is very padded but yet the seat is supportive, and again this will be appreciated by your child. What we like is that even though the seat has achieved breathability and softness, the fabrics still feel strong and of good quality. We don’t feel (like some pushchairs) that the fabrics would snag at all. We think that your Peach will stay looking good for years.
At the rear of the seat is a really cool addition – a gussetted pouch containing two zipped compartments which are perfect for keeping your keys, phone, purse, dummy, a muslin or even a favourite small toy to hand.
What we still don’t like is that the access to the seat harness is still through a small hole inside this compartment. The Peach must have the most difficult harness height change of any pushchair, and it would have been one of the details which we would have loved to have seen improved. What we do like though is the additional 4th harness height hole which makes the seat super tight for a 6 month old or gives an older toddler good shoulder harness height.

Recline
Probably the biggest change is how the seat rotates from sitting upright to reclined positions. The Peach 2018 has a squeeze button at the rear of the seat which moves the seat from position to position. Anyone who previously had a Peach will know how hard it was to put both arms around the pushchair and press the correct button (so that you didn’t accidentially pop the seat off!) and then rotate the weight of your child into the new position. This one handed button gives perfect control and leaves your other hand free to guide the seat until it locks into position. We can’t sing the praises of this change enough. It is fantastic!
There are also now four recline positions including a very upright position and a lie flat position. This is an additional position compared to the old Peach pushchairs.
Due to the alteration to the recline, this leaves the large buttons on the side of the seat unit now simply for easy seat removal. One of the details we love on the Chrome chassis pushchairs are the silver rings on these buttons and the corresponding circles on the chassis. We have the Phantom chassis and it doesn’t have these stylish circle details.

Hood
Another huge change is the hood. The hood is made from much softer fabrics to previously. There are two visible fabric panels and one hidden zip out panel in the centre of the hood. We don’t feel this really adds to the pushchair, although we appreciate how the zip has been colour co-ordinated to give the impression of the piping on the older Peach hoods. There is also a flick out sun visor which is useful for sunny days. What we love is the mesh peekaboo window so that you can see your child from behind. This is a really big positive change. We love how the window is held down by magnets to allow a silent peek. There is a choice of magnet position so that the window can be arched to allow some ventilation flow through the hood whilst still keeping it dark; or can be rolled up and attached to the first hood rod at the top to allow full ventilation. Above all the hood is SILENT! The famous clicking of the Peach hood has gone!
The new Peach hood pops on and off fairly easily (compared to the older stiff hood fixings). The hood zips on very easily, however, we have had an issue with our hood zip ‘splitting’ on the opposite side to the zip fastening. This has meant unzipping the hood and reattaching which is a little annoying.

Carrycot
As mentioned above, the carrcyot fabric is included in the Peach box. This saves on the extra expense of buying a separate carrycot, and makes it much simpler to store these parts after the first 6 months. You get the main carrycot fabric; a PE board hard base; a carrycot liner; carrycot base / side bracket supports; a mattress and an apron. The carrycot is larger than previous carrycots which gives a growing baby more wriggle room.

Handlebar
This has the familiar friendly thickness of the classic Peach handlebar. The leatherette first seem on the 2016 Peaches has continued. Our particular Peach has a slightly textured comfortable leatherette cover.

Bumper Bar
There has been the fabulous addition of a swing away bumper bar. This is hinged at both sides to allow easy access to your child or for a toddler to jump in and out easily. Again, this is great because most toddlers like the security of having a bumper bar, but it used to be so difficult to lift a heavier child in and out. Like the handlebar, our bumper bar is textured leatherette.

Basket
The basket is visibly larger on the Peach 2018,  and the weight limit for the basket has been increased to 10kg from 5kg. However we are not fans of the velcro tab construction and even after a relatively short period of time, we are fed up of having to keep reattaching the velcro tab at the front of the basket. Having said that, we don’t believe the tab would completely come out even with a lot of weight in the basket.

Wheels
The new 2018 wheels are fantastic. Much better than the older wheels where stones used to get stuck.

Brake
The brake has been moved to be off centre which makes it much simpler to find when the pushchair is in tandem / Blossom mode. The brake used to end up hidden under the second lower seat.

Elevators
iCandy include a set of elevators in the box so that you can lift your little one up nearer to you. These also move the child nearer you, or further away in tandem mode.

Car Seat Adaptors
The straight main car seat adaptors are INCLUDED in the box! We are very impressed at this.

Duo Pod
The Duo Pod is an optional extra. It is a footmuff and seat liner in one. The inside is incredibly super soft – the softest soft you could ever feel. The reverse is the same breathable fabric as the inside of the seat. This means that the Duo Pod liner can be reversed to have the most suitable fabric for summer or winter. It is really useful to now have a separate liner and footmuff for storage and makes it simple to zip the top on or off during changeable weather.

Basket Carry Bag
This is an optional accessory which is a removable bag which fits inside the basket. It is great for transferring shopping into your car boot or home. We like this eco friendly option so much that we want to buy it.

Peach Blossom 2018
The 2018 Peach, like its predecessors, can be converted into a Peach Blossom. This requires the addition of a second seat frame and fabric, and convertors. There are also ‘frame plugs’ which are used in certain configurations. A second carrycot fabric would make this a Blossom Twin pushchair. What we love most is that like the iCandy Orange, it is now possible for a parent to be able to see both their children in tandem seat mode. It is also possible to have the carrycot parent facing, but with the hood down, and with a toddler forward facing on top. iCandy show 12 different tandem modes ‘officially’ in their instruction manual. We are sure there are many more.

In Conclusion
At a current price of £1209 the iCandy Peach is one of the most expensive pushchairs on the market. However, you also get much more for your money than you used to do. You get the carrycot and car seat adaptors included, and if you buy from iCandy direct you also get the Duo Pod and a Charlie changing bag included too (along currently with a big discount).

All round, its a huge thumbs up for the iCandy Peach 2018. Overall the changes are positive, and we love that there is no additional outlay for the carrycot or car seat adaptors. There’s some things we aren’t as keen on such as the autolock release and the security of the zips, press studs and velcro to hold the pushchair together without constantly doing them up again. We really wish that the harness height adjustment would be made simpler. Although there are pros to the new fabrics, we still prefer the overall look and feel of the previous smarter looking, top quality fabrics. However the hood, seat recline, bumper bar and storage pocket are all fantastic great additions. We love the increase in seat size and weight limits or both the seat and the basket. Above all the push of the Peach is exactly the same, if not better than the original Peach.
We have debated lowering our star rating to a 4 and a half one for the 2018 Peach, simply because its not perfect. But there are new positives which outweigh the minor negatives. So we are going to extend our Best Buggy 5 Gold Star rating for the Peach to the new the Peach 2018 simply because it still is one of the very best pushchairs on the market.