A double pram is the most consequential baby purchase after the car seat, and the least suited to buying blind: the wrong layout fights your doorways, your boot and your back daily. Doubles are sold and test-driven at baby specialists rather than shipped from marketplaces, and the decision itself deserves more attention than any single model.

The doubles worth test-driving

  • Valco Baby Snap Duo — the Australian-designed side-by-side that fits standard doorways, and the value benchmark of the class at baby specialists.
  • Mountain Buggy Duet — the narrowest serious side-by-side going, barely wider than a single, beloved of townhouse and cafe families.
  • Bugaboo Donkey 5 Duo — the convertible flagship that starts single and grows twin, at flagship money.
  • iCandy and UPPAbaby tandems — the inline route: one child up, one below or behind, standard-doorway width with a longer wheelbase to steer.

How to choose between them

Side-by-side or tandem. Side-by-sides push lighter and give both kids the view, at the cost of width; tandems thread shops and buses, at the cost of steering effort and a back-seat squabble about who sits where. Twins usually suit side-by-side; a toddler-plus-newborn gap often suits tandem.

Measure before you shop. Your front door, your hallway turn and your boot aperture, in centimetres, in your phone. A pram that fails any of the three fails daily, which is the most repeated regret in parent reviews of every brand.

Test with weight in it. Empty prams all push beautifully. Shops expect you to load the display model, kick the brake, fold it one-handed and lift it to hip height, and the pram that survives that audition is the one.

Resale is real money. The brands above hold 40 to 60 per cent of their value on the second-hand market, which quietly halves the true cost of the expensive option and is worth remembering at the register.

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FAQs

Do doubles fit through normal doorways?

Standard Australian internal doors run 820mm; the Duet and Snap Duo clear them, and the wider American-style side-by-sides don't, which is the spec to check first on any model.

Newborn and toddler, or wait it out with a buggy board?

A board on a single works from about age three if the toddler will actually stand on it. Under three, or for long outings, the double earns its boot space, per the collective wisdom of every parents' group thread on the subject.