Mutsy Spider Review
- Introduction
- Seat design and function
- Child Safety Harness
- Hood or Canopy
- Handle design and function
- Storage
- Wheel brakes
- Fold mechanism
- Wheels
- Manoeuvrability
- Size
- Accessories
- Conclusion
Review by: Spadooly
Introduction
The Spider is the small and compact stroller in the pram line-up offered by the Dutch company Mutsy. Musty is well regarded for its quality prams and innovative designs. The Spider incorporates a simple and compact fold into a reasonably lightweight pram that is of superb quality. In addition the pram has extra features such as seat recline and a storage basket that are often lacking in similar offerings by competitor brands.
Seat design and function
Seat upright
Seat half reclined
Seat fully reclined
Recline adjust mechanism
Footrest up
Footrest down
The Spider seat is spacious and tall, measuring 32cm (12.5”) wide, 28cm (11”) deep and the backrest is 34cm (13.5”) from bottom to shoulder, or 48cm (19”) from bottom to the top of the headrest. It has a non-adjustable head rest attached to the top of the main backrest, which adds a further 14cm (5.5”) to the back rest height. To put the head rest into perspective with a sitting child, my average height 18 month old toddler sat with his head positioned exactly midway between the backrest and headrest. The wings on the Spider are very shallow and provide no head support for a young baby or sleeping child. When my son was sitting in the Spider seat I felt almost as though he was sitting on a nicely-padded chair, and that a sudden turn or bump may see him lose his balance and fall off. Of course he always had his seatbelt on so I knew this would not happen, but the Spider does not have the encompassing feel found in many other prams. The Spider seat has a weight limit of 15kg, and according to the manufacturer is suitable for babies form 6 months, although, personally, think an age range of 12 months and upwards is more suitable.
The Spider has a small recline on the backrest. As a Mother I felt the pram was too open to support a child well enough for them to sleep comfortably, but my son proved otherwise having several long sleeps while I was testing the pram for this review. However, I really feel an unrestrained, sleeping child would be vulnerable to toppling out of the Spider if you turned quickly, or bumped up a curb etc. The backrest on the pram adjusts via a toggle system. To recline the seat you need to squeeze the toggle buttons and push the back rest into a reclined position. To move the seat into an upright position you need to squeeze the toggle buttons and pull the adjust straps outwards, you may also need to be holding the seat in an upright position with your elbow while you adjust the toggle and strap. The adjust mechanism is easy to operate, with no stiffness.
The Spider has a small foot rest that extends the seating area of the main seat. In the horizontal position it was at the perfect length for my 18month old and stopped his legs dangling. When awake he would maintain his feet position on the footrest, but when asleep his feet would fall off the edges of the small foot rest. For an older child the footrest can be folded down and your child can place their feet on another footrest sitting above the front wheel. This foot rest sits at one angle when in use, but can be folded way against the frame when the pram is folded.
The seat and backrest is firm (plywood for support) but padded. The seat pad is at a true horizontal position with the backrest at almost vertical when in its most upright position. My son sat nicely on the seat, with no slumping.
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Child safety harness
The Spider 5-point harness closes with a fairly standard mechanism. The shoulder/waist strap clicks into a buckle on the crotch strap. The left and right straps do not have to be buckled simultaneously. The harness is released by firmly squeezing the crotch buckle. The length of the shoulder, waist and crotch straps can be adjusted. My toddler needed to have the straps at their shortest position. The shoulder harness attaches to the seat back at one position, and cannot be moved up or down to suit smaller or taller children, respectively. Both the crotch strap and shoulder straps have padded covers and the padded shoulders covers have Velcro on them which keep the covers fixed over the knobbly strap adjust buckles.
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Hood or Canopy
The hood on the Spider is sufficient at shading the child only when the sun is overhead or behind the pram. Even then additional cover may be required to protect the child’s legs and feet. The hood is soundless when it is opened or retracted. The hood has a fabulous clearance over the main seat and would suit taller toddlers or preschoolers, their being a 10cm (4”) space between the top of the headrest and the hood.
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Handle design and function
Handle at lowest position
Handle at highest position
Handle adjust mechanism
The Spider handle is a single bar covered in soft foam. I feel the foam is vulnerable to damage, especially through regular folding of the pram on rough surfaces such as bitumen. On the other hand the softness of the foam does make the handle very comfortable to hold. The height of the handle can be adjusted by releasing two levers on each side of the handle and sliding the handle upwards or downwards. The quality of the Mutsy brand is apparent in the small details like the substantiality of the fixtures like these levers and also in the smoothness with which moving parts slide past each other.
At its lowest setting the Handle is 90cm (35.5”) from the ground and at its highest is a whopping 104cm (41”).
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Storage
Rear view of basket
Side view of basket
The Spider has a triangular-shaped mesh basket slung under the main seat of the pram. It is a fairly reasonable size considering the compactness of the pram, but is fairly shallow. However it is very easy to access, even when the back rest is in full recline, so the most can be made of the available space. There are no other pockets or storage compartments on the Spider.
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Wheel brakes
Left wheel brake pedal
The brakes on the Spider are easily engaged by pressing on one of two black pedals located next to each of the back wheels. The brake pedals are linked, so pressing the brake pedal on one wheel will lock both wheels. Flicking one of the of the brake pedals upwards with your toe releases the brakes.
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Fold mechanism
First collapse lever (under seat)
First part of fold (seat lifted)
Second collapse lever
Second part of fold (handle collapsed)
Pram lock strap
Pram locked
Side view of folded pram
The Spider has a 3 part fold that is rather unusual. Without first reading the instruction manual it would be quite hard to work out the first part of the fold. The first collapse lever is located under the left had edge of the pram seat. It looks very similar to an upside-down, black-plastic, kidney-shaped dish. This lever is pulled outwards and this releases the seat from the frame, allowing the user to swing the seat up towards the seatback. This then exposes the second collapse lever, which is a black handle sitting in a recessed part of the frame. The handle is pulled up and then tugged quickly outwards. This releases the handle shanks from the main frame and it falls towards the ground (NOTE this greatly exposes the soft foam of the handle and the hood to damage). You can then pick the pram up by the second collapse lever and the wheels, seat and handle swing to a vertical position. The pram can then be placed onto the floor (or into the car boot) with the wheels uppermost. The Spider can be locked shut but this must be done manually; a strap and buckle attached to the side of the mesh storage basket must be secured around the handle part of the Spider frame.
When I first received the Mutsy Spider I felt the fold was one of the weakest points of the pram. There are two reasons for this. Firstly the fold is not intuitive and is impossible to work out without first reading the instruction manual. Most prams I have encountered have obvious levers or a numbering system so that some one unfamiliar with the pram has a fair chance of being able to fold it, even without an instruction manual. For example, I managed to work out the complicated 6-part fold on the Safety first Quicksmart stroller in a few minutes. Where as the Mutsy Spider stumped me because the first fold lever was inconspicuous and not-intuitive. The second issue I have with the Spider fold is that the hood and handle are vulnerable to damage during the second part of the fold. While technically the Mutsy Spider is a one-hand-fold I found that I had to tug the second collapse lever with one hand and hold the pram handle with the other, so as to stop it hitting the ground and getting damaged.
In practise, when lifting the Mutsy in and out of the car on outings, I eventually found the Spider fold to be quite clever. The tugging motion on lever two to collapse the handles turned into a “tug, lift and swing” the pram into the boot of the car. This made the pram seem deceptively light when lifting it in and out of the boot. Similarly unfolding the pram was a matter of lifting the pram by lever two and then reaching down to grasp the pram handle. The pram handle could then be pulled upwards while letting go of lever two. This allowed the pram to unfold and unlock into an upright position without any parts but the wheels touching the ground. I even have a suspicion that there may be hydraulics in the pram mechanism, as the unfold seemed to have a smooth resistance to it. The pram didn’t snap into place, it smoothly unlocked into its upright position.
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Wheels
Front wheels
Rear wheels
The Spider has grey plastic wheels covered with a thin rubberised tyre. These tyres are noteworthy because they are just so quiet! Unlike prams such as the Quinny Zapp, or the Maclarens the Spider does not make “clack clack” noises as you wheel it along paving stones. The width of the tyre, combined with the plentiful stride room actually made the Spider perform very nicely on power walks over regular suburban footpaths and cycle tracks.
The dual front wheels each have a diameter of 15.5cm (6”) and a thickness of 3.5cm (1.5”). The rear wheels are 18cm (7”) in diameter and 4.0cm (1.5”) thick
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Manoeuvrability
This is where the Spider really sold itself to me. I don’t think I have ever driven such a quiet and smooth pram. The handling of the Spider is superb, it is beautiful to drive over smooth surfaces such as those in shopping centres, but I also found it handled grass and suburban foot paths very well. It is a true one-hand steer. For example on one of the test days I made a rather impulsive purchase in a department store and had to handle two large, flat boxes back to the car. I did this using one hand to carefully balance the boxes on the back axle of the pram. The other hand was then used to wheel the whole thing out to the car. As already mentioned the Spider also performed nicely on a power walk along a cycle track- the Strider does not have a back axle, and this combined with the handle height meant there was plenty of stride room behind the pram. The strider did not handle situations where curbs, steps or rough gravel were encountered.The only time I fel the Spider really let me down was trying to navigate the pram up curbs and steps. The Spider does not have any support struts holding the rear and front wheels at apart. So when the Spider is pulled backwards up a step the rear part of the frame ‘gives’ a good 10-15cm (4-8”). The first time this happened I thought I had not opened the pram correctly and the frame had not actually locked into place. My son is only is 10kg and I would have reservations about bumping the pram up some steps if it had a bigger passenger in the pram. I took to either taking my son out of the pram if I was going up steps or using an escalator/elevator if possible.
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Size
The Spider is marketed as a compact stroller to rival such prams as the Quinny Zapp. While it does have other features the Zapp does not (recline, basket) these do come at a cost. The rear wheel base on the pram is wide at 67.5cm (26.5”). This limits the user to wheelchair checkouts at department stores and they may find themselves having difficultly navigating through some stores. In addition the Mutsy Spider is not a light weight pram. Officially it is 9kg (19.8lb), although I measured it at 10kg (22lb).Size unfolded
Wide 67.5cm/26.5”
Height 102cm/40” (lowest handle position/hood on)
Length 79cm/31”
Size Folded
Wide 48cm/19”
Height 35cm/14”
Length hood on 72cm/28.5”
Hood off 62cm/24.5”
Handle tall 81cm/32”
Weight
10kg (22lb)
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Accessories
The Mutsy Spider does not come with any accessories apart from a detachable hood and storage basket. A travel bag, nappy bag and rain cover are all available as extra accessories. There is no toddler seat for the Spider and I do not think the frame is suitable for a toddler board.
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Summary and Rating
Pros
- Superb handling
- Firm seat structure
- Easy 2-step fold
- Easily accessible storage basket
- Quality of build; smooth moving parts, quiet in operation.
Cons
- Wide rear wheel base
- Heavy for a “compact” stroller
- Shallow seat that is not suitable for small babies.
- Frame ‘give’ when pulling the pram up stairs and curbs.
Conclusion
The Mutsy Spider is a very lovely pram to use. The handling is superb, the build quality is excellent and the quietness with which all the parts operate is something I have never seen before in a pram or stroller. However even at the end of my review period I am still not clear on who the Spider is being marketed at. Parents of small babies are, generally, the most likely to forgo size and weight to retain other features, but are likely to find the Spider unsuitable because of the lack of support found in the seat. Similarly parents of older children tend to want a pram that is super light weight and compact, often at the expense of other features. So while they wouldn’t mind the open-design of the seat, they will possibly find the Mutsy Spider just too wide and heavy.Rating
Overall Rating(out of 5)
Seat Rating
Harness Rating
Hood/Canopy Rating
Handle Design Rating
Storage Rating
Brakes Rating
Fold Rating
Wheels Rating
Manoeuvrability Rating
Accessories Rating
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