With a minimalist and lightweight design, the Deuter Kid Comfort Active is well suited to parents with a smaller frame or those who may struggle with the weight and bulk of a larger carrier. Weight of the carrier: How much does the carrier weigh when empty? Considering the weight of the carrier itself, along with the weight of your child, is important, particularly if you are petite or small-framed. Lightweight designs are often more comfortable to carry, however they don’t tend to be as feature-rich as the heavier, more robust designs. The Adventurer is ready to use straight out of the box. The straps take no time at all to get to grips with and everything adjusts as you would expect. The new-and-improved head support was a hit with our tester’s son who had no problem falling to sleep while in the seat. Are there any extra features?

Thankfully, adjusting the seat isn’t fiddly in the slightest, meaning there is little risk of you trapping your finger in a fluster. For parents with more than one child, this feature also means you can adjust the seat to fit a slightly older child as well as your younger child (though not at the same time, obviously). Let the fighting commence. The Littlelife Adventurer S2 is easy to adjust for both parent and baby. It’s more than comfortable for shorter walks of around 20-30 minutes. We love the mirror for peeking at your little passenger as well as the soft head cushion that supports your child if they fall asleep. The height-adjustable foot loops also ensure maximum comfort for your toddler as they grow. Whilst the rain cover is sold separately, it comes with a generously sized sunshade, ensuring your child has a high level of sun protection without reducing their visibility, although you’ll find a larger sunshade on the Osprey Poco Plus. Despite the feather-light design, it's surprisingly sturdy, with chest and waist straps that ensure it feels perfectly secure for both parent and child. The ideal progression from a front carrier, the Ranger is a great alternative for short to mid-length journeys if you want to leave your pushchair at home.

There are plenty of different products to suit different budgets and needs, so it's worth thinking about the type of walking you'll be doing. Do you want a lightweight system? One with plenty of storage? Or is comfort your biggest priority? If you've got the cash, we think the best hiking baby carrier is the Osprey Poco Plus, offering excellent quality and sturdiness, but for an all-rounder at a great price, you can't go wrong with the LittleLife Voyager S5. With many of the quality and comfort benefits you’d expect from the Osprey brand but in a more compact design, the Osprey Poco LT measures significantly smaller than the original Poco at 37 x 34 x 61cm and is over a kilogram lighter too, making it a lightweight option for everyday urban environments as well as rural walks and treks in the countryside. Transparency is really important to us and that's why we're always upfront about where we find our recommendations. We write about products that we feel offer the best value to most parents – the ones that our users would recommend to their own friends and family. About the author