InventorSpot

Luxury is never infantile
Baby oh baby, now this is one sweet ride! The name "Combi LX-720" may sound like a new Lexus 4x4 but about all it has in common with the high-end luxocruiser is its 4-wheeled layout... and, luxury.   

Combi is well-known in the Japanese market as being a quality maker of baby buggies and accessories. Their new LX-600 and LX-720 models will only add luster to that image. Let's look at the top of the line LX-720 baby buggy as it's the one getting most of the headlines.

         

What's so special about the Combi LX-720? We'll focus on three features that Combi has been trumpeting. First, the suspension. As a parent, you're concerned about your precious cargo being jolted and jostled by uneven road and walkway conditions. To deal with expected and unexpected bumps, the Combi LX-720 is fitted with oversized wheels, two to a caster, that have suspension geometry tuned to absorb 96 percent of shocks. 96 percent, people! Surely that's up there in Lexus territory. 



Another feature of the Combi LX-720 is a response to several incidents in the past year involving baby buggies getting stuck in subway doors - frightening to read about but imagine if the stroller was yours? Combi, working closely with engineers from Japan Railway East, has developed a sensor for the wheel caster that "detects if the buggy gets caught in the door of a train". What happens then, they don't say...

Last and not least - and quite nifty to boot - is that the Combi LX-720 allows the parent to adjust the temperature and humidity inside the buggy! Being Japan, I would guess that warm summer temperatures are the main concern, and that the emphasis would be on reducing humidity. Visit Japan in the summer and you'll know what I'm talking about. Now of course, all these features come with a cost: up to 75,600 yen ($685) for the LX-720 and up to 63,000 yen ($570) for the LX-600. (via Japan Today, product page in Japanese at Combi)
 
Steve Levenstein     
Japanese Innovations Writer
InventorSpot.com