Baby Strollers

[Chi829]

Oh my gosh,,,, talk about information overload. Bill and I went stroller shopping today and I never knew there were so many different types of strollers and that you could pratically take out a second mortgage to pay for one!Anyone ever head of the Stokee or the bugaboo? VERY nice and lightweight but come on! THe price is nuts,,, but Bill is really into them,,,, kinda funny! What confuses me is do most of you have two? One for everyday use and one for travel? Especially for travel on the plane? What has everyone used?

[jr_lenz]

we have two a jogger and a small upgraded version of the umbrella stroller. But the jogger is one of the two things that I saved from Trayton. We love the jogger for outdoors stuff and walking all around town, the actual tire wheels keep it from getting tore up on the roads. Lance plans to start running with her pretty soon. However the joggers are very hard to steer. the front wheel doesn't move. Joggers are a must have if you are outdoordsy IMO.

for aiport and the rare trip to the mall we got the upgraded version of the umbrella stroller. To be honest I haven't used it yet b/c she is so small that I have just done the baby carrier in the airports. I picked one that folded up easy and small, also I wanted one with a small turning radius.

With Trayton I had the stroller/carseat combo one, and to be honest I didn't like it, it was too bulky for me and hard to get into tight places with.

Also look into a good backpack. As soon as Trayton was old enough that is where he was most of the time. We spend alot on it, b/c poor dad did need some comfort. (this is the second thing that I saved!) but we used it when we went to places with a large crowd. They love being up and looking around and you aren't try to push a stroller through waves of people.

One of the coaches for Traytons basketball legue is total Mr Mom. he had to bring the younger kids to practice and the tottler was always up in the backpack while dad was coaching. It was so cute, you could tell he loved being a part of the action, and kept him out of trouble.

[amelia]

They really can be expensive. I had a friend trying to sell one that she hardly used.

I have 3 strollers now. One I got as a travel system with the infant car seat (Graco Quattro Tour....love it). Then I got another one that was a lot chaper for travel (not the umbrella stroller...kind of a step up from that). But, I traveled with it once or twice and realized I hated it. I pretty much haven't touched it since (forget the name of it). The 3rd one is a double stroller. We got that one off of Craigs list shortly after DS was born. We no longer use that one either b/c DD rather walk.

Now when we travel, we don't take the stroller if we don't have to. But, if we have to, we just take our Quattro Tour.....the very first stroller we got.

I agree about the backpack. We bought one a few years ago and used it a little with DD for hikes. We keep saying we should use it when there are large crowds, but we always forget. We just took DS in it on a hike the other day and he loved it. Now its in the car and hopefully we will use it when we are in large crowds and such.

I also loved the front carrier (Bjorn). DD LOVED it. I used that most of the time for travel, the mall, the store, walks until she got too heavy (she grew pretty fast, so I used it for the first 6 months). DS actually didn't like it all that much.

[Roxswood]

Can you get the Bugaboo Bee over there? Thats what I'd get now if I had the money

[Rebes]

We had 3 strollers, the infant car seat system, Graco Ultralight, which I still use the stroller portion to this day with my 3 year old and after 2 kids, so it has held up well after 6 years of use.
I bought a double side by side stroller when I had my second child, but of course my older child decided he would rather walk everywhere. For travel, I just use a good quality umbrella stoller, and it works great.
I have a friend with an expensive European stroller, and she said it was wonderful, but when she had her second kid, she had to buy a double stroller, so it wasn't worth the money.
Good Luck, I know there is a lot out there!

[Bigsweetie]

We have the Graco Quattro Tour travel system and love it! Some negatives about it though is it's heavy, bulky and takes up a lot of trunk space (we store it in the trunk of our vehicle). It drives smooth though and is convenient when they're still in their carriers.

Then we have a couple of umbrella strollers. We have a Jeep one (courtesy of DH LOL!) and a super cheap one we got for free from BRU. The super cheaps ones are nice for travel because I didn't care if it got lost or stolen. We took Emily to PA last summer and flew. We took the umbrella stroller and it worked out perfectly. We used it to go around town, etc., it fit in narrow places (much better than our Graco would have), folded up nice and small if we used any public transportation, etc.

Good luck with your decision! Just try to think about your lifestyle and what you'll use it for. Beyond that, everythings a crap shoot. I thought i'd love my Boppy. I hate it LOL!

[Joanna]

We have two strollers.

Our "travel system" is Britax Companion (car seat) and the Britax Vigor (stroller). The stroller is about 1/2 the price of a Bugaboo, and I think it is just as good. My sister has the bugaboo, and I can't tell a different. I walk DS and our two dogs every night with the Britax and we are all very comfortable.

Our umbrella stroller is the Graco IPO...it was about $60 and perfect as an umbrella stroller.

[UPSwife]

I am searching for baby goods right now, too. I found some good info on consumer reports. I am looking for a travel system (sroller and carseat combo) and have decided on the Chicco set because the carseat has the best safety rating--which I figure is more important in the big picture for me. I also used my sis's tracel system when I watched Logan and found they are really easy to use and the kids are pretty comfy in the larger stroller. I will probably get a smaller, lightweight umbrella stroller for travel. Hope this helps:

ConsumerReports.org - Strollers

ConsumerReports.org - Car Seat: Child booster and car seat advice from Consumer Reports