Stroller/Travel System Question

lillebowski23

Hey ladies, I searched the boards for this info and a lot of the stroller stuff is outdated (3 years old or more) or is not exactly what I am looking for; thought I'd start a new thread to see what some of you think.

I am looking to get an Orbit Travel System stroller (my grandparents have generously offered to purchase one for us) and it looks GREAT! However, I am balking at the price which is ~$1400 for the unit + an additional ~$300 for an extra car seat base. The grandparents bought one for my cousin  when they had their baby and she had nothing but good things to say about it, particularly because my cuz is very active and said the stroller was perfect for long walks and jogging. She also mentioned that the car seat bases have a 360 degree swivel!! This excites me because both DH and I have had lower back issues and I love the idea of it being extra ergonomic. Does anyone know if there are other travel systems available with this swivel base feature that also don't cost almost 2 grand?

I've done a google search and am a little overwhelmed.  I'll take even a point in a specific direction.  Thanks in advance!

Wyattnash00

Hmmm I've never heard of that travel system! That's a lot of $:) we have the graco snugride 35 for DS. I love it. I would also not be an extra base unless you know for sure you'll be using it. We were gifted one and used it once in hubs car. We got the click and ride stroller (less then 100$) to go with car seat. Car seat clicks right into it. Do you have a low car or an suv? The click in and out car seat couldn't be any easier and is good up to 35lbs, my 19mo is 25 but he's too tall now. We switched him to the britax marathon at 10ish months. Love that too. Best advice I got when registering was to get the newborn car seat as well as the next level up, britax is around 250$. Sorry this is all over the place. I think 1400$ is a lot of money if ur not sure you'll love it, or go jogging a lot. I also don't know if you need a 360 swivel, I need to check that out to see what it means. If ur grandparents will spend 1400$ you can get 2 car seats and 2 strollers!

emgee27

The Hauck twister is very similar. It's available on Amazon and Babies R Us. Only problem is there's only one color and you can't go see it in store. I would advise ordering it through BRU because you can get free delivery and check it out, and return it to any TRU/BRU if necessary. It's $599 and comes with the prosafe 35 car seat and base.

There's videos on YouTube of the system as well. 

redheadbride15

I've been starting to think about this... but plan to go to a store and try things out before finalizing my decision. Lucie's list has a good write-up on strollers and carseats, which I've found helpful. I'm interested in the Britax B-Agile system ($325) (though I'm a bit worried that the older version has recently had a recall because the car seat handles were breaking... that's supposedly not an issue with the new ones though?). We definitely want a stroller that will fit a bucket seat to start with but then later without (so there's no need to get another stroller), and I want a very lightweight/portable stroller because we're city dwellers and have a small car. City Mini is another strong possibility (they're supposed to be very similar) (@250 but carseat and adapter are separate). $1400 seems VERY expensive to me. I haven't seen any other seats with a swivel base, but I'd ask yourself how useful you think that would be when other systems cost 1/4 that price.

Sporty1216

We got the chicco key fit infant seat and the liteway stroller to go with it. The stroller allows you to click in the infant seat and it also converts to an umbrella stroller that reclines. It worked well for us. I hardly ever use a stroller though because I prefer to wear ds. With a second baby on the way now, we'll probably use it more for ds and I will wear LO. 

mthoomom

I was looking into getting their convertible carseat and saw that it didn't have very good reviews for the infant seat. Apparently its suuuuuper heavy. Also, the reason we were thinking about buying this brand was because it was OEKO-TEC certified, but according to independent reviews, the material actually contains quite a high level/number of chemicals. We purchased a bumbleride stroller that has a bar attachment for an infant carseat, and a Nuna Pipa infant carseat. 

emgee27

We are seriously considering ordering our travel system from the UK and having a friend help us out with the shipping. Also it would be shipped to her house and she can check it out for all the parts and to make sure there isn't some glaring problem with it. I'm in love with the euro travel systems and my DH is very adamant about having a bassinet option so baby isn't hunched over all the time (we plan on using the car seat strictly for car trips and not carrying them around in one.)

However, the only true bassinet options (non convertible kind) are uppababy, bugaboo and the like and I just refuse to be swindled into paying those prices because they are the only games in town. Yes the quality is nice but they also have low competition. The systems available in the UK and Europe are this style as a standard and the pricing is way more reasonable, even with the exchange rate and shipping.

That being said, the travel system is my biggest stress on my plate right now (guess I should be thankful!) and it makes me nervous to buy something without seeing it in person.

mthoomom

@emgee27 The Bumbleride indie 4 has a true bassinet option and is around $600.00. One of the reasons we chose this stroller is because it has air filled tires that can lock in place, and is relatively lightweight at 22 lbs. My sister owned one as well, and she said that she was able to use it as a jogging stroller when the baby got bigger, which is a huge plus for me. 

emgee27

@mthoomom  thanks for the tip, I'm going to look into that one!

Mamafesto

As a STM, I can tell you I personally would not invest that much in a travel system. It might be great, but you might find that you prefer to carry baby. In general, I'm pretty grossed out by the whole baby product industry. They do an excellent job of making new parents believe that they can't live without their products. I survived on mostly hand-me-downs with DS and it worked great. I had an 8-year-old Maclaren stroller that my sister used with all 3 of her kids and it worked wonderfully (I plan to use it with #2 as well). I also bought a cheap stroller that the infant car seat clips into which I only used for a couple of months and it did the trick. I think if you have family that is willing to spend that much money on you and baby, you could stretch it a lot further perhaps to get good safety rated car seats (that you definitely need and should not get 2nd hand) and some other essentials for baby as well (bottles, crib, diapers, etc). Or, ask them for something you wouldn't otherwise splurge for, like a baby photo shoot. My sister bought one for us and they are one of my most prized possessions!

tiffanyhr

Agree with @Mamafesto - we registered for a $400 city mini GT jogger. Got it as a gift and would never had paid that much if it was me buying it. We also have a $15 umbrella stroller and the snap n go stroller for the infant carrier. Again, all gifts. Got the most use out of the snap n go and the umbrella stroller. My husband made fun of me for getting three kinds of strollers but we used them all!

Wyattnash00

tiffanyhr said:

Agree with @Mamafesto - we registered for a $400 city mini GT jogger. Got it as a gift and would never had paid that much if it was me buying it. We also have a $15 umbrella stroller and the snap n go stroller for the infant carrier. Again, all gifts. Got the most use out of the snap n go and the umbrella stroller. My husband made fun of me for getting three kinds of strollers but we used them all!

Ditto on the strollers, we got the click and ride, and the BOB (we got the attachment for the car seat for that too), which was great after a few months. Used both strollers aLOT:)

emsmama15

We had the Chicco Keyfit infant seat and got the stroller that went with it (infant seat clicked in, but also a regular stroller we used after infant seat).  I actually use it a lot still.  My daughter at 2.5 is still willing to ride and I'm going to hold onto that as long as I possibly can.   I love the Chicco brand and I'll be getting a second one and another base for the new babies.  Her convertible seat, just for informational purposes is a Britax and we've been VERY happy with that as well.  $1400 does seem AWFULLY expensive.  I'd say that if you think you'll use it and they're willing to pay for it, go for it!  But, if there are a lot of bells and whistles that your cousin loved but that you'll get no use from, it seems like they could spend that money on something a lot more useful!  Also, I've had on and off low back issues but I never had any issues getting our infant seat in and out.  I'd actually be a little leery of a 360 degree swivel on an infant seat.  It just seems like it shouldn't do that!!  I think I also need to look at YouTube to understand what this is.  I had more problems when we went to a rear facing convertible car seat.  Now THAT can be HELL on your back when your LO gets heavier!

lillebowski23

Thanks for the advice. DH and were waiting for a flight the other day and I saw at least 5 mothers with babes of varying ages and their strollers. If flying wasn't already stressful with kiddos i may have asked some questions but i saw a couple of Britax and a Chicco model that looked practical. I am still going to look at the Orbit system and a few others because I really want to get a feel for what is out there.
Gramps is pushing hard for the Orbit he said, " we will pay for the best for our great grandchild!" 
Plus, I'm kind of a gadget and engineering geek (not nerd as these things are hobbies for me) and I love a good test drive!

 

Sporty1216

I will say that I somehow ended up following orbit baby on Instagram a while back--they post a lot of pictures that demonstrate some cool things their products can do. Might be worth checking out.

BernieRae

Wow, there are so many options! Taking note!

Goldsgirl9

I have to be honest and tell you that we love love love our Bugaboo Chameleon. Yes it's expensive but it was worth every penny. We ended buying the Bugaboo Bee for an umbrella stroller and it has been a Godsent. 

I suggest you you go to the store and test drive the strollers you are interested in. I did it with DH and he chose the Chameleon. I honestly don't have enough good things to say about either and will be using them again with this little one. Only buying the board for DS to sit/stand on. Def check out Bugaboo. 

mthoomom

There is definitely truth to what @mamafesto says about carrying your baby. With my first, I didn't even own a stroller. I had a baby bjorn, and that's what I used most of the time. It worked pretty well just using a baby carrier, though there were definitely times when it would have been nice to have a stroller to change the baby on or carry a diaper bag with. I didn't do much clothes (or other) shopping at the time, and I didn't travel, so those issues weren't even on my radar.

With number two I purchased a stroller, but it was primarily because there was no way I was going to be able to wrangle a newborn and an 18 month old without one. The toddler rode in the stroller, and the baby went into the baby bjorn. This worked out pretty well for us.

Fast forward to now. I always wanted to have a really nice stroller that had a bassinet, so we decided that, since we could afford to blow some money on baby stuff, we would buy one. We live along a beautiful paved jogging trail, so it seemed like it would be nice to have good stroller to use now and in the future when LO gets too big to carry. We also travel, so having a stroller for airports, etc... seemed to make sense. 

One thing about jogging strollers is that they are great for outside, but not so easy for indoor use. They are really long, and their wheels are big which makes them difficult to maneuver in small spaces. I never used mine for anything but jogging/walks or the zoo.