Product Spotlight: Strollers

inthewoods23

Share your thoughts and favorites for strollers! Tips and advice on how to select one welcomed!

feather_heather

I have the mockingbird stroller (I have the single to double) and love it! My MIL ordered us the second seat kit already, so I'm looking forward to that arriving so I can play around with it. 

Love that it has the car seat adapter so I can easily click the infant seat right into it. Very easy to fold and take in and out of the car. Has a HUGE basket underneath - I can go grocery shopping and fit most everything in there! The handlebar is super adjustable so it works well for both my husband and I. I had an entire excel spreadsheet comparing strollers when I was pregnant with DD, and I'm very happy I ended up choosing the Mockingbird! 

I also have the Chicco Corso stroller. It's nice and lightweight (lighter than the mockingbird), and also has a one click car seat adapter. The basket is a lot smaller and the wheels are plastic - so it does not do as well on all terrains as the mockingbird. The sunshade is longer though and I really like that about it! 

I'm looking for recommendations for stroller wagons if anyone has any! (That's not the Veer, because I do not want to spend that much lol)

inthewoods23

@feather_heather I've seen the Mockingbird stroller pop up on my FB feed. I like the look of it and the concept but I'm also wondering how much use we may get out of it as a double stroller even though I know I want at least 2 kids. I guess the nice thing is you can start off as a single stroller and convert it to the double so it's not like you're starting off with the double right away. My sister has a Britax and by the time she had her 2nd kid, her 1st was already 2 and wasn't into riding in strollers anymore at that point. I guess that depends on the kid!

I already decided years ago that I didn't want a stroller with plastic wheels. I've watched enough women struggle to get their strollers through the doors at the zoo to get to the indoor exhibits to know they are a terrible choice (at least in that setting).

I like the Britax stroller my sister has (I think it's their most expensive one) but of course I'm wondering if the most expensive from any brand is really best. What kind of things should you look for between different models from the same brand?

zwink1

I'll be honest, a stroller was not something I was willing to spend any sort of substantial money on with DS.  He was a fall baby, and we live in an area with winter, so I knew it wasn't going to get a ton of use until the next spring anyway.  It's a little different with #2 being a summer baby, so I'm still figuring out what my plan is this go round.  

We went with the baby trend expedition jogging stroller for DS.  I had actually tested a bunch of strollers when my sister was pregnant with her first, and I remembered that particular one rolling really smoothly/easily and being a breeze to steer.  The price was also phenomenal, so I just went with that.  I still really like it, I'm just not sure how well it's going to work out when DS decides to quit walking on me and wants to climb in on top of the baby, lol - but that's what the carrier is for.  

feather_heather

@inthewoods23 - That's the awesome thing about the single to double - I'm currently using it as a single stroller, will be using it as a double this summer, and then can convert it back to a single stroller when DD no longer wants to sit in a stroller. They are also releasing a riding board any day now - so when DD gets older and no longer wants to sit, I can add that to the stroller so she can stand on the back for rides here and there! 

sjb2215

With our first we went and got a graco system- so infant car seat, base and jogging stroller. It's nice and I like how easily it folds. With our 2nd we decided we did want a double stroller (our boys are 22 months apart) and while the older one didn't always want to sit right away he still got tired easily, so I was glad I had it. My husband is a big runner so we found a used double Bob stroller. It is big and heavier to lift in a car, but pushes so smoothly. I think we'll be able to sell it again after this babe, seems like the resale value is pretty high

sunshineandlemons

We have a graco system too and we liked it. My oldest was born a week before Halloween and that year was crazy warm well into November so we went for lots of walks. I keep a cheap umbrella stroller in my car for whenever we might forget the “big stroller” or do something impromptu where a stroller is nice. I also have a double stroller but have never used it because we didn’t really go out in the beginning of the pandemic and now my oldest just walks (my girls are 3 years apart).  I did put on a registry (not for anyone to get- just for a completion discount) a universal buggy board that attaches to the stroller that my 2yo could ride on.

knottied83a1166851de3b1

We are going with an Uppa Baby Vista V2, I know it’s a pricier stroller but we decided it was worth spending the extra money on something we are wanting to have last. 

The bassinet was a huge selling point for us since we have an active dog and I know that I’ll get antsy around the house so I wanted to be able to go out for walks ASAP. We also plan to use the bassinet with the base that they sell for the baby to sleep in for the first few months (it is sleep rated), so that will save us a bit of money on having to buy a separate basinet. 

We’ve also gone and tested it and I really liked how easy it was to assemble/ fold down and the fact that it is compatible with other brands car seats (we did end up getting a mesa car seat but are happy that there’s options) 

the fact that it can also accommodate another child with an added seat attachment was also important to us. 

Overall we are considering a stroller as being an investment since we hope to get lots of use out of it. 

runnergirl2018

with my first we got a Chicco keyfit travel system and it's great for basic stuff - hubby mostly used it and we would use it for some outings to like the zoo and aquarium and stuff where we might have to leave it unattended (because i'm always worried about theft) and then we also have a  BOB running stroller (rambler) which i LOVE. I am a runner and i love how it handles. I also like it for every day stuff so i would keep that in my car since i did more of the outings and hubby kept the other one in his car, which made things easier.  looking back if i had known about the Mockingbird, I would have gone that route.  We got really lucky that a family member gifted us the travel system and my running group gifted me the BOB.  Given that my first kiddo will be 3.5, i don't see us getting the mockingbird although it looks amazing and i would love it. my kiddo still likes being in the stroller sometimes but we don't do as many outings in it because of the pandemic.  
This time around we are looking into stroller wagons that have an infant seat adapter because i think we'll get more long term use out of it. We are looking into Wonderfold currently but i'm open to suggestions!

inthewoods23

@feather_heather since you actually own the Mockingbird stroller, I have a question for you with the car seat. Does it fit any infant car seat? Or a convertible car seat?

I'm getting all confused again how you'd coordinate a stroller and car seat.

LJMoon6

We went with the Chicco travel system. I knew I wanted to get the Chicco car seat, so I decided just to go with the matching stroller as well. It seemed to be the cheapest option to buy them all together in the travel system. The stroller is basic. Nothing fancy about it. But no complaints. The one thing I really like is the big storage bin underneath. I can’t tell you how many times I fill that thing up. We do get a lot of use out of ours. But we never take it off-roading. I don’t think I would even take a stroller with air filled tires off-roading. It just doesn’t sound fun at all lol.

I’m still not sure what we’re going to do for this second child. DS will be close to 3 when this one is born so I’m thinking he’ll be able to walk most places just fine (he does a lot of that on his own already). I just like being able to contain him if I need to lol. He’s so stinking fast!

https://www.chiccousa.com/shop-our-products/travel-systems/all-travel-systems/viaro-quick-fold-travel-system/79747.html?dwvar_79747_color=Apex&cgid=gear_travel_systems_all#start=1

feather_heather

@inthewoods23 - You have to buy a car seat adapter for it. It looks like the make the adapter for 9 different brands of car seats: https://hellomockingbird.com/products/stroller-car-seat-adapter#  We have the Chicco Keyfit 30 car seat, so I purchased that adapter. I believe Uppababy's system works the same way, and they offer adapters for different brands of car seats. Other brand stroller systems (like Chicco, Graco, and Evenflo, for example) only work with their brand car seats. 

You can only click infant "bucket" car seats into a stroller. Convertible car seats stay tethered in the car at all times.

For example, we used the Chicco Keyfit 30 from birth to about 10 months, when we found she was getting too heavy to carry in the car seat. We then purchased the Graco 4Ever convertible car seat that we have used since then, and will be good until she no longer needs a car seat or booster. I found it extremely helpful to have an infant seat that I could take out of the car when she was smaller, even if it was for a short period of time. I felt that it was much safer carrying her from the car to inside the house/doctors/store when she was an infant in the car seat (especially in the winter) then it would have been taking her out and carrying her in my arms. Also the convivence of the infant seat clicking into the stroller, and not having to wake her up, unbuckle her, and then buckle her into a regular stroller seat - was priceless. 

inthewoods23

@feather_heather ok ok I think I get it now! I feel like I need to add "FIRST TIME MOM ALERT" to my siggy because this is all so new to me 😂

I did check out their website and got stupidly excited at their mosquito net attachment because that would be great for evening walks in the summer or if we go to a nearby Audubon center.

I'm also just not a fan of the look of the strollers with the toddler seat and then the infant car seat on top of it. Just looks silly to me. I really like that the Mockingbird stroller would have just the infant car seat on it with the basket below. Also, when I browsed strollers at Buy Buy Baby with my mom she mentioned the idea of strollers where you could rotate which direction the kid faces. I think in her mind she wanted it to swivel haha, but being able to click it off the stroller and back on the other way is a nice feature.

feather_heather

@inthewoods23 - It's all very overwhelming and confusing the first time around!

Yes, I love that I can switch up the direction of the seat on the stroller! When she was smaller I would always have her face me so I could see her at all times. But now, she likes to face out so she can see where we are going! 

runnergirl2018

@inthewoods23 as a second time mom, i wish we had done a mockingbird the first time around!
since this is our 2nd and last kiddo and he'll be almost 4, the purchase doesn't make sense but its so versatile and i've heard nothing but good things about it - whether you are just having one kid or plan to add more to your family

oli9

I’ve had every stroller under the sun and I’ve never truly loved any of them. From the Stoke to the B.O.B., I even tried the more budget friendly Evenflo Pivot with my last baby and HATED IT. This time around my husband and I did our research. We went to BuyBuy Baby one weekend and tested EVERY stroller they had. 😂 We folded them, unfolded them, strolled them around the whole store, down every isle, tested sun shades, threw stuff in the baskets, you name it. We finally decided, after also doing some online research, that our favorite stroller by far is the UPPABABY Cruz. It’s so expensive though! Would have cost us $700 when all said and done, but after testing this particular stroller and falling in love with it because it offers everything our family needs… we wouldn’t settle for anything else. We found the exact stroller on OfferUp for $260 and instead of the newborn bassinet we chose to just purchase the newborn insert for the toddler seat that UPPABABY makes. 

I wish we would have invested in this stroller 3 babies ago! It would have gotten it’s use, then some.