Jebus, there is an ungodly amount of strollers and add-ons for sale. My one job during this pregnancy is to find and purchase a good, all terrain, jogging/hiking style stroller. I google it up, and one million, two hundred thousand links appear.
So, any advice from Doper parents? what did you like, and what didn’t you like about these style strollers?
I have no advice but will be watching this thread with interest. My husband and I have had pretty good luck narrowing down options for things we like for our incoming offspring… except for strollers. There are so many and they’re so different!
We have a few different strollers for different needs. For an all terrain, jogging, hiking stroller, you can’t beat Bob’s Strollers. They come in a few different styles. We have the Revolution SE model. They are not cheap, but as with most things you get what you pay for. This thing is very rugged and sturdy. They tube tires like you find on a bicycle. They maneuver great. While it’s not our regular travel stroller, we have taken it on a couple of trips and when folded up it does fit throug the airport x-ray machine. Gate check it and pick it up on the jetway when we got there. It has lasted through our first daughter and our second daughter is using it now. The only problem we had was a flat, and I ordered a new tube and replaced it very easily. I would give it a 9 out of 10.
Our needs were very different than yours so this may only help so much, but we ended up with this stroller. Our needs were:
-Lightweight
We’re going to have to haul it up and down several sets of stairs to get it out of the apartment and into the subway so it needed to be very light.
-Brightly colored
We needed something very bright in color as we are surrounded by cars pretty much everywhere we go and we want our daughter to be very, very visible when we are crossing the street.
-Plenty of storage space
I need a place to put the diaper bag, toys, a bottle of water, etc. so that everything we need can be hauled along with us no matter where we go.
-Easy movement
We are only on pavement with our stroller so it doesn’t need to be all terrain but it does need to move very easily, almost glide actually, to keep from sticking every time we hit a crack in the sidewalk or something.
I took these requirements and went on Amazon and googled “lightweight strollers” since that was the most important requirement and then sorted the rest of them by reading their features and user reviews. We got the stroller and assembled it and so far we love it, though to be fair I haven’t given birth yet so we haven’t put a baby in it at this point. It is also very affordable so if we end up hating it and want to get a different stroller we aren’t out hundreds of dollars if we decide to replace it.
I can’t advise you what to get, but I can help you with the questions. . .
Check the leg-dangle length. You don’t want the kind they’ll top out of at 30".
Try going into the local bike shop. They’ll have some that can go from push-while-jogging to pull-with-bike if that interests you.
Big wheels are heavier but steadier.
Firm or articulated front wheel? Walk around the store with one of each and feel the differences.
Do you really need one that the infant can ride in? Chances are you’ll be at six months or more before you use it - and this moves you into the larger sizes which will last longer.
Do you want it as your primary stroller? If so, opt for the lighter version. Otherwise, she’s eventually going to strangle you in your sleep. (Yes, I know you think you’ll be there to schlep it in and out of the minivan for her - you won’t though, and it’ll be torture.)
Removable seat. Being able to bring baby inside still asleep without bring the muddy tires in is definitely wortht he extra $40 you’ll pay.
Good luck!
ETA: Ooh! P is right about storage space, very important! Bring a sack of potatoes and place it in the basket - does it sag?
It really depends on your baby. I had three strollers: a stroller that was part of a travel system, an all-terrain/running stroller and an umbrella stroller.
Both my children loathed the travel system stroller once they were old enough to have an opinion (about four-six months in), preferring to be carried and willing to raise holy hell until they were picked up. I used that stroller primarily if I needed loads of storage space - so if I walked to the grocery instead of driving, it could double as a cart; it was also perfect for the mall around Christmas time. I also liked it when my son was a newborn because you could snap a seat in and out of it. The turning is ok, but they’re big as boats and they’re irritating both to the driver and to other people (for some reason, people tend to glare at you more when you have a trave system than a jogging stroller - at least that was the case with me; maybe I was just a crappy stroller driver).
The jogging the stroller was the one I used most with my son. The ride is so smooth compared to an umbrella stroller or travel system, but you’re not really supposed to use them until the baby is able to sit up (about 6 months), unless the rules have changed. You can really take one of these anywhere, though they don’t fold up quite as readily or easily as the travel system or umbrella stroller. The turning capabilities on these are usually really good and, since they’s sleeker than a travel system, the width isn’t as big a problem, though they do tend to be long, so you often need to watch your back and front as you turn.
We also had an umbrella stroller, which is the one my daughter tolerates - for a while. I only use this one when I have to go to the mall with both kids or am going somewhere where I don’t have time for my daughter to walk. If we’re at the zoo or someplace like that where we have enough leisure time to go in the first place, both kids are required to walk. I like the umbrella stroller because it folds up so easily and is very light. However, it doesn’t turn as easily as a jogging stroller and just feels flimsier (because it is).
I also borrowed a friend’s sit and stand stroller. I think I used it three times, and it’s really only relevant if you have more than one kid. It was fun for my son (now 5, but almost 4 when we last used it) because he got a ride and could hop on and off at will, but when you have two kids on the thing, it is NOT easy to turn, and it gets heavy to push up any incline.
My friend lives on a horse farm and mostly there are no roads at all aside from the farm road. Unless she wants to wheel the baby up and down the driveway, she needed a truly off road stroller for ungroomed, rough terrain.
She has the Bob SUS (Sport Utility Stroller) which is a off road, articulated suspension, heavy duty stroller. I have personally pushed this stroller uphill through four inch grass pocked by hoofprints, and it was a pretty smooth ride. My friend ran a 5k with it as well. It does have the locked down front wheel (as opossed to the BOB Revolution, which my brother has – it has a swiveling front wheel) but that is necessary on uneven terrain.
So basically if you need a jogging stroller mostly for roads and the occasional well maintained trail, BOB Revolution is good. If you often need to take your stroller anywhere a mountain bike might plausibly be required, SUS.
The SUS is definitely not all things to all people though. My friend also has a lightweight foldable stroller and one that docks her car seat, as well as several slings and packs.
I have a Valco Baby jogging stroller. I like it because it has lots of storage and can convert to a double stroller with the toddler seat attached to the front. (At 1 she wanted to be up front to see everything. My daughter can also sit virtually upright in the valco since she doesn’t like laying back on a recline. But the Bob is probably the most popular jogging stroller I see around here being $300 dollars cheaper. The older ones have a smaller wheel base. It seems like they’ve expanded the wheelbase on the 2012 model.
I also have the peg perego pliko and peg perego uno strollers. They are both perfect and get the most use. The uno is not a jogging stroller but it is my favourite because she can lay flat. I can change the handle without taking the seat out and it takes the infant car seat for a newborn.
We’ve had a Bob stroller, and mostly liked it. Smooth ride, collapses pretty well, etc. There’s been one consistent issue with it, though: the tires keep going flat if we use it on anything much more uneven than smooth pavement or concrete. One time when I was at the local bike shop getting the tube replaced, another customer saw why I was there and said he’d had the same experience.
Not that you shouldn’t go this route, because it is otherwise a very nice stroller, but if you do, and think you might take it on unpaved pathways, look into higher-strength inner tubes. Apparently such things exist and would have saved us several trips to the bike shop if we’d known about them.
A cheap umbrella stroller is a godsend for me. I keep it in the trunk where it doesn’t take up much space but it’s there when I need it. And I can maneuver through stores, malls, crowds, etc pretty easily versus the ridiculously large “real” stroller we own.
I’d pick one up just to throw into the trunk. The first time you need it, the $20 or whatever will have paid for itself.
Omar I looked at Bob’s Stroller, and they are really nice, but they are sure proud of them!
I think this weekend might be a test drive weekend for the LeBeef’s.
The Bob Revolution has a switch that will allow the front wheel to be locked or unlocked. The locked position is recommended for running.
Mainly you need to figure out in what circumstances you’ll be using the stroller and go from there. A carless person living in the city is going to have very different needs from the person living in the suburbs. Do you travel a lot? Do you spend time at the mall or do you prefer walking in the park? Do you plan on having more than one kid, does the stroller need to last longer? And etc…
Also, there are always tons of barely used strollers on craigslist from people who bought strollers and then didn’t end up using them like they thought they would. Might be a good way to get a quaility stroller and still save some money.
Bear in mind that they don’t recommend jogging with a baby before 12 months, due to their lack of head control at high speed - not sure if that changes your plans.
Think about where you’ll be using it - many of the jogging prams are quite wide and may be tricky to navigate around small stores etc, heavy to put into car boots.
Make sure that it can recline fully - many prams and strollers are only suitable from 6 months because they don’t lie back fully which is not good for a baby’s back (and the car seat that clips into the frame is not a suitable replacement for a long time for the same reason).
Do you want to be able to see the baby? A lot of prams offer the ability to reverse the seat around (I found this really good when shopping as I could talk to the kid keeping her less bored). Most 3 wheelers don’t offer this, although I think the new Quinny Zapp does.
Consider getting an umbrella stroller as well as a main stroller - easier for travel and quick trips out.
Do you plan on having a second child in quick succession? Some strollers like the Phil and Ted, Baby Jogger City Select etc work well as a single pram but offer the ability to add a second seat if you will have 2 littlies.
Test drive them - some push like shopping trolleys, others can be steered easily with one hand. A no-fail easy collapse is a good thing too when wrestling with a baby in bad weather.
Do you plan to carry a lot of other things? Some prams have impractical baskets which can barely fit anything. I don’t have a car and I used it when I walked to the shops so I needed a capacious underbasket. Bugaboos and Stokke ones are (hideously expensive) and very popular but useless in my opinion because of that.
We started with a Mountain Buggy Urban as I wanted something to be active with (and thought it was a great pram) - but changed to a Baby Jogger City Select when I decided I wanted a reversible seat pram which could accommodate a second kid easily (babies 1&2 will be 2 yrs 2 mo apart, but for the last year we’ve used it with a shared nanny and it’s been great). One of the things I also like about the BJCS is the accessory that clips onto a table and turns the seat into a high chair - going to grab one of these for #2. It’s not a jogger pram though - no such thing as the perfect pram.
Don’t know if you cycle as well, but once #2 is over 12 mo we’re going to shift to a jogger/bike trailer, which will be more useful for exercise.