Strollers: Our Insane Saga

  Posted on July 8, 2016 By

 54 Comments

Long before we had a baby I was told you will go through more strollers then you ever thought possible.  I laughed and said no way – I’ll just buy one I like and it’ll be good.

Well, once again the parenting joke is on me.

The MPB household has a real stroller addiction/issue.

So far we have used:

  • 20160708 - Stroller1Graco LiteRider Click Connect Stroller in the USA.  It did the job, but was nothing fancy.  Once we figured out how to make it work, we really liked how the bucket seat easily dropped into place on the stroller.  We chose to leave the USA car seat in the USA for someone else to use, and we left the stroller with it.  We were sick of paying to fly it all around the USA with us and we already had a good stroller at home (stroller 5 below).  So, at the time it made sense to leave it.
    • New purchase price with car seat – $140 USD.  Paid – $130 USD new on sale.  Sold – $0 USD, donated.

 

  • 20160708 - Stroller2Baby Trend Snap and Go.  We bought this one used because they seem to come available on Craigslist pretty frequently.  The benefit of this stroller is that you can just put the bucket seat into and go.  But, that’s the only benefit.  The wheels are horrible for snow.  The  stroller is surprisingly big and bulky for what it offers in terms of features.  It’s handle bar is too low for Mr. MPB, yet also uncomfortable for me.  We sold this one as soon as we ditched the bucket seat.
    • New purchase price – $65 USD.  Paid – $30 USD second hand.  Sold – $30.

 

  • 20160708 - Stroller3UPPAbaby G-Luxe.  We have heard so many great things about this stroller that we decided to buy one.  But, after looking for a few months we could not find one used.  So, we sucked it up and bought it brand new.  We love this stroller.  The best way I can describe it is that it’s a fully loaded umbrella stroller.  It fits into my Subaru easily and I still have some left over room for groceries.  It’s light weight.  It’s pretty easy to fold up.  But, it’s not a stroller for running and I suspect it wont be great during snow.  And, it’s so small that it lacks storage space and our normal diaper bag doesn’t work with it, and if I attach the diaper bag to the handles, the stroller falls backwards.  But, we can avoid that problem by using a smaller bag and never attaching much to the handles.
    • New purchase price – $260 USD.  Paid – $240 USD on sale for 2015 model.  Sold – $0, still using.

 

  • 20160708 - Stroller4UPPAbaby G-Luxe.  Yes, that’s right, we like this stroller so much, we bought a second one in a different color. You’d think as two adults we could organize ourselves well enough to share 1 stroller between our 2 cars.  Sadly, no.  Our inability to coordinate our schedules and share  was causing more problems then I ever thought possible, so we solved the problem by buying another one for Mr. MPB’s vehicle.
    • New purchase price – $260 USD.  Paid – $260 USD.  Sold – $0, still using.

20160708 - Stroller5

  • Bob Revolution SE.  We bought this used early into our adoption process.  I found a great price and I was convinced it was going to be my running stroller.  I don’t mind running with it.  Mr. MPB does not like running with it, evidently it’s just not the right height for him.  But, we both are not fans of the locking/unlocking front wheel.  And, it’s a ginormous stroller!  No matter how hard I try, I literally cannot fit it in my Subaru Impreza.  If others can, they must be some sort of miracle workers or they are just smarter then me.  Regardless, it has some awesome features, but because of our most recent purchase (see number 6) I’ll be selling this one as soon as I put it on Craigslist.
    • New purchase price – $350 USD.  Paid – $175 USD on sale for 2015 model.  Sold – $175, I hope.

 

  • 20160708 - Stroller6Thule Chariot CX1.  Our most recent purchase.  The base model retails for $1199.00 USD and every attachment is additional, and we wanted the bike attachment and the jogging attachment.  There was simply NO WAY we were paying over $1500 USD for a stroller.  So, thanks to Craigslist and being patient we bought one second hand with the attachments we want.  So far, my gut reaction says it’s perfect for our active lifestyle.  But, not as an everyday stroller, it’s way too big for that.  Truthfully we have not used it that much yet, but give me a week or two and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it.
    • New purchase price – $1500 USD with all accessories we wanted.  Paid $500 USD second hand with all accessories we want.  Sold – $0, still using.

In addition to these ones, I have seriously considered the UPPAbaby Vista and the UPPAbaby Cruz, Baby Jogger City Select.  Initially I chose not to buy either of these two high end strollers because of their price tag and I couldn’t find one used that was in decent shape for a decent price.  But, after using the Bob Revolution SE, I wouldn’t buy either of these now simply because size is an important stroller consideration for us.  In fact, one of the main reasons we love the UPPAbaby G-Luxe is that it’s compact.

But this still means so far we have bought 6 strollers!!! Which in my humble opinion is nothing short of insanity.

At this point in time we are no-where near breaking even on how much we’ve paid out on strollers.  But, I am optimistic that I’m running out of strollers to try so that should at least help stop the stroller spending spree.

So, based on our experiences so far mMy suggestion to other mom’s (and dad’s) are:

  • Try friend’s strollers before you buy.
  • Ask friends and random strangers what they think of the stroller.  I’ve found that once you start talking to other parent’s they’ve all bought and tried at least a few different strollers – learn from them where you can (that’s how we found out about the UPPAbaby G-Luxe).
  • Try fitting it in your vehicle.  If you find that you have to disassemble the stroller, drop seats down and move everything in your car around, imagine doing that with a baby.  And, think about how you will fit groceries in your car with the stroller.  (I honestly thought my car was big until I tried putting strollers in it).
  • Pay attention to handle height.  Is it comfortable in the store for you and your partner?
  • If you buy used, look closely at everything.  Look for small tares in the fabric and the condition of the wheels and handles.  We’ve learned that you get what you pay for – a good deal may not be as good as you think once you get home and really start using the stroller.

*I received no financial incentive from any stroller manufacture to write this.  These are simply my experiences with each of the above strollers.

If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow my journey.

 Category: Adoption, Baby, Parenting      Tags: , , , , , , ,

54 Comments on “Strollers: Our Insane Saga”

  1. I must be a unicorn then. So far, Ive just purchaed 2 strollers. 1 was the graco
    Click connect, similar to
    Your item 1 and the second was the Instep double stroller. 🙂
    I also received a graco classic connect double stroller for free but thats lying around in my garage. :))

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • To be honest even the pnuematic tires struggle in snow. What works best in snow is a baby carrier. Which is why we never got another stroller after the Graco with G.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • You clearly are a unicorn! I’m impressed. 🙂
        And I’m completely with you on the baby carrier when there is lots of snow! Why bother with wheels getting stuck when you can just avoid the situation entirely?

        Like

      • Yup, southern ontario just gets pounded with tonnes of wet snow thanks to the Lake effect. And most of our neighbours dont bother with sidewalk shovelling

        Liked by 1 person

  2. This totally made me giggle because I’ve been there. I went through waaaaaaay too many strollers. And there’s always a new one I want 🙈. My current stroller lust is the GB pockit stroller. I live in a major city, so this hugely appeals to me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m so glad I’m not alone on this one! It is just so hard to find the right stroller! I’m curious if you end up with the GB pockit stroller how you like it – I just googled it and it looks nice. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  3. You are INSANE WOMAN!!!! 😂😂😂😂
    I have my eye on one buggy and I’m pretty sure if we make it that far, that will be the one!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. Ugh I am so stressed about this decision. Every time I think I have an answer as to what I THINK will be best for us, I read another review or article (or blog post!) that makes me think otherwise. The Husband and I have a significant height discrepancy – he is 6 feet and I am 5’2″ – so I think an adjustable handlebar is a must for us so we can both be comfortable. I hate the idea of buying a stroller for only the short term, I would much rather spend a little more and get a stroller that will last years, but I also want something light and agile. I guess I am just like Goldilocks – looking for a stroller that’s juuuuuuust right (and I’m not sure it exists!)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I thought I was Goldilocks too and I thought I bought the perfect one to begin with, but clearly I was wrong. I’m still searching for the perfect stroller and I have come to conclusion that you need an every day stroller and an active stroller (if you are active and intend to include the baby in your running/biking/long walks).
      I’m not sure if it’ll help, but we do have friends who have a similar height difference and they went with the City Select and they like it.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      • I think you’re right re: types.

        We have the bob and I love it buts heavy and bulky. When I get back to running I’m sure I’ll love it. But navigating in stores and getting it in and out of the car is hard.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. My dad bought me the city select this week. We have to use it as a double for the twins but even in “single” mode to seems big to me. I love all the adjustments you can make to make it comfortable and how it pushes and obviously with twins we will have a massive stroller regardless but if you are looking for compact you prob wouldn’t be happy with it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I think with twins you have to look at strollers in a completely different way! We never considered the possibility of two kids needing to be in a stroller at the same time, so this wasn’t a factor to us. But clearly if you have two kids in a stroller, you will end up with a bigger stroller. We know lots of people who have bought the city select with the intention of having 2 kids close in age (lucky non-infertiles) and they’ve loved it. So, I hope it works for you with the twins. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. Dude, you just made me feel soooo much better about my 3 strollers! Haha! Strollers are complicated. You really have to like them or else you’re going to be miserable.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’m glad I could make you feel better! Hahaha! Seriously though, how do we need so many strollers?! And why is it taking us so long to find the “right” one for us?

      Like

      Reply

  8. LOL!!! We have one stroller and love it. Kevin wants to get a more all-terrain jogger but we haven’t yet. That’s crazy how many you’ve been through!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. That’s insane! We have two –the Graco click connect compliant one & a BOB flex (you can change the handle bar height in case you are tall or short –we’re short) I originally got for half marathon training . I can fit the bob flex in my jetta’s trunk pretty easily, so once the baby outgrows the bucket seat, we’ll pretty much just use the bob unless we’re going somewhere crowded and need something with a smaller footprint. I can’t imagine having to go through more! Eek!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’m envious of your two! The adjustable handle bar on the BOB flex looks nice! Too bad we didn’t have that one, it might have been perfect since the issue with our BOB was the handlebar height. Could have saved us a lot of annoyance. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  10. I love this informative post! We tried some out at a babies are us before deciding on one and then ended up price shopping before we bought one! Haven’t used it yet so I can’t review it for when the baby is here but so far we like the height and the movement hopefully we’ll still love it when baby is in it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. We have the Graco Click Connect and have been pretty happy with it. It’s definitely not a high end stroller and doesn’t do well on rougher surfaces (gravel, grass, etc.) but so far it works for what we use it for, and it’s nice to be able to easily click the car seat in and out of the stroller.
    RIght now we’re in the market for a better baby carrier. We currently have the Boba Wrap, which works fine but is WAY too hot to use in the summer!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Looking back I wish we kept our Graco click connect! I had no idea how much I preferred it to other ones. Oh well, nothing I can do about that now! 😊
      Let me know what baby carrier you get – I’m always curious.

      Like

      Reply

  13. We have the exact same Graco Click connect stroller and car seat. It is pretty easy to use. After she grows out of the infant car seat, we will continue to use the stroller. We have no plans to purchase a different one but that could change in a year or so. We’re planning to get a Graco all-in-one after she grows out of the infant seat.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. Strollers are important. I relate 100%!!!

    Our Main one, britax b-ready, was the best $750 we spent on baby gear. The Bob Revolution SE was also worth every penny ($300). We spent way too much on our umbrella stroller because we only used it a few times (had grand plans for that $330 purchase) but I had a $75 gift card we used on it and I sold it for $200. It served as baby’s bed on a 4-night trip, so totally worth it!!!

    All we have left is the BOB which I’ll sell for $150 easy on FB. I Sold the Britax for $225 and it was really used up, so that felt fair to us and the buyer.

    You get what you pay for. And the high end strollers resell well. We’ll have recouped $600 out of our out of pocket $1265, which is great! We certainly got $680 of use out of all 3 strollers combined. The BOB alone has paid me back in full in running mileage.

    (I almost bought your uppa but the McLaren had a boot cover for newborns.)

    Take great care of that stuff and resell it on Facebook!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. We ended up buying the Baby Jogger Elite which is the 3 wheel one similar to the Bob but better quality I think. It IS big and that is the downside of it but we really needed a decent all terrain pram for our lifestyle and I wanted to be able to run with it so that pram it is. Aside from the size (and we do have room in the car) I do quite like it. It wheels well one handed which is great if you are using your stroller to push around your shopping because you are carrying your baby (don’t ask!). Hehe

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Love this. I have been contemplating the g luxe. We have the vista, bob and a gb zuzu. I really like all of them, but the vista and bob are HUGE. The vista literally takes up so much space that I can’t fit anything else in the back of the car. It is the same with the bob. In fact, we bought the gb bc my husband refused to take the vista or bob on our vacation citing that they take up too much room! Ha! Now, maybe I need the g luxe! 😜

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. Oh my goodness, I’m about to start this journey – really useful things for me to think about thank you! Especially having two, one for each car….the Things you don’t think about until you are actually in the thick of it!! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • To be fair I don’t know anyone else who has 1 for each car. Apparently most couples are able to coordinate their schedules better then we are. I think what’s more important is one for everyday use and one for activities, especially for your active lifestyle. 😊

      Like

      Reply

  18. As for carriers I love my ergo 36O for things like groceries, walks in the hood and breastfeeding somewhat discreetly. My becco Gemini ring sling is great for the house – rocking little man to sleep. I also have a girasol wrap but I haven’t mastered it yet, I think it’ll serve a similar function as the ergo.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. We both tried out the stroller we put on our registry in the store. We both thought it felt comfy, and it had all the things I was looking for. (Large under-seat basket, cup holders for us to use, a tray for baby to use, easy to fold/unfold, car seat attaches and comes with.) It also got great reviews from what we could find. It was sitting on our door step (an early shower gift from my mom and sister) when we got home from our trip tonight. Hopefully we continue to like it once baby comes!! I hope we don’t end up going through as many options as you have!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. I totally get it! We have 3 strollers so far, and use them all. BOB Motion stroller(regular-daily use), Summer Infant 3D lite (for travel), and a Graco LiteRider we got to leave at my parent’s house in FL. So much easier not to have to bring a stroller on a plane! Great info on your post!!!

    Like

    Reply

  21. We love our Uppababy Vista. It fits in the back of my Ford Focus even. That being said, my husband sucks at remembering to move it between vehicles. I’ve contemplated buying the G-luxe because of that but am going to hold off for a bit. I love your suggestion to actually borrow and try strollers. I know way too many people who haven’t been happy with their initial purchases.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We absolutely love our G-Luxe, which was probably obvious from the post as we now own two of them. Sharing between cars was just not working for us anymore. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

      • I can’t even begin to tell you how many fights we’ve had because Mike has forgotten the stroller. It’s a good thing I babywear too and most often have a carrier in each vehicle. I can’t wear him for hours on end though with my back.

        Liked by 1 person

      • I completely get this – exact same thing for us!!
        I did the same with baby wearing, but my surgery made that impossible – I haven’t been able to use a baby carrier in 6 weeks. So, the second stroller became a requirement, either that or we were going to fight and kill each other. 🙂

        Like

  22. We LOVE our City Select!! It folds up really nicely and fit in our Subaru Impreza (with extra space to spare) when we had it. It’s sturdy and pushed easily through snow during the winter. It also has different seat orientations, so the babies can face forward or back, and can recline fully horizontally if they are sleeping. I’ve jogged with it a couple of times, and it’s comfortable, but I suspect that the BOB and Thule CX would be better for jogging. I wish we lived closer because I’ve been scouring Craigslist looking for a used BOB and a Thule CX2! I want them sooo badly, especially the Thule!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • We love the Thule so far!!! Just sold our Bob tonight actually. The Bob was good for me but we really wanted the bike set up with the Thule and Mr. MPB just don’t love the Bob. They are always on Craigslist here – it’s more about bring patient enough to wait for the right one at the right price.
      I suspect when you are looking for a stroller that works for 2 babies it really limits the stroller options. I’m glad you found one that works well for your family! The snow test is so important!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  23. We have the uppababy mesa car seat and vista stroller. I’m anxious to use it as a double stroller once our second is born. We love all the features and everything is so easy, clicks together with little effort. A bit wide though, I’ll admit, for all my mall trips! Kind of limits my shopping! I’ve been eyeing the double Bob… It’s pricey, but I’m thinking it would be nice to have… We’ll see.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  24. This rings so true in our house, we are on stroller number 3. Think my husband may have a breakdown if I ask for number four!! Currently using Uppababy Visat and actually love it xx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. Love your post!! Totally understand… I literally spent HOURS researching strollers (eye roll) in an attempt to NOT have to buy multiples. Ended up with the Uppababy Cruz- loved it because it’s the smaller version of the Vista, still compact and high end (long lasting… fingers crossed) and no extra conversion clips for attaching the Mesa. Love your blog!! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Thoughts? I love hearing from you!

Follow My Perfect Breakdown on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Top Posts & Pages
Copyright
Unless otherwise cited, all content, photos & text, are property of the author of "My Perfect Breakdown" and cannot be reproduced without permission. Should you like to use something, please contact the author for permission.

My Perfect Breakdown

Blog at WordPress.com.