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:

• Graco 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.

• Baby 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.

• UPPAbaby 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.

• UPPAbaby 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.

• 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.

• Thule 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.

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