I think you could call us Stroller Hoarders. Or collectors. Or something of that sort.
We now have 3 strollers. And counting.
What could we possibly need 3 strollers for? We only have one kid!! Oh my. Well… see… here’s the story.
We got pregnant. Registered for gifts. Decided we needed a travel system. AKA… Stroller/Carseat Combo. Which was nice, and both the car seat and stroller have worked perfectly for us.
Only the stroller is a beast. It takes up SOO much room. If I had to do it over again, I’d have gone with a light weight travel stroller that seated an infant seat on it (because I did use it that way. I’m from Michigan… right, Heather?)
Well… last summer I thought I’d get back into jogging. I really did. I used to love to jog. So, I bought myself a jogging stroller. I do love it, even though I think I’ve actually JOGGED with it once. And my butt felt like it was going to fall off my back end when I ran. I don’t use any other stroller to go on walks, though, even though it is seriously like 3ft by 3ft folded up. Its a bigger beast than our other stroller.
Now… we’re making plans to go to Disney this summer. And we camp a lot (so… traveling… car packed up… need to save space) so I started thinking we should get a smaller, lighter stroller for traveling. And retire the Graco Quattro Tour Beast.
I bought a stroller at Toys R Us on a whim (we had gift cards). The Baby Trend TrendSport Lite. $40 bucks. Couldn’t beat that. Well, I got home and read the reviews, and they were looking grim. I still had hope, and decided to give the stroller a try. I put it together, and sure enough… it was exactly as the reviews had said. The wheels turned sideways, and didn’t roll good. So, I returned it.
On our way back from the cabin, we stopped at Babies R Us, as they have a huge selection of strollers. And we tested out numerous LightWeight strollers. Here were our choices: (shown in our colors of choice)
Chicco Capri Stroller in Alaska
This was the cheapest. It was super light. Folded up small. However, the seat only laid back like 2 inches. By unzipping the sides. Queer. Ryan didn’t like that. He crossed this one off quickly.
Chicco Ct0.5 in Sahara
We went onto the Ct0.5. Kinda liked it. It was tricky to fold at first, but once you did it a few times, it was a breeze. Ry liked that it was "open" in the front… no bar to hold back the beast. (??) Ry didn’t like that the sun shade had a window with no cover on it (the sun could come through and burn precious angels head!!). We ruled this one out.
Combi Cosmo EX Stroller in Tangerine
Loved this one at first. And it was a little hard to close… it did fold up small… but it
folded like a regular stroller, then the sides folded in towards
eachother… so kind of a two step process. It had a bar in the front, but was removable. Had a cupholder for baby boy. Little pockets in the sides of the seat for his snacks/toy etc. The sun shade moved further forward incase the sun was in front of us. (WHY didn’t we pick this one??) Well, we found last years floor model on clearance… for $65. We were going to get it, only I was convinced it was so dirty it looked brown (all in my head, I’m sure). And when I pushed it, the wheels did the same thing as the $40 stroller… turned a bit sideways and kind of stuck. So I ruled this one out.
Graco Mosaic (however, the only color choice was a blue/teal)
I did like this one a lot. I really did. Wasn’t crazy about the blue/teal color available at BRU, but it was ok. I didn’t like that the sun shade snapped off so easily. I could see lots of frustration trying to keep that thing on when moving it, or folding up the stroller. Ry didn’t like how tricky it was to fold up. I didn’t mind it, but he hated that part. So he ruled it out.
The choices were slim. We didn’t want to fork out the big bucks for a MacLaren, Peg Perego or Britax (yep.. they have a new stroller out). We wanted to stay under $100.
So, you ask… what did we go with? I was ready to walk out without anything. I felt pressured. I hate feeling pressured. Almost as much as I hate making decisions. So, another couple were buying a lightweight stroller, as we were, and they were checking out all the same strollers. They bought the Chicco CT0.5 (but in Adventure Green) So what did we buy? The CT0.5 in Sahara HAHAH! Seriously, because we liked it most… not just because thats what they got. I put it together today and I do love it. I didn’t like that it doesn’t have the tray for P’s snacks, but by this summer the kid had better be able to hold a cup/bag of his own snacks. And I bought a cup holder to add on for my beverages of choice. So, problems solved.
Here’s a question for all you readers (if you’ve stuck with me thus far). How many strollers do you have? Why? What are your favorites? Your experiences with strollers? Do you love strollers? Or hate using them? Fess up!
nicolebarczak.com 
I’ve always had two strollers. A bigger one for comfort and an umbrella stroller for tight spaces.
We had the carseat/stroller combo and I loved that. The stroller wasn’t too honkin big, but it still took up a lot of room folded up.
When my youngest was moving out of the infant carseat, and I had an almost 3 year old who wouldn’t make a whole trek around the zoo and such, we decided to get rid of the carseat combo and we bought the Sit~n~Stand by Baby Trend. I love it!! Perfect for two kids, without being as monstrous or hard to handle as a full on double stroller.
I also retired our simple umbrella stroller last year (it was a hand me down to begin with and it was used hard!) and picked up the fancier small umbrella type with a basket underneath and a sunshade and cupholder for $7. It’s great for when I don’t need the big one, or am short on trunk space.
Really, the simplest umbrella stroller was just fine for us… you really don’t need all that much in a stroller once they’re older… just a seat on wheels! They don’t really need to recline… older kids just don’t sleep in strollers often- and we always had the bigger cushier one if we needed more carrying space, etc.
Strollers…Wow, we have been through 5 different strollers. Started with my all time favorite – the Baby Trend Snap ‘N Go. This thing rocked and I hated when both of my girls outgrew their infant car seats and we needed to go to the next level in strollers. Next, we had the Aprica which we still use for the 3 year-old. This is a great stroller, but a bit big. With our first dd, we also bought an umbrella stroller…never liked this thing. We also had a jogging stroller that was great for walks. With the second child, we skipped the umbrella stroller and went with the Baby Trends lightweight stroller (not sure of the name). A friend borrowed it for WDW and loved it. We are planning to use it when we go at the end of the month. Strollers…can’t live with them, can’t live without them!! 🙂
Nic, I am glad that we got a travel system. Our stroller isn’t as big as your Graco Quattro. WHen Reyna gets a little older, we are going to purchase the Chicco one you got. I don’t think that we will get any more besides those two. I like strollers. I think they are definitely worth the money. The cup holder attachement is nice that you bought, too.
k, so I love that I don’t need to look anywhere else for consumer reviews on strollers….you’ve made that really easy on me (ha ha). I’m currently in the market for a double wider, yup….I’ll have 2 kids soon & really need some advice…..any luck with those? J/K.
I only have one & I have a love/hate relationship with it. I hate lugging it around….folding it, unfolding it…cramming it into my trunk…you know the drill. But you have to have them otherwise the little stinkers have free roam and that’s no good. I really am dreading the double seater though…they are so huge!
We have 3 strollers in the back of the van right now. An umbrella stroller, the travel system stroller, and a DOUBLE stroller. Thank goodness the back seat folds down and away. I thought since getting the double I wouldn’t use the travel system one anymore, but I was wrong. When we go to the library Parker walks beside me so I don’t need the big ole double. I also swore I would never get a double, but I ate my words and LOVE it. I can go shopping with the kids and they are strapped in and I stay sane for the most part.
So no your not the only one with lots of strollers. Maybe I’m the only one with 3 in my van…LOL!
I Totally know what you mean. I had like 4 strollers per kid and when you have 4 kids it adds up to a lot of strollers. Our local Salvation Army loved to see us. But the stroller that I loved the best was the peg peregos. They are by far the best quality and lightest out there.
LOL!
We have 4 kids- we have had 2 double strollers. 2 jogger strollers- (that were used about 5 times), 4 super cheap umbrella strollers (that we used until the wheels all fell off), 4 travel system strollers- (each was a gift with each new baby- ouch.)
And now we have a Graco Mosaic.
OMG 13 strollers. YIKES! I have never added them all up. I just keep selling them on Craigslist every year. LOL. I should find photos of them all and do a crazy stroller layout. :O)
The black Graco Mosaic is great and we have LOVED it! It will be our LAST stroller! Thank goodness!
I still have 2 strollers leftover in my garage that need to be listed on Craigslist- thank you for the reminder! :O)