the lowdown on strollers

It was just a matter of time, really. I am a stroller addict; I owned five at one time and am now down to two (not counting the one I gave my mom to keep at her house). And now I am in a whole new country with all new strollers to ogle. Some days it's almost too much for me; the big baby gear store isn't easily accessible by foot so I haven't made it there yet, but I will...

My criteria for a full-size stroller are:

• decent sized storage basket
• child tray
• parent tray
• recline
• flip-up leg rest for napping
• good maneuverability for non-ada-compliant sidewalks

My criteria for a travel/keep in the car stroller are:

• compact, easy fold
• flip-up leg rest for napping
• decent sized storage basket
• recline
• decent maneuverability
• hard to tip with bags hanging from the handles

So let's start with the Quinny Zapp. It's the stroller I've seen most here (besides MacLaren and the various knockoffs). It's certainly convenient as far as foldability; look how tiny it gets. But no recline, no basket, no flip up leg rest, no deal for me, as well as the rough ride (the wheels sound like they're solid plastic, though I'm sure they're not). It runs $200-300$, depending on where you get it.



Then there's the stroller I covet, mostly because it has an integrated raincover, not so necessary in San Diego, but nice here. The rain cover I have is cumbersome and doesn't pull back, so it's either on or off. Anyway, here it is (it's called ZIKO):



-5-point seat belt. You must never forget to use it
- Made from baby-proof, lightweight aluminium and shiny die-cast alloy bits
- Fold with one hand
- Locking swivel wheels at the front (because it looks nice)
- Smooth low profile tyres
- A big basket underneath for carrying things
- Bi-directional suspension on front wheels
- Leg rest goes up and down
- Back rest goes up and down in 4 positions
- There's somewhere to rest your feet
- Comes with a really nice bright bag that grows to hold your stuff
- It's very own rain cover to keep you nice and dry too



As you can see from that list of features (above) from the manufacturer's website, it satisfies all of my criteria for a travel/car stroller. But at 300$ it's a bit expensive... Oh, and Gwen Stefani has one in gold lame. Personally, I think that's a bit (a bit? really? a LOT!) too much.

The travel stroller I finally bought after a lot of searching before our first trip here to Bristol is the Britax Esprit. Same company as the famed car seats, though their strollers are a little less well-known. It satisfies all of my criteria as well as having removable, washable seat cover (though I haven't done that yet). Nina has slept in it a LOT (most notably through half of my sister-in-law's wedding reception). Just put the legrest up, recline the back, and nighty-night! It is almost impossible to tip this stroller over, even when baby gets out; you have to really really really overload it with stuff hanging from the handles. Best of all, I paid 99$ for it and I have seen it for less.











What about MacLaren, you say? Well, I had one...granted, it was an old one so maybe they've fixed some of the stuff I didn't like, but all you had to do was think about putting a bag over one of the handles and over it went. Also, only the Quest and Techno have the adjustable legrest, and it's not super easy to use. Again, maybe they've fixed this, but Nina had a really hard time sitting up in the one we had, she always ended up slumped over. And I HATE the brakes, they're just not easy for me to slide over. The Quest and Techno start at 200$ and go up from there (though they do come with a raincover).

The full-size stroller we have at home is the Kolcraft Contours Options. We had the Jeep Liberty Urban Terrain from when Nina was born, but the day after I got rid of all of my extra strollers, the wheel broke off, I kid you not. It was a wonderful stroller for us, but a wheel broken off is kinda the end of the road (we had had it for more than a year, so it wasn't a warranty issue).

This stroller has all the options I wanted and more. The seat snaps out so the child can face forward or back (always a bonus). And the seat can be completely removed so you can use the stroller as a snap-n-go. We were way past the infant car seat by the time we picked this stroller up, but it's a nice feature... As far as I'm concerned this stroller has most of the nice features of a Bugaboo and then some (no child or parent trays on the Bugaboo and the basket is tiny) without the pricetag. I paid 120$ for it. The only downside (which was a problem with the Jeep too, they're both made by Kolcraft) is the brake. It's a long bar which you step on, but gravity makes it sink down slowly on its own and you have to keep kicking it back up. Not as bad on the Countours as it was on the Jeep, though.

The other full size I considered was the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe. It's a nice stroller with nice grippy wheels for all the walking I do. It has all of the features I was looking for, but I just went with the Contours (they are priced similarly, I think the Graco is 20 or 30 dollars more). In the end I just liked the look of the Contours better.

Do you have a stroller that you love? Are you wondering about one I haven't mentioned? I have probably tried it, go ahead and ask me...