Sunday, May 3, 2009

HELP!!

This post is for all you seasoned parents out there-we need your help! Now that volleyball season is over (sad story, they lost to CSUN in the MPSF tournament quarterfinals), we're getting into baby mode. So right now we're looking into "travel systems". So if any of you have a strong opinion about any of them in particular or about a brand, let us know! 26 weeks down, 14 to go!

10 comments:

Sarah said...

Graco is always dependable and all my friends love their chicco's. Get something easy to manuver, easy to carry, with a big basket, and a large sun canopy. Just go to a store and mess with all the functions...some are a real pain to use! (USA Baby and Babies R Us have tons)

Brittany said...

We love ours!! It's a Chicco...kind of pricey, but we got it with 20% off, so that helped. I think you just have to look for one that will work best for you, though. Some things to consider are: fabric that will wipe clean (ours is nylon so it really stays clean...it's awesome!), ease of opening the stroller (I can do it with one hand while holding Jason), easy to carry and push - like a good shape and feel of the handle (sometimes we wish we had a "z" shape handle), sturdy and durable material (ours is really thick and strong), light (it gets heavy with the baby, so make it as light as possible, but also as strong as possible), a good shade on it (sometimes I wish ours covered a little more, but when the carrier is hooked into the stroller, the shades overlap each other so he can be completely covered then, which has been really nice), easy to push (ours turns on a dime - seriously, and it's also really skinny so you can take it more places. Some of them are so big and bulky!), easy to change the strap settings, shocks if you plan on offroading a bit :). Anyway, my favorite things about ours are the fabric and how easy the stroller is to open. You just have to go play with a bunch of them. We went to BabiesRUs for a couple of hours...and I let Brent pick it out. (He's an engineer after all :) I also read online reviews. BabiesRUs has a really good reviewing community. :) Sometimes I wish I'd gotten a jogger travel system. They have one, but it just didn't look like it would last as long... Anyway, good luck!

Dean, Andrea, Tanner, Landon, & Braddock said...

We have the Graco Snugride carseat and the stroller that goes with it. We've liked it and it's pretty reasonably priced. I'm sure some of the more expensive ones are nicer, but we've had no complaints with our Graco. The car seat is also rated really well for safety. Don't you love buying baby stuff!? It's so exciting! Good luck with everything.

Jeff and Kandis said...

Three babies later, I have to say the important features you MUST have is a sun canopy that goes over the car seat that moves forward and back. Some of those expensive car seats don't have that and I always wondered why. The sun is always on their face in the car and I am constantly moving it back and forth.

Also a basket under the stroller that can be accessible while the baby is laying down/ or the car seat is in it. Ours doesn't have that feature and it drives me nuts!

Other then that just find one that you can open and close with one hand (since that is all you ever have).

Oh yeah, if they have come up with a car seat that you can maneuver the handle (carrying handle, in order to move you have to hold down the red latch thingy on either side of the handle. And since you never have two hands its always a hassle) I don't know if they even have made this possible but it would be nice.
But, yes definitely play with all the different kinds and remember you will most likely have one for multiple children( mine is going on #3) so get a color you like and something functional and take good care of it!
There is my mouthful, hope it helps!

Emily said...

we researched on the internet and then went to the baby depot or whatever it's called in burlington coat factory. they usually have a good selection of graco and evenflo's but i don't know if i've seen a chicco there (not that we had money for a chicco). anyways, we got a good travel system that was marked down because it was last years fabric or whatever. we did the same for reggie's second carseat and got another good deal. we had a graco for his infant seat and a evenflo for the next one. i liked the graco harness thingy better than evenflos. it's basically the same, but graco's seemed to be easier for whatever reason.

and basically a travel system is going to be big and heavy. that's what reed is for.

Larsen Family said...

For Makenna I loved my Graco travel system. I have the Laura Ashley one. It is pretty much the same as all of them it was just a different fabric. It was easy to close with one hand, held the carseat and had a cup holder and little tray in the front for Makenna to put goodies when we went to the zoo, disneyland and other fun places. I still love using it when I just have Bryn.
For the two kids I love my sit-n-stand stroller. But that is a few years away for you.
But Babies'r'us and Target have the Graco strollers. Babies'r'us probably has the biggest selection of fabrics. They are usually the ones on the back wall.

mommaj said...

Sorry, we used a horse and buggy!

Dane said...

Hands down, this is the best baby transportation ever...check it out! You don't even have to thank me. Just name your first man child after me, and I'll consider us even. :)

http://www.carprices24.com/cars/ferrari/F430-Scuderia/Ferrari-F430-Scuderia-1.jpg

Natalie said...

For Carson we had a Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe stroller and we bought the matching Graco Infant SafeSeat carseat to go with it. Graco has awesome products and are really nice!

Trent and Kim said...

We have a Chicco as well and I have loved it. I have tested out lots of other strollers and mine always is the easiest to manuver. It's been super durable and has good features. I thought about a jogging stroller, but have heard they are hard to turn/manuver, so I opted for a gym pass instead. Good luck with everything, such an exciting time. Tell Reed sorry about the loss.