best stroller system
September 2, 2011
I had been researching stroller systems for months while pregnant with our 2nd, and had gone through many different baby review books, consumer reports, etc.; I finally decided on the Uppa Baby Vista system and am so happy with this decision! This is not a cheap stroller system but is definitely worth it. I had looked through many different sites, including craigslist and ebay to look at used systems. The price here at albeebaby is by far the best; you have a lower price for this color, and this price was the same as those for the used systems elsewhere. The yellow is actually very nice, kind of a maize color and not an obnoxious yellow at all. I love it!! It's bright and cheery vs. obnoxious and loud. The lower price here as well as the free shipping and no sales tax meant that even with the store discount coupons you can get elsewhere these prices were still much better than anything else (even for the car seat we got to go with this). The stroller system itself is wonderful. Since my daughter is only 1.5 months old, we have not used the seat for this yet, only the car seat adapter and the pram/bassinet. I did, however, fully test out the stroller seat at a nearby store that carried this stroller (i highly recommend doing this for any stroller system you are considering). When I got this in the mail, I opened up everything and tried out all of the parts, including the rain and bug/sun shields. These are a really nice inclusion for this system and add to the ultimate savings since you won't have to purchase them separately. They attach quite easily. For the car seat adapter, I had researched and decided on a Chicco car seat and thus bought the adapter for this system. this adapter is really very easy to attach and detach and the car seat fits securely and easily into it. I will note that I bought the Miro pattern Chicco car seat (yellow/black/white circle pattern) and it all goes so well together with this system. It also has the car seat up higher and closer to you; others have come up to me to compliment me on the stroller seem to always mention this as well. I initially didn't think I would get any real use out of the pram/bassinet that comes with this system, since you really cannot use it past a certain age/weight. I'm surprised by how much I've actually used it already. It would be very useful for those living in a big city who walk to a lot of different places. I don't think it would be great to use this folded up if I was on public transport, but many trains can accommodate a stroller where you wouldn't have to fold this up. We currently live in the suburbs and I still have gotten a lot of use out of it. I use it for walks around my neighborhood, and the larger wheels on this system (which was something for which I had looked) make walking on uneven sidewalks much easier. I've also used the pram/bassinet when going to the zoo with my older daughter; it is nice to not have to have the baby in a car seat which can get cramped and hot when walking around for an extended period of time. The sun/bug shield was really nice to have and easy to pull up to replace a pacifier as needed. there are also pockets on the end of the bassinet itself to put your cell phone and keys. It is also nice to have the bassinet/pram when a diaper change is needed... you can avoid having to navigate getting in and out of busy public restrooms, you just put down your changing mat in the bottom of the bassinet and can do a quick change right there. Although not currently using the stroller seat, when I was testing out various systems I really wanted one that had nice recline positions. I didn't like the strap pull type of reclines that came with the jogger-style strollers. I also liked the fact that you could have the seat forward or rear facing. The collapse function on this stroller takes a few times to really get the hang of, but after a couple times doing it then it really isn't that hard and really quite easy and not an issue. The only thing is that it really does take two hands to collapse the stroller, because you have to push the button on the side while pushing in the handle. some stroller review sites will have a video that shows this collapse function (you can prob easily find it via google). It also doesn't come with a cup holder, but it was easy to buy one to attach to it and the stroller is great enough that I was willing to not have this deter me (and I always have a coffee/water with me). The basket is really quite big and very easy to access when my car seat is attached. It is not as accessible with the bassinet/pram, so I need to be sure to put my bag in the basket and have it positioned well to be able to easily get what I need. The basket is easier to access from the front, though, with the pram. Overall, even though this was more than I had initially planned to spend on a stroller system, I am so happy with this purchase and feel like it was really worth the extra money (e.g. over a Chicco travel system). Already, I have gotten a ton of use out of many of the features and look forward to using this for quite a while. My only concern now is that I want to get a stroller lock so when I have to leave this at the front in a restaurant or at a park that it doesn't go missing!
Pros
- great quality, many nice features, an overall great value