Wanted to love it, but filled with regret.
August 14, 2019
I have an older City Mini from 2011 that I luuuuuurve and to be honest... that one is still my main stroller. With my second child I needed a stroller that was mostly a single stroller, with the option of a seat for a big kid. With the bench seat this stroller hit the mark and since we hadn't bought anything else for baby (plenty of hand-me-downs from big sister!) for the second kid we splurged on this stroller. So knowing that, here's my pros and cons:
Pro:
HUGE BASKET & VERY STURDY - I have really put this concept to the test. In the early baby days I used it at the warehouse store as my "grocery" cart, with plenty of room in the basket for all the normal groceries I buy. When travelling I was able to slide the pack-n-play into the basket from the front, and then piled on the snacks, blankets, and other loose odds and ends from the car to carry into the hotel.
EASY TO CLEAN - The basket alone has experienced many spills and tons of sand. It takes just a minute to detach the basket to shake out the sand or rinse off with the house. The seat cover takes a little bit more time, but I have washed it 3 times in the last 18 months. It is due another cleaning (my kid is a hot mess), and I love that I can just grab the seat frame to bring inside and leave the push frame in the car.
ADJUSTABLE HANDLEBAR - I've never had a stroller with this feature, and I love it! I am not super tall, but when I go from this stroller to another I miss the ability to make the handlebar taller. Just makes for a more comfortable ride.
SMOOTH RIDE - Compared to my City Mini and my high end umbrella strollers the CSLux handles so nicely. The wheels are big and firm, so it goes over grass, gravel, sand, etc with no issue. The two front wheels can be "free" or "fixed" - and I've only ever needed to make them "fixed" once on a particularly rough cobble stone.
BENCH SEAT - I know this is a separate item but it is the main reason I bought this stroller so I will mention it. I am a little confused about the listed weight limits The booklet says the weight limit for the whole stroller is 57 pounds - but then this bench seat is rated up to 65 lbs? Either way, I used this with my 50 pound 6 year old (this is the perfect stroller for those LONG vacation days where you hike-it all over a city) and my 20 pound toddler. It's obviously a lot of weight to move (the stroller itself is 30 pounds to begin with), but having this option to let me older child take a break every now and then, or when we really need to move fast is worth it.
CONS
HEAVY - This stroller weighs 30 pounds. That doesn't sounds terribly heavy, but it's a decent amount of weight. If you're recovering from a C-section you will not be able to handle setting up/breaking down this stroller for a while.
FOLDING ISSUES - It folds down nicely if the one seat is in the traditional forward facing position. Any other position requires removing the seat, and/or putting it in that top/forward position to get a decent fold.
STICKY FOLD - My stroller, like others have mentioned, has one side of the fold-release that is harder to pull than the other. I've also found you have to pull up both fold-levers in exact unison, else one side will lock up, then you can't release the locked side. It's a pain.
TWO HAND FOLD - I mean... it's a given, but it is definitely a negative. Folding this stroller is a pain in the butt.
PRODUCT GROWTH - Looks like Baby Jogger was super pumped to release this stroller... it didn't do as well as expected, and then they dropped it like a hot potato. There have been no new upgrades, no more colors, no special covers or extras just for this stroller. There's always "universal" options from various online retailers, but I'm disappointed that there aren't more options to go with it.
SNACK TRAY - It is hard to find the snack tray. It's actually one from the Premier line of strollers - and everywhere I look is sold out, or they send the wrong one. I've given up and when I know I need that snack tray I just go with my City Mini because I have the tray for that one.
OVERALL
I do like the stroller, but generally feel like I was duped into buying something "new and shiny!" that didn't live up to the hype. It does what I need it to do, but that's about it.
This product review was collected by the manufacturer.