I am expecting my 3rd baby girl in October and am in search of a new travel system. I used the same one for my 6 yr old and 19 month old, but the car seat is now expired and the stroller gone ....so need a new one! There are soo many to choose from now, yikes! I'm typically a Graco person, but even they have a million different ones! (The Quattro Tour, Spree, Passage, Stylus, Glider, Alano, Alano Flip It & light rider... Yikes, how do I choose? Any experiences? They all (except alano flip it) seem to have a girly pattern, so that doesn't matter... Just wondering which line ?
Oh also, after we "lost" our original Graco stroller recently.. I ended up getting a Graco Vie 4 strolller from Burlington Coat Factory for only around $70 .. Not real happy with that one, it just seems to make her slotch down..
THANKS :)
*TO CHAR M*:It looks like the person I was "calling out" deleted his/her message. It was a very nasty mean message that is why I said what I did... She(?) was saying how stupid it was that I would think a car seat would expire and asked if I thought that it would suddenly self destruct on that date and went on and on about how people like me are why the big companies are taking advantage... and about money wasted ...telling me how I must have tons of money to throw out the window...., she went on and on... She totally deserved what I put if not more.. NO, i was not implying that all 80 year olds are"ignorant"....just her based on her very IGNORANT reply! Yes, i totally agree that things were different back then...way different... heck even when my little brother and sister were kids (they're 23 and 24 now) I don't even remember them being in car seats after about 1 or so ! Crazy how much more cautious people are now.. I just didn't ask for ignorant comments like that!
I was very happy with my Graco Metrolite system. The stroller isn't too heavy but it's a good size. The seat fully reclines so my son could nap, even when he was older, and the basket underneath is huge. Plus, with cupholders for me and a snack tray for the baby, I was happy.
Karen
http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao - summer sale thru 7/18
I decided not to go with a travel system because all the strollers were way too heavy. I went with Graco Infant Snug car seat and Peg Pergo stroller and I felt the infant seat fit much better. It actually sits on the part where the child will end up sitting, vs. on the bars. Good luck with whatever you decide.
I have the Chicco Cortina travel system and love it! I've taken it on several plane trips and use it everyday when we go on walks. It is really sturdy and has a large seat and basket. The infant seat snaps right in and is one of the lighter ones out there. It is big and bulky but what travel system isn't? I've now had mine for almost 2 years and it's still in great shape. I would buy it again.
Chicco best travel system ever. I loved it, and i have even handed down.The person using it loves it too.
Your car seat expired? Is this like the song on "Mission Impossible" and your car seat has self distructed like the audio tape?
Talk about planned obsolescense. The companies and the government has taken advantage of the fears of parents to sell more car seats. Just because your car seat has "expired" doesn't mean it isn't safe. If you have plenty of money to spend and no debt, buy another car seat or two or three. You'll help the CEO buy a bigger yacht and boost his annual pay from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000. Those "poor" executives need all the money they can get to keep up their lavish life sryle. Rumor has it their house keeping staff wants a raise. It costs losts of money to give 30 people a 10 cents per hour raise.
I raised 8 kids and only the youngest two ever sat in a car seat. And the only reason they ever sat in a car seat was because of the changes in the law. None of my kids were ever injured, etc. I haven't looked it up in a long time, but it used to be said that the government forced us to spend $20 BILLION for $1 BILLION in benefits. That's equal to depositing $1000 in the bank and getting $50 out after its been on the bank for 5 years. You lost $950 and the bankers and government are laughing at you all the way to their mansions.
I liked my Graco Metrolite. It was easy to use and I could steer with one hand. The downside is that it is hard to get to the basket with the seat is fully reclined. I have a lot of friends that rave about the Chicco strollers as well.
I don't have a clue...I am only putting this in so I can see what everyone said, especially "8kidsdad". Just for the record, my dad is 84. Back in 1963 he INSTALLED seatbelts in our Oldsmobile station wagon to keep us all safe. When my kids were little a carseat was a carseat. Things and thoughts were different then...no need to call 8kidsdad out to be too old or ignorant! We all come to this site to share and learn. Maybe I will edit this answer after I read all the others.
OK, so I went back to see what everyone said about this and didn't find 8kidsdad anywhere.
Chicco is AWESOME. I got my Chicco Cotina travel system when my now 22mo old was born. Love the comfort and safety features. Very easy to clean. Durable--traveld with it on airlines several times. Great one hand fold and un-fold feature. Big basket underneath. I just had baby #2 so I handed my system down to my niece for her baby and purchased the new Chicco Cortina Together tandem double-stroller and the Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Seat. If fits my very big 22mo old son and my 4mo old daughter very well. Great features. They added access to basket when fully reclined on this one and interchangeable options for accessories and seating arrangement. You can view a video of it at www.chiccousa.com. Totally love it!
I have an InStep Safari jogging stroller that I just love! I ordered it on Ebay from a company called vminnovations and it came with a car-seat adapter. It's a frame that just snaps into the same part where you would otherwise snap in the kid's tray. It works with any car seat.
Things I like about it:
It's very easy to fold/unfold.
Because it's a jogging stroller, it handles bumps well and can go on grass and other terrain very easily.
Due to the front swivel wheel, it's easy to steer one-handed (very important when my 2-year-old is melting down and needs to be carried).
The large back wheels pop on and off easily so it can fold up smaller when needed.
The parent tray is nice.
It has a pocket on the back that is great for keeping things like the mosquito net that came with it.
It's easy to pop either the car seat adapter or the kid's tray on and off.
It's a good, stable stroller that doesn't cost a small fortune.
The basket under it is not huge, but it's adequate.
I use Mommy Hooks on the handle to hold my diaper bag so I can put other stuff in the basket.
I can't say much about car seats. I guess I'm not as picky about them, since they are all mostly the same. I will say that I picked mine up used at a consignment shop. (I know they say you shouldn't do that because you don't know the history...) I got a MaxiCosi one, because the plastic didn't have the discoloration from stress that all of the Evenflo and Graco ones did. It seemed to me that the plastic used was a bit less brittle and just slightly more rubbery.