Are strollers useful? Any recs?

[LoveKnowsNoBounds]

My MIL has offered to buy us a stroller for Julian's 1st birthday. Do you find them helpful? We have a Peg perego venezia at the moment and it does get quite heavy and hard to maneovre at times. Please let me know if you love your stroller as there are so many to choose from! Alternatively if you hate yours please let me know too!

[Beach Mama]

Hi Jan!!
I LOVE our stroller! I have used it since around November, and used my pram once in that time (having said that I HATED my pram!!!) My stroller is a Maclaren Quest - weighs just over 5kg, I can fold it or unfold it while holding Izzy and it is really narrow and so easy to manoveur... It is expensive - around $230 but if you don't want to spend so much Im sure you could find a cheaper stroller that suits your needs. One thing that the Maclaren doesn't do so well in this style of stroller is the basket under the seat, if Izzy is lying back (it can be layed back - not flat but enough for her to nap which I also love!) but I can't get to the basket, and even if she's all the way up then it is still a bit tricky to get in and out of!
Good luck deciding and I would definately recommend one for the ease of those quick trips to the supermarket etc!

[Trillian]

I have a Mothers Choice stroller that had the boot cover and a drink caddy thing on it and it has been really good. It doesn't fold very small though (not umbrella fold) and it only has fully upright or fully reclined positions though, so that would be its worst feature. I have just brought a Valco Titan umbrella fold stroller though and it has 4 seat positions and it is lovely to push around and has higher handles so good for taller people. You do sacrifice undercarriage storage though with them no matter what the brand.

[Nai]

I have found the stroller useful for a number of situations eg. travelling, quick trips from the car. We keep ours in the footwell so that we don't have to put the pram in and out of the car. Ours is a Quicksmart and while being small and light, it can be a pain to fold/unfold and doesn't manouvre that well. However, I haven't used any others to compare it to....

[~Raven~]

I have a valco stroller. Can't remember the name of it but it was about $150. It's quick and easy to put up and down and light to lift. I chose it because it is able to be laid back if the little man nods off. Nothing worse than seeing a poor little one sleeping with their head slumped over.

[Mother Goose]

We have a valco titan - just got it on the weekend actually! I wanted the Mclaren but Dh said it was too much $ Chose the valco because it reclines for when bubs is asleep. It came with rain and sun covers. Folds easily and doesn't demand too much space in the boot (unlike my Mt Buggy!). We bought it for shopping trips etc and to take away on holidays as the pram is so big. We went to a market yesterday, the ground was hard, bympy, and dusty... the stroller did really well and DD was very comfortable. We're very happy with it!

MG

[Rach75]

definatly each to their own with model, brand etc, but make sure it can lay flat a lot of the smaller ones dont have multiple recline positions we packed up jack big pram about 2 mths agai we bought the stroller at xmas we take it everywhere folds nice and small but he can still lay down and have a sleep if he wants IYKWIM!!!

ours is a childcare one from target we didn't need a fancy one etc, but was still around $150 RRP we got it on 30% off so bargain, the only thin I dont liek is the weird sun shade but as we use it for shopping we just took it off

best bet is to go look see what suits you uour height etc, and what you will need it for, ie, if you need to get on and off bus's trains etc

good luck so after allthat rambling my tip look at recline positions

[LoveKnowsNoBounds]

Thanks ladies I will definitely keep all of those tips in mind

[Erin_25]

I'll be honest when I say I can't believe you have made it nearly 12months without a stroller. It's up to you what brand etc...ours is a Babylove - on sale we paid $90.
Charlie is a big boy for his age, so he's very heavy & the stroller is just great. If we want to pop down to do some quick shopping, or go out to somewhere for a quick lunch or into city for shopping we use the stroller. Its easy to put up & down, he can still sleep in it no worries, I can handle it on my own & it fits in & around shops much better than the big pram. We only use Charlies big pram now when going out for the day or at night when he's ready for bed & when we walk long distances....otherwise it's the stroller.

[Ginger]

we have a maclaren vogue and we love it. very easy to manouvere.

[dee73]

We have the Babyco Swallow stroller and I love it. It's a bit cheaper than some, but is great quality and has the features I wanted - High handles as dh and I are tall, and it has a "bumper" in front of seat so ds can sit and hold that and not need to be strapped in all the time.

One thing to keep in mind is if your child is tall or has long legs, many of the brands are low to the ground and by the time they're 18 months old their feet might drag on the ground. I took ds with me and got him to sit in them all to see how high off the ground his feet were, and even at 12 months they were dragging in a couple!

[~Belinda~]

Steelcraft Strider 3 is what we have. We love it...it's awesome it was $399