Umbrella Stroller suggestions please!

Close to when baby arrives, we will be getting a tandem pram for baby and DS. In the meanwhile we are in the process of selling DS's current single prams (neither of which he likes because their backs just don't seem to be upright enough for him and I am finding their weight a pain now that I am getting more pregnant haha).

So we just want to get a decent umbrella stroller to see us through the next few months and that we can use for DS when we take baby and DS out separately after baby arrives.

We just have some requirements and I was hoping that you lovely ladies could make some suggestions for what may suit us:

DS weighs 15kgs and is 85cm tall, so his head hits the canopy of many prams already and he is close to many of the stroller weight limits.

He NEVER sleeps in his pram, so it really doesn't need to be a fancy reclining one.

Both DH and I are 6ft +, so strollers with short handles just won't cut it for us.

I am off to Target now to check out their red umbrella stroller (the $100 job) and see if that is any option for us. Does anyone have any feedback on these? Any other strollers people would be able to suggest, would be great.

TIA :)

Hi - just wondering if you had any luck finding an umbrella stroller? I am looking for one too for a trip at Easter. It is so hard to decide!!
DH and I are also tall, so the handle height is important. Which Target one did you look at?
My list of potentials is:
Bruin Harper or Polo ($100 but can get for $70-80 on sale @ ToysRUS)
Holiday Layback stroller ($98 BigW)
Ignite stroller semi layback ($78 BigW - but I don't know what 'semi layback' means exactly - how far is semi, ha ha)


I have seen the Holiday one IRL and it seems pretty good, good handle length etc. But I would rather spend a bit less if I could, so am thinking about the Bruin ones - need to go see them IRL I think.

Hi Mrs P

After much research and speaking to people at various baby shops, I realised that an umbrella stroller was not really going to work for our tall and heavy DS. The backs of all of the strollers we viewed were far too short for DS (his head would extend way beyond it and hit the canopy). I also realised that even although some strollers state their weight limit as 17kgs, even at 15kgs, the wheels start taking strain and the ride is no longer smooth. Having said this, I wasn't looking at the very expensive McClarens etc, because it was not my intention to purchase yet another expensive pram for a little boy who is already walking!

In the end, we were advised to just stick with what we had (a Baby Jogger City Mini) as it is still quite compact, has a high back and has a 23kg weight limit.

So that probably doesn't help your cause because I know that the Joggers are priced higher than you intend spending. I just wanted to let you know that we didn't have much success in our search.

I hope you find something that works for you.

Thanks for the reply - it's quite funny but we have the City Mini too ha ha. Even though it folds up nicely I don't want to risk taking it on a plane - they just don't look after luggage and I don't want it to get damaged! Hence the search for an umbrella one to take away with us. I can't really justify spending a lot since we already have the City Mini - at this stage I'm thinking of checking out the Bruin ones, and if all else fails the Holiday stroller is alwasy $98 at BigW so no need to try and get it on sale etc. I think DH would prefer I got one of the real cheapie ones ($30) but they don't recline and as DD will be 8.5 months when we go away, I want a recline function!

Anyway, good luck with the arrival of #2! Which tandem prams are you looking at? I do like the look of the double city minis but oh so pricey. I got mine from the US, not sure I'd want to go through all that again but it does come out cheaper.

Just thought I would reply in case anyone reading this thread is interested in my final decision, ha ha.
Went to ToysRUs last night (without bub) and had a good look at their range. The two Bruin ones (Polo and Harper) were not suitable. Harper was hard to fold, Polo was a bit better, but they both only reclined very slightly and I was after a full recline.

So after looking at it for ages I decided on the Espirit Sun umbrella stroller - it's got full layback, folds fairly easily (does need two hands though), opens very easily and you can click the bit in the middle down with your foot rather than your hand, which I like, the brakes are linked so only have to flick one side not both, it's well padded, and it looks quite nice (red, not cheap looking). Oh and the handles were a great height for me and I am 180cm tall. I think it weighs 8kg which was fine for me. Currently on sale for $99 down from $159.

thia thread was soo useful - thank you! Mrs P, did you find the height of the esprit better than the height of the Holiday?

We don't have a toys r us in tassie, so will have to ask my sister to get the esprit in melbourne if it's better than the holiday

thanks!

I got two Maclarens off eBay.

One was $80 for a Triumph, and $130 for a Techno XT.

It is a must for me as I live upstairs in units.

shan2009 - to be honest I don't remember the handle height of the holiday, but I think the espirit would be taller as it is really quite tall (in comparison to most others anyway). It did really well on our trip at Easter and I am pleased with it :) Also whenever toysrus/babiesrus has a catalogue sale, they usually have a "20% off any full priced item" voucher for the babiesrus stores in the catalogue. So that would be handy if you wanted the Espirit and it wasn't on sale at the time. If your sister doesn't get the catalogue in the mail, they normally have copies in store, and you can view the catalogues online too.

ooooh thanks SO much for the advice that is brilliant. so i've seen that online, the esprit is already on sale at roughly $150. will you still get a further 20% off that do you think?

The 20% is only for full-priced items, so nope I don't think so.

Kmart have Mothercraft? umbrella strollers for $27 at the moment.

well that's fair enough they don't discount further!

thanks for the Kmart heads up, will go check out if it's tall enough!