Carey Frennier
Well-Known Member
What should I be looking for? My wife and I are buying new vehicles this month and we want to make sure a stroller and a car seat will fit in them no problem. We're not pregnant yet but we are planning ahead.
Good, Budget Friendly Car Seat/ Stroller Unit?
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Thomas Rogers
Well-Known Member
Has been 9 years since we needed that, and about 17 since we purchased anything new in that area, so I doubt our experiences with specific brands can help much.
However, I have some general recommendations:
One recommendation is to steer clear of the combo units that are stroller and car seat all in one (where the car seat is the seat in the stroller and detaches). Also, steer clear of the car seats that have a detachable base and you can carry the infant around in the carrier. They seem like a space safer and a convenience, but they are a little more complex than having seperate/dedicated units, and often your child outgrows them quickly...and they are often more costly than purchasing seperate/dedicated units.
So, I recommend getting a good car seat, and get a good stroller, seperately.
Also, I recommend that you install the carseat semi-permanantly; meaning that you don't plan on taking it in and out all the time as some think they will. That's just a headache. Lastly, put a mat beneath it, especially if you have leather seats. But make sure the mat doesn't compromise the secure installation. I suggest the mat because you'll be amazed how much crap accumulates around the kid and the wear that the car seat can generate.
There are lots of good, one-hand collapsable strollers out there. Graco was the Cadillac at one time, but who knows now. Get big wheels, lots of pockets, and a rain/wind cover.
Good luck...
TJR
However, I have some general recommendations:
One recommendation is to steer clear of the combo units that are stroller and car seat all in one (where the car seat is the seat in the stroller and detaches). Also, steer clear of the car seats that have a detachable base and you can carry the infant around in the carrier. They seem like a space safer and a convenience, but they are a little more complex than having seperate/dedicated units, and often your child outgrows them quickly...and they are often more costly than purchasing seperate/dedicated units.
So, I recommend getting a good car seat, and get a good stroller, seperately.
Also, I recommend that you install the carseat semi-permanantly; meaning that you don't plan on taking it in and out all the time as some think they will. That's just a headache. Lastly, put a mat beneath it, especially if you have leather seats. But make sure the mat doesn't compromise the secure installation. I suggest the mat because you'll be amazed how much crap accumulates around the kid and the wear that the car seat can generate.
There are lots of good, one-hand collapsable strollers out there. Graco was the Cadillac at one time, but who knows now. Get big wheels, lots of pockets, and a rain/wind cover.
Good luck...
TJR
Andy Chase
Well-Known Member
We have a Graco DuoGlider I think. For our newborn carseat, we had the detachable base (I believe that's all we saw for sale nowadays, I could be wrong I guess). But with the detachable base, the carseat will clip into a shopping cart when you are at the store and will fit securely into some of the strollers. Ours is a double stoller and the carseat we had fit in the back seat and our oldest sat in the front. Now they fight over who sits in the back because it lays down. It also does fold down ok (for being a double) and has lots of storage below. For the carseat though, safety is the number 1 concern!
Jacob Dryer
Well-Known Member
We have all graco stuff too. I believe our stroller is the duoglide also, the reason for us was twins of course though. So we bought 2 of the car seats with detachable bases and 2 extra bases so we could swap in and out of our vehicles depending on what was going on. Since my wife drives the van (better mileage) and I work from home and didn't want to be stranded if I wanted to go somewhere and she had the car seats. The snap in/out seats also snapped into the stroller so there was no need to wake a sleeping baby to move them into the stroller. (big bonus in my book)
Moving the seats from one vehicle to the other isn't a big deal but it's about 10 mins per seat by the time you get it out and into the other vehicle. Our kids stayed in those seats until they were 14 months. We then had to switch them to new seats because apparently there are no seats with detachable bases that face forward, and they were too tall to sit rear facing anymore.
Now we have forward facing big graco seats that are convertible into booster seats and such. But any time we decide to take the van somewhere I have to move both seats which is kind of a pain.
I don't think graco is necessarily budget friendly, but in our case they were the right price with the features we wanted. My wife did all the research, she said you can defiantly spend a lot more than graco, but that graco was kind of high middle end.
Moving the seats from one vehicle to the other isn't a big deal but it's about 10 mins per seat by the time you get it out and into the other vehicle. Our kids stayed in those seats until they were 14 months. We then had to switch them to new seats because apparently there are no seats with detachable bases that face forward, and they were too tall to sit rear facing anymore.
Now we have forward facing big graco seats that are convertible into booster seats and such. But any time we decide to take the van somewhere I have to move both seats which is kind of a pain.
I don't think graco is necessarily budget friendly, but in our case they were the right price with the features we wanted. My wife did all the research, she said you can defiantly spend a lot more than graco, but that graco was kind of high middle end.
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James Kerr
Active Member
As far as strollers go, my favorite are Combi strollers. They are small, lightweight and you can lay the back down flat so the kid can sleep comfy. They are tough, ours has been to europe and soouith america and has been through two kids. We also have a peg perego and I dont like it, too big too heavy. Combi makes car seats that you can remove from the car and place in their strollers also.
George C
Well-Known Member
You are going to get many different opinions but my favorite is the Graco Snugride infant seat and the Graco Snugrider infant car seat frame stroller.
You install the base of the infant seat permanently into the vehicle using a seatbelt or LATCH system on the new car. Then the seat iself just snaps into the base. When the baby sleeps or you need to move him just pull the seat out and carry him. The seat then will snap into the stroller and you are off.
They also make a swing frame where you can snap the seat into for inside the house, all without disturbing the baby. Very easy and compact. Check the seat and stroller out at Babies R Us and the swing "snugglider" online. We use them with my 3 month old and they are excellent!
George
You install the base of the infant seat permanently into the vehicle using a seatbelt or LATCH system on the new car. Then the seat iself just snaps into the base. When the baby sleeps or you need to move him just pull the seat out and carry him. The seat then will snap into the stroller and you are off.
They also make a swing frame where you can snap the seat into for inside the house, all without disturbing the baby. Very easy and compact. Check the seat and stroller out at Babies R Us and the swing "snugglider" online. We use them with my 3 month old and they are excellent!
George
