The Gluten Bigot: #NewYorkerProblems - A Tale of Buying a Stroller for the City

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

#NewYorkerProblems - A Tale of Buying a Stroller for the City

This started months ago. Months.

One of the main pieces of equipment you buy when you're pregnant is a stroller. Since we are moving after Bricklet arrives, it was actually the primary item we were tasked to buy. Like a good overanalyst I started off with research. Reviews. Blogs. Forums. This list goes on.

Originally, I thought we would be buying one of the full sized models luxury models - the Uppababy Vista, Bugaboo Cameleon 3, and Stokke Xplory were my top picks. We went to BuyBuyBaby. Tried them out. Talked to staff. Researched. Watched YouTube videos. Everything. These all have a huge advantage - they scale really well. You can add a second seat or riding board so when you have your second kid you don't need to invest in a new strollers.

However, these are all multi-piece and all are quite heavy. Fine for when you're in an elevator building in Manhattan and need something to cruise around your neightborhood in. But, when we really talked about it we decided to purchase something oriented to our current needs and travels a bit easier for those times that we take the subway, etc. 

We (and by we I really mean I) refocused and started looking at the single piece options from these brands - the UppaBaby Cruz, Bugaboo Bee, and Stokke Scoot. Also added on to the list after a couple of recommendations was the Baby Jogger City Mini. Last week I decided we really needed to make a call - and it needed to be based on practical applications. We discussed known and potential use cases. From there we established requirements (must haves and nice to haves). Below I will note what I liked/didn't like about our top four. 

UppaBaby Cruz: A few weeks ago I thought this would be the one we would buy. It is a good size, has a good storage basket, reversible seat, peekaboo window, awesome canopy, bassinet option, high seat, and is pretty. It ended up being immediately disqualified for not meeting two must haves: it is heavy (22 lbs), and did not have a single hand fold. 

Stokke Scoot: The prettiest option! I love the look of this stroller, the high seat, the peekabook window, storage basket, compact while open, and color range. We thought it 'drove' the nicest. It was the second most expensive option with the least number of accessory options. It was the heaviest (26.5 lbs) and although it has a one hand fold, it's not an easy one hand fold - I have to put my weight into it. Those two things should have disqualified it, but I couldn't let go of having it as an option so I kept it on the table.

City Mini: From a functionality perspective, my husbands favorite. The easiest fold, the lightest weight (16.5 lbs), it also has an awesome canopy. While it does not have a reversible seat and infant friendly off the shelf, you can get a car seat mount so your little one can ride in it from birth and face you using a car seat. It was the bulkiest option, only has three wheels, and is not pretty. It is also the cheapest option

Bugaboo Bee: Most strollers I saw when I was in London were Bugaboo, including countless Bees. It is lightweight (18.5 lbs), has an easy one hand fold, is pretty and has lots of accessory options, reversible seat with four recline positions, would be easy to carry when folded as you can technically put it over your should (awesome for ascending / descending train stairs), and was the most compact folded. The only thing it did not have was a peekaboo window and the seat is low. It was the most expensive option. Buying on specs/requirements, this was the easy choice.

We took our fourth trip to BuyBuyBaby to make our decision. I was pretty sure we would end up with the Bee. I liked it enough, it was easy to handle, etc. We went on a weekday so it was actually quiet enough that we could line up our three options and compared everything. Actually, my husband had the Bee and City Mini and I brought the Scoot over to include. We looked at the size. Handling. Agility. Open and close. Breaking. Looks. Sturdiness. Everything. We negotiated -  'how important is that really!?" I didn't think he was really considering the Scoot, and that made me really sad which made me realize how much I really wanted it And in a karmatic alignment, I realized something. One color option was an offer. Really good offer. We asked why and found out it was just the color option (dark navy, it looks black) was being discontinued. To me, this lowered the risk of choosing it. We put it on hold to buy us a day to make our final decision.

The hardest thing about making a decision was all the unknowns and wildcards. We are fairly certain we will live on the UWS next. But we don't know if we will be in an elevator building or walk up. We know that we venture to different neighborhoods about one day each weekend or every other weekend, but don't know how much we will with Bricklet, especially when he's an infant. 

Based on everything, we made the decision to get the Stokke Scoot - we like the look the best, and it really did handle the best we though. My husband did tie a caveat to it that if it's a big pain in the ass due to the folding or weight that he will sell it and we will get one of the other options. In our current building and right away we are confident it will work, it's the longevity that's in question. It being on offer created a greater risk tolerance. We both preferred another color (the black melange is seriously gorgeous), but the cost differential vs. how much we cared about the color. 

I'm really happy we got it, I think it's lovely and I hope it suits our needs beyond the 3 months we know we will be in our current building with Bricklet. And I'm majorly relieved that we can stop stroller shopping! 

Now to buy the infant bag and car seat and adapter to go with it! 


7 comments :

  1. So are u still happy with the stokke scoot? I ask because I'm torn btwn this and the Bugaboo bee!

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  2. Same here. Please let me know if you ended up keeping the stokke scoot. We are debating between the bugaboo bee3 and stokke scoot v2.

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  3. I am super happy with my Stokke Scoot. It's not infrequent that I turn to my husband to note that I'm so happy we went with it. It handles amazingly, the understorage is great (and honestly sucked on the Bugaboo Bee), I find the higher seat position handy, and it does look really nice.

    My only annoyance is the canopy mechanism is broken on one side - we keep having to pop it back in but the last time it's not going back into place easily.

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    1. Good to hear! I purchased the Stokke Scoot just a few weeks ago, still in the box and wasn't rushing to unpack it since I'm still 4 months away from my due date. I'm a first time mom and never thought I'd obsess over strollers. Like you, I've done the research, gone to the store, stopped parents at the parks, and had endless browsing online.. and as you can see, even after purchasing the Stokke I'm still reading up on reviews (it's how I found your post) LOL! I'm actually researching jogging strollers this morning since I learned, in the most stubborn way, that I couldn't have an all in one jogger. And as a little break I thought I'd read up more about the Stokke Scoot and that's how I found you. To read about your experience gives me more confidence that I made the right choice with the Stokke Scoot as my daily, compact, and travel friendly stroller. however, I am still worried about that 20+lbs weight because I'm petite and always on the go. I know I'll be "scooting" around town with it and the in and out from the car with a heavier than average stroller can put a toll on me. But I'll look at it as motivation to lift weights and be stronger. haha I also love how you compared it with the Citymini and the Bugaboo, same brands I've compared it to. Oh yes and the orbit baby too was another on my list, but those are just too big and I refuse to pay oodles more for all the add ons. Anyway, I just wanna express how enjoyable it was to read your review. I look forward to getting lots of use from my Stokke Scoot. And now, back to my new obsession, a jogging stroller. :=)

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