Are Travel System Strollers Useful?
Long before Nick was even thought of I heard many of my friends voice their opinions on travel system strollers. Most of the comments I heard were not very favorable. Most agreed that they were big, bulky, and as a whole just weren’t easy to use. Still when it came time to choose my own stroller I found myself drawn to the travel systems.
Strollers and car seats are both expensive items. Financially getting a travel system is a much better deal than buying separately. That being said I still wanted a good stroller and a car seat that worked well and had a good safety rating. Finding all of those things in one travel system is not an easy task (especially when I wanted one that could be used for either gender). I was up to the challenge though. I got on the internet and spent many hours doing thorough research of the available travel systems.
After days of research I decided that the best travel system for us would be one made by Baby Trend. I ended up choosing the Baby Trend Venture LX Travel System Stroller – Monkey Around. Can I tell you how much I love this thing? I am beyond happy with the choice I made.
Car Seat
First let’s talk about the car seat. Baby Trend car seats tend to be a bit lighter which is very nice because once you add the baby (especially as they get bigger) you really don’t need any added plastic weight. Plus they have a triangle shape at the top of the handle which helps for lugging it around. Nick loved the car seat and was always very happy in it. The car seat can hold a child up to 30 inches or 30 pounds. Nick is just shy of being too long for it, so we did change to different car seats a few months ago. The car seat can be used with or without a base though, so we still use the car seat in Nana’s car. The Baby Trend Flex-Loc base can be a bit hard to install, but it’s nice to have. The travel system comes with one base. We also got an additional base for Jason’s car.
Stroller
I love this stroller. Nick and I take walks all the time and I can’t imagine having a better stroller. First it is great for storage. There is a huge basket and I can tell you that we have shoved a whole heck of a lot of stuff in that thing. It also has four cup holders (2 for the adult and 2 for the baby). Plus it has a little compartment on the top to hold small miscellaneous items. It’s not a tiny stroller, but I wouldn’t call it bulky. I can fit it in the trunk of my Fiesta, so I think that says a lot for size. It also isn’t too difficult to close and open up. It’s not easy to do one handed, but there have been many times when I’ve opened it with one hand while holding Nick with the other. Most importantly it is a nice smooth ride. Nick loves being in the stroller and has taken many a nap in it.
There are only two things that I don’t really like about the stroller. First the seat doesn’t lay flat. You can tip it back, but it doesn’t go all of the way down. Second I’m not a fan of the canopy cover. It is attached to the stroller, and doesn’t cover a lot of space. There are many times that I had wished that I could have maneuvered it more to get the sun out of Nick’s eyes. This isn’t a problem when you’re using the car seat with it since they both have a canopy. I also don’t like the peek-a-boo window in the canopy. You can’t see a lot through it, and there is no way to keep it open, so it’s always closing on you. I rarely even use it anymore because it just didn’t work for me.
I know there are a lot of travel system strollers that are big, bulky, and hard to use, but I am so glad that I decided to go with one. I love our travel system, and we have already gotten so much use out of it. Having a stroller that we could put the car seat on was wonderful for such a long time. As Nick got older I really liked that when we got to our destination I had the option of keeping him in the car seat and placing it on the stroller or just putting him in the stroller. It made for some much longer naps. I must say that I also love that I haven’t had to deal with looking for another stroller. I plan to use this one until it doesn’t work any more. The one thing I’m sad about though is that it is too large for us to take with us on our cruise this fall. It just won’t fit in the car along with all of our stuff, so we had to get a little umbrella stroller. Having that large basket would have really come in handy.
I read your post. it’s really so useful. Lifestyle should be considered by parents while choosing baby stroller. Make sure that you are finding the best products at affordable rates. This is very nice information and our child safety is very important. Thanks for sharing this post.