What do you use your umbrella/lightweight stroller for?

[purplepenguin7]

I’ve been wanting to buy a lightweight stroller for a few months, mostly decided on the Zoe XL1. I was hoping they’d have a better Black Friday sale than they do so I’m still waffling on the purchase. I showed my husband and he was like “but why do we need it?” and I couldn’t come up with any compelling reasons why. We don’t really travel and tend to carry a ton of stuff when we go out so our big travel system stroller seems to fit our lifestyle just fine (Chico bravo LE) but I still feel like we should have one. So tell me, what are the pros to having a smaller compact stroller?

[hamster]

I use ours when I'll be indoors or dont want to shlep the Bob. Honestly I've probably used it less than a half a dozen times. It's nice when I need it, and I'd purchase again, but I wouldnt spend much money on one.

[pooh8402]

I have a true umbrella stroller that I got at a church "garage sale" 2 years ago, I used it maybe once. It was probably $15? We do use the Chicco Liteway Plus pretty frequently (it lives in my car), which is midway between a true umbrella and a full size stroller. I've used it for travel, for shopping, things like that.

I have a full size jogging stroller (Chicco Activ3) that I like for any time I need to go off smooth sidewalks.

Your Bravo is not much bigger than my Liteway, so I would just stick with that if you're happy with it.

[mccallister84]

We use the double umberella way more than we ever used the single - in fact we never used our true double stroller - it was just too big and bulky and DD2 had torticollis so I just wore her.

The only time we used the single umberella was when I took DD1 on a trip to NYC where we took the train and subway. Ours was handed down to us.

[purplepenguin7]

Nov 30, 2019 10:44:16 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I swapped out my Bugaboo for a City Mini after six months because it was less cumbersome. I could push it and close it with one hand and it folded in one piece, rather than two like the travel system.

But we never got anything lighter than that.

I’m not sure how old your baby is, but if you can’t think of a reason to replace your stroller, maybe you don’t need to yet ...

Sorry forgot to mention, my daughter is almost 14 months. I do love the idea of something less cumbersome and takes up less trunk space but appreciate all the response. I think we will hold off for now and wait until there is more of a “need” for it.

[gigem]

We barely use ours now our youngest is 16mo we have a tri-fold (MB Nano) which is not sturdy enough for everyday walking (we live in Paris). It was a great stroller when we were traveling a ton by plane, it was our airport stroller (I mostly traveled alone and intercontinental with 2 babies/kids).

We use our travel system type stroller for everyday because I need to be able to transport the big kids’ backpacks or groceries and need bigger/sturdier tires for lots of walking.

[gastro]

I got an uppababy glux over eight years ago with DS1. Once DS1 outgrew the infant seat I used it far more often than our travel system stroller. When DS2 was about 9 months I started using it regularly as he sat in it when he had to hang out at DS1's swim lessons etc. It's in the basement but DD1 is six months now so I'm sure I'll be pulling it out soon. We also travel with the umbrella stroller when we haven't needed to check a car seat.
My kids are each four years apart so the older child is way past stroller age when the toddler is using the umbrella stroller.

[cricketwife]

For both kids, I went from the Chico caddy to an umbrella ( well, actually with DS1, I tried a couple bigger strollers in between, briefly). Our umbrella is our only stroller. I think stoller use varies so widely from family to family. I rarely use a stroller so when I do, an umbrella is perfect. I consider it more of a “do I really need two strollers” kind of question, than a “do I need an umbrella .” For us, one stroller is all we need.

[jordylee]

We only use ours for air travel. I don’t think it’s worth much investment for how little we use it, but it has been a “nice to have”.

[pinkpeony08]

We mostly used it for travel - air or driving to somewhere for the weekend and needed a stroller that took up less car space. I got mine free from another mom who was done with it.

[isabel]

We don't have one and I have had the same conversation with myself about wanting one vs. wondering what we'd use it for. We don't do air travel with a stroller because I don't want to have to move it around, gate check it, etc. My kids are 2 and 4 and can walk through the airport just fine. If we're taking a walk somewhere, it's not really any more effort to pull out the CityMini, and if we're driving somewhere and need the stroller, we will need the double since we have two kids. I just never found a good reason to purchase one and I honestly don't think we've missed out by not having one.

At 2 and 4, I would say we use our stroller maybe 5 times a year now. They're both pretty self-sufficient. I pulled it out at one point this summer for something and we'll use it next weekend when we go downtown for a holiday parade. But that means we've used it basically twice in the last 6 months.

[janegold]

We use it mostly for travel, which is fairly regularly. I also keep it in the car in case we need it when we are out, and it fits in the foot space in front of the car seat (rather than take up our entire cargo space like our Uppababy Vista does).

[noodleoo]

I bought a nicer umbrella stroller (Inglesina Net) when DD1 turned 1 and it became my daily stroller pretty fast. My big stroller is an UB Cruz and while I loved it, it took up too much of my trunk and was annoying for our daily use. We still use it for any bigger trips where we will be doing a lot of walking (zoo, going into the city, etc), but my everyday stuff wass like shopping, library, etc where I didn’t need a full size stroller. When we had DD2, we tried the UB Minu in store and I fell in love and splurged on that. I love it so freaking much. It’s basically as nice as my Cruz but since it is a trifold, it doesn’t take up my whole trunk like the Cruz did. It’s super light to carry and fits in the overhead on the plane. We took it on vacation and it was awesome. I wish they had it when DD1 was born because w could have skipped the Cruz altogether. I agree with PP though, stroller use is very personal. My kids are 4.5 and 1 and I use a lightweight stroller a lot.

[jeaniebueller]

We had a Maclaren and used it for everything from age 1 on up.

[clseale]

We have the Mountain Buggy Nano and I like it as an option. We use it for travel (it can fit in the overhead) and I use it a lot at the zoo or anywhere that might be crowded. It lives in my car. Our other stroller (BOB) is too big for any of the above situations. Although i will say that in general, I don’t use any stroller as much as I thought I would.

ETA: When looking at types, I hated true umbrella strollers. They really weren’t that much of a space saver. I love the tri-fold designs.

[joy]

We have a Cosco stroller for taking on the bus or to crowded places (baseball games, festivals). Our main stroller is the City Mini.

Our entire life is walking. If it wasn’t? I would probably only have a lightweight stroller.

[tiki]

We have a gb pockit and a City Mini GT. The GT is our workhorse, taking our now-27 mo old to daycare and back every day for the last year and a half. The pockit we have mostly used when we weren't sure we actually wanted to have a stroller, for air travel, or when we knew there wouldn't be much space at a crowded restaurant or event. It was also small enough for me to carry in a large shoulder bag when I had a 15 mo old who was soooo sure she wanted to walk to daycare but could only actually handle about 50 yards.

[dreamcrisp1]

I’m getting the bugaboo ant but it’ll be for travel which we do a lot of. Other than that it wouldn’t work as our daily stroller in our city I don’t think. So unless you’re travelling a lot I don’t think it’s necessary.

[mskitkat]

I have a Recaro EasyLife stroller. I love it, and once DD2 is big enough, we’ll use it as our main stroller. My city’s historic square is about a mile from my house, so we walk up to go out to dinner/shop/get ice cream. The lightweight stroller folds up to fit under a restaurant table. It also can fit in airplane overhead bins. I honestly resent having to use our heavy duty stroller while DD2 is tiny.

[aprilsails]

We bought a Maclaren used for travel when DD was 6 months. Starting at 14 months it became our only stroller since we lent our whole travel system to my nephew when he was born. I wouldn’t pay much for one honestly. I would take the time to look for a good used option sibce you have no pressing need.

[ellipses84]

Once my kids were out of the infant car seat, all we used was a heavy duty style umbrella stroller (larger wheels, reclining, basket underneath). We travel a lot though and often have a car full if people so cargo space in our SUV can be limited. It’s nice to always have it in the car in case we need it. Also, I’m down to just carrying a mid-size purse for kid snacks, etc. but we still use the stroller fairly often.

[gt7301b]

We use ours for sporting events where the little guy refuses to walk the entire distance to the event and we want something that will fit under the seat.

I bought one off FB Buy/Sell group for ~$10. Our everyday stroller is a City mini and I prefer it to the umbrella 90% off the time.

[mmmomof2]

We used our larger strollers (Indie Bumbleride or Double Bob) 99% of the time. The Maclaren was nice when my mom babysat though because the Bumbleride was too heavy for her to fold and unfold.

[hermione]

Once my daughter turned 2, I used out G-Luxe almost exclusively. Lightweight, easy to maneuver...just easier IMO.

[sloan]

I bought a lightweight stroller on consignment for like $25, and since DS hit about 1 it’s been my primary stroller. I’ll break out the click connect Graco (similar size to the Bravo) for bigger trips since it lays back almost flat and he could fall asleep in it and the canopy is way better, but my little one takes up way less room in the trunk and is easier to maneuver into smaller spaces. Once DS was consistently being transferred to a high chair when we go out, and not spending much time in the stroller itself, smaller was better.

I still wouldn’t spend a bunch on one though. I don’t really NEED it and could always use my larger stroller, but for a modest price it’s convenient to have a smaller option.

[Deleted]

We have an Uppababy Cruz (the smaller version of the Vista that can’t be converted to a double). We borrowed an umbrella stroller for a plane trip, but otherwise, we’ve never used one. And our daughter is almost 2.5. If we traveled a lot, I’d want to get something like the Uppababy Minu or the Mountain Buggy Nano because they are lightweight and can fit in an overhead compartment. But we don’t travel much I prefer the features of the Cruz for neighborhood walks and the zoo and all that stuff. Our sidewalks are full of cracks and bumpy seams, and I don’t think most umbrella strollers would be particularly graceful to use.

[brooklyn]

I use ours (contours bitsy) for travel, going out to eat, and when I know I’m going to be in stores with small aisles. I tried to take my full sized Vista to West Elm the other day and couldn’t navigate it through the small pathways between furniture.

I also use it when I know we’re going to be traveling via public transportation, since strollers need to be folded up small on busses, and I can’t carry my Vista up and down staircases.