Picking the Best Stroller
Choosing the perfect stroller is a tough job. For Dads, purchasing anything
with wheels becomes a serious consideration. I've done my fair share of
research on my own: specs provided by the manufacturers, product reviews by
the sellers, and reviews from the users. There are so many good choices to
consider. A recommendation that stuck with me when buying any of the baby
products was "Think of what you need now, not what you want your life to look
like."
Things do change when the baby comes home, but your preferences will most
likely not vary too much. For example, you are not going to jog outdoors
pushing the stroller every day if you are not a regular jogger. Of course,
you'd like your child to experience outdoors more, but is it going to be a
challenge for you? Then you'd be better off looking at other options.
After a long period of consideration, we picked the Nuna MixxNext
stroller. It best suited our lifestyle and it looked really luxurious.
In this blog post, I will introduce you to my thought process in picking
this handsome stroller for my baby girl.
Expectations
When choosing a stroller, the first thing to consider is your
lifestyle. I do workout from time to time, but mostly at the gym
within the apartment complex. I liked to take a walk outside, just not every
day. The neighborhood doesn't have the fairest pavement on the sidewalk. So,
I wanted the one with bigger wheels and a good suspension. We
live on the second floor of an apartment without an elevator. I would've
liked a lighter option, but bigger wheels and weight always go
together. It was a fair trade-off. Knowing us, we are not the most prudent
people on the planet, we sure needed the stroller to be
durable.
We can manage the weight. Figure out a way to avoid heavy lifting on my
wife's weakened wrist. But we definitely wanted a premium design and
safe materials for the spots where the baby will be
touching.
Candidates
The market is flooded with awesome strollers. First time at Buy Buy Baby
(Rest in Paradise), we were struck by how many strollers exist and they
don't even carry all lineups per brand! A simple Google search will return
all these names and plus:
- Doona
- Uppababy Vista, Cruz
- Mockingbirds
- Graco
- Bugaboo Donkey, Butterfly, Fox5
- Nuna MixxNext, triv, trvl, tavo, demi grow
- Babyzen Yoyo
- Joolz
- Baby Jogger
- Thule
- Cybex
I categorized and ruled out the smaller ones and stuck with the "Deluxe"
size, infant strollers. They are the ones with big wheels, great
suspension, and a lot of safety features. I narrowed the list down to
Bugaboo, Uppababy, and Nuna. The signature lines all have competitive
prices and great features.
How I tested them
Buy Buy Baby, unfortunately, didn't carry Nuna strollers at the time.
Nordstrom carried all three brands and their stock came in and out. Visiting
multiple times over a month, I got to test most models. I was focused on the
Deluxe line: Mixx Next (Nuna), Fox 5 (Bugaboo), and Vista V2 (Uppababy). I
also tested the lighter models and double strollers (for 2 kids), but we
looked into what we actually need now.
I compared the weight, push-feel, stability, durability, and design all
based on my own judgment of the physical product. Bold is the winner.
- Weight: Bugaboo < Nuna < Uppababy
- Push Feel (Smoothness): Bugaboo < Uppababy < Nuna
- Stability: Bugaboo < Uppababy < Nuna
- Durability: Bugaboo < Nuna < Uppababy
- Design: Bugaboo < Uppababy < Nuna
Nuna Mixx Next wins.
Special Edition
While researching Nuna Strollers online, I found out that Nuna has a wide
range of color options and a few exclusive colors: Nordstrom and Pottery
Barn Kids collaborations. When I visited Nordstrom, they were cleaning out
the "Refined" color inventory and told us there was a new color coming in a
month. When we were actually about to purchase, the new color "Curated" came
out with light beige with a hint of gray. Any uniqueness added to the
premium-looking stroller was a huge plus.
Available Accessories
Nuna has quite a bit of accessories: a Cup holder, sling bag, rain cover,
wheeled padded travel bag, child tray, and organic cotton infant insert
set. None is included in the purchase of a stroller. We decided to
find better-priced products from Amazon.
Conclusion
I spend a lot of my break time looking into strollers. At first, I had to
learn new vocabulary words. The more I learned, I could see why people
recommend certain products over others. And as I understood more, it became
more fun to compare and find the best match. The key, as mentioned in the
beginning, is not to over think how your life will change when the baby
comes. Most of it stays the same. Find a stroller that suits your lifestyle
the best.