double strollers...so going there.

It could be that we are but 5 short weeks away from meeting our son, but I've kicked it into seriously high gear with baby prepping.  There are a couple logistical aspects that have actually kept me up/woken me up at night.  The whole double stroller issue is one of them.  Of all things. 

Anyway.

We managed to get by with purchasing only one stroller for Clara - well - one REAL stroller...a jogging stroller (the Jeep Liberty to be exact).  It was our everything stroller.  (Believe it or not - the little plastic wheel and turn key toy thing on the tray were a HUGE hit for Clara - she still loves to "drive" the stroller!)  Once she was around a year we picked up a cheapy umbrella stroller for a few bucks and those two have done the job perfectly. 

We liked the idea of getting one double stroller if we could help it (they are so dang pricey...ugh.)  Thus began my obsession search.  I scoured the internet for reviews.  I asked nearly everyone I know with two babies what their double stroller situation was.  All of my research was very helpful.  Except, the one I fell in love with was way fat out of our price range.  Like...WAAAAY out of our price range. 

Things we wanted:
- a stroller that we could jog/walk/go on trails with (lock in place front wheel)
- take to the store/around town (swivel front wheel)
- take to the zoo, fair, Disney, parks (roomy and comfy for kiddos)
- side by side seats
- infant car seat compatible
- roomy under-seat bin (must. have. storage.)
- cup holder for mom/dad
- go through standard doorways
- not weight a bazillion pounds
- SUNSHADE (we are moving to Arizona after all.)
- seats that move individually from one another (so one kid can nap and the other sit up if needed.)
- $200 price range.  (Ha!  This was the funniest "want")

The one I fell in love with was the BOB Duallie with a swivel front wheel.  Great reviews on consumersearch.com (my fave go-to review site) and most of the reviews online loved it too.  But with a super heafty pricetag (of over $500!) for a basic stroller and the need to purchase additional features like a converter to secure an infant car seat into, a cup holder for mom/dad, and trays for the kiddos, we are talking around $650 - $700...which is hilarious.  There is always the possibility of finding one on Craigslist...but I've actually been scouring our local CL and the Rhode Island CL for the past 6 months or so and not a single BOB Dualie has come up for less than $450.  So.  Next.

I had a few friends who had the Baby Jogger CityMini Double - but every single one of them complained that the storage was basically non-existent.  Two of the moms told me they wished they didn't get it.  So we crossed that off the list (but it was by far the slimmest double stroller option and fits easily through standard doorways...a sweet feature.)  It is also rather pricey - typically over $450. 

Baby Trend Expedition

Baby Trend Navigator

I turned to Amazon - where there are hundreds of reviews for dozens of jogging strollers.  I started reading about the Baby Trend Expedition and the Navigator models.  The Navigator is basically the same as the Expedition, except there are two front swivel wheels (that lock into place for jogging/walking), double trays for the kiddos and are compatible with infant car seats (MAJOR plus for that!).  There are double cup holders for mom/dad, storage underneath the seats, dual ratcheting sunshades, and a couple other random features that I could care less about (like built in speakers for an mp3 player and such.)  Also...spot on price tag of around $229 at Babies R Us (around $399 on some Amazon sites).  Down side is that it's heavy (43 pounds!  ahhh!) and wide (32.5"!).  Many reviewers loved the product, and some hated it.  Great.  Mixed reviews are always awesome to sift through. 

We ended up going to Babies R Us and checking the thing out in person.  It was massive.  Very wide.  But I wanted side by side seating...so obviously it's going to be wide.  We put our infant car seat into it - and it actually LOCKED into place...thankfully (it is a Graco Snugride)...sat Clara in it and she begged us to take her for a walk.  We walked up and down a few aisles...smooth...took no effort to push...and she started crying when we took her out of it (kept begging for "more walk, more walk!")  It was super easy to fold up.  But it was heavy.  I didn't even try to lift it...but I could fold it easy as pie.  The sun shades were surprisingly awesome - they move anywhere you need them to...I liked that. 

We debated.  I made pro/con lists.  And in the end, we just don't have the money for a BOB.  And, I like a lot of the extra included features of the Navigator.  So we crossed our fingers that we were about to make a great purchase and went for it. 

We used a 20% coupon to Babies R Us and got the Baby Trend Navigator for around $180 - which made us happy.  But then we couldn't fit it into our Subaru Forester in the huge ass box it came in.  Murphy's law.  Tommy had to go back to the store later, after removing our car seat and folding down the back seat.  Not a great start to our stroller becoming a member of the family....but...we are still pretty jazzed about it.  Hope we can wheel it out the front door of our apartment...we'll find out once we put it together (we measured it...but we shall see).

I will keep you updated.  If it sucks I will be the first to tell you.  But I'm crossing my fingers it's the best thing ever!