In my earlier post, I talked about prebaby ambitions and goals. One of our loftier goals is to avoid Chinese made products. This is so much easier said than done. Even the fancy European brands that were made in Europe when my sister (age 9) was a baby are outsourcing to China. This is also a tough goal if your friends and family do not know about your decision. We have been given so many Chinese made toys and we don't want to be "those people." So usually when such a toy is given to us, we do the research on the company and their practices and make our decision from there.
Eventually keeping our goal with toys became close to impossible, and while we are still very aware of the toys we buy, we decided to focus more on big purchases, ie ones that cost more than $100.
First came the stroller search. My husband and I spent 3 hours at this store. We could literally be seen in the parking lot pushing around strollers as my husband got his engineer on, examining the mechanics of each and every one. This store carries every European designed stroller on the market, and we had a blast choosing one. We were surprised to learn, however, that several of the strollers that we were considering were made in China. Suddenly that $800 price tag no longer radiated of European luxury, but of robbery.
Eventually we decided on the Italian made Inglesina Zippy stroller, which I adore. The Inglesina is sturdy and reliable and I like the one handed close. Another cool bonus is that the seat converts to a flat enough back for an infant. I also like that we were able to have an awesome European stroller that was within our price range.
The Postitives:
Compact fold (excellent for city dwellers)
One handed fold, I can hold my son and collapse the stroller while getting onto the Subway
Can be used beginning in infancy without a carseat
Fabric easily wipes clean
Large storage space
Convenient magnetic pocket on visor
The visor can move all the way down to your child's feet so baby stays dry if it rains
The wheels are easily manuevered
Comes with a muff at no extra cost
At $400 it is a "steal" with most European "designed" strollers (ie made in China) costing much more
Despite weighing only 17 lbs (!!!) it is very durable
Made in Italy (if that matters to you)
The Negatives
The lower basket can only be accessed from the front and sides
It takes a few days to figure out how the visor works and how to collapse the stroller with the visor on
The cupholder is a joke
At $400, it is one of the more expensive strollers on the market
As you can see, the positives far outweight the negatives. I seriously had to sit down and think about the negatives for awhile. If you are really stuck on what kind of stroller to get, I highly reccommend this one.
