We want you to get the most out of this stroller buying guide, so please take the time to read this entire page so you’ll understand how to use the stroller features & car seat compatibility table – especially the powerful filter functions – to help you find the perfect stroller & car seat. First we’ll explain what information you can glean from each column – and then we’ll explain how to use the filters, features, and functions in the table.
Here’s a sample table with 9 strollers (the real table has 120+ strollers). Remember to scroll left in the table to see all the columns!
Click thepink column names below to understand more about each column.
This column will tell you how many kids the stroller accommodates. For the double & triple strollers, it will also tell you how the kids will be arranged – side-by-side (SBS) or front-to-back (FTB).
Single or Double… or both?
Some strollers are just single strollers – they’ll be marked with just a 1 in this kids column. And some are just doubles – and they’ll be marked with just a 2. But there are some strollers that can be either a single OR a double, and they’ll have a 1 and a 2 in the “kids” column.
Why would you want a stroller that can be a single or a double?
Let’s say you’re pregnant now with one baby and buy a single stroller, and then two years from now you get pregnant again – your stroller won’t be able to fit both kids. However, if you start out with a stroller that can take 1 or 2 kids, you’ll use it as a single with your first, and then turn it into a double when your second arrives, and then likely turn it back into a single when your oldest is too big for a stroller but your second still needs the stroller.
Let’s say you are pregnant with twins now and get a stroller that is only a double, and then three years from now get pregnant again with a singleton – your double stroller won’t work for just one baby (as it will look like you forgot one baby at home). However, if you buy a stroller that can be a single or double, you can use it now with twins, and later with a singleton.
A similar idea applies to the strollers that can take 2 or 3 kids – which allow you flexibility to accommodate changes in your family.
When choosing a double / triple stroller should I get a SBS or FTB?
That’s a very personal decision – some people prefer one kind more than another. SBS strollers will typically be wider than FTB strollers (with a few exceptions) – so make sure to measure the doorways you’ll be going through to make sure the stroller will fit. Most exterior doorways in new buildings are 36 inches, and interior doorways are 28-36 inches. If you will be going in older buildings make sure to check their doorways – including elevator door openings.
This column tells you how a newborn (or any baby who is not able to sit upright unsupported) can use the stroller.
Seat
Strollers with full reclines are most ideal since it’s best to limit the time a baby spends in the car seat. Those where the regular stroller seat offers a full recline for a newborn are indicated as “seat” in this column.
Bassinet
Strollers that offer a bassinet (either as standard equipment or as an optional separate purchase) are indicated in this column as well.
Bassinets are a short-term-use product, but many parents really enjoy the versatility they offer in those early months. When strolling, it is best for newborns to be laying flat, rather than sitting semi-upright in the car seat – and bassinets are a way for babies to lay flat while strolling. For the double & triple strollers, our table will tell you if they can take zero, 1, or 2 bassinets (none of the strollers in our database can take 3 bassinets).
Car Seat
Remember, all of the 110+ strollers in this database will take 1 car seat – which means they can all be used by at least 1 newborn. Of the double some will be able to take 2… and one can even take 3 car seats!
Pregnant with twins? You’ll love our table because the filters allow you to see only the doubles that take 2 car seats (since the majority of doubles only take 1 car seat).
While all 110+ strollers listed here can be used for newborns when a car seat is attached to the stroller,
For double & triple strollers, pay careful attention to whether the stroller offers these accommodations for one baby or 2 or 3. For example, there are 43 double strollers in our table – 23 of these can take 1 bassinet, but only 17 can take 2 bassinets. Another example is that of the 43 double strollers, only 27 can take 2 car seats (the other 16 can only take 1 car seat).
Reversible means you can change the direction the child faces – from facing out to facing you. This allows you to see and interact with your baby… or turn them facing out if they want a different view (or you just want to eat cookies without them knowing!).
With double & triple strollers, just because one seat is reversible does not mean the 2nd or 3rd seat is as well – but our table will tell you if 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the seats are reversible.
Some people like 3 wheel strollers, others prefer 4 wheel options – you can easily see how many wheels each stroller has.
AIR TIRES
Air filled tires (just like a bicycle tire) offer the easiest push for you, and smoothest ride for baby. You’ll really notice the difference in how much easier it is to push the stroller when going over bumps and non-paved surfaces – like cobblestones or hiking trails. All running strollers have air-filled tires… but not all strollers with air-filled tires can be used for running. This column will indicate if the air-filled tires can be used for running or not.
Solid wheels are cheap, lightweight, and can’t go flat – but also are the hardest for you to push and the least smooth for baby. Air-filled tires are on the other end of the spectrum, but carry the risk of the tire going flat (it’s rare, but does happen – and most strollers with air filled tires come with a pump). As a result, some of the higher-end strollers offer “never-flat” tires that use a foam-filled rubber to offer more cushion than solid wheels without the risk of a flat.
Because air-filled tires are typically heavier than solid wheels, you’ll need to make trade-offs when prioritizing push vs weight of the stroller.
For the jogging & running strollers, you’ll have 3 additional columns to indicate the size of the rear wheels, the size of the front wheel (all jog/run strollers have 3 wheels, not 4), and whether the front wheel has a lockable swivel (you need the front wheel locked for stability when walking fast, jogging or running – but want the front wheel to swivel when walking normally for manueverability).
We’ve listed the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. This is likely to be the highest price you’ll pay for the stroller. Some manufacturers tightly control the prices and you are unlikely to find them on sale, while others you may find a great deal. We’ll leave the bargain hunting to you!
Measure twice, cut once. This definitely applies with strollers – as you’d be surprised how many parents buy strollers only to find it doesn’t fit through their doorway, or through the elevator in their building, etc. A standard exterior doorway in a newer building is 36 inches – and interior doorways are typically 28-36 inches wide. Older buildings might throw a wrench in your plans for a wide stroller.
With some single strollers and many double strollers the width will be wider when a car seat is used (as the car seat sometimes overhangs beyond the sides of stroller’s frame) – so make sure to take that into account. The width listed in the table is for the stroller without car seat/s. For a stroller like the Bugaboo Donkey that can get wider or narrower, make sure you note carefully that there are 3 widths – mono mode, twin mode, and twin mode with car seats.
We found stroller manufacturers to often understate the weight of their strollers – so we took a luggage scale and have individually weighed more than 75 of the 110 strollers to give you an accurate weight.
When a stroller has a detachable seat, we’ve listed the frame weight separate from the entire weight (seat + frame).
When weighing the stroller, we left the wheels, canopy, and storage basket attached as we wanted you to know the real weight you’ll be lifting (we noticed that many stroller manufacturers cheat and take off basically everything that isn’t nailed down when stating their stroller weight so you’ll think its super light). We didn’t cheat the scale!
FRAME WEIGHT
For strollers with a detachable seat, we’ve given you the weight of the frame (without the seat attached). If there is no number in the frame weight column, it means that this stroller does not have a detachable seat.
Here’s why you’ll care about the frame weight. Let’s say you’re looking at 2 strollers and they both have an entire weight of 25 pounds… but one of the strollers has a detachable seat that weighs 10 pounds, so if you pick up the frame it is only 15 pounds. It’s much easier to lift 15 pounds + 10 pounds into your trunk rather than 25 pounds like you’ll need to do with the stroller that doesn’t have a detachable seat. This becomes more of an issue with double strollers – since seats typically weigh 7-10 pounds each.
For strollers with a detachable seat, you may find yourself using just the frame with your car seat on top as a “snap n’ go” alternative – so here the frame weight is the entire weight of your stroller when you use it with the car seat on top.
ENTIRE WEIGHT
For strollers that can convert between a single and a double, the entire weight is that of the stroller in single mode. For double mode, if you are adding a 2nd seat figure that you are adding about 7-10 pounds. We have listed the weight of the double for these stroller in the “fine print” area here.
For strollers that are just doubles, the weight listed is that of the stroller in double mode. For strollers that can convert between doubles and triples, the weight is that of the stroller in double mode (again, add about 7-10 pounds to get the triple weight).
For all strollers the maximum child weight is listed. If you have a big kid at home and are buying a double to use for this child + a new baby pay careful attention to the weight limit – as bigger toddlers will exceed the weight limit for quite a few of the double strollers.
A few double strollers don’t give a max weight per seat, but rather a max weight for the entire stroller. For example, the Mountain Buggy Duet allows a max combined weight of 79 pounds – so you could use it for 2 kids weighing 39 pounds, or one kid weighing 60 pounds and another weighing 19 and both would be acceptable.
For running strollers, we’ve added the maximum height of the child that is allowed – as exceeding the max height on a running stroller can make it unstable.
We don’t have a max height limit for non-running strollers as manufacturers don’t provide this and it is really tough to measure this. It is important to know that kids will often be too tall for some stroller seats – with their heads getting “stuck” in the canopy. A stroller with a removable canopy may extend the usability, but this won’t be very useful if you live somewhere sunny.
In the 8 car seat columns you’ll see whether the stroller is compatible with the car seats from the 8 manufacturers we’ve selected: Britax, Chicco, Cybex, Graco (includes Baby Jogger), Nuna, Peg Perego, and UPPAbaby.
In the car seat columns you’ll see a few options – Y, Y strap, L strap, MC, N. Here’s what these mean:
Y: This car seat will CLICK into the stroller. Typically you will need to buy adapters (sold separately for $30-50) to connect the car seat to the stroller. The adapter will almost always be made by the stroller manufacturer and designed to connect a particular car seat with a particular stroller of theirs. In some cases the car seat will click directly into the stroller without the need for any separate adapters.
Y strap:This car seat will STRAP onto the stroller. The strap is sometimes built directly into the stroller, but in other cases you must purchase a separate car seat adapter which will have a frame for the car seat to rest in and a strap to secure the car seat into the frame.
L strap: Some strollers have an adapter that is deemed a “universal” car seat adapter where the car seat rests on a platform and you strap the car seat down. In many cases the stroller manufacturer does not provide info on every specific car seat, but it is LIKELY that the car seat will STRAP onto this “universal” car seat adapter and fit properly.
MC:This car seat was designed to CLICK into a Maxi Cosi (MC) adapter. This stroller manufacturer has not tested this specific car seat on this specific stroller’s Maxi Cosi adapter. While this car seat will most likely click into the stroller’s Maxi Cosi adapter, we can not guarantee it – and encourage you to try before you buy.
Click thepink wordsbelow to learn more about each feature so you get the most from our tables. You can experiment with the sample table above (the one with the 10 strollers) to see how the table works.
You can hide or show columns by clicking on the “hide fields” at the top left. This is especially helpful since many of the tables are quite wide because we KNOW you want lots of info, which means lots of columns! So, you can narrow things by focusing on just a few columns at a time.
Realize before we start that filter, group, sort, and search all work on top of each other – meaning that if you have searched for “Bugaboo” and then filter for double strollers you will ONLY see Bugaboo double strollers – you will NOT see Bugaboo single strollers, and you will not see double strollers by other manufacturers.
Search
The search is really powerful – such that as you start typing it will show only the entries that contain (in any of the columns) the letters/words you have typed. For example, if your friend recommended a stroller but all you can remember is that it seemed to have “rev” somewhere in the name… just type in rev (like we’ve done here) and it will show you all the B.O.B. Revolution strollers, and the Stroll-Air Revu. The search works on top of any other filters you may have already applied, to further narrow your search.
There is a LOT you can do using filters, group & sort. Let’s walk through an example.
You are pregnant with twins. You want a double stroller that can take 2 car seats. Your doorway is
If your doorway is 27 inches wide, then make sure you fill in 26.9 in the “to” box in the width column.
Additional considerations when choosing a stroller
Keep in mind that many (truthfully, most) people end up with more than 1 stroller because there is no perfect stroller for all situations.
Will it fit through your front door/hallway/elevator? Measure twice, and buy once would be a good rule of thumb here! Many grocery stores in urban areas have super narrow aisles, so don’t forget to consider all the places you may want this stroller to go.
Will it fit in the trunk of your car? If the answer is no, that may be OK as some parents choose a stroller that is their walk-around-the-neighborhood stroller that has large wheels for a super smooth ride, but choose a more compact option for tossing in the trunk and using at the mall, grocery store, etc. And just because a stroller fits in the trunk, doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to physically lift & manuever it in and out each time – so try before you buy! Last, if you have a minivan or SUV and someone is going to sit in the 3rd row, make sure that your stroller fits BEHIND the 3rd row… it is NOT safe to have someone ride in one half of the 3rd row and have the other half folded down for strollers, groceries, etc – as the person in back is now in essence riding in the trunk and all the stuff can fly on top of them in a crash.
How easily does it fold? Don’t just pay attention to the fold, pay attention to how many things you can leave on – or need to take off – in order to fold it. For example, some strollers require you to remove the seat in order to fold the stroller, which adds an extra step. When using a car seat on the stroller, sometimes you have to remove the adapters from the stroller (and make sure not to lose them) and then can fold the stroller – while others allow the adapters to stay on.
How easily does it push? A single handle bar will allow for a one handed push, while two separate handle bars will require both hands to push. An empty stroller on a smooth floor will push like a dream – so you want to put weight in the stroller and try pushing it outside on a bumpy sidewalk (or grass or sand if you’ll be “off-roading” with your stroller) to see what it will really be like.
How large is the basket, and how easy is it to access the basket – particularly if the child is sleeping in the stroller (i.e. the stroller seat is reclined back)? If you plan to walk to the grocery store and carry your groceries home, you’ll need a large basket. If you pack a diaper bag the size of a suitcase… you’ll need a large basket. If you’re a minimalist when it comes to the diaper bag or you get all your groceries delivered, you won’t need that large of a basket. In some of the FTB double strollers, using the 2nd seat will often obliterate most of your basket since the child will be putting their feet in the basket.
Is the handle bar height adjustable?
What type of tires are available – and will they match the terrain you’ll be going on (and the maintenance level you are willing to tolerate)?
Copyright 2017 The Car Seat Lady LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Do NOT copy, share, or reproduce any information, text, or images from this page or others in our car seat/stroller buying guide without our written permission.
The Car Seat Lady is not responsible for errors or omissions. We’ve tried VERY hard to ensure 100% accuracy… but we’re human, and car seat and stroller manufacturers are constantly making changes!
This information is applicable to the car seats as sold in the US. Car seats listed above with similar or identical names may be sold in other countries but are NOT the same seat.
