strollers......?

DH and I are at Babies R Us and are looking to get a double stroller. Any parents out here have any suggestions regarding that. It's a toss up between the Kolcraft Contour and Graco (Duorider). We will be reusing a Graco Snugride and we will buy another one (once we find out about the sex of the twins). Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.......

 

My best friend bought and loves her Bumbleride. A bit pricey, but that is what I think I will be getting. I haven't physically looked at them yet (too scared to tempt fate), but I don't think they work with baby seats though...hmmmmm...that might be an issue for us. I can't wait to see what others recommend!! Before I knew it was twins, I was going to buy the Quinny, but they don't make twin versions of that...

 

I really liked the contour but it is really heavy. My MIL will be watching them occasionally and she is a little lady and wouldn't be able to manage the weight of the stroller well. I can't remember the brand or name of the one we are getting but it is the stroller that just is a frame and you attach your car seats to it. When the babies get big enough we will have to find a different double stroller but I think it will be a good light weight start for us anyway.

 

Something to think about, on your carseats. We are in the same situation you are, we already had one Snugride and needed another. A friend of ours gave us the one from her daughter who was just put into a convertible carseat. Anyways, we need gender specific covers. I found out that if you call Graco customer service you can buy new covers for $20 per carseat. I think that includes the padding and canopy.

Just an interesting tidbit.

I have no experience on the strollers, we are looking at the sit n stand deluxe. It's kind of heavy, but it can accomodate two carseats.

 

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2958408
I think we are going with a Snap and Go as well where it is just the frame and you attach infant car seats, it seems the easiest to deal with when they are little - no moving sleeping babies and it only takes a second to get them both ready to roll! I don't know yet what we will use when they outgrow the infant seats, still investigating

 

I had the Graco duo-whatever with my girls (22 months apart) and hated it. You can get a years use out of it. Then the babies will be to heavy for that stroller to handle easily. It's great if you're not going to use it anywhere else (for that year) than the mall. Does it snow where you live? Then it's gonna suck.

This time I'm getting the Valco stroller after having done the research. It was a choice between the bob and valco.

I bought the graco by just going to the BabiesRus and choosing at the store. That was a mistake. I should have researched online first.

 

I had the Graco duoglider and used it until my twins were over 3 years old. :good: It was great to just snap the infant carriers in it and then they could still use it as they got older. And it easily fit through aisles and doorways. :good: I thought it was pretty easy to close and put in my van as well.

 

I had the Graco Quattro Duo & thought it served us really well :good:
I think it was around $250 or so & we used it with the Graco SafeSeat Infant seats (now called the Graco35 or something?).
It was pretty heavy, but it worked great!
We stopped using a front/back stroller when my girls were around 7 - 8 months old & went with a side-by-side (SBS) stroller, which they liked much better once they were big enough to sit without being in their infant seats.
I ended up selling my Graco for $75 when we were done with it as well!
Good luck!

 

Hi all,
I'm new to the forums and to parenthood in general. First pregnancy and with twins!! Ack!

Today, I've been giving myself a headache reading about all the many choices I have when it comes to strollers.
Side-by-side or one-behind-the-other? Snap-ons or travel systems?? Which is best? UGH!

I’m also dismayed to read that lots of parents end up having to buy two or three different strollers as their babies grow into toddlers. Can that really be right? Is there nothing that converts easily from newborns to toddlers?

What did you do in the beginning when you had newborns and what do you do now? What did your friends/family members do?

Thanks!

 

After MUCH research, we caved to the fact that we would not be happy with just one stroller from NB to toddlerhood. So we are getting a Baby Trend Double Snap N Go (hopefully used) for around $50 to use until the outgrow their infant seats. I did not want to deal with too heavy of a stroller to start with as I'm having a c-section. We have Chicco car seats...love them!. I just ordered a NB insert for one of my Chicco's, and the representative said that Chicco was coming out with a double stroller that would take their infant seats in April 2010, just an FYI. I'm thinking I'll go with a side-by-side once we're done with the Snap N Go though.....no fights about who's in front/back that way. I'll probably go with something that is McClaren-like even if it's not the McClaren.

 

I'll ditto this. My girls just turned 4, and we still use it but now with the baby (in car seat) snapped in and the girls taking turns riding in the front. A couple times, I've even laid the front seat back and had both girls in that seat... one straddling behind the other.

 

I had the snap and go and then I got the BOB revolution doulie. I would say that if you plan to use the stroller lots and in many different terrains then I would spend the money to get something that is easily manuverable. If you only plan on using it at the mall then go with what works.

 

Yep, it's right. You will get one stroller for the infant part whether its a snap and go or a duoglider or something else. Then you will decide about 4 months later that you need the opposite of what you wanted when you were pregnant. ardon:

For us we had the Duoglider first and it was great. The infant seats snapped in and out very easily and it was okay to maneuver. Then they get bigger and no one fits well in the back so you go to a SBS. For us it was the Combi. Loved it. But, then we also had a toddler and I needed something for her to ride in. So we went with the top of the line Valco Twin Trimode. I wish I had seen this before we purchased the Combi, but I used the Combi for quite awhile for quick trips with the twins. Now we just use the Valco and even my 5 year old rides well in that. GL with your searches.

 

we bought the double snap & go and hated it, too flimsy. next up we have the graco duoglider, its better but its not built very well imo ours sways a bit side to side with 2 12 lb babes snapped in place. it would definitely be worth the extra to get the graco double quattro tour, a much nicer ride compared to the duoglider. and yup, unfortunately you will probably go through many different strollers as your needs change. good luck!

 

We did the duoglider forever. First with the infant seats and then up until about 2 1/2 years. I had to stop putting DS in the front because it was way to tough to turn one-handed. Using it to grocery shop was the last task I used it for, so I pushed the stroller and pulled the cart behind. It just got too heavy with DS in the front. It was a sad day because the front to back is super easy to take anywhere that you need to shop- - and you do need to go into stores at some point! It collapsed easily and I could actually use one hand to take it out of the car and click together.

We also have a Schwinn double SBS jogger. That has replaced any functions where there may be a lot of walking or if I just want to take them on a nice walk in the neighborhood. It is actually too wide to fit any non-ADA doorway.

 

I got the Graco SafeSeats and am actually STILL using them and the Double Snap & Go and our twins are almost 20 mo. old...

what I recommend:
#1 getting infant carriers that will go to the larger size of 30+ pounds - it gives you the opportunity to potentially use your carriers longer and have the flexibility.

#2 we love the DSNG - of course I use it a little unconventionally... at about 6 mo. old my dh put in the carrier closest to me backwards and faced the twins towards each other... that's the only way I am still using the stroller. otherwise, the baby behind the other one won't any leg room. with them facing each other, their legs actually overlap quite a bit now.

#3 think about the heaviness of the stroller you are looking at - the two you mentioned are both quite heavy.

#4 many moms on here like the side-by-side strollers and I have one of those that I'm going to transition to once we do outgrow the carriers in the next couple of months.

good luck!

 

We've got the DSNG to start out with and after a ton of research I've landed on the Bumbleride IndieTwin for when they're a little bigger. I need something that I can use daily for the park and for light jogging. I considered the Bob and the Valco Trimode but liked the Bubmleride better. I'm also getting an umbrella stroller to keep in the car for trips to the mall or to use when I don't want to lug around the 34 lb. bumbleride.

 

ok so i haven't read all the other posts but i can shout from the rooftops - DON'T SPEND A FORTUNE!!!
We bought an all singing all dancing icandy pear pushchair for around £700 (around $1400?) including carseats and it was such a pain in the bum to put in the car and was really really heavy, and was only going to get heavier as the twins grow.
after a couple of months we went to a second hand sale and i bought a side by side graco duo for £35 ($70?) and i absolutely love it! it collapses down in one swoop rather than having to be dismantled bit by bit, it fit in the boot rather that the foot wells, boot etc and the icandy is now up in the loft waiting for the babies to grow out of their car seats so we can sell the whole lot on ebay.
please please please don't spend a fortune! chances are that you won't find the ideal pram on your first purchase so why not give a second hand one a spin, or at least not spend a fortune until you know what you need in a pram, and you have so many other things to buy try and save some money!!
have fun!
p.s. not all side by side prams are gigantic and a pain to get round the shops, ours is only a couple of inches wider than some single prams!

 

We still have the strollers from the girls, so we'll reuse those since they worked great! We had the snap-n-go for when they were infants and loved it. Lightweight and super easy to fold out. Then once the girls outgrew their infant seats we had a McClaren Twin Techno for shopping trips and quick trips and it was great too. For longer trips, walks, camping, etc... we got a Valco twin with toddler seat and loved that one too. Our DS cut the harness off the Valco this past summer (he said the girls were too little to use them anymore, so took it upon himself to remove them) so we have new seats coming from Valco, which worked well because the stroller is pink/pink and the new fabric is black so it will work better with boys and also will show less dirt. Of course I'm sure there's lots of new options out there - we bought our strollers 4 years ago! But they are all workhorses and still in great condition for the new little ones.

 

I really liked my Duoglider. At around age 2, one of my DD's started climbing out of it, so I went with a SBS with 5-point harness. But I never really liked it, it just didn't fit through doorways and aisleways as well as the Duoglider did. And the Duoglider basket was great.

I did buy a SBS jogger the second summer, and we still use that occasionally. But always outside, it is not good for in and out of cars and stores. But it is awesome for walks around the neighborhood/to the beach.

 

EVEMOMMA your CHicco seats will NOT snap into the snap n go. I have them and it's a pain. They kind of sit in there but you have to use the straps to hold them in place, and one seat always tilts forward!!