There's got to be a better stroller...

We bought this stroller for our first child. We should have shopped around more. basically, we went to one store that had a lot of selection, and bought the stroller that I was able to fold up easiest and had the nicest fabric. It came with the matching car seat, which I have a separate, and equally bad review for.

We brought it home in it's box in the back seat of our car. when we unpacked it we realized just how big this thing is!

We owned 3 cars -- this thing didn't fit in the trunk of ANY of them!! we ended up getting rid of a car and getting an SUV. If you own a car and are buying a full size stroller, make sure it fits in your car first. Ask a sales person if you can take the demo out to your car with them. The one in the box usually needs minimal assembly still.

Now that we have a different vehicle, I can barely lift this thing to get it into the hatch of the SUV. If it fit into a car trunk, I wouldn't have the strength to lift it up and out of the trunk. (I stood on a scale with the stroller and think it's around 25lbs)

The mesh basket has a tear in it already -- after 4 months of use. and all I put in it is the diaper bag.

When you fold it up, you have to let go of it and pick it up with 2 hands to get it in the car. A strong person couldn't just fold and lift all in one motion. It says one hand fold, so it's partly true. Also, they say that they have improved the fold so that the child tray doesn't hit the ground. It doesn't hit, but after the seat folds, you have to flip the tray in yourself, and instead it's the edge of the seat that hits the ground, so the fabric is dirty and wearing.

Oh, and the steering is TERRIBLE. you have to push so hard to get the wheels to straighten out. when I'm at a store the wheels always seem to be turned outward and hitting every display and shelf in the store.

If a sidewalk curb doesn't have a wheel chair accessible section I'm in trouble. My husband can do it, but I can't put enough pressure on the back handle to get the front wheels to lift up (and that's with a 15lb baby). My sister and I were out one day and it took both of us to get it over a curb.

The seat reclines flat enough for a newborn, but it's not totally flat like a bassinet. I find that the seat doesn't sit upright enough at it's highest point. He has to hold onto the snack tray to sit upright and look around. My next stroller will NOT have a plastic child tray on it. When he's sitting up during a walk and we hit a teeny bump he ends up hitting his face on it and crying. He just got his first tooth and is going to have it knocked out by the child tray.

Also, it only has a 3 point harness. It's easy to unclip too -- I bet when he's older he'll learn how to do it himself. Did I mention that there's no flip up foot rest?

The parent tray is quite nice. 2 grippy cupholders, and a compartment in the middle with a lid. It can hold sunglasses, cell phone & man-size wallet. It also has a handle in the middle for one-handed steering, which works okay for how big the stroller is (the husband likes it, but it's hard on my wrist to do it long). The main handle is also nice. It has a rubber comfort grip handle (not like foam)

7 month update:
We hardly use this stroller now. We have switched to an umbrella (Maclaren triumph) for most of the time, and take the evenflo for occasional (twice a week) walks on smooth sidewalks. One of the back wheels is starting to wobble like crazy. I worry about getting to far from my home with this stroller for fear I'm going to have to carry my baby back.


A bit about the matching carseat:

We liked the patented Z shape handle on the matching carseat, but soon realized we don't carry a car seat that way, so this feature was useless.

The canopy on the car seat itself doesn't stay put. it's annoying.

We are having trouble getting the car seat out of the base now. sometimes it sticks and takes a few tries.
It can't go into a car without the base - we didn't think this was a big deal until we wanted to fly somewhere. luckily someone I knew had a car seat I could borrow so I didn't have to drag the base around with me.(see my review on the carseat for more info)


18 month update:

We haven't used this stroller/carseat in over a year. We had another baby, and after buckling her up to take her home from the hospital, we stopped by the store to buy a new carseat!! We just can't stand not having an up front adjustment strap. Only a few days later this seat was recalled anyway, so it's a good thing we bought a new one. It took a very long time for the replacement part to arrive in the mail.
So we tossed the seat, and will now be taking this stroller to grandma's so we have something to use when we go there. It will lighten the load when we travel. And actually, I don't have as harsh of feelings for this stroller, but it's still not that great. I went to put my newborn in it without a carseat, and it doesn't fold very flat, plus there's no footrest to flip up to make a infant carriage bed. I was paranoid she'd fall out the whole time in it.