Travel System Review

Overall:

I do like the the travel system overall. It is easy to maneuver and is comfortable to push around whether you are at the mall or taking a walk outside. There is even a one hand pushing option in case you are holding something in your other hand, you only have to push with one hand and don't have to worry about the whole thing veering off to one side. It is sort of bulky and weighs more than I'd like it to, but it does the job. I drive a smaller car (Honda Civic) and I feel as if I am cramming the stroller in the trunk. It would fit fine in cars with larger trunks (Camry or Accord for example). The carrier itself is good from a restraint perspective, however, the adjustable straps in the back are tough to pull and make it difficult to tighten and loosen the harnesses when you want to get the baby in and out of the car seat. There is plenty of storage in the undercarriage and there are two cup holders as well as a little compartment to store pacifiers, cell phone, snacks or whatever you want that is small. There is also a zipper compartment near the front handles where you could store other items. It is a large, but skinny compartment, almost as if you would put paperwork or diapers in there, but I don't seem to get a lot of use out of this storage area. I like that the stroller has an optional baby carriage where you do not have to use the carrier with the stroller. You can just put the baby in the stroller itself and there are little flaps that snap up around the front so that the baby's legs do not hang out. This only works for smaller babies, maybe up to 3 months or so depending on the child's size. Once they get too long, you can't put them in this way or their legs won't fit anymore while they are strapped in. The stroller also adjusts so you can allow the child to recline or sit up straight. It is easiest to adjust when the child is not in the seat because the child's weight will make it harder for you to adjust from a reclining position to a seated position. It easily adjusts from seated to reclining. The sun-shade is a very nice attribute. You can move the sun shade to be above the child's head shielding sun behind you, or you can move it in front of the child's face shielding from sun in front of you. There is also a little clear plastic opening on the shade so that you can peek in and look at your child while the shade is in use.

What I didn't like:

The car seat base that comes with the system is flimsy and doesn't seem durable. The car seat itself must be used with this base. You cannot use the car seat without the base and strap it into the car like some other models. I find this to be an inconvenience when leaving my daughter with family members or other care givers who need to drive her places. We are constantly having to move the base in and out of cars. The base has an adjustment foot with 3 levels so you can recline the carrier back or sit it upright. This is nice when you have a newborn who cannot hold his/her head up alone. They recommend the reclining position for these babies. I use the adjustment foot and set it on the reclining position for my daughter. Recently, the adjustment foot came apart from the base itself. As I noted before, the base is flimsy and the adjustment foot and the base do not seem to be held together very well. One day while driving, the two pieces of the base actually separated from each other while my daughter was in the seat. When you take away the tension from the adjustment foot, there is nothing holding the car seat in place except for a VERY LOOSE seat belt, causing the whole thing, including my daughter to tip over in the car. My daughter was not injured thankfully. However, I went ahead and called the manufacturer in case this was a defect of some sort. They had not had any other consumers have this issue. They are going to send me a new base to replace my old one. They also assured me that my particular base was probably broken since they had not received any other complaints like this. My recommendation with the base is that you do not use it in a reclining position so that the base and adjustment foot cannot come apart. The manufacturer recommended using a tightly rolled towel if you want to recline the base. This will prevent the two parts from separating as well.

I also don't like the carrier handle on the car seat itself. I have seen other models where you push down on the handle and then the handle will fold back out of the way in the non-carrying position. This particular car seat is made where you have to push two buttons on either side of the car seat at the exact same time in order to push the handle back in the non-reclining position. The reason for this is safety so that you don't accidentally knock the handle loose and then baby goes flying out of the car seat while you are carrying it. Being a busy mom and always having my hands full anyway, makes this even harder on me. I often have to put everything down, then adjust the handle with both of my hands and then pick everything back up again. It makes it a little more cumbersome and annoying.