Graco Mosaic - Ionic (6H00INC3) Umbrella Stroller

We were given an Evenflo travel system by friends who just had a baby 4 months before us. I understand now why they gave it to us --- it was huge and heavy! We were planning to borrow it until the baby was 3 months old and then we were going to use a jogging stroller after that. However, the Evenflo was impossible to take shopping and was hard to open and close so we gave it back and decided that we could find a better stroller to use.

When we found the Graco Mosaic and Snugride car seat being sold together as a travel system at Sears and The Bay (in Canada) we thought we found the perfect travel system! We liked the European styling of it, the comfortable handles, umbrella fold and it was narrow enough for boutique shopping, plus the car seat was top rated for safety. We still like the car seat, but cannot say the same about the stroller.

We have owned the stroller for 5 months and it is only lightly used. I do not drive and I prefer our jogging stroller, so this stroller is only used on weekends when my husband drives us to go shopping at a mall. Our stroller is a wreck with this little use in 5 months. I can't imagine how bad it would have been after a month if we actually used it on a consistent basis! The wheels are already wearing out from indoor only use! It is VERY difficult to open now like it is rusted shut or something. I have sprayed it with silicone spray and it doesn't make any difference. All the wheels squeak, even after being sprayed as well. When it is closed the wheels rub against the sun hood and get it all dirty. I wrote an email to Graco's customer service about the problem with opening and closing it and the squeaking and they asked me to send them a picture of it! I wrote back and asked if they meant they wanted a video of it, since a picture can't capture sound and movement, but they did not reply.

Besides the quality issues there are also many design problems. The back wheel brakes are extremely hard to set and release. Do not attempt this in sandals especially! I often have to bend over and release the brakes with my hand. Also, it folds down towards the ground and supposedly has a "lock" to hold the stroller closed. This "lock" doesn't really work, and most times I try to pick up the stroller after it is closed, the lock releases and I have to reclose it and be very, very careful in picking it up to make sure it stays locked.

Our baby has never actually sat in this stroller yet because we always snap the carseat into it and she is 7 months old. I have inspected the seat and I don't think that we will bother with it. There are two metal bars in the seat that I can feel through the fabric, so I think it will be really uncomfortable. The sun shade is very short so I don't imagine it will stop any sun, other than when it is directly above the stroller. Plus there is only a bar on the front instead of a child tray.

In short, if you don't have a lot of space and want to use a small "travel system", just buy a naked stroller frame instead of this, I wish I had!