I am a member of the buybuy BABY babyhood influencer network, however all opinions expressed in this post are my own. #buybuyBABY #babyhood #sponsored
We are getting closer and closer to our little man’s arrival and I cannot wait to meet him. Its so interesting to compare how much planning I did for our first pregnancy versus this one. At this point last time, I had registry items researched and picked out. But, since this is my second baby, we already have a ton of the essentials that we need. We will need a few things and clothes of course, and everything boy for his nursery, but other than that, we had all of the “big” items, except for one – a Double Stroller.
With Brooke, we didn’t buy her current stroller until after she was born, and it has been a HUGE essential for us. It was one of the only things that got us through the teething phase. We would push her around our house in her stroller when she was struggling with teething and it was the only thing that would sooth her. Because a double stroller is a bigger item price wise, I did a lot of research on which one was right for our family.
After some initial research, I narrowed it down to the Contours Options Elite, Baby Jogger City Select, and Britax B-Ready Stroller. I knew that I wanted a stroller that was still narrow, could easily change sitting positions and was VERY functional. Once I reached this point, Kevin and I both knew we needed to physically see the strollers at buybuy BABY and test them out.
Contours Options Elite
Going into our trip, this was my second choice on my list. The price point is very affordable compared to a lot of strollers and I loved the sleek design. It is compatible with most major infant car seats (with adapter use) if you are interested in that – we always put Brooke straight in the stroller, so this wasn’t a huge selling point for me. The total stroller weight comes in at 34 pounds and there are 7 different seating positions. I love the versatility of the seating positions. While I love Brooke’s stroller, I found myself wishing I could face her toward me a lot, especially when she was an infant. This stroller also folds easily with both seats connected and holds up to 40 pounds in each seat (80 total).
This was the first stroller we saw in the store and I really loved how sleek it looked. My husband immediately started folding it up, practicing switching the seats and all those other “functional” things that are important. I think he was sold immediately on how easy to use this stroller was, however, it took a while to convince me. It was slightly wider and longer than the Baby Jogger so I wasn’t thrilled about that.
Baby Jogger City Select
This was my number one choice before we saw it in store. It was highly recommended online and I loved the design of this one as well. It is 29.5 pounds in its single form, so when you add the second seat, it is quite a bit heavier than the Contours option. However, it has 16 different configurations and you can add a glider to the back to make it compatible for 3 kids. It holds kids up to 45 pounds and is compatible with infant car seats (with adapter use).
In store, they had a red option that I wasn’t fond of – I like black and grey a lot. However, I obviously knew that we could order it in black. The next thing we looked at was how functional it was in comparison to the contours. My husband loved the contours more. The Baby Jogger was similar in functionally, but it just wasn’t as easy to change seat positions or fold down. I was slightly bummed, because I was pretty sure it was the one I wanted. Then, I went to lift this one and it was a lot harder to lift than the contours. At this point, I knew that made our decision final. I am the one that uses the stroller most running errands and such, so I need to be able to easily lift it in and out of the car and switch the seats around.
Britax B-Ready
This stroller was crazy sleek and compact. It was the thinnest and shortest of the three we looked at. It has 12 seating configurations and is 28 pounds with the single seat. This stroller folds even with the second seat attached and holds children up to 55 pounds. A lot of benefits!
However, this stroller was not functional at all in the store. We couldn’t figure out how to easily change the seating positions and it seemed like your kids would be cramped up. I really wanted to love this stroller since it was so compact, but it was just not functional for us. I was wondering if maybe the demo just wasn’t working properly, but we couldn’t even get it to fold down easy. This was a big red flag for us, because we were going for simple.
I’m sure any of these three strollers would have been amazing, but at the end of the day, we went with the Contours Options Elite Stroller because of how easy it was to work and how functional it was, on top of loving its design. Not to mention, it is a lot less expensive than the other two we were looking at – that was just the icing on the cake though. We went into the process not worrying about price, we wanted the best stroller for us.
As first time parents, we did a lot of research online, then went and looked. Some items, we loved in store, while others, we changed our minds. I remember feeling so “in the dark” with our first baby. We wondered the aisles of buybuy BABY, and even with all of the amazing help from their staff, we felt unprepared. The unknown can be very scary. I HIGHLY recommend making a trip to the store to see the strollers in person before you make your decision. Every families needs are different, every baby is different, therefore, your purchases might be different. But, I hoped this help you with your initial research!
Britt Hanson
I have an older version of the Contours (scored it on a local yardsale page for $75) and while I really like it, it is so long. It looks like this new version is more compact, which is awesome!