We sold our Quinny Buzz and traded up for a stroller with a little more oomph. the Buzz served us well, but it was time to move on. I'm a bit of a stroller fanatic. I love to research strollers and figure out which one has the most "pros" vs "cons" for our unique living situation. After moooonths (just ask my husband), of going back and forth between the Britax B ready, Uppababy and baby jogger city select, I decided the BJCS was the best option for life in China.
My stroller is essentially my car.
I depend on it daily. I travel on foot almost everywhere I go, which requires a comfortable ride for Sal since he spends at least an hour to two hours in it per day. The streets in Wuxi are a mix of concrete with sink holes, blacktop and cobblestone walkways...which, in my opinion require large tires for the best ride. The city select had the most substantial rear tires of the three strollers.
I do most of my grocery getting in my stroller, and the Quinny Buzz had a small storage basket (smallest, ev-er!). I usually ended up carrying bags back using a mommy hook on the handlebar. I knew that my next stroller needed to have substantial storage space. The city select has a HUGE basket, as well as a pocket on the back of the seat for items like cellphones and keys. I also like that if we use it as a double stroller, dangling feet won't affect the storage space or muck up whatever is down below as many of the inline doubles with a jump seat do. It has an easy two handed, one step fold with the main seat still attached. I am not sure that the city select has the easiest or most compact fold of the three. In fact, it barely fits in the trunk of my rental car (Chevy cruze) width wise. However, the size while folded is not a big issue for us, because we rarely fold and transport our stroller by car. We have an umbrella stroller for travel. Our daily use stroller usually stays opened and lives in our office.
My only concern was the weight, since we often have to lift our strollers over barricades. The weight as a single is 28 lbs, but I compared it to my Buzz, and there's only a 1lb difference. The uppababy vista and britax B ready weighed less (approx 26 lbs) but the necessity for tires outweighed any weight concerns I had.
So far, I'm loving it.
Granted, we're still in California where doorways are standard width, sidewalks all have ramps, and the pavement is smooth. I'm interested to see how it will do when we hit the streets of China again.
The best thing about the BJCS is all 16 configurations, including the option to add an additional carseat carrier, bassinet or fullsize seat to make it a double if we're fortunate to have another baby Zentil in the future.
Anyone else have this stroller? What kind of Rain cover have you used? Did you purchase accessories? Share!
Nice wheels! We have three strollers. I know...excessive. But like you, I'm a bit of a stroller guru.
ReplyDeleteMy husband would call me obsessed or a hoarder. But truth is, each stroller serves a different purpose. The B-Agile is the best travel/deluxe umbrella stroller at just 16 lbs. The B-Ready is the full sized stroller that will be great if we have another kid, and the jogger is well... a beefy machine that we use ALL THE TIME and lives in the house.
Since you're in China, it's a bit different, but rather than schlep the stroller from the car (and out) each day, I use the jogger from the front door outside (wherever we go by foot) and the car has either the B-Agile or B-Ready, but usually the B-Agile.
The BJCS is a great stroller and super attractive. I bet Sal loves his new ride.
So I'm not the only certifiably nuts person with one kid and multiple strollers. I actually have two umbrella strollers in addition to my workhorse one. I use the cheap Chinese one for schlepping my carseat to our drivers car when I won't need a stroller at our destination, and then we travel with a reclining umbrella stroller called bebetour (Chinese maclaren knockoff).
DeleteDidn't I say I was trying to live minimalistic? Lol.
How do you like the B ready? They have a free ride event starting June 1st, so I thought if I hated the city select I would just by the b ready the day before we head back to Wuxi, but thankfully, I do love the new one and will keep it (:
Hi there! Love your blog, (I'm a California girl, but have "expatriated" to South America and love reading up on your china adventure!), thought I'd chime in re: strollers... I have the B-Ready and love it. I loved its adaptability when baby was tiny, and now at 13months it's still our workhorse (I too use it as my "car"!). it handles beautifully, steers easily with one hand, huge storage, folds easily, etc. My only gripe is that it's so HEAVY and cumbersome to haul up 4 flights of stairs! that being said, though, I still choose the B Ready over my umbrella 95% of the time... it's worth the haul to have such a comfortable ride!my tip: usually strap kiddo in the Ergo carrier to haul stroller/bag down the stairs ;)
ReplyDeleteWe live similar lifestyle then..the whole stroller as our car and having to really think about heading out for a day. It's not as easy as hopping in the car and taking off..oh no, it's figuring out how to get the stroller, carseat, baby and bag down, lol. Great tip with the ergo. I just used it in the airport instead of a stroller and found it incredibly versatile. Doubled as a place to sleep during the flight so I could be hands free (:
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