I've used the same strollers through all five of my babies, but when I was recently introduced to the Baby Jogger City Mini it was love at first sight! I really wish I could splurge on a new one for my 18-month-old. You see this stroller everywhere in Manhattan, and the feature of the City Mini that people LOVE is how easy it is to collapse. It's also a very simple stroller to maneuver and reclines almost fully. Watch my review for the lowdown on all the features of this stroller.
Transcript:
Hello fellow CloudMomers, Melissa here this is CloudMom. We are at Albee Baby on the upper West side of Manhattan today looking at one of these most important items for new moms and for dads: the stroller.
This is like stroller mania! And we're going to be looking at a lot of different strollers to analyze their features and their attributes to help you decide which is the right choice for you. This first stroller we're going to look at today is the Baby Jogger City Mini. This prices out at about $200-$250, although we did find one for $189 on eBay. We do have the 2012 model with us here today.
But let's start looking at this. The main feature people love about the City Mini is about the ease with which this stroller can be collapsed. You arguably can have one baby on one side in your arm or on your hip, definitely in a carrier, and with one hand you can collapse this very easily. Watch this, boom, that's all you need to do. It then has one latch here on the right side that you need to release like this and you can uncollapse the stroller like that in a very, very simple motion.
This is ideal for people who are getting in and out of cars a lot and for travel. Other things people really love about this stroller is how easy this is to maneuver, how agile this is. Look at this, it's just so easy to move back and forth. It's a very easy stroller to maneuver and this has to do with a very agile front wheel.
Another thing that's very nice about the City Mini is that is can almost fully recline so that your baby can be fully reclined in the stroller. It has 4 reclining positions. It has very nice storage underneath the stroller. Although the access for the stroller is a little bit better on the sides so keep that in mind. It has a very nice canopy, very protective of the sun. And you can get a rain cover. You can also open the top so that your baby can get a little vista from where he or she resides. So that's the canopy.
The wheels, okay this City Mini has plastic wheels, which should be fine in a normal city circumstance or in the suburbs or in the mall. If you need something that's a lot more stable on rough terrain you might want to consider the City Mini GT which also came out in 2012, but it is about $100 more so consider that.
Those are the main features of the City Mini. So what is the low down on this stroller? What do people say? This is a very popular stroller in Manhattan; you see it all over the place. I'm not sure about other urban centers, but people really love it in Manhattan and people love the versatility we were talking about.
But what are the things that people do have issues with? Number 1, this is not a stroller that you can reverse. So you can't go from the baby facing back to the baby facing forward. That is a feature that's important to some people.
Number 2, the storage is very, very good, but it's easier to access it from the side rather than the back. And some people do have difficulty getting their diaper bag in here.
Number 3, it does not come with a cup holder for your drink for your ice coffee when you're so exhausted walking around in the summer you can buy one that attaches. The handlebars are very nice to hold, but they're not where you can locate your diaper bag, which is a feature that many people look for.
Finally, can you put your infant in this stroller? This is the type of stroller where you're going to have to buy an adapter and you're going to affix the adapter to the base of the stroller and you can use your car seat. This is what you will use in the early months. You will not just put your newborn baby in here. It's not snug enough for a newborn. After a few months when your baby is big enough you can then stop using the car seat and the converter and you can use the main stroller.
So this stroller does not have an add on to make it into a double stroller, but the Baby Jogger does make a City Mini Deluxe which we also will be looking at so check that out.
All in all, I have to say I have kind of fallen in love with this stroller taking a look at it today. I'm not going to be in a position to do this, but I almost wish I could buy one for my little Marielle this summer. I think it's just ideal.
So it is in the medium price range between $200-$250, you might be able to get one cheaper on eBay. Definitely want to consider as you're out looking for strollers, good luck shopping for your stroller with your baby and we'll see you next time on CloudMom!