Ready to Grow

Both my sister and my sister-in-law are pregnant and due in June. It’s the second baby for each of them, which means we’re talking about double strollers. A lot.

In 2004, I was starting Magic Beans while finishing my second pregnancy. All the research I’d done about double strollers was doubly important – for me and for the stores. I came to the conclusion that THE stroller to have was a Mountain Buggy Urban Double.

I got one and LOVED it. That stroller was a tank. I could push it up hill, fully loaded, with one finger. We used it all the time, and that stroller is still good as new, residing currently with friends who have twins.

But a lot has changed in five (almost six) years. If you want a double all-terrain stroller, you can still get a Mountain Buggy, but you’ll probably also want to consider a BOB, a Valco or a Baby Jogger. If you don’t need something heavy duty, you could go for one of the two Maclaren twin models, or you could look at the Baby Jogger City Mini.

Chances are, though, you’re probably looking closely at what I’m going call an “adaptive double.” A what? An adaptive double is a stroller that starts out as a single stroller and can then be – you guessed it – adapted to hold two children. Thanks to Phil&Teds, these are enormously popular — if you can figure out which one to get. Phil&Teds alone offers four different models, and now the UPPABaby Vista offers a Rumble Seat, and the versatile Baby Jogger City Select is hitting the market at the same time as a similar European model, the iCandy.

In other words, what used to be a fairly straightforward decision (Mountain Buggy. Done.) is now fairly complicated. And I may or may not have had a sneak peek today at yet another adaptive double stroller that will be a worthy contender when it comes out later this year.

Choice is good. But choice can be paralyzing.

A good customer of ours recently started a blog, Gear Mommy. She has two young children and has been using the phil&teds Sport stroller. She bought one of the first City Select models from us and has done an extraordinary review of the Baby Jogger City Select vs. the Phil&Teds Sport, comparing the two options side by side. If you’re in the market for a double stroller, I recommend reading this first.

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