Great for older babies and children
Written: Aug 11 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: sturdy, stable, easy to collapse, lightweight,
Cons: NOT for babies, huge, expensive
|
|
|
| DEMF's Full Review: Baby Jogger Twinner II Stroller |
After researching the web, quizzing my friends and jogging stroller salespersons, and getting opinions from my wonderful resource book, "Baby Bargains", and it's authors, I decided to spend the money on a Baby Jogger Twinner II stroller. I have only had it a few days, but it is an amazing step up from walking with a "regular" stroller. For comparison, I have a Maclaren Opus Duo, which is a great lightweight, narrow (28")umbrella-type side-by-side stroller. I tested it out at a local park on a variety of surfaces.
The Baby Jogger Twinner is lightweight, easy to assemble and breakdown, has 5-point restraints, and pushes easily over blacktop, grass, gravel/cement drive, and on the shoulder of the road. The instructions were simple and well-illustrated and even humorous to boot. The canopy is large and provides wonderful sunblock for my boys' faces. The baskets are roomy and most important, it feels extremely stable.
There is plenty of leg room for even long striders - and they make an tall handlebar for people over 6'3". And at 30" wide, it cleared my front door and a library security system, although I couldn't fit down the aisles of books comfortably. It also pushes up the moderate hills of my neighborhood fairly easily. The company gives you a lifetime warranty on the frame and one year on the seats and wheels. The seat and canopy are machine washable.
Like all good things, there are a few caveats about this (and probably all) jogging strollers. The instruction manual does emphasize to use the handbreak and wrist strap and to be present at all times. The stroller rolled faster than I could walk down the 10-20% grade of my street. (Just another example of how smoothly and easily it rolls!) Although it is really stable, I can see how a taller person could push down a little too forcefully on the handle bar and tip the stroller back.
My other stroller has a rounded canopy, so the square shaped design of this stroller "feels" very big and I feel the need to move off road, when in reality it is only 2" wider than the other stroller. I'm sure I will get used to this and not feel so conscious of its space factor. The canopy does have a window, but it is so small that it is pretty useless. If you want to see what the children are up to, it is easier to just stop and peek around the front. Also, even folded down, the stroller is huge. We tested in the back on my Honda Civic, and the trunk had to be empty and it still did not close. So unless you have a really large storage area, it is not ideal for putting in the car and going all over town with.
I definitely would not place a small baby in this stroller. My children are 13 months and weigh about 17-18 lbs each, and the straps are still a little big for them. The crotch strap did not even touch their bodies at the smallest setting, so I depended on the arm straps to hold them in the stroller. The Baby Jogger website states that infants as young as 6-8 weeks can ride in the stroller, but I certainly wouldn't consider it for babies who didn't weigh at least 15 lbs and were able to hold their own heads up. Although they are comfortable enough for my children to fall asleep in, the seats don't recline, so you would need a really secure head support for younger babies. The book Baby Bargains recommends waiting until children are at least 1 year old before jogging or going over rough terrain, which I think is very sound advice.
The only other feature I found a little tricky at first is that jogging strollers don't turn corners with you. You have to tip the front wheel up a little to turn, but once you do it several times, it is second nature. I do wish the instructions had included this information though.
Just to compare to other jogging strollers I researched, the Baby Jogger seemed most stable, sturdy, and easiest to fold. I also considered the Kool Stride stroller (also recommended by Baby Bargains), Baby Trend and InStep. The Kool Stride stroller does recline, which is a nice feature, but the baskets are not as large. More importantly, even with the seats not reclined, when I jogged with it, it tipped backwards and felt VERY unstable. We did test it to see if the kids' heads touched the ground with it tipped all the way back, and they didn't. But that was a gentle lowering. If the seats were reclined and it tipped forcefully, I'm sure some heads would be bonked, especially with older children.
The Baby Trend is cheap ($160 at Babies R Us) but it took 2 female sales clerks to collapse it. I tried on two different occassions and never could do it alone. My husband, who is 6'3", did it, but he has a long arm span and hand strength, both of which are definitely required to release the buttons on each side of the seats. The salespeople tried to say it just needed to be broken in, but how long would it take me to break it in at home????? I did not personally try the InStep, but a few friends have not been happy with it. Several mothers of multiples did like it - cheap, easy to collapse - on one bulletin board, but I decided not to pursue it.
Overall, I am very pleased with this stroller and plan to use it alot. While expensive, I think for the features and stability, it is one of the best. Also, if you walk alot or jog, it seems to be a better quality stroller. If you can get it on sale or find a one used one, it is well worth the price.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
DEMF
|
|
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 3 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.