Anyone have a lightweight front/back double stroller?

[Minnie824]

We currently have the Peg Perego Aria stroller - side by side - probably about 14 lbs. and we really like it....except for the fact that it is so difficult to go shopping with it! Doors, fine for most normal doors, but it seems everyone puts so much in their aisles that it is getting more difficult to go thru them. SO, we're debating if when we go to Disney, we should bring it, or get a front/back double stroller. I really want one very light and easy to fold. Is there such a thing?

 

[kizmac]

If you find one, let me know! I definitely think the front/back would be better for Disney. You would have a hard time in the shops with the side by side. I currently have the Graco duo glider and have used it at Disney 4 times. Works great, but not very light. DH is in charge of it on the tram! Other than the tram it goes on the monorail and everywhere else just fine.

 

[Minnie824]

Is that stroller easy to fold up? Also how old are your kids and who sits in front? My main reason for getting a side by side, was that so our DDs (at age of trip 4 and 1.5 yo) would be able to see everything. I don't know if whoever is in back, could? Also, if little one is in back, she'd probably bug the older one w/her hair, kick the seat etc. Does that work out ok?

 

[beattyfamily]

Just an FYI, we brought a side by side stroller 5 years in a row and we had no problems. We fit in the Disney stores with no problems. We even fit on the boats without having to close it. On the monorail it will fit on the handicap cars.

I would bring it again in a heartbeat but my oldest has outgrown it!

 

[Holly]

I have the Perego Aria Twin as well, and I can't stand it. It is really hard to manuever around corners and through doorways. It fits, but doesn't turn well.
I wish I had saved myself the $400 and kept my Graco Duoglider.

 

[pjupton]

The Graco DuoRider weighs 40 pounds!

We also have a Peg Twin Aria and will definitely be taking it to WDW. I find it fits though all standard sized doors, although I do have to get the wheels lined up perfectly, which is hard to do when I have to open the door and push the stroller by myself. Presumably, your DH will be with you to either open the door or push the stroller? You probably won't encounter that many doors that aren't auto-opening anyway.

I'm sure some of the shops will be too crowded for a SBS, but I find a F&B double (we had a double snap-n-go when the boys were little) just as hard to push since they need so much room to go around corners. It's hard to take kids into shops with potentially breakable items no matter how you transport them.

The Peg Twin Aria is only 14 pounds, easy to fold, and has handles to carry on 2 sides - I think it is the BEST!

 

[Minnie824]

Thanks for all the opinions....other than the hard to get thru doorways, I do love the Aria twin...SO easy to fold and light to carry as well. DH will be with. I figure if we can organize everything to 1 backpack, I can take backpack, little DD and he can take stroller, then either of us hold older DDs hand. I think maybe we will just stick w/the one we have. Hopefully next year the 4 yo (then 5) should be able to walk, and we can go back to the Aria single we have. Thanks!

 

[kizmac]

Is that stroller easy to fold up? Also how old are your kids and who sits in front? My main reason for getting a side by side, was that so our DDs (at age of trip 4 and 1.5 yo) would be able to see everything. I don't know if whoever is in back, could? Also, if little one is in back, she'd probably bug the older one w/her hair, kick the seat etc. Does that work out ok?

It folds pretty easy. Never had anytrouble. It's always a bigger pain getting all the junk out of the basket to fold it up. Anyhow, my kids have be all over the board for the ages they were when I used it at Disney. It works great putting the smaller child in the front, but I also put the smaller child in the back when they may be doozing off or if they are young enough that they aren't riding much. That way they have the sun shield. (I always remove the front sun shield. Just my choice because I think then the back child's view isn't obstructed at all. The front child is normally in and out alot. For that reason, sometimes I remove the front tray all together too. Depends on how old the kids are.

As for messing with each other, I originally bought a side/side, but returned it just for that problem. I think they feel like they have their own space with the front to back. JMO I do think it is easier to manuever the side/side, but the front/back isn't bad unless you have a heavier child in the very front. Then it can be a little tough.

The Graco, for the money is a pretty decent double. Get one and try it out. If you don't like it, return it. I'm have a slight stroller addiction and have more strollers than I need, but this is what I use 95% of the time.

 

[kizmac]

The Graco DuoRider weighs 40 pounds!

!

40 lbs? I can lift it, are you sure? I do know it's rated 40 lbs per seat for occupancy weight. Hmmm interesting. I honestly didn't think it was that heavy. I'll have to weight it.

 

[pjupton]

40 lbs? I can lift it, are you sure?

Oops, I was wrong about which stroller - I ALWAYS say the wrong name. Duo RIDER is the SBS stroller. Duo GLIDER is the F&B stroller that will accomodate two infant seats (our reason for considering it)

A quick Yahoo! search shows webpages listing weights on the DuoGLIDER between 27 and 36 pounds... don't know if it varies by model year or what.

All I know is that sucker is SUPER heavy compared to my Twin Aria. We HAD to have something that accomodated 2 bucket carseats, so we went with the Snap-n-Go, then got the Twin Aria when our boys moved to convertible carseats vs. the infant buckets.

 

[pooh4evr]

We rented a side by side from Baby's Best Friend in May and had no problems with it the stores had plenty of room and if you get in the wheelchair monorail car (if there is room) you don't have to break it down. We have a Duo Glider at home but chose the other because- with the rental both kids could lay down seprately if needed, both had a canopy and both could see everything. If we would havhad the duo I.m not sure the one in back would have been able to see during the parade.

 

[bartleby1]

I have a graco duoglider as well and it worked fine when my kids were real little but it got too heavy to push. I *think* the weight limit on mine was 35 lbs per seat. Your 4 year old would probably have to sit in front with removing the tray or she probably won't fit unless she is really small for her age. My kids are tall so my older one had to go in the front. The problem I had was that it steers much better if the weight is in the back rather than the front. So, while it served its purpose for mall runs and local parks, I never brought it to disney because I found it hard to push for any length of time.

Have you considered taking two lightweight strollers instead of a double? My kids were 2 and 4-1/2 years old last trip and 14 months and 3-1/2 on the trip before that. We ended up buying a baby trend lightweight stroller for the little guy and bought a maclaren for the older. I LOVE my maclaren since it can accomadate taller/older children. My tall 5-1/2 year old still fits fine in it. They are quite expensive, but it was so worth the investment. The downfall of the maclaren is that it doesn't have much storage, but the baby trend had a large basket for all of our stuff. Also, having two strollers was convenient when my older one wanted to go on a ride that my little one couldn't go on. It made it easy to split up for rides or potty breaks.

 

[MATTERHORN]

Just wanted to tell you (and I have not bought it yet so have no true opinion or no idea how it works,) but there is a lightweight fron/back tandem. If you want to look it up, just search for Safety 1st transit stroller. It was in Parenting or Parents a month or so ago, don't remember which one! Hope this might be something you are looking for, still on the heavy side but folds like an umbrella stroller.

Andrea

 

[NotUrsula]

I saw a Transit at my local OUAC, and knowing you folks with twofers are always looking for good lightweights, I fiddled with it a bit.

First off, it doesn't weigh 27 lbs. That may be the shipping weight, but it's not the actual weight. It's no heavier than my Peg Pliko single, which is 18#.
I was easily able to lift it onto and off of a rack that was more than 2 feet above my head, and I could not have done that without effort if it were nearly 30 lbs.

It *is* an umbrella fold, and it folds like a Mac. Pull up on the back cross-brace, then pull the finger tabs and push the handles forward and down toward the front wheels. The sides will move toward one another as the frame collapses forward. When folded, it is about 45 inches long and maybe a foot square, your basic long rectangle, again about the size of a Mac SBS when folded, but probably a little longer and narrower. The shade is pretty generous, though I don't believe it completely extended over the front seat. The front seat is a padded sling-type with side bars, the front seat is upright at all times. The rear seat is meant for the smaller child, and will recline completely flat. The harness is 5-pt on both seats, which are stepped so that the back seat is higher than the front, stadium-style.

The oddest thing about it is the "basket." It isn't one. It has storage under the higher back seat, but it can better be described as a cubby; a square area that is accessed from the sides, rather like the space under a school desk (only smaller, of course.) As it is an umbrella-type stroller, I'd recommend using a backpack diaper bag and just slinging it over the handles; not using the basket in parks is wiser, anyway, no need to dig stuff out to fold it. I can't tell you anything about the handling; I didn't put any kids in it.
It does have decent-sized wheels, though, and the rear wheels are doubles.

As far as I've been able to determine, the only two online dealers who have it are www.albeebaby.com and www.babyage.com. It's $139 at both of them; there are some coupon codes and free shipping deals that apply at the moment.

 

[kizmac]

hmmm that Safty 1st transit looks interesting. Doesn't look much bigger than a single, but it does look like the kid in the back would be pretty cramped. I would love to hear reviews!
After seeing the price increase on stroller rental, I jumped on another Literider that was listed in our Pennysaver today for $25 and DH has to go pick that up tomorrow. So I guess I better stop stroller shopping, now that I have two singles to take on our trip. I would really LOVE to get that Combi in Diva Pink on albeebaby that I spied while checking out the Transit though. UGH!

 

[pjupton]

I saw a Transit at my local OUAC,

That looks VERY interesting. Did it seem like the kid in the back would be cramped? What is OUAC?

Thanks for posting this!

 

[NotUrsula]

OUAC is Once Upon a Child; it is a franchised children's resale chain. Many of them sell new strollers, cribs and carseats along with the resale stuff. The Transit I tried out was brand-new.

I thought the seat spacing appeared to be only a couple of inches less than on the Graco Duoglider. The photo that is on these websites is taken from a steep angle and makes the seats look closer together than they really are. Also, as on all umbrella strollers, it's possible to recline the rear seat behind the hood, so that also reduces the apparent space crunch.

 

[MATTERHORN]

Just wanted to add that since I posted about the transit tandem on teh first page I have been researching this!! I also found one that comes out in August or September called the COmpass 2360 tandem. It looks good, and the advantage to this one over the other is if you plan to use it at home, it accepts a car seat where I don't think the safety first one does. Also has a decent sized basket.

Andrea

 

[rt2dz]

Just wanted to add that since I posted about the transit tandem on teh first page I have been researching this!! I also found one that comes out in August or September called the COmpass 2360 tandem. It looks good, and the advantage to this one over the other is if you plan to use it at home, it accepts a car seat where I don't think the safety first one does. Also has a decent sized basket.

Andrea

Where did you find this info? Can you post a link? We are about to have DS#3, but DS#2 is still just a baby himself. They'll both have to be in a stroller, and I love the travel system I was able to use the first two times around--nothing like not waking a sleeping baby. Personally, light weight means nothing to me; I'm all about easy to push & steer, and sometimes the heavier stroller is much easier to manuever. Besides, how often are you CARRYING a stroller? As long as it fits in my car and can be used easily meeting our needs, I'm happy.

 

[MATTERHORN]

rt2dz - Sorry that was meant to say Compass S360 tandem, not 2360!! Yes I agree about lightweight although I am purposely getting it for Disney in which I will want it a little lighter than my Duoglider for the busses. I noticed you said you are expecting DS #3, We find out tomorrow if we are expecting DD #3 or DS #1, but mine are still 4 and 2 so this would work good for me, although I haven't tested either of them IRL yet. Here is the link:


http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...1?_encoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B0006ZORJY

It still says they don't know when it will be available, but I read an article saying August/September, so here's hoping as I am due in October. Congratulations, let me know if you get either of them and what you think!

Andrea