Combi I-thru stroller

[justhat]

Okay, I know the Combi I-thru is a very new stroller, I think it was released in late January, but does anyone own this yet? If so, what do you think of it? Or if you have another Combi do you like it?

We already have 3 strollers (a Graco Coachrider, Graco Literider-we keep that at my mom's, and a Maclaren Techno Classic) and weren't in the market for a new one, but my mom has this coupon that expires on 2/13 at Buy Buy Baby and she saw this stroller and thought it looked good and really wants to get it for us. I initially said no, as we have 3 and do not need anymore. I love our Coachrider (despite its incredible size) and use that often at home, as my daughter can face me, it fully reclines, and it has the cold weather boot to keep her warm. The Maclaren I use a lot too, as we live in DC so if I'm going on the Metro it's much easier to take that since it's smaller and lighter. We also bring that one on vacation now that my daughter is older and it's great. I was able to carry the Maclaren, baby in the Bjorn, and diaper bag onto the Disney buses myself.

But anyway, my mom kept asking me about the stroller, so I finally looked it up online, and it sounds almost exactly like the Coachrider, but it has an extendable canopy with a mesh viewing window (Coachrider has a good canopy, but no viewing window), has a padded seat, 5 point harness, and is half the weight of the Coachrider (Coachrider is 29 lbs. and the I-thru is 16 lbs.). So when I heard the weight of the I-thru, it suddenly got very appealing. Our Maclaren is 12 lbs., and I love that about it, but my daughter won't stay in it too long cause she can't see me. I thought she'd be okay with that by now, but she's almost a year and still prefers to see me. She'll sit in the Coachrider much longer than the Mac, and I think it's cause she can see me (though I guess it could be more comfortable, I don't really know). The new Coachriders seem to have some of these features (we got ours in 2003), but not mine.

The thing is, I'm not totally sold on getting it because we have one pretty similar. But since it's so much lighter, I am considering taking it to Disney with us in April instead of the Mac because she might stay in it longer if she can see me. Our last trip to Disney I ended up keeping her in the Bjorn most of the time cause she'd cry in the stroller. I didn't mind that when she was very young (did that on our 1st 2 trips at 3 and 4 months) but now she's 19 pounds so it's hard to carry her all day.

So are Combi strollers good? Do they push and steer well? I love that about the Mac and when I used my SILs BabyTrend it was so hard to push and steer that I really appreciated the Mac more. The Coachrider isn't bad in that dept. either, it's just heavy. It goes up to 35 lbs, and since Madison is about 19 lbs. at almost 1, I'm guessing we'd get decent use out of it, plus we plan to have more kids so she wouldn't be the only one using it. Do Combi's hold up well? So, any opinions on this stroller?

 

[RitaZ.]

I had a Combi Savvy Z stroller years ago, I bought it for my DS#2 and also used it when DD came along. After we were done with strollers, I gave it away and it was still in great shape. I never expected it to last and wear as well as it did, I guess because it was so lightweight. I loved the shoulder strap and it was a breeze to fold.

I have a funny story about the stroller... One time I went to the mall with my daughter and it was a windy day, when I went to put her in her car seat, I turned my back on the stroller. I had no idea this was happening, but when I turned around I saw the stroller being blown by the wind, it was funny. A man saw this and got out of his car and retrieved for me. Remember, they are really lightweight.

We took that stroller to WDW several times.

 

[becka]

We also bought a Combi Savvy stroller and I LOVE it. We bought it for our trip to WDW and it was great for our trip since it was so lightweight and folded up so well plus it seemed really comfortable for DS. Unfortunately he started to rebel against the stroller concept shortly after we returned so we have not used it a great deal here at home but I am glad that we will have it when we need one for DD when she is able to sit up. It is well worth every penny we paid.

 

[justhat]

Thanks for the replies. I went to the store tonight to test it out, and it seems like it was pretty easy to steer, very light, and easy to get her in and out. I also liked that it stood by itself when it was folded. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I think I just might get it. I love the 2 we have here now (the Coachrider and the Maclaren) but this one sorta combines the best features of both and I think we'll get good use out of it since we live in DC and walk almost everywhere.