Why Maclaren and Peg Perego?

[goofy4wdw2]

We're taking DD to WDW in April...she'll be 8 months. We have a Graco travel system and we really like the stroller for use in our neighborhood...smooth ride...but we do want something a little more compact for traveling to WDW. We are looking for a stroller with:
-parent cupholders
-large storage basket
-reclines and is padded
-sunshade
-maneuvers fairly easily
-lightweight for travel, folds easily

We were thinking of the Baby Trend for $40 at Babies R Us..it seemed to ride smooth and had all of the features above...but I keep reading how so many of you love Maclaren and Peg Perego and they are worth the extra money. Unfortunately, most don't have all of the above features. What about those strollers make them worth the price difference? This is our first child, so I could use your experience and expertise!!

 

[KristinU]

The Peg Perego P3 has all of the features you mentioned above...the only thing that falls a little short is the PP cupholder, it is small but holds a margarita from Mexico in Epcot and a Dole Whip float from Adventureland in the MK...so it's A-OK with me Actually, we recently got a Carry You Demi-Milan caddy thing (www.carryyou.com) and it is awesome and makes the P3 totally complete IMHO. The sunshade can't be beat on the P3, it pulls all the way down to the tray when the seat is not reclined, it has good coverage when the seat is fully reclined too. I've been to WDW with a Mac Triumph, a Safety 1st Alumilite, and a P3 (twice with the P3). Being fairly frequent travelers, the Safety 1st would not have worked for us long term - we wore the treads down on the wheels in one trip...that's when we stepped it up to the P3. The Mac is great for older kids hopping in and out and such, steers great, and is so lightweight...we'll go back to taking the Mac when DS is older. Oh, and I love the Skip Hop diaper bag for adding cargo space to any stroller. The P3 basket is a little small, but at WDW going in and out of security and off and on busses, etc. we don't tend to put too much inthe basket anyway.

Here's my personal method/philosophy on expensive strollers: I prefer to buy higher-end strollers because resale is typically great, instead of buying something more "disposable". If I can find something via re-sale I do that...either way, I see the depreciation that I take as my "rental" fee. I recently sold a Mac Volo that I had purchased used and I came out at paying about $20 for the time that I used it (and most of that was shipping)...i.e. I sold it for just about the same as I bought it for. I guess I see it as part of the reduce-reuse-recycle thing...

 

[poohfriend]

ANd I'm so glad I finally spent the money.!

With my first, I bought a Graco Travel System. Loved it then. I especially loved the feature of taking the infant carrier/car seat out of the car and placing on the stroller. As time passed, I became less pleased with it. Kids outgrow the car seat, or it becomes to heavy to deal with. Then, you're just using this big bulky stroller. My oldest is 8 and they have made some improvements, but I would have never been able to hold a baby (or even a child's hand and deal with a stroller.

I bought a couple of those lightweight strollers -- inlcuding a baby trend and liked okay, but wasn't crazy about it.

When my second came along, I stumbled on a clearance double stroller at Target for $42. (normally $150) I really liked having it, but again it was bulky and when my older child no longer wanted to ride it was a hassle. My hassle was taken care of when after my third was born my DH folded it but forgot to take the stroller off the sidewalk and place it in the trunk . Someone else is using my excellent buy!

I used that original travel system for a while (until DS was about 5 months) and then test-drove a Mac at Babies R us.

The steering is incredible. One handed! THis is really important when you have a couple of kids to keep up with. My Mac has adjustable handles so DH is happy pushing too. Mine has an adjustable seat, a small basket, a small pocket on the back and a great sunshade. Also had a rain cover that was surprisingly easy to use.

I adore it and wish I'd bought the top of the line when 1st was born. I see these in consignment sales for close to what I paid for last year's model. I bought a skip-hop duo bag for about $50 and use the front pockets as a drink holder. (this is a great stroller bag!

The drink holder is the only option I miss -- but would not give up the convienence of the umbrella-style fold.

I bought a techno online (last year's color/model and much less).
I love how easy it is to fold and put in the car. I use it at the park, the mall and adored it's steering at wdw! No matter what you choose, shop around online.

I tried the p3 -- liked it too. In the end the steering and weight on the mac won...I might have chosen differently if I wasn't done having small babies at that point. Oh and the mac holds kids up to 55 pounds and still steers well!

I gave my Graco away!

 

[rt2dz]

Let me tell you why I'm opting against.

I had my single Evenflo travel system with DS#1. I bought it strictly because it was a travel system. I love the travel system, couldn't do without it with our lifestyle (active, suburbs). DS used it until he was 3. He was pretty much out of it at that time and along came DS#2. Used this stroller with DS#2 also. Still going strong. Well, opps. DS#3 came along a lot sooner than planned. I will need double.

I borrowed all sorts of strollers of friends. I had been (still am) very happy with my Evenflo, but we still plan on baby #4, so quality was really desired. The evenflo is still going strong, but a double is a whole different story. After trying out many, many strollers (thank goodness for a lot of friends who are very happy to help/loan out strollers for a week at a time), I decided on the Peg. But, it didn't hold the carrier. So, I bought a very cheap ($89 at Walmart) double to use as the travel system until DS#3 out grew the seat and then I'd get the Peg.

The thing is, the Evenflo (Take Me Too) is just as convienent as the Peg was. It's light. It folds easily. It fits in my cargo space. Plenty of storage. Easy to maneuver, even one handed. There is no way I can justify to myself spending $300-$400 on a new stroller when the $89 stroller is just as good. If this Evenflo holds up half as well as the other, and I bought this one simply because it was the cheapest I could find, it will take me through all my double needs with future baby #4. I figure I'll use this stroller for 5 years. That's roughly $17.80 a year or $1.49 a month.

 

[3littleHalls]

With our first we bought the travel system. Found that stroller to be large, heavy, harder to push(esp the bigger she got) so opted for the travel-lite Graco. A bit smaller did fine for us. Then we got pg with our third and our 2nd was also going to need surgery on his feet in the future. So, after much research, shop and comparison, and concerned about the costs...we went with the Mac Twin Traveler b/c it met all the needs. It has been worth it. We have enjoyed the TT, it met and exceeded our expectations. I have not used our old strollers once since. I did need a singleton stroller to use now and then so we purchsed Triumph by Maclaren. It is sturdy enough to have the 6yr old sit in it and easy enough to push the 1 yr old can push the 6yr old in it. DH and I are tall(I am just shy of 5'11 and he is 6'1) so the longer handles make it easy to push. If your stroller works for you, I wouldn't say you need another. BTW, isn't 8 mos a great age!!

 

[munchkinsmom]

When my DD was born, we were given a Century travel system, which is much like the Graco. We liked the stroller, but as our DD got older, we wanted an umbrella fold stroller that was more compact and lighter for us to use. At the time we only had a sedan, so space in the trunk was a big issue for us. After searching around, we purchased a Peg Perego Pliko (P3's were not out then). We chose this stroller because of the above reasons as well as the nice step in the back, thinking we'd have another child in the near future. It also seemed to be very sturdy and after five years of continual abuse and two kids (one in the seat and one riding on the back step) our Pliko is still in good shape. I'm not sure if some of the more cheaper strollers would last as long as our Pliko has with the things we've put it through. It's our workhorse stroller and I will be very sad when we have to retire it. Oh yeah, PP's sun shade is also pretty good.

When our DS was born we purchased a Maclaren Twin Traveller. We LOVE this stroller too! It steers very well and is extremely sturdy and solid, even if there's only one child in it. Since Macs also has a higher weight limit (55lbs), the strollers can be used for a longer time. The only thing I'm not impressed with is their sun shade.

The lack of snack trays on the PP and Maclaren have never been a big issue for us. We would give our kids a snack trap (http://www.snacktrap.com) and they was happy w/ that. I think P3's now have trays, but I can't be sure. For parent cup holders, we've used Prince Lionheart attached cup holders, but now we use the Valco cup holders which we are very pleased with:

http://www.valcobaby.com/accessories.html

Good luck in your search.

 

[Desnik]

For my first I went through about 5 different kinds/brands of strollers. I had gotten a Combi as a gift, the big stroller, it was about $400 and I could never spend that myself on a stroller! I had then been buying the cheaper ones for DD and never found one that was perfect. 5 years later I had DS. I was on a mission to find the perfect stroller and this time I wasn't looking at the cost, too much!LOL When I found the Peg Perego P3 I knew it was it. It had all the features I wanted. The main one was that it folded up to me and I didn't have to lean down on the floor when folding it. It is a dream and we have abused it for 3 years now and it is still kicking!! It was so worth the extra money. Especially since we've taken it to Disney and AK is the worst park on strollers. One cheap one I had for DD literally broke after a day there! Our Peg was just fine! I also had the car seat that snaps into it so it was a travel system. Love it and can't say enough about it! I recently just bought another stroller for DS who is now almost 3. I needed something that was alittle lighter, more umbrella type for our WDW trip and for the mall and such. I bought the Maclaren Triumph and it hasn't arrived yet.(got a great price on babyage.com) I have read wonderful things about it online and we tested it out at our local Babies r us and it seems perfect for what we need now. I did look into cheaper options but I just can't go back to those strollers. They just seem cheaply made to me and so plastic!? Also my Peg or Combi never got squeeky wheels!! I guess it's just a matter of preference and how much you plan to use the stroller.
Good luck!

 

[kiddletwins]

We have a MacClaren for our everyday use but decided to go with 2, $25 strollers for our twins, from Target. They worked great! We decided to go with 2 single strollers to make it easier to navigate through the parks. Also, it allowed us the ability to separate and have equal responsibility throughout the week. The basket is very large, there are cup holders and it is easy to fold and transport. The seat folds back pretty far and there is a pretty decent size sunshade. For a $25 stroller it has been very durable! It has made the trek to WDW 3 times from Chicago, along with different uses while at home, and it still has quite a bit of life left in it.

I would HIGHLY recommend it!

Jenn

 

[Jen D]

Where we live we walk everywhere. I can put almost 4 miles on the stroller a day just taking my older daugter to school and picking her up if I have to bring the baby with me. So we need a stroller that is really dependable, as dependable as a car would be if we had a car!

With my first baby I didn't understand why to spend more either and we didn't know anyone else with babies. We got a Graco, can't remember the model. Travel lite maybe? It was 1997, who knows. It wasn't bad really but it was really heavy and bulky. No good for us because we need to maneuver in small spaces and carry it up stairs. We switched to a Combi after a few months which was light and pretty good, although handles too low. But when it broke they offered no service, they asked me to send it back to them at a cost of $75. Unbelievably I replaced it with another Combi (a second-hand but never used bargain.) Eventually that broke too. After that I just burned through a couple $20 Kolcrafts until the stroller years ended.

With my second baby I decided I wasn't messing around, I was getting a top of the line (well, not TOP of the line, which is around here are the $800 Bugaboos all the fashionable folks love) so I went for the Maclaren Techno XT. Luckily my parents gave me the stroller for our baby gift. I like the Maclaren for the handles and handle height, the steering, the durability, and the weight--- again, we are often carrying strollers up and down stairs, so this is crucial. A big thing for me was service though. There are plenty of certified Maclaren repair shops and they fix any problem free of charge, no questions. If you use your stroller alot you probably will eventually have a probem, a popped wheel, something. Easy and quick repair is a must.

I'm probably going to get a Volo soon, the kid just turned two and I'd like something even lighter and he rarely wants to recline anymore.

Now my needs might be more specialized as I sometimes log 10-20 miles a week on our stroller but this is why I chose the way I did.

P.S. I love Peg Perego too-- but for me, the lighter the stroller the better, we take the subway a lot. Maclaren beat PP in lightness. But in many ways I prefer PP, would probably have done that if weight were not a factor.

 

[karigraphy]

My first stroller was a Baby Trend. My second was a Peg Perego. I liked them both for different reasons. Both were double strollers because I have twins (who are six now). The Baby Trend was LIGHT and turned on a dime. The seats became too small and too close together to use beyond 18 months.

The Peg Perego is much heavier but very well built. The seats wipe clean easily and/or you can take the fabric off to wash - or better yet hose down in the back yard. It turned on a dime, too. The version I had had snap on seats that you take off before folding up the stroller so it is not as compact for traveling but you never lift the entire weight of the stroller to put in the back of your car. The snap on seats allow you to have the child turned toward you or turned to the front. In the double, the twins could face each other which kept everybody happier. The seats (in the double) are not stadium seating so the back child isn't elevated which didn't seem to matter. The Baby Trend only had a lap belt and one of my daughters would climb out all the time. The Peg Perego had shoulder straps that were worth the price of admission for my peace of mind!

Both the Baby Trend and the Peg Perego's seats lay down flat so you can have a sleeping baby lay down or use the flat surface for a diaper change. (Not all doubles have the back seat lay flat but both of those brands did.) In the Peg Perego, the basket across the bottom is detachable so older children can climb in and out of their seats. The canapy can be used or removed. The front bar can be used or removed. Very flexible options. The canapy is strong enough to hold a purse or shopping basket if you want to put something down in a handy place. My Peg Perego didn't have a cup holder but I could put a water bottle in a handy net pocket on the back of the back seat.

If you think you are going to need a double in the future, I wouldn't invest in the Peg Perego now. Wait and get it later. The Baby Trend is a terrific stroller in my experience especially for the value.

I resold the Baby Trend for $40. I resold the Peg Perego for $150 (paid $375 online in 2001).

Either way, I'm sure you can't go wrong and you'll have a great vacation!

Karen

 

[kiddisney]

hi - we did the disney stoller thing a couple of ways - for our first trip down w/our 18 month old we took her big stroller - we were on the train and it was good for her to sleep in - but a little tough to get on the bus - this was a kolcraft - $89

for the next trip we took two cheap strollers - (the kids were 3 1/2 and 1 1/2)
and they reclined just a little bit - but they were so much better by being lightweight - these were about $29 -$35 - and they lasted for years

and for our last trip we had a travel system that we left at home and bought a cheaper evenflo - and it was great - it may have been bigger than we wanted - but there are a lot of advantages - fully reclining - cupholders - one handed pushing - and a big basket on the bottom

i know that the peg perego and maclaren are good strollers - but they are so expensive - one of the big questions is if you are flying - do you want to spend a lot of money on a stroller that could be damaged during transport - if my $40 was broken I wouldn't have been as upset as if I would be if my $100 stroller had broken - I looked at it as how much a day the rental at wdw would be - used that number and bought a stroller for that amount of money - or less - i made sure it was comfortable to sleep in and that was about it - it wasn't going to be my major stroller so I was flexible - the only other thing to think of was that my third was 6 months old so we wanted the 'boot' for the stroller so that his blankets didn't fall out when he kicked - if you have an older child in the stroller you wouldn't have to worry about that -

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Our first stroller was a Century (now Graco) travel system, which worked well for us except the width of the stroller did not fit through many store aisles! So we bought a smaller, lighter, narrower stroller for shopping, using the Graco for parks and neighborhood strolls.

DS is now 5, his baby brother is approaching 2, and we were planning on bringing both strollers to Disneyland (on the advice of many who indicated the older child would get tired and want to ride in the stroller.)

Well, the Century broke a wheel last week. So I called Graco to find a replacement part. Turns out the stroller is too old for replacement parts, and there was a recall on it besides (!), so they are sending me a check to get a replacement stroller.

So I went back researching strollers (epinions, BabiesRUs, Toddler Bargains) and came away with the conclusion that the MacLaren stroller we liked the best is the way to go, mainly because of its quality and the fact that we need to carry a 5yo at Disneyland. So we ordered it online and are eager to try it out once it arrives.