Looking for Foldable/Umbrella Stroller with a Canopy

June 20, 2017 7:14 AM

We're looking for a lightweight foldable/umbrella stroller for our monster who is almost a year old. We currently have a City Mini which we love but it's big for riding the bus and we will be taking a lengthy train ride soon and would like something smaller. We'd like it to be sturdy and, especially, have a decent sunshade. What are the best options?

I've seen some strollers that have sun shades but the reviews say they don't work well. I've also seen some that are apparently very short and hard to push for anyone over about 5' 5" which both of us are (NB "both of us" being parents, not the baby).

Requirements and Preferences:

-Lightweight, easy to fold and bring on the bus
-Small and light enough to bring on the bus, train, or to the airport without making other passengers hate us
-Sturdy enough for extensive city use, won't fall apart even with lots of pushing over badly maintained sidewalks (I assume this style of stroller is uniformly fairly flimsy which I get, I just don't want something that will fall apart the first time we use it)
-Decent sunshade/canopy
-Tall enough (or sufficiently adjustable) to be pushed by someone at least six feet tall
-If we can get it through Amazon/Amazon Prime that'd be great but not necessary
-Not crazy expensive would be nice

If you have an umbrella stroller with a sunshade that you love, I would be grateful for your suggestions! Thank you!

posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl to Shopping (14 answers total)

We haven't pulled the trigger yet, but narrowed our umbrella stroller search to the Summer Infant 3D One, based on price, reported handle height, canopy size, recline, and folded size. I can't give you a personal recommendation, but that was the result of my online comparison shopping.
posted by Kriesa at 7:35 AM on June 20, 2017

We have used the Maclaren Triumph for about 6 months and we like it. It folds up and opens up pretty easily, it's lightweight, and the canopy is REALLY good (it extends so we've never had a problem on even the sunniest days).

I can't speak to the longterm durability - it's been fine for us, we use it a lot but we do live in the suburbs so not every day. My husband is comfortable pushing it at 5'11" but I don't know if the extra few inches of height would make a difference.

We got ours for under $200 at Buy Buy Baby and used a 20% off coupon on top of that.
posted by cpatterson at 7:43 AM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you for the responses so far! Just to clarify, we do have a day-to-day stroller with which we're very happy, it just takes up a lot of space on crowded city buses and we'd like a backup for occasional use. We're explicitly looking for something very small and pretty cheap. I'm might have overemphasized my concern with how sturdy it be; it's much more important to me that it be as small as possible while not falling apart and also have a sunshade.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:47 AM on June 20, 2017

If you're ok with a smaller sunshade, the Summer Infant 3D Lite is my runner up. It is about $60, but as far as I can tell, that's about as cheap as you can go before running into short handle heights.

Also, try craigslist - you may be able to find a used Maclaren or something for $50 or less.
posted by Kriesa at 8:01 AM on June 20, 2017

We have the Summer Infant 3D Lite. The canopy's not the biggest but it is lightweight and easy to fold, and the reclining back is nice. My 6'1" husband hasn't complained about the height of the handles.
posted by cabingirl at 8:06 AM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

We have been quite happy with our Chicco Capri Umbrella Stroller. It's lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and has proven really durable (two kids, multiple trips in a plane cargo hold, cobblestone streets, etc). It's not the best on really rough streets, but basically it's as good as a small wheel stroller can be, I think. The sun shade is adequate, although nothing extraordinary. If it's not good enough for you, you might want to consider buying your sunshade separately from a third party.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:46 AM on June 20, 2017

Oh! And I'm 6' and use the Capri. I'll admit that it's not as nice to push as our other, fancier stroller, but it works fine for me.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:48 AM on June 20, 2017

We have a mclauren that we were given as a hand me down. It's 10
years old and it still is mechanically perfect. The canopy is adequate. We have other strollers, but ultimately I always grab this one. Very light, folds up small, smooth ride. I think it's the triumph version, but I didn't buy it. So I'm not 100% certain. New ones aren't that cheap. But if you could find a used one, I would jump on it. Because we use it so much, I'm also considering buying a new one.

We also have a Zoe double. It's also super light. The sun canopy on that is awesome. I think the Zoe single also has the super canopy. Our double folds up super small (for a double), but it folds horizontally rather than vertically - so if the single folds that way, it might be hard to maneuver on a train. But it's actually great for storing it.

I am intrigued by the mountain buggy nano. It is small enough to fit in the overhead on a plane. So that might be helpful.

All of these are on amazon.
posted by donovangirl at 9:31 AM on June 20, 2017

We have a MacLaren Volo that meets all your requirements. Ours is 9 years old and still in great shape. Been on multiple plane trips, two kids, etc. Love it.
posted by dpx.mfx at 10:41 AM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

We have an older version of the Hauck Speed Plus that my 6 foot plus partner was pretty comfortable pushing round till my monster offspring outgrew it, and lo! we got a City Mini. I can say it compares pretty favourably in terms of smoothness of ride and stability to the City Mini, though it's not quite as maneuverable. The sunshade on it is excellent but doesn't fold as compactly as the rest of the stroller, but it's doable. We found strollers much smaller than that were uncomfortable for my partner to use. I don't drive at all, so the Speed Plus spent a lot of time on buses and it fit quite neatly onto them, and is light enough to carry on board if need be.
posted by Jilder at 3:44 AM on June 21, 2017

Also for some reason ours did not come with a lap bar. Made a bit of difference folding, I think.
posted by Jilder at 3:45 AM on June 21, 2017

I have done way too much research on this topic but I have not personally used the strollers I'm about to mention. That said, based on reviews, I don't think you can go wrong with the Summer Infant 3D Lite. However, if you have easy access to a Walmart, I have seen encouraging reviews of the Urbini Hummingbird and it allegedly weighs less than seven pounds. Finally, if you have a little more money to spend, I've been interested in checking out the Zoe single stroller mentioned above for sale on Amazon. It has a big canopy, all the stroller accessories and it's under ten pounds.

To recap, the 3D Lite is inexpensive and has received good reviews but I think it's the heaviest of the three. The Urbini Hummingbird is the lightest and it's inexpensive but has the fewest reviews. The Zoe is in the middle of the two when it comes to weight and reviews and has a lot of stroller accessories (and probably the best canopy) but it's the most expensive of the three. Hope that helps!
posted by kat518 at 5:59 AM on June 21, 2017

Is this the one you have? We have that one and get it on buses and trains with no problem (that's why I bought it). If it's really busy BabyTinkle goes in the sling and I fold the buggy up.

This is the absolute smallest one I've seen - folds up small enough to fit in a plane's overhead locker. It's not cheap though.

Transport for London recommend public transport-friendly buggies, I just went through the list and tried a few out.
posted by tinkletown at 2:05 PM on June 21, 2017

Oh I didn't address the sunshade part - all stroller parasols are rubbish, as far as I can tell. You can get ones which clip onto any buggy frame (like this one) but I still think you're better with an awning of some sort. Shade-a-babe gets good reviews (despite the atrocious name). My Babyjogger has a good canopy so I haven't tried it myself.
posted by tinkletown at 2:15 PM on June 21, 2017