Product Rating

A must-have for frequent travelers

by A. Bowman 2008-09-05

I just completed a two-month, cross-country trip to 5 states with 12 airline flights with my son as we visited family and friends. He is now 6 months old. When we started, he was 4 months old and I can tell you if it wasn't for the sit-n-stroll, we would not have made it. Most of the flights were by myself so it was essential that I be able to get him around safely and easily. This was the right equipment for the job. On flights where he was not in his own seat, I gate checked this with a red Gate Check bag (I also highly recommend this item) and it traveled well.

I practiced getting the wheels retracted and extended at home and I'm glad I did. As other people have mentioned, the wheels have to be in the air to be retracted and extended. I'm not very strong and my arms aren't very long so at first it was a challenge. It took a little getting used to. But, after a few tries, I was able to do it with my son strapped in. That is huge when you are trying to get through security with minimal hassle. Since I was by myself, I didn't have someone to hand him off to. I retracted the wheels, pulled him out and put the sit-n-stroll on the x-ray conveyor. It was very easy. On the other side, I would reverse the process. On more than one occasion, I had other moms watching me and asking me where I got such a fabulous stroller. I also had moms with huge stroller/carseat combos on the jetway marvel at how I could so easiy travel by myself with an infant. I think I could have sold 50 of these on the trip.

The handle is very easy to steer with one hand which is a huge plus when traveling and hauling suitcases through airports.

I did not have any problems with this facing rear in any of the rental cars I had. It fit securely and I am confident would have withstood any crash. Fortunately we didn't have one so I didn't actually test that out. It is a little bit of a hassle to have to install the sit-n-stroll into the car each time. The way the straps are, you can't lift the baby out without taking the whole seat out. But, that inconvenience is minor compared to hauling a normal carseat around.

The retractable handle is wonderful because when you wheel it in tight places (restaurants, elevators, airplanes) you can lower it but still push the stroller.

I used the sit-n-stroll in many different restaurants as a booster chair.

It was so nice to have one item that served so many useful functions. I highly recommend this product if you plan to travel with a baby or toddler.

Product Rating

Very good product

by Ritesh N. Nayyar 2008-08-30

I have used this to goto New York and travel around on 5th Avenue and also in Mall and Car it is perfect for all these activities.

Product Rating

Can't Live Without It

by Cristina SC 2007-12-15

(I own the beige/blue version.)

I have traveled with my young son at least once a month for the past couple of years (most of the time w/o my spouse), and I can honestly say that I could not have managed without the Sit-n-Stroll! I am able to easily maneuver this stroller with one hand while pulling my wheeled luggage along with the other and hauling a humongous diaper bag full of kid essentials, an emergency change of clothes, & a laptop on my back (and that's just to get to the check-in counter!).

We've also found it handy to use this as the 2nd car seat in our truck since there's limited space to store a regular stroller should we need one. Additionally, the seat cover is easily removable and washable in a washing machine (something we learned when a stomach virus hit our family during one of our trips).

As others pointed out, there is a bit of a learning curve to using the S-n-S, but you get the hang of it quickly enough once you've used it a few times. I have absolutely no problems converting it from car seat to stroller and back, and I have hereditary RA in my wrists! It's also true that the mesh storage bag is tiny and that it has no cup holders, but none of that matters in the long run b/c whatever drawbacks this device has are readily eclipsed by its complete usefulness.

Bottom line: if you travel once a year or less, you can make do without it unless you just enjoy spending money. If you have travel often with your child, you NEED this stroller. It may be ugly, clunky, bumpy, and heavy, but you will not regret it!

Product Rating

A lifesaver for traveling, but a couple of drawbacks

by Emily S. Lakdawalla 2007-11-27

I just took my 16-month-old, 22-pound daughter on a plane trip with this seat and the whole trip was MUCH smoother than a previous trip on which I had taken her regular car seat. After a little practice it is pretty easy to convert from a stroller to a car seat and back while the baby is sitting it it, which is a lifesaver for the godawful painful process of getting through security. I could leave her strapped in the stroller until I had all my various items unpacked and on the belt, convert it to a seat, set it up and on the table, take her out, then slide the seat through with one hand; much better than having to hang on to her with one hand while I try to collapse and hoist a regular stroller onto the belt with the other. It steers very easily with one hand, and although it has hardly any basket, the accessory sack that you can buy separately is very roomy, handy, and lightweight, simple to stuff into a small suitcase. The stroller even rolled (snugly) down the Economy class aisles of both Airbus A320 and Boeing 757 planes. Once at our destination, it was a piece of cake to collapse the stroller and toss her into a taxi, strapping her in safely. This stroller is a must if your travel includes much time spent in taxis.

There were, however, three serious drawbacks which prevent me from giving it 5 stars.

- The telescoping handle is somewhat floppily connected to the body of the stroller. This is apparently supposed to be a "feature" as it is prominently labeled "FLEX-STEER (TM)" but the floppiness means -- as the owner's manual tells you -- that in order to get the stroller over an obstruction like a street curb, you cannot do the normal operation of leaning down on the handle to pop up the front wheels and lift them over the curb. Instead, you are instructed to turn the stroller around backward, lift up on the handle to lift the back wheels over the curb, then turn around and proceed. At least once on my trip I found myself crossing a street, and a car turned onto the street and started barreling toward me and I had to try to do this operation in a real hurry. Also both planes I traveled on had large gaps between the plane deck and the jetbridge; there's no room for turning the stroller around in that situation, the only option is to bodily lift the seat and baby with both hands and set it on to the deck.

- As other reviewers have noted, to convert it from stroller to seat and back you have to lift both baby and stroller into the air. This is not a huge deal, but every dang time I collapsed or reset the stroller, some protruding piece of plastic on the back of it created a new bruise on my right arm. By the end of the trip my arm looked like leopardskin, peppered with purple bruises. Good thing I wasn't expected to look pretty.

- When the seat is in the forward-facing position, the seatbelt crosses the front of the seat in a position that is pretty high up the seat. For my 16-month-old, the belt crossed the seat at mid-chest level, pinning her upper arms. If she were a thumbsucker, this would have been utterly unworkable. As it was, I couldn't keep the seatbelt on for the whole flight; she wouldn't have stood for it. Once she has grown a couple more inches, her shoulders will be far enough above the seat belt position that her arms will be able to lie comfortably over the seat belt, but until then, strapping her in to the plane or car is equivalent to strapping her arms to her sides. At least in a plane you get to unbuckle the seat belt occasionally; this seat will not work for her in a car until she grows more.

One other random "pro" to mention: I discovered while hanging around in the airport that, with the wheels deployed but the handle in its stored position, the Sit'n'Stroll has a sixth function, as a walker -- my daughter pushed it up and down and up and down and up and down the concourse (to the annoyance, I am sure, of many harried travelers), getting those little legs nice and tired out for the flight.

Product Rating

One major flaw!

by A. Arumugham 2007-09-02

The idea is great - but there is a huge flaw. You cannot secure this well in the rear facing position! We have a 2000 infiniti I30 and a 2006 lexus gx470.
In both cars after installation, the seat easily tips backwards ( baby's face can be smashed by car's seat ). granted most of the force in an accident is forward, but there is always some whiplash effect - i can't imagine what would happen in a wreck - we can easily flip the seat with one hand!

the instruction manual recommends the use of a "pool noodle". that is unacceptable - there is no way to reliably make that secure. in addition, i don't wan't to carry some foam roller in addition to the seat. takes away from the whole portability idea.

if your child is going to be forward facing and you use the tether anchor as well as the seat belts- i think it would be ok. but, think twice if your child requires a rear facing seat.