I stalked it. I lay-bought it. I took it home and assembled it. I LOVE IT! It's my brand spanking new Steelcraft "Strider Plus". The slogan is something like "Take one, take two; Ready for now, ready for next; No fuss, Strider Plus!" Now, normally, a catch cry as corny as that would make you feel a little uneasy about spending the $699 + accessories. BUT, I have to say, I have found this pram to be exceptional in both quality and functionality. Before I go on and on about that, I'll let you in on a very important lesson that I learned after I purchased my first pram...
I was pretty wide eyed and excited when it came to buying my first pram. I bought a Bootiq "Duke" stroller and bassinet. At the time, I spent $500 which I thought was just fabulous, considering all the other stroller/bassinet duo's cost easily that and a half and none of them would fit in my car! I tried it out in the shop, and it was pretty good. It was relatively steerable and not too stiff to push. THAT WAS BECAUSE IT HAD NO WEIGHT IN IT!! If you are planning on "trying it out" in the shop, put 18kg's in it and see how well it steers then! The reason this is so important is because you are more than likely going to have one thing in the pram at all times:
A)) The baby, or
B)) your bags/shopping/random crap.
This means that you'll potentially have to push this thing with one hand, or worse, your hip. If it's impossible to steer with a little weight in it, you're going to hate it and curse it and drop it over your fence so your neighbours have to deal with it. SO. There you go. The reason you need to do a proper trial.
If you plan on having more than one baby, I suggest you get a pram that will be appropriate for more than one baby. The Strider is perfect for that very purpose because not only does it convert, but it doesn't look stupid with just one seat! It also folds down with all the attachments on it, as opposed to other prams that need disassembling when you go to stow it in the boot of your car. With all of these features, you'd think that was it - but nope! It comes with storm and sun covers included, which means even less hidden costs, both main seat and second seat recline/sit up for newborn or toddler - so you can put them in any configuration, including reversing the top seat. If all of this sounds confusing, you can always just check out the website.I guess if I had to identify a negative to it, it would be that it's rather wide at the rear, but if you ask me, that's not so much a negative as it is a great stabiliser. It feels really nice and solid under your baby, which is comforting on bumpy treks. Other than that, I can't really see that it's got any really big design errors, cos you can buy pretty much anything you want for it - a bassinet, car seat attachment etc etc. Oh, and the under-basket is super huge and fantabulous.... :oD
Long story short, I love my new Strider Plus. It's better than I thought it would be, and I find myself looking for opportunities to use it. Do yourself a favour and go check one out in the flesh. I think you'll be pretty glad you did!
A. xo
Is there something we need to know Amy? Buying a two child pram?? We looked at this pram too when Jacob was born, but Georgia doesn't fit in the seat under the hood - she's too tall!! So we ended up with the Phil & Teds and so far I'm really happy with it. But I do agree the Strider plus looks pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteJem xx
haha -- nope, nothing to read into here... I'm thinking all the time about the next bub, but there's things that need to fall into place first - I want to get back down to a good starting weight, and I think it's important that Rollie is living here full time before we go there.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting observation about the pram Jem... you see, there's something very valuable in experience that should be shared with the pre-baby world!! :oD Hope I don't have that issue...... Perhaps I'll just take the hood off and stick Eli in the bottom one... Phil and Ted's is good - but the fact that I couldn't turn the bub around to face me has put me off, oh and the fact that the toddler seat doesn't lay down. That's also not good for me. But I have heard great things about the phil and teds..
Wanna be a guest reviewer??? If you write a review, I'll put it on here! :o)