Double Strollers!!!

[lincran]

Double strollers are starting to haunt my dreams! Anyone else in the same boat???

Looking for a tandem, side by side, cute, but still affordable.... what are you looking for?

What do you love about your double stroller?

How much will you be spending/spent?

http://www.squidoo.com/top-double-stroller

Need help!

[Gena 22]

We had three double strollers and three pairs of carriers.  Guess which we used and loved more . . .

Which is not to say we regretted the $$ we spend on strollers.  They each had a time and place.  Here's what we had:

Double snap n go, purchased for approx. $35(??) at a twin club consignment sale pre-birth to go with the bucket car seats.  This was a fantastic stroller for the newborn weeks.  Light, slim, room for lots of stuff beneath the seats, all around awesome.  But very short lived.  Not great past 2-3 months.  Don't buy a new one if you can avoid it.

Mountain Buggy Urban Double - bought off craigslist for something like $100.  This was an amazing and beloved thing.  So smooth, so rugged.  We took it on the beach, on the metro, over every trerrain imaginable.  It's about the size of a wheelchair in terms of width and bredth.  But this sucker is heavy, and not really happy about being folded down.  Which is a serious limitation.  Worked best living in our garage and rolled out for walks around town.

Twin Swift Ingelsina, bought new for around $200.  This was an "insurance" stroller.  It lived in the back of my car, and used if I was on my own

If I had it to do all over again?  I'd probably do the same.  We got good stuff and used it when the circumastance we right.  Strollers were good for when I was on my own or when we went out to eat and pulled the stroller up to the table while the little ones slept.  Otherwise, the carriers won for ease and joy. 

Doing it again, I might consider a carrier and a single stroller.  Going single drops the price and weight. 

PS - FWIW, the twins are our first and only babes.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

[QMtwins]

Like the previous poster, we have a few strollers/buggies.  Doing twins for a second time, I feel good about what we did last time. 

First time around I swore I wouln't keep my kids in car seats much, so did not get a snap n go at first...bought it (used) within two weeks of their birth.  Just couldn't stand waking a sleeping babe in their car seat.  We did end up using it through about 9 months, from home and out and about in the car.  By then, we were also using our Chariot...for strolling and jogging (later used it for cycling).  This thing does not fold down well and so was/is our out of the garage, from home buggy.  After the girls outgrew the snap n go, we were given a used phil & teds with the second seat on the back.  That had a space in the car for all our running in and out of places and we still were/are using it for the 2.5 year olds. 

We have those three that are being used for the new girls and old girls in combo.  We also bought a quad stroller...for all four of them at once!

[Gena 22]

Wow, QMtwins!  Two sets of girls.  I am in awe.  An endless party!
 

[mylilmonkeys]

We do not have the budget for a spendy stroller.  When the twins came, we were still had the double from our two previous toddlers.  All we had to do was buy a second car seat attachment.  Ours is the Kolcraft contours on that link you sent.  But we paid half the price for it through Walmart almost 5 years ago.  It's held up better than any other double we've had.  I always look for large wheel radius, because the sidewalks around here are terribly uneven.  I do like the seat arrangement options a lot.  Now that the girls are older, they get a kick out of being able to face each other and interact.  And if the sun is bothersome, they can be rotated.  Sometimes, they just prefer to face me.  The biggest drawback is the weight of it, but that's hard to avoid with a double unless you just go with a tandem umbrella or something.

[Quinalla]

I still have some time, but I will probably get the Graco Quattro Tour Duo so I can use it to snap in infant seats and then later without the seats. I figure at some point I will probably get a double side by side umbrella too because I loved the umbrella with DD. I also will be trying wearing one and putting one in the stroller and wearing two, but I definitely want a stroller for some logistically challenging situations.

[jessmn]

We registered for the Chicco Cortina Together double stroller. It's not side by side, but we went that way because we were worried about a side by side fitting in doorways. And the car seats snap right into it.
 

[~Adorkable~]

you can search around for past lengthy comments i have made about strollers, or i can find them when i have more time and link to them, but bottom line is that i feel that a really good usable double stroller was one of hte best things i ever spent money on and improved my early time specially and got me out of the house in more plesent ways. i never guessed i would ever spend so much on a stroller, or any baby gear, but i have never regretted it for a second.

i have a Baby Jogger City Select and my kids are now 2 and still i use it al the time. last week it let me go out sightseeing with a out of town guest and stay out and see museums while the kids slept soundly thru their nap all bumdled up in their sleeping bags in fridied weather. ther is no way i could have done that in any other way.  so many meals out, mini date nights, and healthy long walks with friends would have never happened if not for a ver y good sturdy stroller with a full recline (the city select does in fact recline fully, just not flat from head to toes, thats why they say no newborns, but it lays them out way better than a baby bucket, so i dont get the restriction)

if i had to buy all over again , i would do the same thing, even at a way higher price knowing how much use we have gotten. i used the bassinets at first and loved them and folks usually can sell them for nearly full price tot he next mom.

i would strongly recommend the city select for a few reason, but in large part because of the very compact width and good viewing positions of the "stadium" tandem style seating 

[Katie063008]

I think the stroller question really depends on your lifestyle. When the twins were born DD1 was just under 2 but was a good walker. My husband and I live in a smallish city, don't have a car and use our bikes as main source of transport year round. We sometimes take the bus.  We do a lot of shopping in the downtown area with small stores or at the budget grocery store that doesn't fit through a wide stroller.  Our stroller needs were varied and we determined that they couldn't be fulfilled by one stroller alone.  Our solution: Baby Jogger city mini for first while since it will fit through the door of the grocery store and fully reclined for twin naps.  DD1 would walk most of the way, one twin would ride in the stroller and the other twin was in a carrier.  Then DD1 could hop in when she was tired.  As the twins got older (and the sidewalks covered in snow) the city mini wasn't working out. It does not go through snow.  At All.  So we bought double bike stroller since we had previously only bought a single trailer thinking that when we had the next kiddo the older one could ride on a trailer bike.  Yep that didn't work out.  So we got a WIKE .  It's a local company that make good quality bike/jogging/walking strollers at a good price. We sold the city mini at a good price and it sold the day it was posted.  No worries on selling a double stroller as long as you keep it in good condition.  The Wike goes through snow but not in small doors.  So when the twins were 6months+ my walking strategy was DD1 walks, twins ride in stroller(doesn't recline) or one in carrier on the way home so DD1 could ride. Then when we go to our destination I would carry one twin in arms, wear one in carrier and have DD1 walk.  Or use a cart if available.  If we took the bus I would use Twin1 in umbrella stroller, Twins2 in carrier, DD1 walking. 

Wow, writing that our I forgo how crazy my life was. Now they all just walk and we take the bus home.  Or we take both bikes and trailers for long trips  Also the double bike stroller is good for carting home the now enormous amount of food everyone eats if we can't borrow a car.  I think the point of all that was - carefully look at what your needs are.  Is there a lot of snow in your area?  Are you going to be using a car a lot? Otherwise those bucket seats are awful and expensive and they grow out of them so quick. The convertible seats are so much better for occasional use. Do you take transit or shop in small stores so it's important that your stroller fits through doors?  Lots of walking,running or biking? You might want to get a bike stroller. You If you have the money you might even want to get two strollers.

Good Luck

[sophigirl]

I just got mine Kolcraft Countours off Craigslist for $100, and I figured it can double up as a snap-and-go for the first couple of months. A friend who also has it told me that if she wasn't driving somewhere, she didn't bother with the car seats - just used the infant neck support, and the stroller's seat was enough on its own. I'm also planning on buying a jogging stroller off a Craigslist or from Just-between-friends sale, since my husband runs regularly and I'd like to be able to send the kids with him when he does it :)

A question for those of you who have used carriers - what combination of carriers did you find best for your twins/multiples? I figured I could put them both in a Moby wrap when they are little, but what about when they get bigger?

[Katie063008]

We carried two in the structured wrap at first. Then we switched to one in structured wrap in the front and one on ergo in the back. But really, it got too heavy pretty quick (and I"m pretty strong) and a bit two unwieldy in the snow so I would do one in the ergo on the back and one in a stroller.

[rinap]

We love our wike. (we have the most basic double bike trailer version) The other secret feature of the wike is that there's enough foot room that a friend can ride in the foot well if you're just walking (no straps, but at walking speeds that's less of an issue)

And we like our Maclaren twin techno. It fits through doors well, and does side-by-side. We've traveled with it all over the place. (Small wheels means it doesn't shine on cobblestones or cross-country, but it folds up well on airplanes and reclines well enough for 2-3 months plus.) At 20 months my girls still nap in it.

I put both in a moby early on. I like using two mei tais for carrying both (either side-by-side on front or front and back). But we never did it full time, only for colic or grumpy babies. At the beach I would wear crossed ring slings, but that only worked for very short distances.
 

[Katie063008]

Oh yeah the wike is great. On really snowy days I would strap in the twins and let my older daughter ride in the front with snow cover on. It was steamy hot! Also Wike is made here in Guelph where I live and the guy who makes it is pretty awesome. He let my husband who is a machinist look around and do his guy thing of "admiring" the construction/quality of the materials. They also let us buy a refurbished double stroller that had only been used a few times and then returned so we got a great deal.

[Keria]

We have a city select that we used from birth. Love it. I thought I would ditch it for umbrella strollers pretty early but nope I love having a full size stroller even now.

[lovemylab]

We just got our Chicco Cortina Together it is awesome! The best deal I found was diapers.com they had a 15% off code and free shipping!

[maos211]

I have the Maclaren twin triumph side by side and I love it because it fits any and all standard doorways