Baby Jogger - City Select

It's going to depend so much on how and where you plan to use the stroller, and whether you want something that can eventually be used for a second baby. I don't drive and we knew we wanted 2 kids, so I needed strollers that really worked well and had okay storage capacity. I went through a few different strollers to accommodate different activities and different life stages. All of them were used in conjunction with babywearing because sometimes in the city a stroller just doesn't work at all. I got a City Select first because I wanted something I could convert when we had a second, and the versatility was nice, but all the front to back strollers are so unwieldy to push. Having a tiny baby facing me (preferably not in a car seat) was important to me, and it was a good choice for that, but once both kids were bigger I sold it. I also had a not-quite-umbrella stroller, the Zoe that isn't the super tiny travel size, for those days I wanted to keep it light and only needed it for one kid, but they're really only well suited to smooth floors, like museums, so I only used it if I really needed something small and easy to fold. My second set of strollers, once I knew we weren't gonna have anymore newborns, were a City Mini GT and a Mountain Buggy Duet. The GT is a really solid choice as long as your kid is old enough that you feel comfortable not having eyes on them at all times. Sturdy, handles well, basket is not amazing but it's good enough, folds quickly, and they're popular enough that it's easy to find one used - I think mine was $20 on craigslist and all I had to do was stuff a little piece of cardboard into a spot where the front wheel liked to stick. The Mountain Buggy Duet is relatively unknown but my absolute favorite for when I needed both kids in a stroller. Rugged as hell, smooth to push even with one hand, amazingly shockingly astoundingly narrow for a side by side - I think there's less than an inch difference between it and the City Select single. You can fit this thing on a CTA bus without folding it or blocking the aisle (I did avoid crowded buses with strollers but I surprised a lot of people when they saw it squeeze in). You can take one seat off and attach a shopping basket if you've got one in preschool all day and the other at home with you running errands then put the second seat back in for a weekend zoo trip. It was a pain to fold but I rarely needed to fold it. It's not the best stroller for big kids since it's so narrow, but my oldest was a shrimpy toddler. God, I miss that stroller. If I knew then what I know now I probably would have gotten it and just used it with the basket when my first was born. I also borrowed a Bob double to get the kids to and from school when we were avoiding the bus during covid and it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed one winter. It did well in the snow but it's so so big, I couldn't even get it in my garage without folding it. If you plan to do a lot of trail walking off road kinds of stuff, a single Bob would be a great choice once baby is big enough, but I wouldn't bother for just city walking.

Yes to the good stroller! I got. City select thinking I would like the single to double on marketplace but didn’t realize how hard it would be to push once I had two kids in it. I still have it but only use it for one and bought a double bob and then a single bob.

I bought a double before kids. It worked with my car seat. Then a regular seat. Then added the second. I had the space to store the second away until we needed it. I bought the baby jogger city select used on craigslist.

My kids are older so I don't know the new brands as much. I had a baby jogger city select. It could hold infant seat/regular seat or 2 seats. I used it for 8 years before giving it to a neighbor. I loved the bigger tires. I borrowed a different stroller and I hated how it handled.

My Husband loves the Baby Jogger City Select. Not sure how tall you are, but the jogger has really good adjustment for both of us to use.

I'm using a 14yo third hand baby jogger City select and I love it. Zoo, museums, malls, gardens, ADA accessible trails, paved walking trails. It does it all and isn't a much bigger footprint than a nicer single stroller. I did have an infant seat adapter but I've been using the double seats since my baby is 7 months and he's my 4th. I've been using it for years. The basket fits a jansport backpack and an insulated bag, plus 4 water bottles.

A 5.5 yr and 4 yr old with one more on the way. - City Select with 2 seats is my full stroller/all terrain - Thule Chariot 2 bike stroller/also a hiking stroller - Valco Duo Snap for side by side stroller - GB pockit that's a bit wonky so lives at grandparents as a spare - Babyzen Yoyo got as second hand travel stroller I am planning to use mainly for my new one - All purpose wagon that never intended to be a stroller but they all pile in

I just got the city select jogger for my similar age kids and it’s been working great. You can do two seats plus a roller board which has been working well for my 4.5 year old. The seats can go in multiple configurations.

Yeah, even though it cost more (vs going straight to convertible seats and skipping infant seats entirely), it was really clutch for their newborn winter. I don't regret it. We went with the Baby Jogger City Select because I found a good deal on FB for a double stroller; I was also looking at used Uppababy but the resale prices were a bit nuts. We bought new Graco infant seats and the car seat adapters that work with Graco (sold by Baby Jogger). We're in Toronto, so I got the City Select because I wanted to be sure we'd fit through doorways. I'm quite happy with it - ours is older so I'm sure the new strollers are even nicer. At the end of last winter, I washed the frame with soap and water and hosed it down to get rid of salt and ran all the fabric bits through the laundry, and it held up very well. We're not gentle with it.

Interesting! Which side by sides do you have? I have a city select 2015 and lost the second seat in a flood..they discontinued that model so I can’t get a replacement. Now that I have two (20 month age gap) I’m trying to figure out what to get next…my toddler is a runner so needs a seat versus a ride along (we have the rider board for the city select and she doesn’t love it). Personally I don’t love the city select stroller as a single, ie my only experience with it. It pushed well but it’s so bulky and the fold mechanism is awful, so I was looking to upgrade to a mini tandem. With my first we ended up pretty much exclusively using a travel stroller (bugaboo butterfly) from 4 months on because it was so much easier. But your post has me rethinking. Or at least maybe thinking about which tandems to avoid.

I went through a few strollers, mostly because surprise, twins! Ultimately I decided it was unreasonable to expect 1 stroller to do everything well. But if I had it all to do again, there were 2 strollers that could have taken me through birth to 4ish. A solid multimodal strollers- in my case, the City Select. With adapters, it went from birth up. I had a roller board for my toddler. It was an easy push over rougher terrain, though not quite on level of a jogging stroller. Didn’t tip easily. But it was heavy. A lightweight travel stroller- for me this was a ZOE. Loved how light it was, had snack cups, and the deepest sun shades for napping kids. Could steer the double with 1 hand, which was necessary with a toddler in tow. Quick fold, sturdy for how light it was. But didn’t work from birth (I think they have a model that does now) and wasn’t great on uneven sidewalks or over grass at the park or something. Most umbrella strollers are too short for me to push comfortably (5’10”) much less my husband (6’4”). The ZOE was perfect for me, but my husband did have to stoop a little. We travel a fair bit, so it really was worth it to me to have a really good travel stroller. If I was living in the suburbs and didn’t travel much, the city select could have easily taken us from birth to preschool, kid 1-3. Maybe you’re a runner or live in the country and a jogging stroller is a must. If you take public transit a lot, you’d want something narrow and super easy to fold. You really have to take into consideration what your lifestyle and priorities are.