City Select

Here’s my take: 1) Go to a fancy baby store (they have botique-y ones where I’m located) so you can try stuff out in person. 2) Tell the very helpful sales people that you “have to think about it” and will be back. 3) Look up the stroller on FB marketplace and buy it there instead. (I have a City Select that retails for $800. I got it for $100 on FBM, near new condition, with extra accessories)

Your wife is right about needing big wheels and a click in infant seat. I’d encourage you to buy the stroller used to hit your budget. The Vista is the most popular but the baby jogger City Select might suit your needs at a lower price point.

I'm happy to help make some recommendations too! You've gotten some great advice but sometimes it's nice to have someone else narrow it down! 1. What kind of car(s) do you drive? 2. Do you live in the city/suburbs/rural? 3. How will you use your stroller- on nice even sidewalks, as main mode of transportation for baby (or no car usually), on gravel/grass/uneven sidewalk or paths, indoors primarily, jogging, or not sure yet?     3a. Are you open to more than one stroller if you have multiple uses/do you have storage room for multiple? 4. When is your baby due? 5. How do you feel about used gear (stroller only, not car seat)? 6. How tall are you (and partner of applicable)? 7. Are you expecting to have a premie or baby on the smaller side (due to complications or family history of very small babies)? 8. Do you plan to (tentatively) have another baby in the next 3 years? Some of the $ difference is marketing and some is nicer, but not necessary stuff and some stuff is significantly worse than even lower priced options! Is a minefield out there!

Ok, with a November baby I would probably go with an infant car seat that comes out of the car because it's so much easier to get a newborn in and out of the actual inside rather than standing in the snow. (If you want a rec on the convertible for after I can do that too!) Since you are on the shorter side and have average sedans you don't need a super compact seat, but wouldn't go super large either (Evenflo infant seats are out since they have some weird spacing rules). I'd rule out Babytrend too since they are not a great for average newborns and definitely not for smaller babies. And with only one planned baby I wouldn't "invest" in an expensive or luxury seat here. Some of the more expensive features are actually a detriment here as well (no rethread harnesses can push some newborn heads forward into an unsafe position). All seats, when they for your baby well and are installed correctly, pass the same safety testing as well. My recommendations for infant seat are: 1. Chicco Keyfit 30 is by far the most popular, loved CPSTs, reasonably priced, and fits most babies well. (Don't go for the higher numbers because you with NOT being carrying around this baby at 20+ pounds). This car seat also plays well with most popular strollers and fits 4+ lbs babies. 2. Graco Infant Seat (there are a few with similar names and I can grab a link if you'd like) that doesn't have a crazy limit or extra crazy features. Grab an extra base with whichever seat you get. Then, my stroller recommendation is a little different from some here. I would recommend two different strollers. The first is a "frame" stroller  1. Chicco caddy or the 2. BabyTrend universal frame stroller  This will be the least sexy stroller you've seen, but it holds the car seat. In November you probably aren't going for nice long strolls, it's light so it's easy to lift up and into your trunk or even fit on the floor of the back seat (important if you have tearing or a c section), and is compact. This stroller basically gives your car seat wheels without paying out the ass for it/making the seat heavy and awkward. You can probably find one for like $50 or less on marketplace and sell it for the same once you're done with it. By that point you'll be past the "needs to lay completely flat" phase or almost past it so you can get a "regular" stroller, not worry about a bassinet feature, and not strictly need the car seat compatibility (but you can still have it). We're also knocking off all the "convertible" strollers (Mockingbird, Vista, City Select, etc). And we're going to go more in the "great wheels (for whatever terrain) ,doesn't weigh a ton, a little more compact" direction. 1. Baby Jogger City Mini GT (not a jogging stroller, just the brand) at another $400 (or less on a sale) will get you a nearly flat recline for a younger baby, optional accessories that you don't *need* to get, tires that will give a decent ride over most terrain. It's easy to fold and weight about 20 lbs. You can also get an adapter for the Graco or Chicco to attach. 2. Chicco Viaro is around $250 and 20 lbs. This works with the Chicco seat and you can probably get it as a travel system. The wheels aren't quite as nice/the ride not quite as smooth, but it comes with parent and child cup holders. 3. Bumblerode Indie is a luxury stroller so don't look at the price ($750) because you should get this used or on a good sale. It's a little over 20 lbs, but has a great suspension, air filled wheels (with a pump but it's not an every day maintenance thing), and easy ride on basically anything. You can get an optional adapter for either the Chicco or Graco seat as well. The canopy on this is huge with awesome UV protection, can be easily steered one handed, the handle bar swivels *down* for shorter people, and a ton of storage (basket and lots of pockets). If it were me: I'd go Chicco Keyfit, (used) Keyfit caddy, and sale/used Bumbleride Indie. I wouldn't get the car seat adapter until I was sure I'd use it. I'd get a skip hop or other universal parent "console" and consider if I needed a cup holder/tray when baby was 9+ months old.

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.

I loved my city select double jogger. It could hold one or two seats, forwards or backwards.

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.