BOB Gear - Motion

I had a four wheel BOB (passed it on two years ago). That thing was a beast no matter what weather. It went through sloppy or piled up snow. It was quiet and smooth. It folded quickly (important for the train/bus/ride share). It was on the heavier side to carry while folded (easy to one hand it), I am convinced that it was able to take more abuse than some of the other brands. It survived multiple flights (gate checked). The wheels were great after hundreds of miles. It was easy to clean. And it has tons of carry space. I could do a full grocery trip and pack it all on the stroller with the kid in it to walk home. I never needed to repair anything. Nothing broke or ripped over the years.

Commenting to agree. I’ve lived in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and then back to Ontario - it’s been through snow, sand, country lift, etc and it’s still in almost perfect condition.

BOB all terrain with car seat adaptor ! The best stroller I’ve ever owned.

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.

The Thule, hands down. It’s so much lighter than the BOB. I have both and prefer the Bob for trail hikes, but the Thule is better for sidewalks and groomed paths and it steers like a dream. This being said, the BOB is more “all purpose” (more storage) while the Thule is JUST running.

Agreed! I got my BOB used for $200 and it’s the best baby-related item I own.

highly recommend the BOB running stroller!!! You can get an adapter for infant and the seats hold up to 100lbs!!

My only stroller is the Bob All Terrain but we have it because we live on the Pacific Coast and my neighborhood is full of rocky beaches, forest terrain and no side walks. We love the stroller but I've never packed it up to bring it downtown or anywhere else in the city because its so large. I bought a cheap like $30 fold out stroller for that.

Get a Bob. You can probably find one on marketplace. That’s where I got mine. Practically brand new for like $100.

At seven months the minu just barely works- it’s great once the child sits upright really comfortably and it could easily be your only stroller in the city. Only drawback is the smallish basket when it comes to grocery shopping. We used minu and Bob (running stroller, slightly less long than the Thule) for a long time with our first. But it’s true that your exact apartment and storage logistics will be a factor and I would suggest waiting on the running stroller. Postpartum even a serious runner may need closer to a year before they want to run with a baby, and it’s not great to run with a baby before a year old anyway because it’s a lot on their body too. (My husband is a serious runner and has run a ton with our kids). Also when you get to the city and live in a specific neighborhood you’ll be able to join a neighborhood parents group in which people will be selling great used gear constantly. Minu is failsafe though for a lot of uses so if you’re itching to get something do that. Also get a babywearing carrier, which is wonderful for either parent from 6-12 months and maybe longer.

I don’t want to dissuade you, but before you spend money on a double stroller you should give some serious thought to just how heavy it’s going to be to push two four year olds. The stroller itself will be about 35lbs, plus 30-40(?) lbs for each kid, you could easily get to over 100lbs of weight you’re trying to push , *while running* (which is exhausting on its own). It’s a great work out, but it is HARD. I tried it when my kids were 1 and 4 and I couldn’t hang, and pretty immediately switched back to treadmill runs. If you do decide that it’s something you want to try, I highly recommend the BoB. I’ve had a Thule running stroller and a BoB, and in my experience the BoB was a much smoother ride.

I have… 5 strollers. Idk how this happened. I have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. My first stroller was my Uppababy Cruz. It is still our main stroller, and I have no regrets. A friend gifted us a used BOB running stroller around when I had my first child. I only used it for runs a few times, but it has really come into its own recently, now that I have two kids. We live over a mile from my big kid’s preschool and I like to be able to take him in a stroller and then leave it there all day, while also still leaving a stroller at home for little sister. When my big kid was 2, my mom started really wanting some kind of smaller stroller she could fold to take him on the bus. I bought a used GB Pockit. I never use it and find it does not handle well in a bumpy, urban environment. However, my mom has used it a bit. Around the same time, i was given a free basic umbrella stroller. We’ve used it a bit for short trips around the neighborhood and bus trips. However, it also is hard to push on our sidewalks. Finally, I was given a very old double stroller of some kind that we have never used. It’s just a lot of work to bring it out of the basement, and when we are going somewhere with both kids I tend to either have the big kid walk and/or go on the piggy back or wear the baby. Oh right, and we also have one of those trikes you can push. And my mom, who lives a flight away, had a beach wagon and a random ancient stroller she found on the street. So really, we kind of have 8 strollers…