Zelia 3

I can’t speak to the Evenflo but I have the Maxi-Cosi and I think it’s great! And at my playgroup I’d say 70% of people also have it (we have to leave something in the car seat to not get them mixed up 😂). So far I’ve rarely buckled my baby into the seat in the car - I always buckle her inside and then click the seat in. And when I have done it in the car I’ve just unclicked it and turned it to face me and then clicked it back in, so the swivel feature on the Evenflo wouldn’t be that useful for a bucket seat in my experience, more so for a convertible seat? This sub tends to lean toward insisting that expensive options like Uppababy are a necessity, so I’m sure you’ll get recommendations for that, but I just didn’t have the budget for it and the Maxi-Cosi is serving me well so far (almost 4 months in)

We are expecting our first but have also fostered for a while now too. We have a mockingbird stroller because we had a big 99th percentile ASD/DD 2 year old who could tip over just about anything we put her in. We needed something with some weight to it but could also be a versatile investment for having our own kids and still fostering in the future. The mockingbird is a big stroller, it’s heavy and cumbersome at times, but it does everything we wanted it to. I did pick up a Maxi Cosi Zelia second hand to use as a lightweight travel stroller/car seat frame for immediately postpartum and traveling, especially in case of needing to travel with all 3 rows up in my SUV because the mockingbird doesn’t fit in my truck with the 3rd row up, but the zelia does. We got a ton of attachments for the mockingbird, the second seat, parent organiser, infant liner, and for baby on the way got the car seat adapters and the new bassinet for longer walks/outings. I’d definitely recommend it to someone who is looking for a robust stroller that wants to invest in the long term or being able to go out with a friend and their kid but only taking one stroller. BUT I’d also recommend trying to pick up a second hand lightweight stroller for travel/postpartum.

If you decide to go the full crib route, definitely consider Ikea Sniglar. Very sturdy, minimalistic, excellent materials/no toxic paint and the cheapest crib you will likely find from a reputable source. Unfortunately it doesn’t have storage but you’ll save so much money you invest in something like a dresser instead possibly. We lowered the crib recently and it also converts to a toddler bed. In terms of Canadian brands, r/buycanadian has some good previous posts! Dorel is a Canadian company which owns Maxi Cosi, Safety First and Cosco. Could consider their stroller/car seat? I personally have maxi cosi Zelia and the Mico seat but I’m not super fond of the stroller - it takes some getting used to and needs two hands to collapse and is bulky.

The maxi cosi Zelia travel system has the click in bucket seat and a bassinet that converts into the stroller seat. It's been awesome so far - our daughter is 11 months. We used the bassinet for the first five months until baby wanted to face forward. It wasn't as expensive as the Vista and another mom with the Vista 3 mentioned that she doesn't have as much room as the zelia underneath for storing bags etc. Highly recommend

+ they have additional attachments you can purchase if you have a different brand of bucket carseat.

I went with the maxicosi zelia ( which includes the car seat ) as well as the bassinet which adjusts to a toddler seat. It has great storage, the seat / bassinet adjusts to face parent or outside. I believe it also came with a rain cover as well. I didn't use it for daily walks in the winter/snow however the times it was used, I had no complaints with how it navigated.