Nano V2 (2015+)

Check out the mountain buggy nano. It has a seat belt that goes around the infant car seat and is basically a universal adaptor. It also fits in the overhead compartment. I have one as our travel/car stroller and it’s a decent and sturdy option. You can get the V2 for $280 on their website: https://ca.mountainbuggy.com/shop/nano-v2-2015-11440?gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=17335605012&gclid=CjwKCAiAlfvIBhA6EiwAcErpyRokNCNax7AQ9vg0cVT_zecxJoacpxQsT4NlpwE11B2Xlam5C4s-ThoCU3kQAvD_BwE

I loved our Mountain Buggy Nano for travel, you can probably find one secondhand online or if there's a Once Upon A Child consignment shop near you.

Just a word of caution on how long you’re expecting to be able to use the car seat - most kids meet the height limit (30 inches for Keyfit, 32 inches for Keyfit 35) before the weight limit. So my 2.5 year old outgrew his Keyfit 35 in height around 1 year old but would still fit either of them by weight. He’s also 85th percentile for height and 30th for weight, so your child may be different, but it’s important to know the full extent of the limits because I feel like they aren’t as clear on the height limits and I wanted to make sure you had the information you need to keep your kid safe! Also, we loved our Keyfit system, and still use our Bravo stroller although we’ve upgraded to a Graco convertible car seat that should last him as long as he needs a car seat. We’ll be using our Keyfit 35 again with our second child in the fall, so it’s total about $200/child for our family, and still far more affordable than a brand like Uppababy. And I agree, unless you’re taking lots of long walks, a bassinet attachment isn’t worth it - it’s true that they shouldn’t spend more than 2 hours at a time in a car seat and they shouldn’t be in a car seat all the time, but a 30 minute walk in the car seat in a stroller is totally fine. For our family (suburban, 2 cars, lots of travel), the better value was a Chicco Keyfit 35 system with 2 bases, a Bravo stroller, and a separate travel stroller (Mountain Buggy Nano) that lays flat and stows in the overhead compartment. We still use the travel stroller and the big Bravo stroller, but we would have had to stop using a bassinet attachment over 2 years ago and we would have still needed an airline-compatible travel stroller. All in, I don’t remember what our car seats and strollers cost 3 years ago, but now they’d be $1350, and we’re still using $900 worth of that with our first kid. In contrast, the Uppababy Cruz V2 is $900 without the $280 bassinet or $300 car seat with $200 extra base, and it’s too heavy for gate checking with some airlines, so we’d still need a travel stroller in addition (and the Vista is even pricier and heavier). I have a friend who is going that route, but she lives in a walkable city with transit options and one car, so her lifestyle is different and it may make more sense for her. OP and his wife need to discuss their lifestyle, expectations, and goals to figure out what’s best for them. Oh, and check reviews of different seats - you might be surprised by what’s offered by different brands at different price ranges. Uppababy doesn’t generally fare as well as you might expect given the price tag.

We had 2 strollers with one kid (Chicco Bravo and a Mountain Buggy Nano for travel - the Mountain Buggy was a great investment for us) and now with a second kid we’ve added a 3rd stroller (second-hand Chicco Bravo for 2).

We have a Mountain Buggy Nano and love it. We’ve only had to gate check it on a little puddle jumper where all roller bags had to be gate checked, and it has storage underneath and a nice canopy, and it lays completely flat. Lightweight enough that I recently took it on a train solo with our toddler at 7 months pregnant, lifted it to the overhead compartment, and carried it up stairs at the station, no problem. We’ve had it for 2 years now and the only problem we’ve had is that we overloaded the storage with water bottles and didn’t notice it dragging, and it got a small tear in the storage underneath that I was able to repair easily. It has a lot of miles on it by plane, train, and automobile, and we love it.

We have a Mountain Buggy Nano. It lays flat, has storage, and has a full size canopy. It also folds to overhead bin size and is pretty lightweight. We’ve had ours for 3 years and it’s done flights, hills, and Disney, and our 3 year old still uses it some.

I think it really depends on how much you plan to travel. If you aren’t a family that flies often/travels a lot, it’s probably not worth spending more than the cost of a cheap umbrella stroller (though you could definitely check out Facebook marketplace for a deal). If you do travel often, then a travel stroller could make sense, especially if you plan to have more than 1 kid overall. We fly at least once a year and do a lot of driving trips with somewhat limited cargo space, so we got a Mountain Buggy Nano. It was like $250, but it lays completely flat, which is great for naps, has a decent sunshade, and folds to overhead compartment size. We’ve been using it for over 2 years and it’s in great shape, our 2 year old still loves his “little stroller” as much as his “big stroller”. Our regular stroller is a Chicco Bravo, and is over the gate check weight limit for some airlines, which was part of our decision to get a travel stroller (so check with the airline you’re flying - some of them are pretty restrictive, like American will only let you gate check either a car seat or a stroller and there’s a weight limit).

I don’t, I have the Chicco Keyfit system. We do get a travel stroller that we really love, a Mountain Buggy Nano, but it’s not compatible with our car seat. But we travel enough by plane that it was worth it for us to get one that’s overhead bin-compatible and it lays flat so we’ve been able to use it at every age, and it’s honestly sometimes our preferred stroller for tighter spaces. But if you think the Minu would meet your needs best, then I’d say go for it - especially if you can find one second-hand. It’s my favorite way to get strollers that have kind of more limited uses.

We have an uppababy Cruz with aria car seat and a mountain buggy travel stroller. We take our kid to travel and the mountain buggy is much easier to carry than the Cruz.

I got the Uppababy Cruz 2 for my first (with the hope we’d have a second with a ~2 year gap) - I didn’t like the the double configuration for the Vista (with bassinet at the bottom) and liked the smaller profile of the Cruz. Figured we’d reassess the pram situation if/when the next baby came along. Second baby is now 5 months old, and we got a piggyback board a few weeks ago which has been working great when taking both kids out by myself (though less successful if dad is with us, as our 2.5 year old then wants to be carried 🙃). We also have a Mountain Buggy travel stroller dad has been using for almost 2 years, and still uses when taking our older one out on his own, so at this stage we’re not looking at a double.