UPPAbaby - Mesa

So I worked at BuyBuyBaby for 3 years and learned a lot of the different brands and their pros and cons. When we did have my LO I knew I wanted the car seat and stroller to be the most expensive of the items I was going to purchase of everything (and I had already left the store before they closed permanently) because I planned to use them the most. My co worker in the stroller/car seat department gave me all the info on what you should look for in a stroller (foam tires being a big one so it get a tear you can still push it vs ones that have air) and car seat (what safety measures and brands known for good ratings) I also knew that I wanted a car seat that could attach to the stroller without having to deal with adaptors etc so I could just put them in and go from the car. Settled on the uppa baby mesa infant and the uppa baby vista set (so came with the bassinet and toddler seat as part of the package). Was very pricy but three years later I'm still using the toddler seat now and the stroller while I've passed the other items along to friends having babies so I got my monies worth I feel.

It is super great as long as the stroller fits in your car. The typical Travel System Stroller (can attach the infant car seat) tends to be a bit bigger, so that’s something to be cognizant of. We got the Uppababy Vista with the Mesa infant seat and it has been great. We still use it now with the normal stroller seat (2.5 year old kid). We then got a Graco convertible car seat when our little outgrew the infant seat.

If you can I definitely recommend going to a store and pushing them around! I really loved both the Nuna and Uppababy, but we ultimately went with the Uppababy Vista V3 and the Mesa V2 car seat. She’s 8 weeks old now and we have no complaints - super easy to clip the car seat in and off of the stroller with one hand!! :)

I love my uppababy strollers, I have ridge and minu v2. Absolutely hate the mesa v2 carseat. Baby is 3 months and we are already transitioning him to a convertible car seat. He is too big and the car seat is about 20lbs on its own. I’d say he outgrew it by 2 months but we don’t drive much so we have pushed it this long.

Check out Macklem’s on Dundas and Roncesvalles. We were just as lost and confused as you are and Debbie at Macklem’s provided a wealth of information and answered all my stroller and non-stroller questions. They have a bunch of strollers you can try out in store as well. We went with the Uppababy Cruz with newborn insert and the Mesa v2 car seat. Skipped the bassinet.

The Uppa Mesa car seat. ( I had to look it up) it works with or without the base so easy to use in an airplane or taxis.

I have Vista 2 and mesa from uppa and love it! We have two bases, one in each car so we don't have to deal with switching bases. Not a hassle for us at all!

We did the Uppababy system - Cruz stroller, bassinet (got this on Marketplace, i would def not bother buying this new given how short it lasts for - there are tons available used), and Mesa carseat. It worked well for us! I believe we got the carseat from Snugglebugz and the stroller from Amazon.

My wife and I make good money, and are definitely doing well. That being said, she sometimes falls under the spell of "higher price = higher quality" and needs to get brought down to earth. We bought an expensive Uppababy car seat and it was horrible for our baby. Seriously she had panic attacks at the thought of using it.  Don't be too overwhelmed by the high cost brand recommendations. Some are great, but sometimes hype is just hype. 

The uppababy car seats notoriously are hard to install at the correct angle. The CPST we saw said she hates installing/ checking them. We have a Clek liing, is it better than other cheaper car seats? Probably not. We liked the fact it was a Canadian company and had the load leg so that’s why we went with it. Nurtured in Halifax is where we ordered our car seat and stroller (Uppababy Vista V3) from. Definitely worth a trip to the store to test things out. It’s about a 4.5 hour drive for me but it was worth it.