Average Cost: $39.99
Official URL: http://www.evenflo.com
Age Range: 4-5 months to 40 lbs.
Rating:

The Evenflo XSport Plus stroller is one of the latest additions to the Evenflo line of strollers. It comes with a fourty dollar price tag, adjustable height handles, a useful parent console with two cup holders, a fully rotating sun canopy, and it weights in at only 10.1lbs. Two of our reviewers tested the XSport stroller out, and this is what they have to say:

Summer (XSport Plus Christina): I love this stroller! It’s currently my 4th stroller and is my favorite. My former favorite was a Chicco Umbrella stroller which weighs more, has less storage, looks grungy after a few uses (the canvas is very hard to clean) and costs about 10 dollars more than the Evenflo Xsport plus. It’s a big hit with my daughter as well; as soon as I had it out of the box she was trying to climb in it. My husband actually uses this stroller despite it being pink and he loves the adjustable handle height.

Lil (XSport Plus Grey): This stroller absolutely surprised me. For its feature set I would have guessed that it would cost a good two or three times more than what it sells for. My son, husband and I all love using this stroller. It’s a great little multi-purpose stroller that holds up very well when compared to other strollers of all price points.

AESTHETIC

Both the Christina and Grey styles have a sporty feeling to them because of the mesh stripes that run down either side of the middle of the seat.

The Christina pattern is pink. Unlike most girly/pink prints this doesn’t hurt my eyes; it’s very hip and not your typical “girly” hue. The seat pad has a fun pink circular pattern that is suggestive of flowers. The piping on the sun canopy is the same fun pattern. The rest of the stroller is a darker solid pink. The mesh and webbing used on the Christina stroller is white.

The Grey pattern is basic and unisex. There is a light gray piping that runs down the inside of the mesh portion of the seat, and black piping that runs along the sides of the seat and the edges of the canopy. Other than that, the fabric used is all a dark gray that holds up well against stains. It’s not the most stylish stroller on the market but it doesn’t have a cheap look to it either. The mesh and webbing used on the Grey pattern is black.

The Evenflo logo appears in three places on the stroller. Once on each side of the stroller on the plastic joint caps, and once at the top of the seat back.

The only aesthetic decision that Evenflo made that makes this stroller have anything of a “budget” feeling to it is the red plastic locking clip and braking mechanisms. These parts tend to be red primarily on lower cost items. Other than that this stroller blends in easily with the expensive “name” umbrella strollers of choice even in trendy areas.

ASSEMBLY & MANUAL

There isn’t a lot of assembly. It took Lil and Summer less than five minutes with their sixteen month olds trying to “help”, The only assembly required is attaching the four wheels and the canopy. Attaching the wheels is incredibly simple, the front two simply lock in. To attach the rear wheels you have to push in the locking nub on the wheel post, align it with the corresponding hole in the leg of the stroller and then click them on. The canopy attaches easily in two clicks.

The manual is 16 pages long and illustrated with blue and white diagrams. It covers assembly, use of waist restraint, use of brakes, use of canopy, use of adjustable parent handles, folding and opening of the stroller, care and maintenance, and the stroller’s limited warranty. The manual is in English, French, and Spanish and the illustrations are inline with the text for each language rather than requiring that you flipping back and forth from the instructions to the illustrations.

HANDLING

This stroller handles better than most umbrella strollers. The added height from the adjustable handles makes it much nicer on your back and gives you more freedom of movement with the stroller as you don’t have to worry as much about kicking the back or the wheels. The only downside to having the handles fully extended was that it can be slightly harder to navigate through doorways. This can be easily remedied by lowering the handles right before going through a tight doorway although it is not necessary. The adjustment of the handles is quick and painless and takes less than a second to do.

WHEELS & BRAKES

The XSport Plus has four double-wheel sets. Each wheel is 5″ in diameter and 1″ across. Each assembly is 4 1/2″ wide. The wheels of each assembly turn independently. This layout offers a very stable and smooth ride considering that this stroller does not have a suspension mechanism of any sort. The wheels each have 5 thick plastic spokes, a thick plastic rim and a durable solid rubber treading that has more “give” to it than the wheels on most strollers. The rubber treading is about 1/2 to 3/4ths of an inch thick and has wide grooves which give it a bit of a non-slip grip.

This stroller handles well in puddles, slick surfaces and curbs. Unfortunately we did not get the chance to test this stroller out in the snow, but the larger wheels and stability of the stroller makes it very likely that the stroller would perform surprisingly well in snow and slush up to about 1/2 of the height of the wheels.

The front wheels do not offer “locking” mechanisms for locking the front swivel wheels into a stationary position the way some strollers do. Since this is usually done to make the stroller handle better in gravel or sand, I was curious how this stroller would perform under those conditions. It does very well even without the swivel lock.

The brakes are independent mechanisms for each rear wheel. They are the standard single piece of molded plastic that locks into the inner “cog” of the rear wheels on each side of the assembly. The brakes diverge slightly by also locking into two places at the center of the assembly which distributes the braking mechanism across four individual points and makes it less prone to breaking or coming loose. The plastic is a very durable thick red. The foot pedal part of the brake has more of a “tab” look to it than a foot pedal. It has slight ridges on the top that grip the bottom of your shoe and act as a no-slip surface. The brakes operate very smoothly and take minimal force to lock into place, and slightly more force to unlock. Our only complaint about the mechanism is that the underside of the brake is unfinished and has a rough plastic ridge which can damage nicer shoes. The “tab” shaped design means that you can always turn your foot sideways to use the sole of your shoe to unlock the brake, or simply use your hand.

Our favorite aspect of the brakes is that when they are unlocked they rise high above the wheels and so they are hard to accidentally engage by kicking. They do NOT accidentally lock when you go off of curbs or back up a set of steps, and they do not interfere with rolling down a set of steps either. This is wonderful as too many strollers fail to take steps and curbs into account.

SEAT, PAD AND HARNESS

The Xsport’s seat has a mesh pad to allow better circulation which is great during warmer weather. My daughter is able to sit up comfortably so that she can see everything. My previous umbrella stroller leaned to far back and she would get fussy quickly because she couldn’t see everything around her. The harness is only a 3 point lap belt which is fine for my 17 month old but I would be hesitant to use it with a 4 or 5 month old who is still learning to sit. The straps themselves are canvas and click into the center mechanism which is plastic. It is very easy to buckle and unbuckle the straps. One advantage to the lap belt is that it is easy to get a very impatient toddler in and out quickly. Because there are no shoulder straps your child can easily bend over and touch the wheels of the stroller. Fortunately there is no way for them to get their fingers stuck in the wheels or spokes, and so the biggest concern here is dirty fingers.

HANDLES

The handles on this stroller are it’s second best feature (after the storage). The adjustable height and foam padding are a pleasant feature in such a lightweight stroller. Adjusting the handles is quick and easy. Each handle has a red button that you push in to adjust the handle height. Our only complaint here is if you don’t set the button back to the opposite direction (down if you just raised the handles) the handle will sometimes go back down when we hit a bump even when it was locked in. The foam also has a bit of a habit of migrating down the handle slightly which leaves a slight gap between the foam and the plastic end piece.

CANOPY

The canopy on this stroller is just great. It rotates from “fully upright” all the way down to the point where the lower edge sits on the seat. This allows it to block the sun in any direction. The canopy is easy to remove if you want to reduce the weight of the stroller. It stores easily and snaps back into place. The manufacturer states that it is not intended to provide UV protection, which means that you should still apply sunblock. But this applies to virtually every sun canopy out there- all sun canopies let UV rays in around the edges. The canopy is EXCELLENT for shielding your child’s eyes from direct sunlight, particularly when your child refuses to leave sunglasses in place for more than a few moments at a time.

BASKET & CONSOLE

This stroller’s best feature is all the storage which we found lacking in our previous lightweight strollers. The underbasket is roomy with a convenient “x” shape to the back of the stroller that gives you ample room to push your diaper bag or other cargo into the basket. The basket has mesh side walls but the front, back and bottom are made of a water resistant canvas which does a great job of keeping your cargo dry on rainy days and which doesn’t allow your items to fall out easily. The mesh side walls are very durable and resist tearing well. The underbasket can officially accommodate up to 10lbs of cargo.

In addition to the roomy underbasket, this stroller has a fabric storage console that hangs down between the handles and features two cup-holders with mesh bottoms, a transparent mesh storage pocket that is open at the top for easy access, a larger zippered mesh storage compartment and a concealed canvas pocket for things such as keys and cell phones. The console can officially hold up to 2lbs of miscellany although we’ve found that it safely holds more as long as the child in the seat is heavy enough to counterbalance the weight by a hefty margin. The only downside to the fabric console is that the cup holders are also fabric which can be hard to clean if there are spills.

When we use this stroller we are easily able to ditch the diaper bag even for all-day outings because the stroller has a place for everything. Added bonus: With the parent console all of your small objects are in places that don’t need to be unloaded every time you fold the stroller. Nice for use on public transportation where strollers need to be folded before boarding.

FOLDING & STORAGE

The XSport Plus weighs a mere 10.1 pounds which makes lugging in and out of the car or on and off of busses very easy. It folds up to a compact size (See “Specifications” section at the bottom of this review) and its handlebars retract which makes it easy to transport in the trunk and to store out of the way.

Folding is done by using your foot or hand to push a lever at the bottom of the stroller over to the left, and then you lift the bar up which folds it down. The folding mechanism is very easy to work but requires two distinct movements to fold the stroller which prevents it from accidentally collapsing.

The stroller can be locked into its folded position with a red hook that is attached to the side. The lock is a bit hard on the thumb, but can be worked more easily if you turn the stroller so that the lock is on top, and then snap it down into place rather than tryin to work the lock sideways.

The stroller folds fairly tightly and does not leave much room for a bunting bag or blanket inside of the stroller or basket. The nice thing about this is that it’s easier to store than other strollers with a looser fold.

The XSport Plus does not come with a storage bag or carry strap which both reviewers miss as the other strollers we’ve used have had one or both of these.

The handles on this stroller are slightly straighter than the handles on some models, so if you rely on hanging your stroller on the closet rod by its handles you might want to look into a different method of storage before purchasing this stroller.

CLEANING

This stroller does not have a detachable seat pad, so if you are going to wash it plan on hosing it off outside or making use of its small frame by bringing it into the shower. The seat fabric and mesh of this stroller are very easy to clean and do not stain as quickly as canvas seats that have more texture to them.

The parent console does not de-attach for cleaning either and you may find it gets grubby quickly. We haven’t had any issues with it and one of the reviewers found that the cup holders are actually less prone to gunky buildup because of the mesh bottoms which allow liquid to drain out. Simply sponging out the inside seems to work well.

SPECIFICATIONS

Folded dimensions: 46″ long with handles retracted, 48″ long with handles out. 10″ wide (across upper wheel set), 8 1/2″ tall (when laying on ground) from ground to back of parent console/canopy.

Dimensions of seat: Seat back is 18″ high, 12″ wide, 9″ deep.

Dimensions of basket: 17″ from back to front (not all of this is usable, as the front of the basket slopes forward.) 13″ from side to side. Rear wall is 4 1/2″ tall, front wall is 3 1/2″, side walls are 4″ tall. Side access offers 5″ clearance, Back access offers 9″x9″ at its widest and tapers off to 9″x2″ at the top of the x-shaped frame.

Parent console: 12″ tall, 10″ wide. Cup holders are 4 1/2″ tall and standard size. (They can easily hold a canister of Wet Ones or standard sized water bottles and sippy cups.) The top mesh pocket is 6″x4″ the bottom zippered mesh pocket is 10″Wx7 1/2″ tall. The hidden compartment is about 6″ deep and 10″ wide although the zipper is located about 1″ below the top, and only extends 9″ across.

The padded crotch strap is 7″ to the middle of the buckle. Each side of the 3-point harness adjusts from 0″ to 14″ and the back is sewn into the canvas at 3 1/2″.

Canopy is 14″ from front to back and tapers off at the sides, but offers very good coverage. It has 27 1/2″ of clearance from the seat at the center so it can accomodate taller children. At its widest when it is open it is 15″ across.

SAFETY

White warning notices about “Buckle up” are on each side of the harness. These are highly visible and in three different languages. (English, Spanish, French) The bottom of the storage basket contains more warnings for safety.

The stroller meets the CA bureau of Home Furnishings requirements for flammability, but care should be exercised near open flame.

The stroller only offers a 3pt harness which will not provide enough support for children that cannot sit up yet. It should only be used from about 4-6 months and up to 40lbs.

The stroller is very stable and does not tip over easily but should not be used for hanging things from the handles. The storage basket and parent console should not be overloaded. And hot drinks should not be placed in the storage console for risk of spilling.

PROS

Lightweight, adjustable handles, lots of storage, easy to clean, sporty looking, and an unbelievably low price for its feature set.

CONS

Doesn’t have a 5-point harness (younger babies often need more support). Doesn’t have a Carry strap or bag. Doesn’t have an auto-latch for quick fold-and-go. (Although once the stroller is folded it holds closed very easily and you can hold off latching it until a more convenient time.)

THE BOTTOM LINE

This is a great stroller for the price. It’s ease of use, storage space, adjustable canopy and attention to detail quickly won us over. We wouldn’t buy it as a stroller to use with a child who is just mastering sitting up but it is a great stroller to buy for your older baby and toddler.