Snugrider Stroller Frame

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Snugrider Stroller Frame

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Official Link: http://www.gracobaby.com

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I found this item when I was very newly pregnant and trying to wade through all the baby necessities. I hated the idea of dragging around a complete 18+ lb stroller while the baby simply lounged around in the car seat. Not to mention the fact that postponing the purchase (and storage) of an actual stroller was something that appealed to me.

After looking into the generic car seat stroller frames, I went with the Graco for simplicity, guaranteed easy integration with the Snugride seat that I purchased, and the fact that it seemed to hit the price/feature sweet spot.

ASSEMBLY

Assembly was easy even for first-time parents, and we all know that nothing is easy for first time parents. In four or five simple steps you’re good to go.

1- You press two buttons on the side of the handle and rotate it upwards into one of its multiple positions.

2- You open up the frame by releasing the latch and snapping the frame down and the basket into place.

3- Two front wheel sets snap on

4- The rear wheel axle (the rear wheels, axle, and braking mechanism) snap on.

We tossed the optional parent cup holders, naively thinking that we’d never use them. If you’re smarter than us and keep them, then attaching them will be the fifth and final step.

THE MANUAL

Offered in English, Spanish, and French, the manual for the Snugrider is pretty standard for manuals, so prepare to be needlessly confused.

The manual has quite a few steps where the images have little or no accompanying text telling you what you’re looking at or what you are supposed to do. Most notably Step 16 which reads “Before folding, remove infant car seat (sold separately), and lock wheels.” Next to that is the image above. Naturally I thought that the image showed the removal of the car seat or the locking of the wheels and I vainly searched those areas for something that looked like what the image showed. Finally I started cross-referencing the image to other images in the manual to try to figure out what I was looking at, and I realized that the text had nothing to do with the image, which was showing the handlebar “unlock” mechanism. The unlocking mechanism is perhaps the most difficult aspect of the stroller and there is absolutely no text describing how it should be used.

The 20 page manual is available online at Graco’s website on the product information page under “Instructions”.

EASE OF USE

The Snugrider is far easier to use than the Snugride itself ever was. While the Snugride (and any car seat) took two first time parents, two first time grandparents, and half the hospital staff to figure out, the Snugrider only took two parents, ten minutes, and minimal fighting.

To open the stroller frame you release the latch and snap the whole thing open. Once it is open, the Snugride or Safeseat easily snaps into place with a simple rocking motion.

To close the stroller frame, you remove the car seat, use your thumb to pull back a lever in the center of the handlebar, and twist the center of the handlebars to release the lock, then fold the unit. Supposedly the lock will automatically engage, although it never did for me.

WHEELS

The front wheels lock for use on uneven or grassy surfaces, or swivel for increased maneuverability. I left the front wheels in swivel mode regardless of where I was using the stroller as I found that it didn’t make much difference. The small hard plastic wheels are not great for use on uneven surfaces whether they are locked or not.

The wheels are made of a fairly flimsy plastic that nearly wore off in the 3 months of occasional use. This will not be an item to re-use across multiple children if you use it as your primary stroller.

BASKET

The basket of the Snugrider is easily my favorite aspect of it. with the ample clearance between the top of the basket and the bottom of the car seat, this basket will spoil you completely for any future strollers that can’t hope to compete. This basket is not only spacious but it is strong and durable as well. We used this stroller to go grocery shopping on numerous occasions and used it to carry 15+ lbs of canned goods on more than one occasion… And most likely far exceeded the manufacturer’s recommendations which we could never find. Nothing ever broke, although it did become a bit more difficult to maneuver the stroller.

HANDLEBARS

The handlebars rotate and lock into multiple positions from fully down (good for storage) to fully upright (good for very tall people) and anything in-between. My shorter husband opted for a lower position while I frequently rotated it to a more upright one.

Expect to frequently kick the rear wheel axle no matter what position the handlebars are in and no matter what your height. It is perfectly positioned to be near impossible to miss. It’s a great reinforcement of the advice every new parent hears: “Push the stroller in the store before you buy it.” We pushed this one in the store and still opted to buy it, as most snap-on frames have the same issue.

BRAKES

Each rear wheel has an independent foot-operated parking brake/locking mechanism. The brakes seem somewhat on the flimsy side and require that you rock the stroller in place in order to lock them down. I spent almost a month worried about the brakes snapping off every time I applied them. I finally decided to test it out by trying to break them and was unable to. My fears turned out to be unfounded, the brakes are more rugged than they appear.

DURABILITY

The frame and basket are quite durable, the wheels and brakes seem to be the most flimsy part of this stroller. Used frequently and exclusively, expect to get about 6 months to a year of use out of this stroller frame before the wheels give out. This should be sufficient to cover the entire amount of time your little one spends in the snugride car seat, however.

SPECIFICATIONS

Stroller Weight: 12.5 lbs
Overall Height: 39.5″
Width of Handle: 16.25″
Length (wheels front to back): 19.5″
Length (wheels left to right): 19.5″

BOTTOM LINE

This was our only stroller for my son’s first three months of life until he outgrew his Snugride car seat. We have kept this for our next child, and it is one of the few baby items that we have chosen to do this with.

While not perfect, the snugrider is very convenient and I would recommend it to anyone that is considering a Snugride car seat and that wants to avoid storing stroller for a while.