Though stores are full of pricey strollers, you don’t need to spend a bundle to safely wheel your little bundle around. Consumer Reports tested 35 strollers--including 2 car-seat carriers--for ease of use, maneuverability, safety, and durability. Some strollers priced at $55 to $70 not only performed as well as the priciest wheels, but were also easier to use.

Using a stroller might seem like a no-brainer, but parents should be sure to carefully read the manufacturer’s directions. See 5 common stroller mistakes.

Potential safety problems were discovered when two strollers were used in specific situations, although we are not aware of actual injury reports for these strollers. The Kolcraft Contours Options 3 Wheeler ($135) with a car seat installed can be problematic if the stroller tips over. Furthermore, we believe it is too easy to incorrectly install an infant car seat in that stroller, despite the cautions in the manufacturer’s instructions.

Another stroller, the Peg Perego Aria OH Classico ($200), repeatedly collapsed when pulled up stairs during our maneuverability test. Because of those safety issues, Consumer Reports rates both the Kolcraft Contours Options 3 Wheeler and the Peg Perego Aria OH Classico strollers as poor overall.


Best easy riders

There’s nothing pint-sized about the price tags on some of the baby strollers we tested. The three most expensive models, the Bugaboo Gecko (discontinued but still in stores), Bugaboo Frog, and Stokke Xplory, cost from $680 to $800. They got high marks for maneuvering through rough as well as flat terrain, on concrete steps, and in narrow spaces. And they came with handy extras--such as full rain shields on all three and maintenance kits for the Bugaboo models.

But for a fraction of the price, baby can get a smooth--and safe--ride on the Safety 1st Acella Alumilite and the Evenflo Journey, at $55 and $70, respectively. Those strollers are CR Best Buys, topping our Ratings (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers) with very good overall scores. Plus, when Consumer Reports panelists put the strollers through tests simulating everyday use--including folding and unfolding--those cheaper models were judged more convenient. All three of the highest-priced strollers required multiple steps and had to be taken apart to fold most compactly.

All of the tested strollers except the Combi Cosmo ST ($60), an umbrella-style stroller, aced Consumer Reports’ durability tests, in which they were pushed over the equivalent of 19 miles and 150,000 bumps with a 40-pound weight inside. A rivet on the Combi that attached the support arm under the seat area broke, causing the stroller to become very wobbly, though it still supported the weight safely.

Somewhere on a stroller’s frame or carton there might be a seal showing that it meets the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) stroller standard or that its manufacturer participates in the certification program by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), which has the product tested for compliance with the voluntary ASTM standard. Many manufacturers participate in the program, and Consumer Reports believes that all manufacturers should. The seals do not, however, guarantee that a product is safe.


Kolcraft problem with infant car-seat option

The Kolcraft Contours Options 3 Wheeler had mixed results in the voluntary industry tip-over tests in which the stroller, with its adapter and a car seat installed, was pushed slowly past its front, back, and side balance points and allowed to fall onto the floor.




On two older samples (made in March 2006), the correctly installed adapter and car seat detached from the stroller frame when the stroller was tipped over. The seat was held only by the restraint straps. When we repeated the tests on three more recently purchased samples (made in December 2006 and later) of the same Kolcraft model, in which the latch mechanism is reinforced by a spring (see photos below), the correctly installed adapter and car seat stayed attached to the frame most of the time, but detached in some instances, leaving the car seat held only by the restraint straps. While the straps may prevent the car seat from “completely separating” from the stroller--which is what this tip-over exercise tests for--we believe that the latch should not detach.

Furthermore, Consumer Reports believes it is too easy to install the car seat incorrectly on that stroller, increasing the likelihood it will fall off should the stroller tip. Because the straps are attached to the stroller’s car-seat adapter rather than to the stroller frame itself, it is easy to mistakenly fasten those straps across the car seat without first wrapping them around the stroller frame as the instructions tell you to. (See photo above.) When the car seat was installed incorrectly, with the straps wrapped only around the car seat, it fell to the floor most of the time during the tip-over tests.

Safety alert: While the Kolcraft Contours Options 3 Wheeler functions safely when used with its snap-in stroller seat, Consumer Reports does not recommend using that stroller with an infant car seat attached.




Peg Perego caution on steps

As part of Consumer Reports’ tests of maneuverability, we tried to determine how well the strollers could handle steps; most tested models did fine. But the $200 Peg Perego Aria OH Classico unexpectedly collapsed when pulled up the stairs backward. When the stroller was tipped back, its rear brake levers frequently caught on the steps. As the user continued to pull upward, this force overcame the latching mechanism that kept the stroller in its locked-open position and caused it to fold. Staffers experienced the problem with three samples, on both concrete and vinyl-rubber steps. That could possibly injure a child.

Safety alert: Do not pull the stroller backward up stairs. Opt for an elevator or have two people lift it up the stairs.