Car Seat and Stroller Combo Girl

For parents, finding a great car seat and stroller combo is an essential part of the baby gear buying process. Stroller-car seat combos take two big items off your shopping list and make traveling with a baby or toddler a lot easier. They’re also a smart purchase for those who plan to have another child close in age and want to avoid having to buy a second car seat. Travel systems are available from infants through toddler years and can often be found for less than it would cost to buy the two pieces of gear separately.

We’ve rated several of our favorite stroller-car seat combos to help you find the best one for your family. We’ve taken into account the ease of use of the stroller and car seat, as well as how functional the combo is overall. Some of the key criteria we looked at were how maneuverable a stroller was (in both normal situations and in tests that simulate tight supermarket aisles) and whether it was easy to open, close, and hit the brakes with just one hand.

In our tests, we also looked at how easy it was to attach the car seat to the stroller. The best car seat-stroller combos have attachments that almost feel like they snap on by themselves and require little effort or pressure to attach. Those that have straps that need to be secured with a bit more force, or that involve a step of attaching the restraint straps to the stroller itself, did not score as well and lost points in our evaluation.

Many of the stroller-car seat combos we evaluated have multiple conversion options, so they can continue to be used long after your child outgrows the infant car seat. Some, such as the Graco Modes Nest2Grow Travel System, even have a convertible double option without the need for an additional seat.

The Uppababy Cruz and Mesa V2 Infant Car Seat & Base Travel System is another top pick. It includes a stroller that is known for its deluxe features including a super-lightweight carry handle wrapped in sumptuous leather, a huge canopy that moves and opens with hidden magnets, and an easy-to-open, wide-and-deep storage basket. It’s also a very user-friendly stroller that earned high scores in our tests for maneuverability, one-handed pushing, tight turns, and curb hopping. Parents love the fact that it’s easy to assemble and install and that the car seat and adapters snap on and off with relative ease.