Vela/Aria comparison review/ question/pics

[Edensmum]

I know I said I would do this and I'm late getting to it. Sorry. I can't seem to upload pics here so I gave up and created a shutterfly album.

I have used the Peg Perego Aria for some time. I had it with dd who is now 6 and since ds who is 10 months could sit, I have been reaching for this one over the umbrellas because he likes to sit and the snack tray come in handy for toys or little snacks. Especially out in parks and things where he doesn't otherwise have a place to sit to eat.
I like the Aria, large basket, lightweight, fully upright seat with good easy to use recline to almost flat. My main issue with this stoller is that it pushes like it's 6 inches of mashed potatoes, it's maddening.
Then I saw the Vela, looks just like the Aria, but did they fix this push issue! I was very interested. The Vela is bascially the Aria but with some changes. The wheels are significantly bigger and it has three wheels instead of four. Immediately noticable is that this stroller is bigger. Taller and wider with a longer footprint. The push is 100x better than the Aria, at least at first. The snack tray is higher and has two cup holders, neither of which is and improvement IMO. I have to say the materials are not at nice, the fabric is just not as nice, the padding less. It bothers me that the name Vela looks like it was written on with a sharpie. The things I liked about the aria, the floating 5 point harness so baby can sit up, the easy to use rear brake, the huge basket that can hold jackets for all four of us are all still there. They even improved the parent cup holder marginally to actually hold cups or bottles. The recline is about the same with the same mechanism. I had really come to start to fall for this stroller. I took it into the city, we have cobblestones, and side walks and brick and grass it handled it all except the cobblestones okay, ds napped in it. Great. A few days later I pulled it out and just didn't push as well. That front wheel never seemed to be facing the right direction to take off and it was a PIA to get it to swing around. The more I had the stroller out that day the more I felt like the Aria syndrome was overtaking it. I was beginning to wonder why I spent the money for another stroller I had one identical to it with a poor push already. The next day, dh was with us. He used the stroller and immediately upon trying to move it asked what was wrong with it. We were in Target, a completely flat surface and it's obviously bad. I called PP and they said that since it's a lightweight it does require that you pull it back to align the wheel before pushing it forward. It does, now. It didn't. I mentioned what a drastic change this was after only a weeks use and they offered to send a new wheel. I opted to exchange it for another one hoping there is a defect because if not, this is not the stroller for us and those hoping for a one handed push should go elsewhere.
The new one pushes great, so I'll keep you updated. All in all if that stroller was defective, the Vela comes close to being great IMO. I wish it had the fabric and color or the Aria, but that's little.
I will say that both the stroller hold the Keyfit 30 nice and secure with no adaptor or strap. Works great. Not that I use that combo much so I might not be the best judge.
Here are the pics, I could not get them to upload to this site.
Oh that's my Quest and Fizz too. They are basically the same, but I really prefer the Fizz for a few reasons.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...=8Cbs3Dhy5cNyq



So is what Peg Perego says about lightweights true? Do you have to pull them back first to get them to go forward? If so I may be going heavier for strollers. I am now looking at the Ion and the BJCM, the BJCM taking a great lead based on price alone.

[scriptkitten]

i like the looks of the Vela, and i love the handling of 3-wheelers in general but those problems you describe sound really annoying.

[roseyloxs]

i like the looks of the Vela, and i love the handling of 3-wheelers in general but those problems you describe sound really annoying.

Indeed! OP, have you seen the Cybex Callisto on overstock. They are very price friendly at $115 in the indigo (black with blue accents) color. You said you don't use the car seat option much but there is an adapter available.

If you like the red or purple callisto you can price match to diapers for 2 day shipping and free returns.