seek your experiences on chicco tuscany

[lovemaggie]

Hi,
I've read excellent reviews from both amazon.com and babybogga websites. Before I make the purchase, I would like to hear your comments since you guys are always so helpful.
This will be stroller after my son outgrows his infant car seat (right now it's snugride + snap-n-go). I intend it to be the only stroller I need. Most of the stroller usage I expect would be doctor's office, mall/grocery shopping, neightborhood walking, or well paved city walking. But I do need the stroller durable enough on the icy sidewalks during the winter. In addition, I will take my son on international flight , the stroller needs to be sturday enough to survived the abuses ?
Do you think chico tuscany can meet all the demans above? one thing I am concerned though is its inadequate canopy to protect my son during the summer. Say if I decide finally go with this stroller, is there any accessory I can purchase to make it more useful sunshade?
Thanks very much for your help and time.
-maggie

[lovemaggie]

Just bump this post up. Please help.
Thanks
-Maggie

[Gena]

We have the Tuscany for my 14 month old son and we love it. The fabric is soft and comfy (we have the blueish one - the black fabric feels different). The seat reclines for when the little guy falls asleep, but is upright enough to keep him happy when awake. The adjustable legrest is great - he likes to strech his legs out a lot of times. It's easy to steer, easy to fold, is compact, and pretty light. It has a good sturdy feel that Hubby found lacking in a lot of other umbrella strollers.

I think it's great for indoor stuff (like the mall) and for neighborhood walks on well-paved streets. We haven't done a lot of icy walking with it - not more than walking through icy parking lots, which it handled without any problems. We have flown domestically with it and it survived the airlines fine. We're not international travellers (except for day trips to Canada), so I can't answer to that.

The canopy may be inadequate for the summer, depending on where you live. But you can always get a Ray Shade or similar add on for more protection. The Ray Shade doesn't cost too much (I think about $15 in my area), so it doesn't add too much to the cost of the stroller and it provides UV protection.

The Tuscany is our main stroller and as I said we love it. But we find that it's not perfect for everything. We have a Graco Metrolite LE that we use for lots of things - mostly stuff that's outdoors all day (like the zoo, festivals, etc.). We also use the Graco for major mall trips, like holiday shopping. You can hang a lot of stuff from the handles on the Tuscany, but for holiday shopping we need the Metrolite's big basket.

All in all, the Tuscany is a great stroller for the price.

I hope that helps and wasn't too long.

[lovemaggie]

Thanks very much for the information, Gena. They are very helpful.
You mentioned that Tuscany might be not for all day outings like zoo.
Can I ask why? I"ll take him to a company sponsored zoo trip in August. If tuscany can't handle that, I"ll have to reconsider stroller options?
Thanks
-Maggie

[Gena]

Maggie,

I'm sure the Tuscany CAN handle a day at the zoo, it's just not our preference. For something like the zoo or a festival or the company picnic where we are going to be outdoors all day, we perfer the Metrolite. Not for any major issues, just for several small ones:

- larger rubber wheels: our zoo has a few paths that are wood chip trails and the Metrolite handles those nicely. Local festivals often have grassy areas that the bigger wheels do better on. The Tuscany can steer over grass, but the Metrolite does it more easily. I haven't tried the Tuscany on wood chips.

- big basket, so we can cram a lot of stuff in there. If you travel light this may not be an issue. I tend to overpack. (And when we are somewhere with souvenirs, Hubby tends to overbuy.)

- the seat is a roomier and more padded, so we think little guy might be more comfortable on a longer ride. But he still wants to ride in the sling part of the time regardless of which stroller we take.

- full recline: at this age not really necessary for his nap, but still nice. We also change him in the stroller if we can't find decent facilities. But even that is not a big deal because we don't have a problem changing him on park benches.

- parent cupholders, for our convenience. There's the child tray too, but he just throws stuff, so we don't really use it.

Like I said in my previous post, the Tuscany is a great stroller. But for some outings we just want more features. That's our preference. Plus we already had the Metrolite (it was our first stroller), so we like to still get some use out of it.

I hope that helps.

[lovemaggie]

Hi gena,
Just went to the Babyrus in our area. They don't have Chicco Tuscany in the store. Bummer, can't try it out. They don't know when they will have it. Which store did you get yours?
Thanks
-maggie

[mommy2maya]

They might only have the newer version- the CT 0.5. I checked it out at Babies R Us a bit ago, and it was really cute. Seemed well made as well.