Chicco vs. Mac

[mommyb]

I have a Maclaren Triumph which I bought for DS1. I am looking for a similar stroller for DS2. DH does not want to spend the $$ on another Mac. When I bought the first one, I looked at the Combi Soho and the Inglesina Swift. I did not like the Combi at all. I am thinking this time at looking at the Chicco strollers. I am afraid, though, that I won't be happy with anything but the Mac. Any thoughts? Is it worth the 1/2 hour trek in the car to BRU with two kids and a broken DVD player?

[soontobe3]

Love our Chicco Tuscany!

Hi,
We have a Chicco Tuscany and absolutely love it. We have 2 kids, ages 4 and 2, and we've owned A LOT of strollers. I've had a combi ultra savy, Peg Perego Pliko, Peg Aria Twin, and now we currently use the chicco tuscany for trips to the mall and around town. I know baby bargains raves about the combis, but we Hated! our combi. It was so hard to steer once there was any weight in it, and the wheels couldn't stand up to the walking we did. I accidentally ran it over with our minivan, and I can't say I was a bit disappointed when I did!

We have owned the Chicco Tuscany for over a year now and have had no problems with it. We had to ditch our Pliko when our daughter turned one, and we really needed a stroller we could steer with one hand. I orginally thought we would get a Mac, but after testing the Macs and the Chicco Tuscany we didn't see any reason to shell out the extra money for a Mac.

This is what we LOVE about the Tuscany.
*So easy to manuever. Great in tight spaces. We went to the amusement park today, and I was singing the tuscany's praises all over again. We manuevered in and out of lines and crowds with ease. This thing is so easy to steer!!! I can steer my 4 year old around one handed!
*Comfort for child. The padding on the seat is quite nice. My 4 year old (who is 36.5 lbs) is very happy riding in it. It has an extended seat so he can rest his legs too.
*Nice accessible basket. Ok, it is no giant basket like the pliko or a graco travel system, but it does the job pretty good. Today we had our lunch, a 2 liter apple juice, 2 sippy cups, my jacket, sunscreen bottle, giant bag of popcorn, my husbands giant bottle of soda all stuffed in the basket, and we still had room to spare.
*So light weight. I can get it in and out of the car easily, and I am 8 months pregnant
*Easy to fold.
*Nice recline mechanism, and nice several recline positions. I hate those drawstring reclines, this one requires two hands, but I still find it easy to do.
*Very secure, awesome strap system. I never liked the straps on the peg perego. When my son was throwing a tantrum while leaving the park he could easily squeeze out of those straps. The tuscany is very easy to snap, adjust, and is very secure.
*Folds up nice and compact
*Wheels are durable, glide well on rough surfaces ( I felt the tuscany had more durable, substantial wheels than the Mac).

Downside:
*Canopy is average. It gives good sun coverage, but I was spoiled with the Peg canopy that would adjust all the way over my son to the snack bar. It was huge. Sometimes the tuscany canopy unsnaps.
*The Pad on one of our handle bars tore after my husband put a ton of junk on top of it when packing. I think if we had treated it better this wouldn't have happened, but I have heard the padding is not as durable.

In the end, we just didn't see much difference between the tuscany and Mac. Test driving these things is always helpful though.
Best of Luck. You can't go wrong with either stroller.
Heather

[sophdog33]

We have the Chicco C5 and so far like it very much - we just got it in the mail this week. The C5 is basically the same thing as the Tuscany - it's 'little brother', I guess... I think the only difference is a bit of the style and colors, but in terms of the stroller itself I believe it is the same.
The C5 is about $89 - I ordered mine on babyuniverse.com because I had a coupon. You can also find the Tuscany version on Ebay - that is the only place I have found it.
I agree with the above poster in that the Chicco is easy to manoeuver and feels very sturdy as well. The sun canopy is pretty lame, so I bought an attachment to add right onto the sun canopy already on there - I bought it at BRU - it's not the Ray shade but something smaller that connects to what you already have to extend the shade.

[mommyb]

Thank you both. Very helpful. I especially like the comparison to the Pliko, which I have barely used since I bought the Mac. I am just in the process of finally getting rid of it to fund my new purchase.