Before even deciding on which brand to buy you need to decide on which kind you want.
Full Size Strollers/Travel System Strollers
These would be your Graco® Baby Quattro or your Chicco® Cortina Travel System. They tend to come with a full size stroller and then a baby carrier/car seat that snaps into the seat of the stroller. These are very nice if you do not have a baby carrier. However, you do need to ask yourself if you need a full size stroller. Through modern marvels they have made these strollers easier to collapse and lighter. However, they can still be bulky, heavy and hard to load in and out of your car. So, ask yourself if you are going to want to push and maneuver a full size stroller around a store with narrow aisles?
Mid Size Strollers/LightWeight Strollers
Some examples under this category are the Peg Perego® Aria and Graco® Lite Rider. These strollers usually do not come with a baby carrier/car seat but one can be snapped into the seat. Strollers such as these tend to be easier to maneuver, easier to collapse and easier to load in and out of car. Since they are lighter weight, you will not have bulging biceps from pushing it around the zoo. If you are looking for a stroller with a lot padding to keep your little one cushy and cozy, you might have a hard time find it with the smaller strollers.
Umbrella Strollers
You can't get any lighter then these. They range from the price of $300, i'coo® Pluto, to $15 for the Cosco® Umbrella Strollers. These strollers are very easy to load in and out of your car and can even fit in the back seat. However, you will get very little, if any, padding and there will be no storage underneath. Since these strollers don't have the shocks and all the other gadgets other strollers have, one might find them more difficult to maneuver. Umbrella strollers work better for older children.
We did not buy a full size stroller. When our little one was a newborn we just used the Graco® Snap and Ride. $60, lightweight, easy to fold and lift while recovering from a c-section. Now we use the Peg Perego® Aria, which I love. I do not regret the lack of a full size stroller and know if I had bought one I would hardly use it.
There will be a separate post on Jogging Strollers. (I LOVE MINE)
