avocado8

Test Drive

I took the new stroller out for the first time today—in a driving rainstorm. I was so impressed with its performance! As light and maneuverable as the Snap 'n Go was, the Zooper was more so. It handled rough curb cuts and potholes so much better—no lifting of the front wheels necessary, no loss of steering control. And boy, was the ride smoooooth.

I think some of the improvement in handling can be accounted for by the shift in weight/center of gravity: In the Snap 'n Go, Austen was facing me in the car seat and was rather high up; in the Zooper, his weight is mostly back toward my feet and lower down. This means that there's not as much pressure on the front wheels, so they tend not to dive into divots and cause the stroller to tip forward as the Snap 'n Go sometimes did. (Btw, this divot dive causes the handle to come up while forward motion stops—meaning you drive the bar into your chest. Painful enough when your boobs *aren't* full of milk, excrutiating when they are.) The rest of the handling improvement is probably attributable to the larger, wider rubber wheels.

The rain cover fit very nicely (it gapped a bit at the sides, and I was afraid Austen would get cold or wet, but he didn't), and it was more flexible and easier to handle than the Graco one we bought for the Snap 'n Go. It was easy to lower the seatback when I noticed through the peek-a-boo window that Austen had conked out, and to raise it when he woke up. (Austen *loves* sitting up, though he tends to slump to one side a bit. Part of the reason I decided to go out in the rain is that I put him in the stroller inside the house to see how all the straps worked, and he showed every sign of being completely happy—no screaming fit when I buckled him in as with the car seat.)

I was hoping to test out the steering-with-one-hand-while-drinking-coffee scenario, but I don't think today's weather really permitted a fair test—I had to expend some effort to keep the gusty winds from blowing the rain cover off, and that same wind make it challenging to steer, period—so I didn't really get to steer properly with one hand.

The only things I missed about the Snap 'n Go were its narrower width (I did manage to squeeze through the checkout at Trader Joe's, but it was tight) and its cupholder. The latter was like the space between the front seats in a minivan—it regularly held the garage door opener, my cell phone, my keys, and a little bowl of change. There's a mesh bag for my cell phone on the Zooper, but I didn't use it today because of the rain. I zipped the garage door opener into the pouch on the back of the canopy, but sadly there was no place for the change bowl. :( I might see if I can buy a cupholder attachment or something, as it was nice to spend my change rather than have it pile up in drawers around the house.

For my next adventure, I'll try out the new convertible car seat. I just have to figure out what to do with Austen when we get where we're going (unlike the infant car seat, I can't take the convertible out of the car and snap it on the stroller frame or a shopping cart). Since the Baby Bjorn is now too heavy for me with Austen in it (as of yesterday), I may have to resurrect the fucking sling as a means of strapping him to my hip.