Customer Reviews

Graco Alano Flip It Travel System, Strata

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought the Flip It Travel System (From Babies R Us) when my son was two weeks old. I wish I could have gotten the turquoise color, but only a yellow/gray pattern was available (haven't seen it on Amazon)- but it's not annoying at least, so its fine. We've had the travel system now for about 6 months.

PROS: Carrier is birth-22lbs (which is what we wanted b/c I don't want to lug around a 30lb baby plus the weight of the carrier). The straps are easy to adjust and our carrier came with two head supports- the smaller one was removed when our son out-grew it, and it has adequate padding. The base is easy to install, can be done with latches and seat belt. The stroller also has two elastic bands with latches to secure the carrier in the stroller.
Stroller is sturdy and has lots of features (which does make it quite heavy, so beware)- easy to use adjustable handle, removable parent cup holder (only one though), big basket, double foot brakes, big canopy. It is easy to fold DOWN *(see addition at bottom), and it is easy to steer ***when the handle is in the normal position***.

CONS: The stroller can not be opened one-handed unless you're a magician- it takes two hands. This isn't a big deal to me because I just open it before doing anything else. The cup holder sticking out on the side gets in the way and sometimes gets hooked on things- but it is removable.
The biggest con is the steering when the handle is flipped! I was excited to use this feature when my son was big enough to sit in the stroller without the infant carrier. I've used it a couple of times now with the handle flipped and I was so disappointed- it is totally useless to push the stroller with the handle flipped. The back wheels are stationary, and when they become the front wheels- trying to turn the stroller is like skidding jammed grocery cart wheels accross carpet! It seems like common sense to me to put "all-wheel steering" on a stroller like this if the back wheels can become the front wheels.

Conclusion- I like the stroller and the carrier- but the Flip-It feature needs to have compatable engineering in the way of movable wheels for it to even be practical or useful.

Additional Info: After owning this stroller for another 6 months (1 year total) the opening/closing mechanism on the handle began to malfuncion. It sticks and makes it very difficult to open and close the stroller. I contacted Graco about the problem and they offered to send a new stroller if I would ship the broken one to them at my own expense. A good offer if it didn't cost $50+ to ship the darn thing! Alas, the flip-it stroller is being donated and will be replaced by a lighweight stroller.

Another review from someone who hasn't actually used this with a baby yet...but I have already purchased it, based on my researching strollers for almost a year via online reviews and in-store experimenting. There are a lot of great strollers out there that cost big bucks, but I wasn't willing to pay $500+ for a stroller. I love this one because it's lightweight and has a slightly-narrower wheel base than most of the other stroller systems I tried out (this stroller weighs 19 lbs, compared to the 28-33 lb ones I was trying out), and is VERY easily maneuvered with one hand. The color scheme is gender-neutral. BRU has it for about $30 more in a grey and yellow scheme. I like the Strata, which is what I purchased. It's very pretty, and the aqua is just slightly brighter than pictured -- not garish at all, and aqua enough to not automatically scream "baby-boy pastel blue!"

My favorite part about this stroller is that the handle swivels so that you can push the baby facing you, or facing outward. Most the travel systems let the baby face you when they're in the snap-on infant carrier, but unless you go really pricey, it's hard to find one that lets the kid face you once they're out of the infant carrier. I found one other that did, but you have to move the seat itself, which takes time, effort, and can't be done with the child in the stroller. At one year old (when the baby outgrows the infant carrier), Mom is still the most interesting thing out there for most kids, and I want to be able to interact with my baby as I'm pushing him, vs. having him isolated from me and staring out at the world. The handle swivel mechanism is very easy to use, but locks in place with a nice, secure feel.

The one and only tradeoff with this stroller (for me) is the lack of a storage tray for drinks, keys, etc. Because the handle swivels over the stroller body to change the seat from facing inward to outward, they didn't put a tray on the handle. If it were me, I would have designed a reversible tray so that it worked from both directions, but they didn't. What they did do was provide one cup-holder that sits on the handle off to the side, and can swivel with the handle. For me, that's an acceptable trade-off, but it might be a deal-breaker for others.

This came with the stroller, carseat/carrier, and the stay-in-car carseat base. As with most products containing plastic products, this smelled when I first took it out of the box. I set it outside for a couple days to off-gas, and I'm going to wash the fabric parts before using...but the smell dissipated very quickly.

I bought this because I was impressed with the option to reverse the handle and have baby facing in or out. Most magazines will recommend having baby face you so that he can interact with you. I love the stroller in the regular position(with carseat or facing out) but when reversed so that the baby faces you, the stroller pushes like a fixed wheel stroller. I wish I had just purchased the carseat, a stroller frame and an all terrain stroller like I initially wanted to until I saw this product.

Pros:
1. Cute Design and gender neutral colors.
2. The basket is nice and big.
3. The parent tray is super nice. It has two cup holders one is bigger than the other and a very nice size parent tray that closes and no one can see what is in it. I have a small coach wallet that could fit in it along with my keys.
4. The stroller worked okay with slush in the winter.
5. I sold it and got a great deal of money for it.
6. If you have a preemie child this would be fine as it goes from zero pounds to twenty two pounds.

So I am happy with this product overall but I wish I new about the snug ride 35's as that is what I needed with my child.

Some items I didn't like:
At four months my child could kick the tray off of the stroller. All he had to do was kick his foot and it would flop to the other side. This made it impossible to use the stroller in any store. This stroller took up my WHOLE ENTIRE TRUNK of my honda civic. It did not even fit in the trunk of my husband's mazda.

At five months we sold the travel system to someone because my child was to large for it height wise. He is 90 percentile for height and only 30 percent for weight. The height for this is 29 inches with only 22 in weight. The weight was not the problem it was the height. (the snug ride 35's go up to 32 inches tall and 35 pounds that extra three inches would have been nice)

If I had to buy a different travel system again I would look for these factors:
1. Will the stoller fit in my vehicles trunk?
2. What does consumer reports say about them?
3. What is the weight for the stroller? (my current stroller is a combi and fits in the back seat and is tiny and I love it and it holds plenty of weight)
4. Has it been recalled? (there are tons of infant seats that have been recalled check it out)
5. Does the infant seat go in and out of my vehicle well? (Check it out because mine was really hard to manuver in and out of the doors. A lot of stores will let you bring there floor models out to the parking lot and check it out.)
6. Does it fit on shopping carts? (This one did, there were a few shopping carts that did not work well with this model.)
7. How much is it to purchase a spare base for another car?
8. Do NOT buy used, you have no way of knowing if it was in an accident.

We had a Graco Metrolite but exchanged it for the Alano flip it. Here are my thoughts and they are mostly concerning the stroller:


-It was easy to assemble for me and looks nice.
-I agree with the other users that using the stroller when flipped was awkward as the swivel wheels get in your way. I read somewhere that you can lock the wheels and that helps but to maneuver the thing would be kinda hard. I'm not sure if height, walking speed or even the length of your legs will be a factor. Try it on a store to find out first.
-The bar on the basket can be pushed down to widen access but it makes a snapping noise no matter how gentle you are and startles our newborn most of the time
-Stroller does not fully recline (maybe lacks about 45 degrees to be fully flat)
-Cup holder gets in the way but it can easily be removed
-Easy to fold one handed; most of the time requires 2 hands for opening or in my case, I use my foot to "nudge" the back to open. It's possible opening it by one hand by "flipping it open"

Please test it in the store to find out if it meets your requirements.

I absolutely love this system. It has great handling which is perfect for shopping and getting down tight aisles. It has a very smooth ride. When used together, the shade from the stroller and car seat pull together to make a full tent cover over baby. It folds up very nicely and is quite compact. I took this along when flying with my baby to Mexico and it worked so well. The cup holders and compartment are great for mom and dad. The car seat is also narrow so that others can still fit in the back seat of a small car and it is very portable. The only complaint I have is that the stroller seat does no lay completely flat for a sleeping baby. Also, as my son is still not sitting up on his own, it would be nice if the stroller seat would also sit completely upright. (like a 90 degree angle) These are very minor details so other than that, it is wonderful.

I registered for this item and didn't do as much hands-on research as I would've liked. Most of the stores in my area kept their strollers locked down on shelves so it was impossible to test them out. Plus, there were so many recalls last year that my choices were limited. I've been using it for 7 months now, so here are my basic thoughts on this system.

The Good:
1. Love the Graco Snug Ride. As car seats go, it's pretty lightweight. The straps can be adjusted for height and width. My daughter was a preemie and I was worried she wouldn't fit since she was less than 5 lbs. But after the hospital did a fit test, it still worked by moving everything to the lowest settings.
2. Pretty streamline without the cup holder attached.
3. Nice manueverability with the handle in the "baby facing you" position. Also has nice shock absorption, hitting bumps doesn't bother the baby in the least.
4. Nice colors, comfy for the baby and folds up into a decently small space.
5. Lightweight for a full size stroller (light to push). Handle is a nice height (I'm 5'9", fiance is 6'2").

The Bad:
1. The whole Flip It part isn't nearly as great as I thought it would be. My baby is big enough to sit in without the car seat now, and with the handle flipped it was extremely difficult to steer. I managed, but pretty much never use that feature now.
2. The cup holder sticks out very far. Again, in a store, that's a problem. It kept catching on things. So I don't use it now and that was a part that I really wanted.
3. Opening the stroller is a bit of a challenge. Definitely not a one-handed procedure. It's more like a two-hand, one foot deal. I can never get it to just pop open without using my foot.
4. Not sure how it compares to other strollers, but this one is a bit heavy when closed.

Overall, I am very happy with this stroller system. The bad things are actually minor issues and in terms of the actual use it's a great stroller.

This stroller/carseat combo is cute and well made. I wanted the flip feature, and I wanted an infant carrier for the beginning, planning to upgrade to a bigger carseat later. I got what I paid for, but in the end, I wish I had purchased a stroller and a carseat instead of a combo. My baby does not like the angle this carseat sits at because of her reflux. Her cousin has a graco carseat that looks the same, but was purchased alone and the carseat that is not intended to go with a stroller sits at a more reclined angle, and she will be calm when in that one, but screams in ours. Also, because of the upright angle, when used with a Snuzzler Summer Infant Snuzzler, Velboa Pink, her head tipped far forward until she developed neck control, I had to take it out because her head would tip to her chest. It worked fine in the stand alone Graco carseat though, because of the reclined angle.

As for the stroller, it works great, I love the pattern, and the basket is a great size, but it is difficult to collapse it and it is very very heavy. Since since we have a small car the stroller can only fit in the trunk at one particular angle - if I can lift it that high - and takes up the entirety of trunk. Also, the flip feature isn't worth it. When they are in the infant carrier, they face you, and when they sit in the seat, they face away. That seems normal, and "flips" them. When you actually flip the handle, the "front" wheels are closer together and I end up stepping on them just walking normally.

I wish I had purchased a lighter weight stroller, and a stand alone carseat so I could have chosen them separately. I need different things than come with the combination.

I would still highly recommend the product for what it is, but I would recommend that you think first about whether you need a combo. If you do, this one is for you.

This is our second Graco travel system, as we needed to replace our Graco Vienna system for a new baby (the safety clip on the car seat broke). We were deciding between this system and the Metrolite travel system. We purchased an Alano Flip-It in a gray/yellow combination that is great looking and gender-neutral. We are still using the carseat with the stroller, and so haven't tried to reverse the direction of the handle yet, but I'll update this review when we try that.

PRO
1. The stroller folds down to a compact size, so that it fits nicely in the trunk of our compact car (we can't fit the larger Graco models, like the Quattro Tour). It is actually smaller than our Graco Vienna stroller, because the handle is jointed near the top. This is also a great feature, as my husband and I can adjust the handle to different heights when pushing the stroller.
2. The stroller has a standing fold, where the back of the stroller (where the handle is) and the front (where the snack tray is) fold toward each other, and the stroller locks into place. This is better than the Metrolite, which has a hook you have to fasten while holding the stroller folded. We also liked it better than some other Graco strollers that fold down toward the ground.
3. The material covering the car seat is sueded, so it feels softer and warmer that other carseats.

CON
1. The stroller is more difficult to unlock (to fold or unfold) that other Graco strollers. It feels like the rotating handle must go more than 180º to unlock, which is awkward.
2. The cup holder is awkward and sticks out from the side of the stroller. Also, it is pretty far away from you while you are pushing the stroller - I am average height, and couldn't actually reach the cup while pushing the stroller. I removed the cup holder and replaced it with an after-market model, which I have attached to the handle closer to me.
3. I do wish it had a console tray - I miss that from my old stroller. It does have a small zippered pocket on the back of the stroller that can fit keys and cell phone, but not much else.

Overall, we are happy with the size and performance of the stroller, although there are a few features that I feel are sub-par or missing. The light weight and maneuverability of this stroller are huge advantages.

We've been using the system for the past 10 weeks, since our baby was born. The carrier is very comfortable for the baby, and the ability to attach it to the stroller and the car seat is excellent.

Pros: not too heavy; pretty pattern; good car seat with easy attaching to base; sturdy stable and easy to steer; very good price for the quality.

Cons: The folded stroller is very large: takes up half of our tiny elevator at home, and is a difficult fit in the trunk of our car; HUGE car seat which limits our ability to move the front seats when in the back seat; folding the stroller is fussy and requires both hands and complete attention.