Some of these strollers might come from huge stroller manufacturing companies with tons of advertising dollars, but it still doesn’t change the fact that they’ve performed massively below standard, resulting in a series of recalls, tweaking, modifications, etc.
This isn’t an affiliate post, i’m not advertising anything, heck I’m telling you to look beyond the PR and flashy advertising from these companies and maybe take your money elsewhere. First on the list of worst baby strollers is
1. The Silver Cross Jet (2020)
The silver cross jet, despite being compact and lightweight, which is a quality highly sought after on the market, has a constant design flaw. I used the word constant because despite the fact that it went through more than 55 updates and tweaks, that design flaw happened to be a constant theme which is not very easy to look away from when you start using it.
What’s the design flaw? Well, the whole system was designed using an umbrella concept. That’s not necessarily a problem except for the fact that it’s trying to chase two rabbits at the same time.
The silver cross jet is trying to be a hybrid design, that is, apart from the umbrella stroller concept, it’s also trying to combine it with a modern ultra compact concept.
Again, this wouldn’t have been a problem were it not for the fact that these two concepts kind of work to cancel each other out. This makes the overall structure to be much weaker than your typical everyday stroller.
The looser structure of the horizontally foldable element of the umbrella concept puts great pressure on the locking mechanism. This makes it break easily.
The locking mechanism that’s in constant pressure starts making rickety sounds when you’re moving it. Also, every other joint or point of connection was done poorly, and the braking system cannot be disassembled. The tyres are also very prone to start developing wobbling issues later on.
One of the major good features it has going for it is the fact that it’s very light but it seems like it sacrificed a lot of other features to achieve this. Some people have complained about it being too light that it’s practically too flimsy to use. It’s not easy to push it up a curb and through cobbled roads. One even complained that the stroller fell over with their toddler still in it.
Review from Amazon
The stroller is quite expensive but it feels like a cheap equipment.
2. The Bugaboo Ant (2020)
Bugaboo is one of the most innovative brand of strollers on the market, making them a very good choice for people who need a good stroller. However, the Bugaboo Ant was a miss, and people who have used it tried to look past the flaws but couldn’t.
The front wheel of this stroller is really small, making manoeuvrability a chore, and the handle isn’t sturdy and tends to wobble easily. They did something about it later on though, instead of fixing the core issues with the stroller like the wobbly handle bar, they decided to add a carry strap, a move akin to slapping a tiny bandaid on a gaping wound.
A buyer stated that it wasn’t a typical bugaboo quality, and that after 3 weeks of usage, the handle had stopped locking properly. She also went further to state that some of the extra accessories she bought had a hard time fitting in properly.
These and many more complaints were channeled to the company, and how did they react? Well, there’s the carry strap. It might be a hunk of junk but at least you can carry it on your back.
3. The Cybex Libelle (2020)
Cybex is a stroller manufacturing company owned by Good Baby International (GB), it’s pretty much a sort of rebranding thing. Ok, that information wasn’t very relevant, so let’s focus on one that is.
The cybex libelle stroller has a problem in the base and core design, a problem quite similar to that of the ones mentioned above. Instead of focusing on functionality, the manufacturers instead decided to focus on how smooth and slick the unit’s folding capabilities appeared to be. In other words, they just wanted it to fold in a cool way.
I get that the whole point of making foldable strollers as small as possible is to be able to fit into cabin and luggage spaces but this company took it a little bit too far. You see, while the folded form looks smaller than other foldable compact strollers, which is kind of a plus, the unit ended up requiring more hinges, joints, and connecting points, making it look and feel like it’s going to collapse when you’re pushing it.
Other compromises as a result of how small the folded form of the stroller include; small seat with no foot rest, terrible braking system, and poor maneuvering across rough terrains. It’s clear the cybex libelle manufacturers focused a lot on cutting costs, which explains the sub par materials and manufacturing.
If you look at the reviews on Amazon, a lot of the positive reviews came from people who were looking for a folder that folds really well, and is easy to store. Many of the reviews came from frequent flyers. I’ll give credit where credit is due, the folding capabilities are top notch, and if that’s a deciding factor, more power to you. However, this is pretty much all that’s going for it.
