Baby Trend Expedition Travel System Stroller, Elixer

We had this travel system when my son was born 6 years ago & it was perfect! He was 8lbs 13.3oz when he was born. I just had my daughter a month ago & she was 6lbs 10oz. We obviously bought a new one but even though this one is rated for babies as small as 4lbs the straps were still incredibly loose on her even with them being as tight as they get in the front & back. She is about 8-9lbs now & the straps are STILL too loose! I'm not sure why they are but I HIGHLY doubt this is safe for 4lbs babies unless they are really long. Even a nurse for 20+ years was flabbergasted by the straps not fitting properly. The stroller & seat are sturdy but the straps are just way too loose on small babies.

My stroller veers to the left all the time since I bought it and very annoying to run with it as a result. It was not apparent when walking with it with the front wheels unlocked but apparent once the front wheels are locked and running with it. This is after making sure the tire pressures are correct. I'm always having to push it towards the right to keep it going straight. There doesn't seem to any simple ways for adjusting the direction of the front wheel.

We were interested in obtaining a travel system with a jogger stroller. To start off on a positive note, we love the stroller. Very easy to set up and maneuver. However, we are incredibly disappointed in the car seat. There is basically no support in the car seat for the head or trunk, and since day one our baby has had forward head flexion. We have had the seat checked by car seat certified specialists at the fire station, and it is installed properly. We are unable to recline the seat far enough - even though the indicators show the seat is properly installed, her head goes forward constantly. It is acceptable in our sedan (Honda Civic), but horrible in our SUV (Honda CRV). It's so bad, we bought a convertible car seat for our 10 week old. So now when we go out, we either have to bring her travel system separately, or use a baby wearing carrier. And quite honestly, we're constantly adjusting her head into a better position when she's in the car seat in the stroller. Once she is able to sit in the stroller I believe it will be better. Do NOT recommend, incredibly disappointed.

I bought this combo as I was impressed with the quality and longevity when I used a this baby trend combo for my first child 11 years ago. I guess the car seat quality has diminished over the last decade as the car seat has given me such a hard time since day one. I've tried to enjoy it, but have grown tired. The red safety locks to the car seat handle are terrible. The right side I always have to use two hands to compress the red button then struggle like mad to press the left side red button in order to drop the car seat handle. In addition, it doesn't like to fully lock easily into the car seat base that it came with. We have another car seat base for the car seat and there is a struggle there as well. I am guessing I may have received a lemon as again, I don't recall the quality of my first combo being this bad.

Buy something else. When my daughter went into labor we installed the seat into my Kia Sedona. First thing we noticed right off the bat, is that there is nothing to secure the back of the base. It literally flops against the front seat. No matter how tight the front of the seat is with the latch anchors there is nothing securing the front. We then tried with the seatbelt rather than the latch, this does not solve the problem. When baby finally arrived and we buckled her in to leave the hospital, we noticed that the incline of the seat is too high up for a newborn, especially once attached to the base. Her head flops, chin to chest constantly. Our daughter has a different system for her car and that is what we will be using. Do not buy.