If you’re anything at all like me, you’ve read countless reviews before making a decision on what ridiculously expensive baby gear to spend your hard earned money on. This is the first of many reviews on baby gear that I have purchased and used for my child, and my thoughts on how well they performed for us. Count on me to be completely honest on price, performance and quality of the product.
After wobbling around my local baby gear supply store for what seemed like hours, my husband and I decided on the Chicco Cortina Travel System. We selected the style, “Discovery” because the green and gray colors worked well with a male or female child. At $299.99, it was among the most expensive at the store, but since the car seat reviews were pretty high, we chose it, primarily for safety reasons. Be sure to clean your car out before picking it up from the store. Trips back home because your spouse decided not to clear the car of collectibles are not fun when you’re hungry, exhausted and tired of trips to the bathroom.
The car seat is ready to go right out of the box. It is suggested that you do not add any additonal padding for newborns, as it is already provided. If you have more than one car, consider purchasing multiple bases. The seat easily snaps into the bases, provided that it has been installed correctly. Consider finding a local professional to ensure the seat is installed correctly. It is easy for first-time parents to make installation mistakes. Since our vehicle was made after 2001, we used the latch system for installation. While on vacation, we used the seat without the base; the seatbelt fits under grooves under the fabric cover of the seat. Using the base is much easier, but not practical to take on a plane.
The 5-point harness worked better for us when our daughter was smaller. The straps are easy to adjust based on your child’s height, but get easily tangled at time progresses. It is easy to tighten and loosen the straps as needed. Consider purchasing a fleece cover to go over the seat in winter months; it is very difficult to use this seat with bulky jackets, bunting or snow suits.
If I had to purchase the seat all over again, I would buy a seat with a high weight limit. The 22 lb maximum weight limit is probably best for people with smaller children. My little girl was born at an average weight and height, but was at 97th and 99th percentile on height and weight respectively by 7 months old. With this car seat, and my big, healthy, breast fed baby, it was unreasonable to expect her to use this seat safely until her first birthday. We had to buy a convertible seat by 9 months to keep her in a rear facing seat until her first birthday, and the Chicco seat still looked brand new.
Assembly instructions for the stroller were easy to follow and complete, even with my 8-month pregnant belly in the way. Some basic tools and a little floor space is all you need. Follow the instructions to the letter, or you’ll risk having to take parts off and redo them in the right order.
While the car seat was pretty much without design flaws, the stroller is not. It turns on a dime and is very easy to steer in all types of terrain. The parent and child cup holders are fabulous, and it is very easy to clean. There is no 5-point harness on the stroller, and we disconnected the shoulder straps. The biggest flaws are the size, seat design and accessibility to the basket when the seat completely is reclined. If you’re like me and want to be prepared for a shopping trip at a moments notice, the stroller is kept in the car. We drive a small SUV, and the stroller took up most of the trunk space. While it travels well being gate checked at an airport, we opted to leave it at home on a family road trip because it just took up too much cargo space. The basket is completely inaccessible when the seat is completely reclined. The seat must be reclined in order to connect the car seat inside it. For the first 6 months of use, I had to carry shopping bags because of this. I think I was most upset with this flaw. As your child gets larger, the wings on the side of the seat (used to hold the car seat in place) crowd larger children. Don’t expect to use this stroller after 24 months.
Overall, we’ve enjoyed using this travel system, however, the design flaws prevented us from using the stroller and car seat as long as we had hoped. While quality of the product is excellent, the lack of longevity makes this not worth the $299.99 asking price. If I had to make the purchase again, I would consider the 30 lb. model, if the basket was more accessible while the seat is reclined.
