I use this expensive travel stroller every day

Travel strollers are meant for, you guessed it, travel. When I started test strollers, I figured I’d just ignore this category for any purpose other than travel or long-haul flights. Travel strollers, also called lightweight or umbrella strollers, have fewer features as they focus on being as easy to transport as possible. As small as they are, they weren’t as cheap as I’d hoped. Some were even more expensive than strollers designed for everyday use.

I ended up testing two lightweight strollers side by side: the show TRVLa $500 travel stroller and the joey kooper, a $250 lightweight stroller. The Joovy came with more features for half the price, including a place to put your water and keys, something almost no stroller I tested had.

So why can’t I stop using Nuna TRVL? After all the strollers I tried, I found that only one feature really mattered to me: how easy it was to fold.

Stroller shopping conflict

There are tons of types of strollers out there. There are jogging strollers, traditional strollers, urban strollers, double strollers, trolleys, and even tricycle strollers. Last but not least is the travel or lightweight stroller category.

Each category promises different things, forcing you to face the question of how you walk with your child. Do you have to go through many subway turnstiles? Find a stroller with a slim profile. Do you want to transport many things? Get a wagon.

These questions make it sound simple, but it quickly turns into comparing specs with a magnifying glass and also trying to predict what your life will be like in the next few months. This is especially true if you’re shopping while you’re expecting, and especially if it’s your first child.

What will your life be like with a newborn? How about a bigger baby or toddler? Who you be? What will it be? you need?

When I was shopping for a stroller, I got too focused on what was compatible with my infant car seat and whether it had infant options. She also wanted to spend as little as possible after also buying a crib, mattress, car seat, stereo, and playpen. And then my baby left the stroller after only using it a few times. Even as someone who compares products for a living, trying to navigate stroller shopping was overwhelming.

The power of folding

My son is already one year old. In that year, I tried almost every type of stroller and found that the most important feature for me was how easy it is to fold and transport.

There are a few reasons why this is the case for me (and it may not be the case for you). I live in an apartment complex that has a short but steep staircase between me and the ground level, with no accessible ramps. I also realized that I’m not that coordinated. The last thing I want to do while rocking my baby in the parking lot is reach down and unfold my stroller off the ground, or lift it off the ground after folding it to drag it down the stairs.

Enter: the Nuna TRVL. What I like best is that this lightweight stroller practically folds itself: I push the buttons on the handle, give it a slight push, and it folds forward to a standing position. The handlebar that my son bites on pops up so I can hold my baby in one arm and hold this stroller in the other. He weighs 13.6 pounds without the canopy and armbar. I use both, which makes it a bit heavier, but still easy to carry one hand up the stairs.

The TRVL has no special features beyond its lightweight capability. You do not have the ability to turn the child to face the rear. While it may work with Nuna’s infant car seat without an adapter, Nuna doesn’t sell adapters for any other car seats that work with the TRVL, so you can’t use it with your Graco or Britax car seat. It doesn’t take bumps well and only has storage in the landing gear. It’s twice the price of the Joovy, which has more storage options and more compatibility with infant car seats.

If you have a garage or accessible walkway, you may not find the TRVL as useful as it was for me. The Thule shine (9/10, WIRED recommends) is a better, more well-rounded stroller that weighs just a few pounds (21.6 pounds) more than the Nuna TRVL and folds standing up, too. But those few kilos really matter to me. The TRVL is especially suitable for my apartment and for stairs. Now that my son is facing forward, it’s all we need to run errands or walk to the park.

The hardest part of being a first-time parent is figuring out what you don’t know. Babies are small for such a short time. If I could go back and talk to my pregnant self, she would tell me to worry less about a baby stroller and be ready with the Nuna TRVL once my son is ready to look forward.