Consumer Critique: Inglesina Avio Stroller

I was thrilled when I got a chance to try out the new Inglesina Avio Stroller. This is a much higher-end product than I've gotten to review before, so I was excited to see how it performed.

The Avio has a lot of really nice features. There's an extra carrycot you can purchase to get a full recline, although the seat itself reclines quite a bit. The rain cover is a full rain cover that attaches down at the bottom, near the wheels - so there's virtually no chance it will blow off. It can accommodate infant car seats from Britax, Graco, and Peg Perego as well. The sun cover provides better shade than some strollers, and it rolls very smoothly and turns cleanly.

It boasts "one-handed operation" for pushing and for folding. I could easily handle it with one hand while pushing, although it took me a little bit of practice to get the folding down. It isn't much wider than a little cheap umbrella stroller, so it's easy to maneuver around in malls or other crowded places, but it has the nice comfy seat and solid buckle harness of a more traditional stroller.

My only complaint is assembly. The assembly was kind of a beast, just because there were a lot of little places to attach the seat. Luckily, you'd really only have to do that once (per child) since you probably wouldn't be switching from carrycot/carseat to regular seat. The recline is great, even for older babies who fall asleep, not just for little babies. And a nice little touch - the front part of the stroller can flip up to be a little tiny footrest for little babies or flip down when the baby's legs are longer. There's even a little cupholder for mom, and, of course, a storage basket underneath.

Right now, if you purchase the Avio at diapers.com and use AVIOFAST you can get a free fast table chair (one of those chairs that clips to a table anywhere).

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Inglesina and received an Avio stroller to facilitate this review.”