In-Line Double Stroller Review: Baby Jogger City Select vs. Phil&Teds Vibe

 As I may have mentioned before, I have a serious stroller affinity.  I walk a lot, more than I drive (in sunshine, rain and even knee-deep snow), and take my two wee ones, both well under three, with me everywhere I go.  So, I consider my stroller to be an alternate vehicle and it needs to function as such.  

Since reluctantly giving up my Micralite Toro early last year for a Phil&Teds Vibe ($809 with extra seat) in anticipation of our Little Lou, I’ve acquired three additional strollers to meet my various strolling needs.  These include an umbrella stroller, a higher-end umbrella stroller with recline and a Maclaren Twin Techno.  

The question is, though, why, after paying an arm and a leg for a Phil&Teds Vibe + doubles kit, the in-line stroller that’s touted as an all-around solution, did I purchase three other strollers where previously just one Micralite Toro did the job?  A good question indeed.  One my dear husband has oft asked, until he too fell for my latest and greatest stroller acquisition, the new Baby Jogger City Select ($660 with extra seat), which I now take everywhere I go. 

Mamas, it's sad but true.  Just 28 months into parenthood, I finally figured out what you may already know. When it comes to a stroller, for me at least, it’s all in the fold and that is Baby Jogger's speciality.

Here’s the upside with the Phil&Teds Vibe: Especially after I greased-up the front wheel, which was so tight it barely turned when I first purchased it, the Phil & Teds Vibe drove nicely for strolls in the park.  During the winter, when the tiniest man in my house was still a newborn, the lay-flat bassinet function was a godsend (the jump seat clicks on the front of the frame for the older child while the main seat reclines all the way flat for a newborn.  He was nestled in cozy and tight and shielded from the winter air, which left Huck and I free to carry on and frolic in the manner to which we had become accustomed.  And with the front wheel locked, it easily plowed through two feet of snow for provision trips in blizzards.

But the conveniences stopped there.  I was already unexcited by the limited and/or bizarre color selection (I’m no great lover of pastels, but graffiti? for babies? really?) and general style of the Phil & Teds line, but on top of it all, the “genius” fold turned out to be roughly 20x more difficult than anticipated, either breaking nails, giving blood blisters or scraping shins literally every time I tried to get it into my trunk.  Then I stopped trying to get it into my trunk, precipitating my purchase of the three aforementioned auxiliary strollers and an extra Ergo baby carrier for the car.  Add to that the fact that I always felt guilty squishing my little bub in the lilliputian, viewless, sun-bonnet-less back seat, and that the hand break was so easy to trigger accidentally that I nearly whiplashed my kids on a regular basis, and I was more than happy to unload it on CraigsList last weekend for just $35 less than it cost me to purchase a brand new Baby Jogger City Select in Diamond.

 
By contrast, the City Select folds and locks in a snap, as do all of Baby Jogger's strollers, which pull simply to a folded position (see this video review on BabyGizmo.com to watch how another Baby Jogger stroller, the City Mini, folds in seconds, one-handed).  The City Select's second seat is full-size and identical to the main seat.  Both have a four position one-handed mechanical recline and have huge, full-coverage sun bonnets.  The seat configurations are nearly limitless--they can face the driver, face out, face each other, accommodate car seats, a bassinet and on and on, in 16 different configurations.  Another fabulous amenity is something I didn’t even know I really needed until I had it: the Baby Jogger City Select has an enormous undercarriage basket that will fit two large diaper bags or three bags of groceries or a picnic blanket and a small soft-side cooler, etc.  The seats also have a great elasticized mesh pocket on the back that’s perfect for a phone, keys, sunscreen and a small snack.  
 
These little details work together to create a much more streamlined, easier-to-fold (not to mention less expensive) stroller by eliminating the need for the seemingly limitless accessories one needs to purchase simply to make a Phil&Teds functional.  Like the ridiculous Hangbag ($29.99), which dangles just above your back seat babe’s head and has two useless cup/bottle holders, necessitating the purchase of an additional, albeit very well-designed, cup holder for $19.99), saddle bags to ameliorate the woeful storage situation  ($49.99, and which makes the stroller nearly as wide as a side-by-side double), the Sunny Days UV shade ($59.99, which [a] your child, if he’s anything like mine, will detest and [b] will occupy nearly all of the meager space in your undercarriage basket ) and, after you’ve tried the former, the Protect-a-Bub Tandem Sunshade ($38.99, which is a good solution to a bad problem and a slight improvement since only your second kid will hate it).  All this amounts to nearly $200 in accessories to tack on to the $800+ initial price tag.  Ugh.  Death by a thousand dollar paper cuts.

All-in-all, Mamas, I am infinitely happier with the Baby Jogger City Select in less than two weeks than I ever have been with the Phil & Teds Vibe.  WIth only a few exceptions, I love the amenities, I love the styling and I love the functionality more than any other stroller, single or double (or add a glider board to make it a triple), and that's really saying something since double strollers usually feel like a compromise.  I only wish it had been around two years ago when I purchased my first stroller.  

If you're still unsure and, like me, you're having trouble finding a store where you can demo a City Select, I highly recommend purchasing yours from www.joggingstroller.com.  I am not in any way affiliated, but I bought both my Micralite and the City Select from them (I purchased the Vibe elsewhere only because I had a 20% off coupon). They have impeccable customer service, an excellent selection and  best of all, you can purchase "shipping insurance," which allows you to ship back unused merchandise for only $5 if it turns out you don't like it after all. 

For my side-by-side comparison and photos, read on . . .

- M

 

Baby Jogger City Select (left) beside Phil & Teds Vibe, front and back

 

Side view.  City Select (left) beside the VIbe.  You can see here why the weight distribution feels different.

 

Folded size is very similar with the CIty Select being slightly larger due to the full-size second seat. 

 
 The Vibe storage basket with jump seat attached. 

  
   
 
 The City Select storage basket.

 
The Vibe (left) and the CIty Select, both seats reclined. 
 

Feature	Phil&Teds Vibe	Baby Jogger City Select
Brake		x	Especially with a pregnant belly, it was too easy to hit the hair-trigger-sensitive brake placed right at navel level on the Vibe, bringing us to many a whiplash-fast stop.
Child seat - padding	x		The P&T has a nice thick foam pad that is easily removable and washable.  The Baby Jogger has no pad at all.
Child seat - harness	x		I love the easy-to-adjust harness height on the P&T Vibe and the super-thick shoulder pads.  The City Select has flimsy pads and a snap-on harness with no more bells or whistles than Baby Jogger’s utilitarian performance strollers.
Color selection		x	Baby Jogger wins this by a hair for offering, in addition to black and red, a “diamond” or silver/stone color option, which I am loving after all that graffiti noise I’ve been tolerating for the past several months.
Fold - Compact	x		Once folded, the P&T lays flatter, mainly due to the fact that the jump seat is about half the size of the main seat.  The Baby Jogger seems narrower and the wheels lay flatter, however.
Fold - Ease		x	The folding action (pulling up on a hinge in the middle of the frame) is identical, but the mechanism on the Baby Jogger as well as the ability to lock it easily is far superior to the Phil&Teds.  The Vibe fold/lock mechanism is overly complicated.  It has a triggered disengage lever and two stiff flap-locks that don’t engage unless the stroller is folded juuuust right, while the Baby Jogger just pops up, then has a simple clasp lock.  I’ve experimented with several configurations and the Baby Jogger City Select can be folded compactly with both seats on in almost any seating configuration, but it takes fusing with the foot rest angle after it’s folded and before it’s unfolded.  It is so easy to just pop off the lower seat, however, so that’s what I do.
Maneuverability - double	x		This is actually a toss up.  I am able to steer the Baby Jogger loaded with both boys (totaling 48 lbs combined) comfortably with one hand, but I feel the heft of the stroller in my wrist and wouldn’t do it for an extended period. With one full-size seat on the stroller’s center and another full-size seat forward of the center, the weight is distributed less advantageously than with the P&T.  Because the front and back seats on the P&T are virtually on top of one another, the weight is combined right on the stroller’s center.  I think the P&T would win this more definitively, but the hand break is placed smack-dab in the middle of the handle bar, where a one-handed driver would naturally place their grip (who’s the genius who thought of that!?).
Maneuverability - single		x	The Baby Jogger is easy to steer one-handed even with two kids, and two front swivel wheels will always be more maneuverable than a single wheel.  They may not plow through snow, however.
Recline - main seat		x	One of my least favorite features of the P&T Vibe was the horrible zipper and strap recline function.  After The Boy Wonder the Eldest had fallen asleep, I could rarely get the seat reclined without waking him, defeating the purpose of a reclining seat entirely.  WIth Lou in the jump seat, I never reclined Huck in the front as it would have been right on top of him.  Although it does not lie flat, like the P&T does, the Baby Jogger’s single-handed mechanical recline is brilliant, even better than the Micralite’s two-handed mechanical recline.
Recline - second seat		x	The second seat on the Baby Jogger City Select is identical and interchangeable with the first, including the recline.  Reclining the seats is only a matter of finding what seating configuration will allow one or both kids to recline--it can be a bit tight. The jump seat on the P&T may as well not even recline at all.  It only lays back a few inches and my average-height 9-month-old is already hitting his head on the support bar, rendering it unusable after only 3 months. Poor back seat babe. No nap for you!
Reflectors/Wrist strap	x		The P&T Vibe has reflective trim on the undercarriage basket and it also has a wrist strap.  I am a very brisk, all-seasons, all-hours, all-terrain walker and I wish, especially at this price point, that Baby Jogger would have included these very simple safety accoutrements.
Second seat		x	The second seat on the Baby Jogger, as I mentioned before, is identical and interchangeable with the main seat and since it’s not just tucked under the front seat, it actually has a view and some leg room.  The Vibe’s second seat is tiny--maybe two-thirds the size of the main seat.  It looks directly at the back of the main seat and is low to the ground in the back.  Little Lou actually got splashed in the rain the other day because the back tire shields are aimed directly at his face.  Woe to the back seat babe.  Again.
Storage - basket		x	The Baby Jogger City Select has a positively enormous expandable storage basket that is only marginally reduced in capacity when the front-position seat is facing the driver.  The P&T’s storage basket is small to begin with but when you throw a jump seat and a kid into the mix, its capacity is reduced by half and made inaccessible to boot.  I can fit my Ergo baby carrier and a lunch bag and that’s it.  I added some Skip Hop saddle bags, which are great, but the stroller didn’t fold with then on, making the fold that much more difficult.
Storage - other		x	Sometimes the simplest things please us best.  I love the Baby Jogger’s elastic mesh storage pockets on the back of both seats--perfect for phone, keys, a small snack, wipes, etc., eliminating the need for a junky accessory like P&T’s ill-conceived “hang bag,” which hangs right in your back seat child’s face.  Poor back seat babe.  Again.  Again.
Style		x	To my eye, and I like to think I have a good eye, the City Select is nearly as stylish and significantly more functional (if you plan on having more than one child in a 3-4 year period) than a premium stroller such as the Bugaboo.  The Vibe is cool looking, but the seat is terribly deep, which Huck never liked--he was always trying to claw his way out, even whilst moving--and the second seat option feels terribly inequitable from the back seat babe’s viewpoint.
Sun shade - main seat		x	This is another toss up.  I did like how the P&T bonnet could fold all the way in front of my kiddo (we live due west and downhill from our park, so we’re often fighting late afternoon sun).  It also swiveled all the way back and over the handlebar, covering the infant bassinet to shield my newborn from sun and wind, which was fine in the winter when Huck didn’t need it so much.  But I’m going with the Baby Jogger because I love the peek-a-boo UV mesh window and because the sun shade is he-uge.
Sun shade - second seat		x	This is something I didn’t think about when I was still in single stroller, then newborn stage, but the P&T has no integrated sun bonnet whatsoever.  In a place that’s over 5,000 feet above sea level and has 300+ days of sunshine per year, that is a very serious problem for a tiny person with virtually no melanin and a mother who, after dressing and feeding herself and two other small, protesting people, is lucky to get out the door by 10 AM.  I purchased both the Sunny Days UV Mesh and the Protect-a-Bub Tandem Sunshade, but neither of my children liked either of the solutions, which completely ensconced them in thick, black fabric.  For dear Little Lou, the Protect-a-Bub was nice for an on-the-roll nap, but whilst awake he batted and sobbed at it.  Little wonder considering he was already looking at the back of a black seat.  It was like sensory deprivation, but when it wasn’t on, he got the tiniest farmers’ burn ever.  Poor back seat babe.
Mom Points	5	11