I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Mom Central for Urbini. I received an Urbini stroller to both facilitate my review as well as thank me for my participation.

Urbini Touri Stroller

The Urbini Touri baby stroller/travel system is a handy choice because it will accommodate little babies or older toddlers.  And the price is much more approachable than many.

Out of the Box

I have to confess that my initial reactions to this baby carriage were less-than-stellar.  The box is very tall; I am not.  There was a ton of packaging (not literally, but you know what I mean) in/on/around the top, and the stroller is heavy.  Considering the box was almost as tall as I was to begin with, it was a real headache trying to wrangle the stroller out of the box.  Some consideration for the fact that we aren’t all seven feet tall would have been appreciated.

The other things that struck me right away were that — as I mentioned — it’s pretty heavy, and it’s not especially easy to set up.  Expect a learning curve.  After some finagling and playing around with it, though, I’ve figured it out, and it’s growing on me.  My other observations about this travel system have been much more favorable than my initial ones.

(The front wheels require assembly — ‘though they are not at all difficult; they just pop on.  And the arm bar has to be attached upon arrival, as well.)

The Baby Seat

My little guy is not little enough for the baby seat portion of this.  If he were, I’m sure it would be quite handy to be able to pop his car seat straight onto the stroller!  (Especially if he were sleeping.)  I thought the carseat was quite heavy at first, too, but I soon discovered that it’s the carseat base that’s so heavy.  Once the seat itself is removed from the base it’s actually quite lightweight.  (You’ll have to find that in the instruction manual.  I could not intuitively figure out how to release the seat from the base.)

There’s lots of padding for very small babies, which can be removed as the baby gets a little bigger.  There’s even a little wedge (not depicted here) that comes with this, for especially tiny babies.  When you pop the seat onto the stroller base, you can see baby.

The Stroller Without the Infant Seat

Because my little man is a toddler now, we’re using the stroller without the infant seat.  I like that it can be used either way.  When used as a “freestanding” stroller, it’s almost like a “glorified umbrella stroller” — which is nice and simple — but it’s considerably heavier than an umbrella stroller (presumably because it has to be sturdy enough to support the infant seat when you’re using that).  Simple doesn’t mean short on features, though!

There’s a cup holder, a storage basket, and a rain hood (with a peekaboo window).

Now, we’re actually not big stroller people.  I’m a babywearer, myself, so I prefer my carriers for most occasions where the average mama would use a stroller.  But sometimes a stroller is just nice.  My kids like taking walks, and we split the time between the stroller and carriers.  (Some days we use a carrier; other days we use a stroller.)  And the big opportunity: clothes shopping!  A strap-on baby carrier is not a great option when Mama has to try on clothes!

For around the neighborhood, this is great.  It would be a little more of a hassle at the mall.  (I haven’t had an opportunity to try that yet.)  It folds up to what I would consider a “medium” size.  It doesn’t fold totally flat.  It’s larger, folded, than an umbrella stroller.  But it’s definitely smaller than the average “regular” stroller.  Fitting it in my trunk would not be a problem at all.

Opening it, on the other hand, could be slightly problematic.  There is no way this stroller can be opened with one hand.  It easily takes me both hands and a foot.  The mechanism is pretty simple — after unhooking the strap that holds it closed (and holding it out of the way long enough to open it past the point at which it will catch again, all you have to do is push down on a lever in the center of the stroller’s back.

But this doesn’t just slide smoothly and lock into place.  I find that I have to use both hands to sort of “pull” the stroller open, while pressing down on the lever to lock it.  So definitely make sure you set up the stroller before you take your child out of the car.

Closing the stroller is much easier.  I haven’t experienced a lot of resistance when moving the lever in reverse.  The stroller just folds itself up as you do so.  And — this is my favorite part about the whole stroller — the locking lever closes itself!  The strap that holds the stroller in its folded position automatically slides into place when the stroller is folded, so you don’t have to remember to do it, or have the stroller falling open when you move it around.

The seat recline adjusts along a “slide.”  What I mean is, there aren’t specific positions it will lock into.  Any position between its extremes will work.  It’s pretty easy to do, too.  You just slide an adjuster in or out to support the back of the seat at whatever angle you prefer.  The seat is quite spacious from front-to-back, so even chunkier babies should have plenty of space.

Want to check it out?  Find this and other Urbini strollers at WalMart.com  (This particular one is a WalMart exclusive, I think.  Love this gorgeous peacock color!  You can find the short version of my review over there, too.)  And visit Urbini on Facebook and/or Twitter.