I am due to deliver our 7th baby any day now, and we wore our other strollers out. I mostly baby wear the baby exclusively, and I can tandem wear the second youngest on occasion, but with a big family, outings are often long days, and having a stroller to help cart our stuff around for the whole family, and also give the ones who are too old to be worn, but still too little to walk ALL day and will need a break is important.
Enter this stroller!
THE BASKET: OH MY! Getting to the things you need in this basket is a DREAM!! Super easy, and even the littler kids can get to their jackets with ease. Not only is the back seat WELL above the basket to give unencumbered access, it is a nice, wide basket. you don't have to fold things super tiny to get them into the basket, or struggle to get them in and out. The seat on the front, when facing out, poses NO problems to this, but facing in can be a challenge if you have a larger kid. If your kid is smaller, just putting the foot rest up more, possibly in the most flat position, and/or possibly leaning the seat back into the middle position solves most of this problem when facing inward, though.
THE SEATS: The weight limit is one of the things that sold me on this. A whopping 55 lbs of kid, PER SEAT! This is strong enough to hold my 6 year old, who is in the 25th percentile in growth, when she needs a small break. I do wish, however, that for that amazing weight limit, the seats were a bit taller, and the canopy could be raised some. It is a pretty short seat. However, the seat tops are well padded and there isn't any bar or lever that digs into my kids' heads when they sleep in it. But some of my kids's heads do push up against the canopy when the canopy is in use. Another 2 inches taller would have been perfect. They honestly don't seem all that bothered by it, and since my kids who are tall enough for this to be an issue don't spend all day in the stroller anyway, it's a minor issue for us.
The foot rests are AMAZING! They have some SERIOUS range! You can bend them down and accommodate some pretty long legs, but also, you can put them up so that the foot rest is flat in an upright position, which is great for that kid who has those active, kicking legs. There's enough room in the seats that my kids can actually sit pretty comfortably in a cross legged position in that configuration (which they prefer), or even with their legs slightly bent, and that makes them VERY happy (and me, too, because they can't kick as much).
Even though I baby wear my babies and don't need much use for the seat to convert to an infant bassinet, having that feature is fantastic. It's flat enough and strong enough that I can change my 2 year old's diaper in it and not have to struggle to find a bathroom, which is an issue when you have a lot of kids. It's also great for using as an impromptu, all purpose basket in that configuration for extra jackets, or, even those larger bakery boxes when you're shopping. It's a feature I didn't think I'd use, but I'm surprised at how much it's come in handy. And, both seats do it!
The configurations are good, however, they do sit closer to each other than other tandem strollers. This means not all configurations are going to work well for every kid, especially those who kick. The configuration where they're facing each other takes a little thinking. Luckily, unlike other tandem strollers, there is no weight restrictions on who can be placed in what seat, though. (My last one had to have the heaviest kid in the front.) So, when they're facing each other, the one in the rear, which sits higher has the potential to kick the one in the front, which sits lower, in the face. To get around this, I either put the kid less likely to kick in the rear, or the foot rest up more flat so they can't swing their legs out. They don't really see much of each other like they would in a more flat stroller, either, and the kid in the front really doesn't see much of anything, so I only use this configuration if I need to get through slightly more cramped areas, or if the one in the front is napping and I'm thinking he's going to be sitting up soon but still going to be tired, or needing less stimulation, or else he's having a really bad day and I need to be able to take glances at him more as we're moving, without having to stop and walk to the front of the stroller. Otherwise, I have that bottom one facing outwards most of the time. They CAN nap facing outward, too, but, you have to take the rear seat off first, then lay the front seat down, and then put the rear seat on again. It's not hard, but not as easy as just pulling the lever, either. Especially if the one in the rear is already napping, which means that kid in the front is going to be sleeping sitting up, especially if they're both facing forward. Back to back is a little easier to work around for naps, though. Both facing the parent is the best for moving both into and out of napping positions.
THE RIDER BOARD ATTACHMENT: Yes, I got that, too. It's a little tight to use with a kid who's older, which is what you'd need it for, because there's not a lot of room for the kid on the board to stand. Both the rear seat, when facing the parent, and the handle bar get in the way. It works okay if the rear seat is facing away from the parent and in an upright position, and you aren't using a parent tray of any sort.
(We just do something that's not recommended to get around that, though. The kid who's riding on the board sits cross legged on the board and holds onto the stroller frame. My kids are on the small side and sit cross legged nearly all the time anyway. Because they're small enough, their legs in this position don't even come in contact with the wheels. If they did, they'd have to just stand awkwardly or maybe squat or something. In any case, this would not be a use for moving quickly, and you need a LOT of vigilance because kids with curious fingers could get them stuck in the wheels, and other issues. This is something that should probably be addressed in some practical way, though, but I don't exactly know how.) The rider board would be better used with the stroller as a single and in the single stroller position, OR with a shorter kid, and perhaps the baby carrier option instead of the full kid sized seat, especially if facing towards the parent.
THE BREAKS: I LOVE the sandal friendly, very secure, one food breaking pedal! This has me feeling a little spoiled.
THE HANDLEBAR: Oh my word! It's WONDERFUL to be able to have a handlebar that can be raised that high, or even lowered for my older ones who can push the stroller but need it lower. I'm not very tall--I'm 5'5"--but when baby wearing AND pushing a stroller, a handlebar that is higher helps save my back when pushing a stroller AND baby wearing at the same time. If I'm pushing up a hill, it's a snap to just lower the bar to help get that stroller going.
MANEUVERABILITY: This thing rolls like a dream! Even with a pretty full basket, two kids in the seat, and one on the board. It takes so much less effort to push this than any other stroller I've had that only held 2 kids and a full basket. It just glides, really.
FLEXIBILITY: So, with all these kids I have, you'd think I'd never have a need for a single stroller. Strangely, I do sometimes need just a single stroller. Usually for places, like church, where the other kids will be preoccupied in a smaller area, and I only need a single for the one kid who's tired, or acting up, (or, just a cart for all of our stuff), or, maybe I'm shopping with a cart and only need an extra seat for one kid because I have the cart for another and I have a helper that can push, or maybe I just need to take the one kid with me. Or maybe, we're not staying that long at a place, just a couple of hours, and I only need a stroller for the cart, or a changing table, or that unpredictable younger kid.
Being able to effortlessly convert from single to double is a real convenience. It means I can just pack up the van with both options, and re-evaluate when I get somewhere if I need just one seat or both. It nearly eliminates the need for ANY other stroller, so I just have the one to store now. (I do keep a very cheap umbrella stroller, however, for those very, VERY cramped places, or if I have a friend who's visiting with a baby who needs an extra stroller.)
SPACE: Yes, this thing DOES take up quite a bit of space, though not anymore than any other double or full size stroller. It's not the lightest stroller, but it's not the heaviest stroller, either. You want to have some trunk space to buy this one.