The Best Strollers of 2023

• Stroller weight: 28.3 pounds
• Max child weight: 50 pounds
• Max basket weight: 10 pounds
• Minimum age: Birth
• Seat style: Reversible
• Recline: Flat
• Bassinet: Sold separately
• Car seat compatibility: Nuna PIPPA series infant car seats
• Handlebar: Telescoping

I loved the Nuna Mixx Next best the day it came with us to pick apples. With a basket full of produce, its wheels gamely ambled over gravel roads and muddy cowpaths. I peeped at my kid using the canopy’s clever mesh side panels and felt both positively autumnal and better equipped than I had been in eight years of these outings.

On daily use, the rosy picture flickered in and out as a fog of friction descended. The Nuna Mixx Next aims to set itself apart with distinctive design—sometimes at the expense of what actually works for real parents. Too many of its innovative features seemed to require an extra tug or tap.

Assembling the back wheels necessitated a force that I couldn’t accomplish solo, the only stroller set-up requiring reinforcements. Keeping the front wheels inline on uneven pavement was reminiscent of a shopping cart with too-spinny wheels. Braking was blocked when the basket was full. Adjusting the footrest required the left and right sides to be approached separately, which offered no practical benefit but did offer opportunities to have unevenly elevated baby legs. Detaching the belly bar was odd, eliciting comments from my husband and our babysitter. Clasping the seat buckle was not made easier by the magnetic closure, but it was harder to tell if it was actually secured, frequently leaving me fumbling with my too-tired toddler when he didn’t want to trade play time for nap time.

This is a fine stroller. Its doorway-friendly width, big basket, smooth ride, and luxe materials reminded me of our best overall pick, the Uppababy Cruz V2. But, for the price, the design hiccups surprised me. Altogether, it gave the overall impression of a prototype rather than a finished model. The Nuna Mixx Next is a good stroller that feels like it’s an iteration or two away from being a great stroller.

• Stroller weight: 26.5 pounds
• Max child weight: 50 pounds
• Max basket weight: 25 pounds
• Minimum age: Four months (From birth with sold-separately accessories)
• Seat style: Reversible, option for second seat
  
• Recline: Flat
• Bassinet: Sold separately
• Car seat compatibility: Graco, Chicco, Britax, Baby Jogger, Evenflo, Maxi-Cosi, Cybex, Nuna, Uppababy
• Handle: Pivot

The Mockingbird Single-to-Double Stroller is a stroller of the social media age, and I mean that in the best way possible. Their attention to customer experience is excellent. The packaging, manual, and welcome email sequence are sprinkled with easy-to-understand illustrations, spot-on pro tips, and animated gifs that communicate care for you and your little bean.

The Mockingbird is about the lowest price point at which you can access the features and functionality that are standard among luxury strollers. Its design is similar to the Uppababy Cruz V2, Bugaboo Fox 3, and Cybex Gazelle S. Like those strollers, it has lockable front swivel wheels, a bumper bar, adjustable handlebar, vented sun canopy, fun color options, and lots of accessories available for purchase. It even has a couple of features that those strollers don’t, like a cell phone pocket and a zipper on the footrest that helps with cleaning crumbs.

Some features were especially fantastic, like the enormous basket, which easily handled a long spring walk to our neighborhood bakery, bookstore, and falafel place with all the goodies and gear my family of five required.

Some features fell a bit short. The white call-out button for the recline was finicky. Likewise, they say this stroller is a one-hand fold, but I always needed two to manage it. When folded, the Mockingbird is bulky and awkward to carry, so it wasn’t ideal on transit or in my trunk. The seat is unusually high up, making it tricky for me as a five-foot-tall adult to see precisely where I was going. This was particularly problematic because the Mockingbird was wider than any other in the testing group. Given its girth, the front wheels are strangely small, and they tend to catch on sidewalks.

• Stroller weight: 27.7 pounds
• Max child weight: 50 pounds
• Max basket weight: 30 pounds
• Minimum age: Four months (From birth with sold-separately accessories)
• Seat style: Reversible, option for second seat
• Recline: Flat
• Bassinet: Sold separately
• Car seat compatibility: Cybex natively
• Handlebar: Telescoping

Indoors, the Cybex Gazelle S shines. During a grocery trip, the huge basket, which has high sides and easy front and back access, handled everything I needed (plus everything my 6-year-old thought we needed). Likewise, when I headed to the museum with my three kids, the Cybex Gazelle S had plenty of space for my baby bag and all the outerwear Minnesota’s wet, cold weather required.

On the streets, it was a different story. The Cybex Gazelle S is the heaviest stroller I tested, but not by much. However, the difference between it and the next-most-heavy felt like approximately 8 gazillion pounds rather than the .8 pounds it actually was. Something about the wheel suspension and the angles of the handle meant that each time I used it, an old overuse injury of mine flared. It was possible to manage the stroller one-handed while I drank my matcha latte, but it wasn’t as easy-breezy as the other strollers I tested.

The assembly was tricky, too. I could forgive the harrowing assembly and heft if it seemed like my baby’s experience was excellent, but it just wasn’t. He never zonked during any of our test rides, perhaps because the bumps in the sidewalk jostled him to the point that his toys went flying more than once.

In all, the Cybex Gazelle S’s storage and high-quality construction are lovely inside, but outside I found myself wishing for a stroller that was easy to push, provided a smoother ride, and had a bigger canopy.

• Stroller weight: 20 pounds
• Max child weight: 50 pounds
• Max basket weight: 10 pounds
• Minimum age: Birth
• Seat style: Reversible
• Recline: Limited
• Bassinet: Included
• Car seat compatibility: Graco natively
• Handle: Not adjustable

The Graco Modes Pramette appears to be a unicorn: It boasts a from-birth bassinet and toddler seat for under $300. Considering the price point is south of any other stroller I tested, I had my doubts. But honestly? The Graco Modes Pramette gets the job done. It’s lightweight, easy to fold (with one hand!), works from birth, and has a reversible seat and spacious basket.

There are compromises, of course. Starting with the installation, which was tricky and the manual was no help. Once I set it up, I found that the seat barely reclined. Once I started strolling, I found there isn’t really a suspension, and the front wheels got stuck on curbs, though it’s light enough to lift over obstacles.

The accessories are just so-so. The canopy is SPF 50, but not full coverage, so you won’t completely protect your little from sun or rain. The handle isn’t adjustable and is cushioned in foam, which both get old after a while. The cup holder has a warning not to use it with hot beverages, and it’s apt—both the cupholder and phone console rotate as you rumble, so both end up being completely useless.

The materials say the stroller can handle kids up to 50 pounds, but my much lighter, average height 4-year-old had to scrunch to fit. Still, for basic use for the younger set, the Graco Modes Pramette is perfectly adequate, which is perfectly awesome for the price.