Type

Compact & travel strollers

38 models · 24 brands, ~$130–$1,349

Compact strollers trade wheel size, basket space and suspension for a fold you can lift with one arm and stow in a small trunk or an airline gate-check bag. Several are sold as cabin or carry-on size; each card here holds the maker's own folded figures against a published 22 x 14 x 9 inch limit instead of taking the claim on trust.

Ordered by price, lowest first.

Choosing among compact & travel strollers

Will a "cabin" stroller clear the 22 x 14 x 9 inch sizer?

Only the Cybex Libelle, at 18.9 x 12.6 x 7.8 inches, clears the carry-on box by the makers' own numbers, out of the 31 compact strollers that publish a folded size. The closest misses are the Inglesina Quid3, 1.5 inches over, and the Nuna VIAA cabn, 2.5 inches over. The Libelle also shows the catch with tiny folds: its seat is for 6 months and up, and Cybex says a younger baby rides only in an infant car seat on the frame. Read the folded line on each card rather than the word cabin in the product name.

Newborn-ready, or toddler only?

Thirteen compact strollers carry a maker's from-birth statement for the seat itself, such as the UPPAbaby Minu V3's carriage mode and the full-flat recline on the Joolz Aer2, and 14 more are built around an infant car seat. Three set their own floor: the Zoe Traveler at 3 months, the Colugo Compact Plus at 4 and the Evenflo Hummingbird at 6. The Graco GoMax Frame is not a stroller seat at all, only a frame for an infant car seat, so a baby outgrows it with the seat.

Does your infant seat click on?

A compact stroller is not automatically a travel system: half of the 38 name no compatible car seat at all. Among the 19 that do, six attach a seat directly: the Nuna TRVL and TRVL lx, Nuna VIAA cabn, Silver Cross Clic and the two Graco models (Ready2Jet and GoMax Frame). The Mockingbird Travel Stroller lists the most adapter pairings, ten, and the UPPAbaby Minu V3 six. Check the exact seat model on the maker's list, because several name individual versions rather than a whole brand.

What the weight and the fold cost you

The Evenflo Hummingbird is the lightest compact with a seat of its own, at 9 lb, and 17 of the 36 with a published weight are under 15 lb. Light is not guaranteed by the category. The Thule Spring 2 weighs 23.8 lb and the Mompush Meteor 2 23.2 lb, both more than the 18.4 lb Nuna TRIV next, a full-size stroller. Thirty makers call the fold one-handed, none lists a two-hand fold, and eight say nothing. Prices run from $130 (the Chicco Urbino and Safety 1st Easy Fold) to the $1,349 Bugaboo Dragonfly Plus, which includes a full bassinet.

How the types differ, and where the lines blur →