phil&teds Dot Buggy Stroller, Apple
From phil&teds
List Price: | $449.99 |
Price: | $350.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
Product Description
phil&teds Dot is the smallest inline stroller in the world yet it's fully featured, lightweight and compact with a full size seat. The Dot inline stroller is a single stroller that can adapt to become a double stroller with addition of a doubles kit second seat (sold separately), thus growing as your family grows. Dot has many unique features including: Customizable color liner; Zip off fabric for easy cleaning; new tailfree 5-point harness for easy adjustment and less clutter; Bonnet style sun hood with visor and peek-a-boo flap; All-plastic footwell for easy cleaning; Lightweight, slim and nimble with 23.5" wide body and 10" wheels to navigate any type of space including curbs with ease. Dot is compatible with Graco, Chicco, Peg Perego, and Maxi-Cosi car seats with use of a travel system (sold separately). Doubles kit second seat offers a sleep ideal, one-hand recline and can be used with a car seat attached to the stroller. Scroll below for even more inside detail about the all new Dot from phil&teds.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #82816 in Baby Product
- Size: Single
- Color: Apple
- Brand: phil&teds
- Model: DOT_V1_22_200_USA
- Released on: 2012-09-04
- Fabric type: 100% Polyester
- Dimensions: 41.00" h x23.00" w x50.20" l,31.00 pounds
Features
- One hand fast fold with frame lock, 10' air filled tires for cushioned ride with swivel or locking front wheel and flip flop friendly foot brake for easy parking
- Easy zip off fabric and performance seating system features a contoured, vented seat back that reclines all the way to lie flat for a newborn
- Fully adjustable handlebar, large sunhood with peek a boo window and flip out visor, plastic footwell, and 5 point harness with new tailfree design for easy adjustment and clean look
- Can take the doubles kit and infant car seat at the same time as one of seven modes spanning birth to toddler to the stroller accommodating two children
- Stroller can hold up to 44 pounds in single mode plus an additional 11 pounds in the newly designed gear basket At 25 pounds weight, it's one of the lightest inline strollers in the world
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful.Full disclosure: I received a Phil&Ted's Dot stroller to evaluate because I'm part of a moms group that sometimes gets to try out new products. I was not paid to write my review, but I do get to keep or donate the stroller however I would like. I only agreed to write the review if I was allowed to give my honest opinion of the good and bad features of the stroller, which I have done below. Inspired by the hilarity of the Amazon reviews of the "nosefrieda" (aka snot sucker) I tried to put humor in my review, but strollers are simply not as rich a source of material as are nasal passages ;p. Hope the review is helpful to others.//As a first time mom, I found car seat and stroller research overwhelming and eventually gave up trying to figure it out on my own. Thanks to kind friends and BuyBuyBaby store employees with whom I am expensively now on a first-name basis, I ended up with 3 different strollers: a car seat frame carrier, jogger, & cheapie umbrella stroller. Though I do use each stroller for different purposes, it would be ideal if I could have found one stroller that could be changed around to meet 90% of my needs.I wish I had known about the Phil&Ted's line of dualie-configurable strollers. These are the strollers Lego should have made.You can use the Phil&Ted's Dot for just one child at first, or more specifically one infant - the seat fully reclines, or you can purchase an adapter for the stroller frame to carry a carseat. Later, the Dot can be expanded with purchase of a separate dual kit to carry two children in a diagonally stackable mode. Thus the Dot is a smart first stroller purchase if you hope to have more than one child eventually or if you turn out to have twins (surprise!!). The Dot would also be convenient if you plan to be strolling around with friends who also have a kid - and let's be honest, no one else wants to discuss poopy diapers as much as your fellow parents, but it's nice if you only have to bring one stroller, not two, to the mall or park. Speaking of the scatological, if someone does have a blowout in the stroller, the stroller liner fully removes for washing.Small Size, yet Good Wheels & QualityAt about 23 inches long (with wheels on and stroller folded) the Dot stroller fits easily in my car's compact trunk. I drive a 2004 Scion xB, so consumption of trunk space was a concern. The Dot also fit in my husband's full-size (Mazda6) trunk leaving plenty of room for other baby supplies or two weeks worth of our groceries from Costco. Thanks to ten-inch wheels, the Dot can be used as a jogging stroller or on pecan-studded grassy fields - we have lots of pecan trees in North Texas. However if you are a serious runner you probably want to purchase a dedicated jogger - just don't take said jogger to a crowded space where people will glare at you as you hit their ankles / run over their feet in your massive jogger. The Dot does actually fold one-handed as advertised, though at 26lbs the stroller is not light enough for me to lift one-handed. The stroller seems quite sturdy and of good quality, with substantive zippers, straps, latches, and snaps. The brake can be set with a quick tap of your foot, but there is no hand-activated brake. The adjustable-height stroller-pushing bar has a wrist strap though which would be helpful when jogging. Another plus: it was surprisingly easy to adjust the sizing straps on the child harness. It was much easier than adjusting an infant car seat, which in my experience has required complete disassembly of the car seat (which I usually have to do twice, because I'll get a strap twisted or forget to put the shoulder protectors back on the straps).Three of Dot's imperfectionsThe Dot is not perfect, but it's still a smarter and more differentiated product than most other strollers I've seen online or in stores. The Dot's annoyances were:*One, assembly was confusing. Save time and your sanity and just watch the assembly video, available on the branded site or on youtube. I tried to use the instruction booklet only. Bad idea. I respect the "greenness" of Phil&Ted's not having wasted paper to include written instructions translated into 10+ languages, but the pictures-only approach made setup confusing to me. It only took 15min from box opening (I timed it) to my having the Dot stroller body unfolded with the 3 wheels on, but then I (embarrassingly) got stuck for over an hour (at 1am, which is going to be when you have time to mess with stroller assembly) on how best to attach the sun canopy. However, I had a great experience emailing customer service at 6:30p later that day - they responded with a clear explanation the next business morning. Helpful hint: the sun canopy goes onto the frame on top of the fabric, and is a tight fit, but this means it is adjustably positionable based on your child's changing height.*My second annoyance was that in dual mode with dual seat on front & infant underneath, you cannot attach the bar across the front of the older child. I would prefer to be able to attach the handle bar to give my child something to hold onto while riding.*Third annoyance was there was not an obvious cup or phone holder area except in the bottom of the stroller, and the bottom area is not zipper-closable (though the pet cats were willing to sit in there for a short amount of time, see pictures). However, and this is a nice thing about the Phil&Teds brand, there are many accessories available to adapt the stroller to exactly your liking, such as various cup holders and saddle aka pannier bags. I haven't used these accessories, so please add to the review if you have.SafetyI did ask Phil & Ted's for a statement addressing the safety of having a child on the stroller front & an infant underneath, since I think that's probably the one fear I'd have about the up/down stackable child arrangement. I didn't ask them about carrying a pet in the second compartment, though if you have a small dog, the dog might be cool with that. Here's what Phil & Ted's said about safety, "We recommend users always utilize the safety strap on the back of the Dot second seat, and secure it around the frame of the buggy... all strollers sold [in the US] meet ALL other worldwide standards as North America has some of the toughest product standards. We not only meet, but exceed every [applicable] safety standard worldwide. For more information about the tests each of our products have undergone, please see [...]. You can download the certification for the product you are interested in. At phil&teds safety comes first that's why we pride ourselves on attaining relative standards for all our products and keeping up to date with legislation in all our markets. The main worldwide recognised standards are the British/European (BSEN), Australian/New Zealand (AS/NZS) and American (ASTM). We exceed these and [the] product safety standards in all 50 countries that we operate in. Also proving our dedication to the cause we're the first and ONLY juvenile hardware company to achieve full CPSIA compliance with the new CPSIA standard in the US."SummaryWhile not the holy grail of all strollers (it would have to be made of carbon fiber, have all of the features of this stroller, and yet still cost $100 or less to meet that standard in my book), the Dot is still a smarter and much more adaptable stroller than most other strollers I've used, seen online, or tried in stores. In a way, the Dot is kind of like a Costco membership. Though you may not need the full features immediately, you can take advantage of the additional features over time as your parenting needs grow. Just watch out if you do have a Costco membership, because there is a weight limit to the kids in the stroller :).
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.After using a city mini double for a year and a half we recently purchased the Phil and Ted's Dot for the following reasons:1. My older son is 3 and needs to transition out of strolling, but when we are out and he snoozes he's too big to carry. When he walks next to the side-by-side, he has a tendency to bolt and that means I have to run around a giant stroller to catch him.2. We travel a lot and there are certain travel scenarios where a side-by-side is impractical, particularly on cruises or in foreign countries that don't have accessibility requirements.3. I desparately want only one stroller in my life. (1400SF apartment w/4 strollers is tight, no matter how compact the fold).After 2 weeks of use, it's a huge hit. It's smaller than a lot of single strollers, rolls great. Both seats recline. The fold is quick and locks really flat. The harnesses have no loose straps and adjust in a heartbeat. But one of my favorite features is the function of the buckle. It requires that you press in 2 places to unlatch. Translation: My 3 year old can't unbuckle himself and make a break for the toy aisle or the street. The handle bar has a great comfortable curve and raises and lowers completely(great if you need a couple of extra inches to park it in a closet). The removable seat pad can easily be washed and actually covers the entire seat area, unlike other manufacturers where most spills require you wash the pad and the whole seat fabric.We did have a tire tube burst, but that was the result of our overfilling and some extreme heat. I would advise that if you purchase ANY stroller with air-filled tires, you need to buy a spare tube to keep on hand ($10), a patch kit, a hand pump and a tire gauge. I learned my lesson.All-in-all, well worth the money, given it's versatility.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.I first saw a Phil & Ted's inline stroller four years ago, just after I had my second child. I wanted one then, but could not justify the price tag. Instead, I purchased an Inglesina Twin Swift double stroller (a side-by-side, umbrella type) from a Craigslist seller. That stroller has lasted to date, but our family's needs have changed with the addition of a third and fourth child.I entered the market of double strollers again last fall when pregnant with my fourth child. My third child is wheelchair-bound and has cancer, meaning weekly trips to the hospital for chemo. I had no idea how I would tote a baby along on these day-long trips, being shuttled from (teeny, doctor's) room to room with a wheelchair and a baby (in the infant carrier/car seat? in an Ergo?) Finally, it came to me (in the middle of the night, of course) - I needed a Phil & Teds. These are the most inline, narrow strollers that I could remember, and they also seem to offer enough support for my special needs child. I knew it just might be my salvation in this scenario.I did a ton of research on almost every model. Most issues that people cited were the lack of a cupholder (boo hoo) and the tires popping. For my purposes, the stroller has been wonderful. One thing that is unique to this stroller and an absolute "must" for my wheelchair-bound daughter is the back support. This daughter rides up front in the main seat, and the back to this seat is a firm plastic (with nice, durable padding on top). Though she cannot walk, this chair is comfortable enough for her to spend the day in while we are at the hospital. (Or at the amusement park, museum, etc.)I have been using this stroller with the doubles kit for seven months now. When the baby was born, I attached the doubles kit to the top of the stroller, putting my older child up there, while fully-reclining the main seat and laying the infant in the bassinet-like pocket underneath. This worked well till the baby reached 2.5 months old. (Though, it was always a bit difficult to pull her out of there; I never could master that.) At that point, I put the doubles kit down underneath the main seat, as is usually shown. This position would not have worked at such a young age if the seat did not have the recline feature. She could not yet hold her head up well enough for long periods of time. So for the next few months, I put the baby back there always with the seat reclined. The only problem with this set up was getting that doubles kit off of the stroller every time I would fold the stroller up and put it in the car. Many times, I felt like I was wrestling an alligator! What I figured out to do is this: depress each button individually, with one hand on the button and one hand on the frame directly behind the button. Tug the frame while pressing down on the button AND pressing down toward the tires for resistance(with the brake on). Free one side, then the other. (I used to try to do it simultaneously.)I bought an extra tire to have on hand should a tire pop, but I have used the stroller (on sidewalks, indoors, and on grassy surfaces and playgrounds) about 3 times/week for seven months and have had no issues to date.One thing that has posed a small problem is that I have had the stroller almost tip over. This has happened when going down a curb while I have had only one hand on the stroller, placed in the middle of the handle bar. I believe that this has to do with the design of the Dot stroller. The selling point of this stroller is that it features the full-size frame on smaller tires, making the stroller just a bit smaller. I tried to recreate this tipping action on a friend's BOB stroller (bigger tires), but was unable to do so. I could be wrong, but I believe that the larger frame on these smaller tires could cause the stroller to tip more easily, in the scenario that I described above. I have simply been more mindful of this and try to keep both hands on the stroller, placed on the sides of the handlebar, at all times.One other negative thing is that the recline feature on the doubles kit sometimes gets stuck. It is not always easy to do. And there is no way to adjust the sun shade for the doubles kit either. It snaps on, and so is either "on" or "off." There is not pulling it forward or pushing it back. Still, it's better than nothing.The other model that I seriously considered was the Explorer. Even with the aforementioned, potential "tipping" issue, I do not regret my decision to get the Dot (mainly because of the recline feature of the doubles kit).I also tried the Britax B-Ready stroller as an option, but it did not offer the bassinet style for the infant, and I could not lift my special needs child in and out of the lower seat. She has to ride up top. We also put her in the BOB jogging stroller for a day, but though she is only two and a half years old, she could not sit fully upright - it was too short.In all, we are very pleased with this stroller. It meets all my needs and expectations and I could not possibly make our weekly chemo trips without it. Thank you, Phil & Ted!
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