ABC Kids Expo 2011 - Day 1

After a long night of limited sleep before flying out at 6:15 in the morning, I finally arrived to lovely Louisville, Kentucky. The flight in was a lot less impressive than landing in Las Vegas where the show was in prior years, but what are you going to do. Only being here for a total of three days, the first two days are kind of crazy as they are primarily appointments with our various vendors, but every once we get a little time to see some other attractions. My first stop of the day was with Baby Jogger (which ironically always seems to be my first stop every year.

Baby Jogger always seems to have a nice array of updates each year to their products, and from what I saw they were completely for the better. The City Mini stroller was my first stop.

New 2012 City Mini Stroller

Baby Jogger has tweaked this stroller over the past few years and this year they did it again. There were three primary changes that the mini had which are as follows:

they have added an additional inch of depth to the seat so that kids have more space in the stroller. While an inch is not that much, it does make a difference.
They have re-designed the stitching to be horizontal so that it has the appearance of being wider, although that has not changed.
They have added a latch to keep the stroller closed when folded. This was real easy to use, but the nice thing was that if a consumer did not want to use it, it can easily be removed with a screwdriver.
The back bar was made into a U shape so that greater access to the basket could be achieved. Again, while a minor change, for those that use the basket, you will like this modification.

They also came out with 2 new colors. The first is a nice blue that is similar to the Baby Jogger blue color, and the second is sand. They stone color is being eliminated in 2012 and this will take its place. The new 2012 City Mini will will go up in price a little to $249.99 for the single and $449.99 for the double and will be available in February of 2012. Here are some pics showing the updates.

city mini in new color blue            curved under bar to allow better
                                                              basket access

New 2012 City Mini GT

The new 2012 City Mini GT is a real nice addition to the Baby Jogger family. An upgrade from the regular Mini, the 2012 City Mini GT is a more robust version of the standard Mini, offering larger wheels and more room for the kids.   Here is a list of features:

The seat is an additional 2 inches in depth and the hood in an additional 1 inch in height from the current City Mini, which offers 3 inches of additional seat to top clearance for those bigger kids
Has an adjustable handle bar for multiple positions
Has a Polyurethane never go flat tire (or now called "forever fill" ), that is more all terrain to handle any condition you may be in
Has the standard hand lever brake on the top side of the stroller as opposed to at the base
Twice the padding of the standard Mini
A sharp looking new metallic frame color
will have the new quick latch locking system

The 2012 City Mini GT still has the same trademark fold which makes it a very portable stroller and will take any City Mini lover to the next extreme. The 2012 City Mini GT will come in 4 colors, Bamboo, Orange, Green and Black and will all be accented by a shadow gray color. The Single City Mini GT will retail for $349.99 and the Double for $579.99 and will be ready for shipping estimated March 2012. The Double GT will also be take the place of the Double Elite stroller, which is being discontinued in 2012.

New 2012 City Mini GT in Orange       Wheel for City Mini GT

New 2012 Baby Jogger Elite

Baby Jogger did not do too much to this stroller except for change the appearance, but I like what they did. They have decided to eliminated the "Sport" aspect of this stroller and focus on solid colors.   The best thing they have done to this stroller is to change the material to a heavy nylon fabric, which has a much nicer feel to it that the old. They have also added in Black Matted frame for this stroller to give it a sharper appearance. And the big thing is the elimination of the Double Elite, which they again are gearing people to the 2012 City Mini GT Double.

The stroller will only come in 3 colors; sand, black and red and will remain at the great price of $399.99.   For a single all-terrain stroller, this remains one to look at for any cost conscious consumer. The New 2012 Elite will come out in December 2011.

New 2012 City Elite

New 2012 Baby Jogger Versa Stroller

The new 2012 Baby Jogger Versa was one of the best additions they could have done to their lineup. Based on the same frame idea as the City Select, it is an extremely versatile stroller and will challenge any mid level stroller on the market. Here is a line up of the features:

The seat is reversible, so the child can face you or out
has 4 wheel suspension
has a larger seat than the city select, but again based on the same look
has an adjustable handle bar, so good for multiple heights
seat has a 4 position recline, which really goes to almost all flat
an extremely easy to adjust 5 point harness
will hold up to 50 lbs.
Very (very) easy to fold

One of the coolest things about this stroller is that you can fold the stroller with the seat in either the forward or reverse position. Simply put the brake on so the stroller does not roll away, use a push button to fold the seat in half, and then use the baby jogger patented easy fold handle and you are done. I was amazed at this stroller and how easy it was to use.

The 2012 Baby Jogger Versa Stroller will come in 3 colors; black, red and quartz (sand) and will retail for $449.99. This is a stroller you will not want to miss and will be available for shipping in Spring 2012.

New 2012 Baby Jogger Versa in Red New 2012 Baby Jogger Versa in Quartz

As for the rest of what Baby Jogger had there, the changes were minor. The new color to the City Select range is the Quartz (sand) color and the Diamond (silver) color will be discontinued. Also the introduction of the cup holder for the City Select which is nice. One small tweak to the Summit XC with a fine-tuning knob on the front tire. That was for the most part about it.

Good going Baby Jogger, on another job well done!

Feel free to see a full line up of pictures from the show on our facebook page at Hip Baby Gear Facebook page

I am already beat, but Skip Hop will be next and more to come....