Okay, I want to give this 5 stars (which I almost never do), but need some time with it under our belt to justify it, as I've got one serious concern I'll lay out in a minute and a few niggles, but WOW, this thing is amazing. I'm a gadget geek Dad of 7, who is about to now have 4 grandkids ages 2 and
under (4th is on the way). I SO WISH we'd had something like this when our kids were growing up. I've thought about using my utility wagon to tote all the littles around at one time but like my kids, my grandkids are a little crazy, and I'm afraid one of them might literally go "squirrel!!!" or more likely "BUUNNNNNNYYYYYY!!!" and take a disastrous leap out. I wanted something I could secure them into but that also has higher walls to discourage that insanity. I can't take them all to the zoo in multiple strollers by myself, so I needed a solution to that problem. Then I saw one of these on a recent trip to the Omaha zoo, and after I grilled the poor lady about how well she liked it, I decided to do some more research and dive in even after she told me what it cost them. I looked at (I think) all the players here, including the X series from Wonderfold, Veer, and many others. I had to have 4 seats or the ROI just wasn't going to be there. I needed storage space and the unit couldn't require its own vehicle to transport it due to its size. There are a number of good choices, most in this same price range, but a few things make Wonderfold stand out to me. First, driveability. I didn't get the Elite with the XL tires (though I'm thinking of upgrading to the all terrains) but even the wheels this comes with are a JOY to drive on. I don't understand why more stroller manufacturers don't get the importance of good wheels/tires and the bearing they turn on. Holy crikeys this thing turns on grass, city streets, sidewalks -- everywhere I've taken it thus far -- smoothe as butter! As large as it is, you'd think it would take an extreme amount of torque to turn it, but it simply does NOT. Even folded -- and this was what amazed me as much as anything -- it is easily maneuvered. So awesome! Second, accessibility. I love the front-end hatch. This might seem silly, but if you've ever been holding a 6-month-old and tried to deal with getting a squirmy 18-month-old into their stroller, you KNOW how hard that can be. This hatch is AWESOME. It's such a simple idea but executed perfectly on this wagon; no other wagon I researched had this feature. It just works so well (EXCEPT the zipper pulls -- see below on that). The older kids can crawl in under the seat and then just pop up in between to climb into the seat, with no help. It took a time or two to get them to understand to exit feet first, but they're pros at this point. Third, foldability. Now this was a little challenging at first, and we're going to have to do some training with all the potential users, because there is what I think to be a small design flaw, but folding does work well and you don't have to be Popeye having just downed a can of spinach to accomplish it quickly. The latch to release is SOOOOOO easy to activate, but done in such a way that it WILL NOT be accidentally activated in any way I see that endangers the kids. Following the instructions and standing at the front, with the brake set, makes it just work. The one possible flaw is that the back seat, next to the push handle, seems to have a tendency to get pushed back behind the handle's pivot point release buttons, which drastically impedes the fold. It might be because ours is still new, but we've had to give the seat back a little tug each time to pull it in front of the handle locking buttons. A good sharp tug once we've gotten past that and the locking bar just locks on like it should and away you go. ONE NOTE -- I've seen reviews saying the handle doesn't fold flat. It's possible on older versions it didn't, but on this version the handle absolutely DOES fold flat, and if you want to store the canopy properly, you have to fold it flat, so not sure what's up for those reviewers. Fourth, the brake. This is my years of frustration with strollers and their laughably small or ridiculously stupid and difficult to activate brake "pedals", but man, this brake activates like butter melting on a hot griddle and LOCKS both back wheels. I've had the 2-year-old try to move it when its locked, and so far she can't. I love that it activates at both wheels, and it is a solid activation. It isn't too easy to deactivate, but easily enough done with one foot that you won't be breaking the bones under pressure. Fifth, the storage. This isn't perfect (see niggles below), but there are mesh pockets on one side of the seats , the flap pockets are pretty good for holding cups, the large pocket that comes with the unit holds a lot of stuff and I can add more. There are never enough pockets, but this does come with a few places to put your stuff and there are 3rd party accessory options that will help with this, too. Two issues: 1 - This might seem small, but it's one of the few areas where the customer experience isn't great. The zipper pulls are TINY, I mean like hobby doll jacket small. If they went to war with an ant, the ant would win kind of small. If you've ever dealt with squirmy kids in hand and needed to do something, the last thing you want to be messing with while you're trying to get juice boxes or snack packs or a toy or whatever out of the storage compartment is a super tiny color matching zipper pull that slips out of your hand 12 times before you get the marshmallow licked off your fingers enough to actually find and grab it. These things should 1) be the biggest pulls available, I mean like so big they're visible from space and 2) shiny orange like the fabric or at least not sniper-in-the-woods-color-matched-so-an-eagle-can't-see-them-even-up-close black. TINY thing that creates a HUGE frustration in real-world use case scenarios. Get some more moms/dads on your Engineering team and do real-world out-of-box testing with kids and messes all around to see how this plays out. Not good. Will likely be replacing these with solid 3rd party giant pulls. 2 - weight. This is the one that really concerns me the most. The videos of this product all show what look like real lifts of the wagon from pretty small yoga-pracitioning Moms, but I'm concerned about my wife and daughter-in-law lifting this without hurting their backs. You know you're in for a ride when the FedEx delivery lady looks at you asking for the signature and goes "what the heck is this thing, it's HEAVY!". And it is. You can read the spec sheet all you want, but grasping how 53lbs. plays out with the width and distribution of that weight is really hard to grasp until you do it. For me, it's not that big of a deal, but I've got more testing to do with the ladies and getting it into the back of a new model Honda Odyssey to know how intensive of a weight lifting program we're going to need. I don't think there is a competitive product that will be better, but beware of this going in. Some niggles: 1 - This thing is expensive and there could be more value in the package. I almost went to another brand because the additional elements that came with their wagon were very appealing. Product / brand stratification is one thing, but when you're spending this much on a wagon that's an aluminum frame and nylon cloth stretched over it, some of the pockets/storage/cup holder elements should just be included. The manufacturing cost of this cannot be so extreme that the stratification between Elite and Luxe with the added storage components is really there. I get some things like the XL wheels and the magnetic harness that drive unique value, but no cup holders for the parents on a $700 wagon? Really? Wonderfold lost business there b/c I was able to easily find 3rd party products that were WAY less expensive and more functional than the accessories they offer to fill that obvious product gap, without sacrificing quality. 2 - The seats could be designed a little better. First, having one pocket per seat only makes me wonder if anyone who worked on this design HAS children? Who in their right mind leaves a child pocketless if they sit on the wrong side of the seat while their sibling has a superior pocketed position? :-) Also, the recline function is a loosey-goosey kind of thing. If you're going to advertise this as a competitive differentiator, it would serve you better to make it clear WHERE to lock the seats in to get recline, not leave it all loose with instructions to "position the seat a little farther forward" -- this should be clearly marked either with indents in the frame or markers on the cloth, like an outline for the seat holding bracket labeled "recline" and "upright" or something like that so there's no mystery and recline can be implemented safely. All in all, did my spleen cramp when I spent the money? Absolutely. Do I regret it now that it's in hand and I can single-handedly take my grandkids somewhere? Nope. Not for one second. This is a good product that I think will last a long time and serve us through many grandkids to come. Absolutely recommend and might actually buy another for the kids to have at their house so I can keep this one at ours :-). I'll update if we encounter any major new positives or drawbacks in the coming months.
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