Eddie Bauer Cosco ITS HPN Travel System Car Seat Review

If this had not been given to me as a gift I NEVER would have purchased this for myself. The infant seat is very heavy. That is fine for someone who is taking it for short treks. It is not easy for one who relies on public transportation. I only used the strap in base once and it did not seem to work right. The base kept sliding around in the seat no matter how tight I made the seatbelt. It was also difficult for me to get the carseat out of the base. The weight of the seat had some play in this difficulty. It was also confusing how to put the straps back into the seat once I took it apart to wash it. The foam padding under the cover is not removeable, making it difficult to clean. I did appreciate how easy the cover was to remove, wash, and replace. I also liked the way the buckle is designed. It was confusing at first, but once I caught on to it, it was simple to operate. I liked that the buckle could be released one handed.

The stroller is very bulky and heavy. Lugging both the infant seat and stroller onto a bus on a regular basis was not easy. The stroller takes up a lot of space, even when folded. I like how the bar folds down for locking in the car seat. This amde me feel very secure in walking around town with this system. However, it was a bit of a pain to unzip the liner and raise the bar before placing the carseat into the stroller. I would trade that bit of inconvenience for the sense of safety the bar adds to the system. I felt very secure that if someone bumped into the stroller that the carseat would stay intact. I would not have this same sense of safety with other strollers where the seat just clips onto the tray of the stroller.

I like the removeable tray on the stroller. For a smaller child it provides restraint and for an older child a place for a drink and a snack. For an older child it can be removed for more freedom. And if a child is asleep with the bar on, it can be quickly and quietly removed to make removal of the child easier with no bar to get in the way. It also makes for easy clean up if a child makes a mess in the tray.

I was not pleased with how awkward it was to open and close the stroller. I would think a stroller of this caliber would be a one handed open. I think it is meant for that, but it does not work like that.It takes two hands or a hand and foot to open it fully to where it locks into place. When opening, if you try to open it and not press the lock release handle it will lock the stroller from opening. This happened to me when the bus driver tried to open it for me when I got off the bus. I ended up carrying the car seat across the parking lot and rolling the stroller, still folded up, behind me. As I struggled with getting it open in front of the doctor's office an employee came out to help me and happened to figure out how to get it unlocked. I was ready to throw the whole thing away after that ordeal.

I can't begin to comment on difficulty of removing the stroller fabric. There are far too many screws to take out for me to try and wash it. If I used it more, I probably would try and remove all those screws to clean it. Instead I just have my son hold my hand and we walk together. The stroller is more hassle than it is worth.

This is a nice looking stroller that has a known name, but not very efficient. It is big, bulky, and heavy and that is before adding a baby to the system. If I had a big SUV, a spacious house, and arms of steel this would not be such a bad choice. But for me, this is just not efficient. It looks good, but that's about it.