8 Best Car Seat and Stroller Combos for a New Baby

The Doona is a favorite of both our Lab experts who are parents and of Amazon reviewers — 89% of its Amazon reviews are five-star ones. It's unique. Unlike a traditional two-piece travel system, this is a rear-facing infant car seat on wheels. The wheels fold up for car seat mode and drop down for stroller mode — the transition only takes a few seconds. Because this is a car seat and stroller in one, you have less gear to contend with.

Reviewers love the simplicity. One Lab expert calls it "a game-changer, notably for city families and parents who travel frequently." It works with its base or without (making use of a backseat's seat belts), so it is prized by parents who move between different vehicles or who use rideshare vehicles like Uber.

We also recommend the Doona if you'll often fly with your baby. "This is the easiest stroller to maneuver through airport security and around a terminal," said one mom with two young kids. "Then when we get to our destination we snap it right into a car without having to fit both a stroller and luggage into the trunk."

The Doona is cleared for airplane seats but is a tight squeeze in some planes; if you don't take it onboard, you can wheel it right up to the gate and gate check it. The Doona is better at being a highly mobile car seat than a stroller — there is no basket storage underneath, for instance, and no built-in parent organizer. Most babies outgrow the Doona by about their second birthday. At that point, many parents switch to a lightweight stroller.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW: Doona Car Seat & Stroller

The Safety 1st car seat and stroller combo is lightweight and only $200. Lightweight is both good and tricky: It's easy to cart up and down steps and hoist into your trunk. But any lightweight stroller will bump a bit over uneven ground since it doesn't have as much weight to hold it down (even if "smooth ride" is in the name of the stroller). However, if you're mostly sailing through stores and along smooth sidewalks, you'll be good to go.

The OnBoard FLX infant car seat can safely hold your baby up to 30 pounds. It's FAA-approved to sit on an airplane seat during a flight, and since the car seat is about $140 when sold on its own, the combination with the stroller is a deal.

The mechanism to fold the stroller is on the seat. You remove your baby, then just lift up a strap on the seat and the stroller instantly folds. "It's ridiculously easy," said one tester. "You can effectively carry your baby in one arm and this stroller in another with no problem." Also, we love the stroller's snack tray — handy in the toddler years — and the parent organizer with two cup holders.

A winner of one of our Parenting Awards, this modular stroller is able to be configured in several ways. Snap the infant car seat on the frame, as shown, and easily wheel it around. Or attach the stroller seat instead, when your baby is older. Either can be placed facing forward- or rear-facing, giving you options.

We like the easy and intuitive buckles, the large under-seat basket, the handy toddler snack tray on the stroller seat (not shown) and, for extra stability, an anti-rebound bar on the car seat base.

The Willow S infant car seat uses the Britax ClickTight system that makes it easy to install the base correctly using your car's seat belt. That feature was once only available on Britax convertible car seats, but now it is on the Willow S as well (and you can buy the Willow S on its own, but getting the combo with the stroller is nice). For times when you aren't traveling with the base, there's a belt path in the car seat. It's certified for use in an airplane using the lap belt.

The stroller is a bit heavy and the wheels don't turn on a dime like they do with smaller strollers, but first-time parents might be reassured by the substantial feel. One online reviewer wrote that it's built "like a tank." Note that the frame doesn't fold with either seat on it. You must remove the stroller seat or infant car seat in order to fold the frame.

Our testers love the flexibility and versatility of the Pivot Travel System. It can work three ways: as a rolling bassinet in carriage mode, a car seat carrier or a regular stroller, and in any mode, you can place your baby rear- or forward-facing.

The LiteMax Infant Car Seat holds a baby up to 35 pounds and both the car seat and the stroller seat have a privacy shade for times when you don't want people leaning in close to your baby, or if you want to encourage a nap.

Carriage mode is an adorable, luxury-looking perk, even if new parents don't use it for long. You recline the stroller seat flat, pull up the footrest and turn the seat into a little bassinet on wheels. In that mode, you're not using the car seat at all, so you'd have to unbuckle your infant and transfer them when it's time for a drive. You can only use the bassinet until your baby starts to try to sit up.

There's no parent organizer on the handle, but there is a clip-on cupholder. The basket underneath is wide if not very deep. Relatively small, plastic wheels are fine for most strolling but do not do well on rough terrain.

Online reviewers say that the stroller is easy to assemble out of the box. We had no trouble setting it up for testing and found it easy to convert it from one mode to another. Add the Evenflo Rider Board and your older kid can stand and ride behind your younger one.

Often recommended by Reddit users, the Bravo Trio is popular for its reasonable price as well as its well-reviewed KeyFit car seat. For the newborn months you can completely remove the regular stroller seat and just push the KeyFit car seat around on the stroller frame. But you can also use this as a traditional travel stroller and sit the KeyFit 30 on top of the stroller seat, as shown — it works both ways.

We like that you can fold this with the toddler seat still on and, when folded, the stroller stands upright on its own. The fold mechanism is easy and within the seat itself. There's a toddler snack tray as well as a parent organizer, and the basket is large and can be accessed from the front or the back. Finally, we like the jumbo canopy for sun protection.

For more money there's also the luxury Bravo Primo Trio Travel System which features leatherette trim and the KeyFit 35 car seat. That car seat can hold a baby up to 35 pounds, while this less expensive version has the KeyFit 30 that holds a baby up to 30 pounds.

RELATED: Best Infant Car Seats

While UPPAbaby's car seat and stroller combo is a splurge, it's a great travel system from a sought after brand, especially among parents who want the smooth-rolling Vista stroller. The new V3 version has a removable padded seat liner so you can use the mesh stroller back on warmer days and in hotter climates.

The Vista V3 stroller features springy all-wheel suspension to keep your baby steady as you go up and down curbs or along a rough path. The lightweight Aria car seat can be clipped into your vehicle with UPPABaby's unique SmartSecure system that makes installation with the LATCH belts easier.

A big selling point: If you hope to eventually carry two children, you can buy the UPPAbaby RumbleSeat for about $250 and turn this into a double stroller. Or you can purchase the UPPAbaby Piggyback for $135 so a child can stand and ride along behind. If you buy both, you can push three children along!

For your newborn, the V3 bassinet, sold separately, is safe for sleep as you roll it around on the stroller frame or if you set it up at home on the separate bassinet stand.

On the Vista stroller, the handlebar adjusts for adults of different heights. There's no parent organizer, but the handle is a luxe-feeling leatherette. Magnetic buckles help you get your child in and out fast. The basket underneath is giant and holds 30 pounds of stuff.

We've had Lab experts use the Vista system for years, through multiple kids, and it holds up, which helps justify the cost. It might be the only stroller system you ever need. The fold and unfold takes a couple of steps and the stroller itself is heavy, but we like that it can stand on its own while folded.

RELATED: The Best Double Strollers

If you're looking for an all-terrain car seat and stroller combo, the Baby Trend Expedition Jogger travel system is an affordable pick with more than 4,000 five-star reviews on Amazon. The three-wheel, bike-tire design means it can tackle rough terrain. The front wheel can be locked straight to keep the stroller from veering as you jog or set to swivel when you're out shopping and need to make tight turns.

Note: You should wait to jog with your baby until after the newborn period, when they have better neck control, at around the 6-month mark. But you can safely use this for long walks right from birth.

"This travel system may cost you less than a year's gym membership," one mom pointed out. "And you might get a lot more exercise with it since you're able to bring your baby along." The low price reflects the fact that there's nothing splashy about the small canopy, the fabric, the padding or the heavy alloy steel frame.

We love the child tray — useful for when your baby turns into a toddler and demands a steady supply of snacks — and the adult tray that has a compartment that closes to keep your phone in place. There are two parent cupholders too.

If you need a double car seat stroller combo for twins, we like the Baby Trend Universal Double Snap-N-Go. You'll have to buy infant car seats separately but the frame, about $90, is an easy way to to push your young twins around in their car seats.

The Graco brand has been around for generations. The company invented the baby swing in the 1950s and debuted the first travel system concept, a car seat that snapped into its matching stroller, in the late 1990s.

In this century, Graco has often led the way in car seat safety with its SnugRide infant car seat line. We love that this set comes with the popular SnugRide 35 Lite Elite Infant Car Seat, and the stroller seat slides higher and lower on the frame as well as turns forward and backward and converts into a bassinet. Use the adjustable features to find the height and direction your baby loves or that you need, then change it as needed as your baby grows into a toddler.

When you fully recline the stroller seat, you can unbuckle a belt under the footrest to form a bassinet for the infant months. (Graco calls it a "pramette.") To stroll around with the car seat — which is, after all, the appeal of a travel system — remove the stroller seat altogether and use the frame as an infant car seat carrier, as shown.

Some of the stroller details are fairly standard as opposed to luxe. The plastic wheels are strong but not built for rough terrain. There's no parent tray, just a clip-on cup holder. The canopy is a traditional size, not oversized. There is a nice child snack tray, and we like how the storage basket underneath expands in height so you can fit more without anything falling out.

If you're looking for a lightweight travel system, we have not yet tested Graco's new Ready2Jet Travel System but it features the SnugRide and a matching, compact stroller that weighs only 13 pounds.