As a new parent, I bought an expensive jogging stroller, thinking it would be all I needed. After trying to steer it around the mall and through crowded city sidewalks, I changed my mind. I bought a cheap umbrella stroller, and liked the convenience of it, but it was difficult to push, difficult to open, and my baby seemed uncomfortable.

Finally, I caved and bought the UppaBaby G-Lite. While at around $150 it’s more than I wanted to spend, it has been one of my most-used pieces of baby gear since I bought it a little over a year ago, and I can use it for several more years since the weight limit is 55 pounds. Other lightweight strollers I looked at seemed too bulky, didn’t have a sunshade, looked difficult to clean, or were plain ugly.

At 8.3 pounds, the G-Lite is the lightest umbrella stroller available, according to UppaBaby. It has a nice, lightweight sun canopy, with an extendable section that provides 50 SPF protection no matter how low the sun is in the sky. There is an additional rain cover you can buy, but I’ve found the canopy is virtually waterproof and works fine for light rain.

It opens and folds easily, and one of my favorite features is that it stands upright when folded up, making it easy to store in your house. However, it takes up so little space I usually just keep it in the back of my car. If you’ve ever tried to carry a toddler and a folded-up stroller, you will appreciate that it comes with a handy carrying strap.

The G-Lite has a decent amount of storage space underneath, enough to fit a diaper bag or purse. It doesn’t have nearly the space that some lightweight strollers have, but a lot of cargo room would make it a much larger stroller. The seat cushion is easily removable and washes up very nicely.

One of the issues I had with the cheap umbrella stroller I bought was that it was difficult for me at 5’8′ and my husband at 6’3″ to push, since the handles were so low. We don’t have this problem with the G-Lite.

Importantly (to me, at least), it comes in really cute colors along with the standard black and has a streamlined, simple look that I really like. More importantly, though, it’s comfortable for my son. He likes riding in it and gets excited whenever he sees it.

-- Abbie Stillie 10/2/13