My Experience With Summer Infant and Review of the 3D Mini Stroller

Until today, I thought this post was going to go a bit differently. I fully expected to dislike my replacement stroller and was going to post a Summer Infant review, praising their customer service but being honest about how the stroller I purchased was sub-par.

But happily, I don’t have to do that.

This post is not sponsored, and I was not compensated for reviewing a product. I purchased this stroller myself, and the opinions in this Summer Infant review post are all my own.

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While Judah was still little enough to use his carrier car seat, we used a stroller frame that the carrier snapped into. It was super convenient! But of course, like babies do, he got to be too heavy for me to keep carrying around in the heavy carrier seat. And luckily, my friend and I were shopping one day and found a fantastic deal on a convertible car seat at just the right time. Unfortunately, that also meant finding a new lightweight stroller for running around doing errands.

Or as I like to call it, a library stroller.

My main errand was pretty much going to the library a couple times a week. And I definitely can’t just carry him around while trying to find new books to read. So I needed a library stroller for taking Judah to the library. You know, to keep up with the reading program.

Enter the Summer Infant 3Dmini

So in October, I found this umbrella stroller online – the 3Dmini Convenience Stroller from Summer Infant. (It’s considered an umbrella stroller because of the hooked handles). Umbrella strollers vary in price from about $12 to over $70, depending on quality and special features. I didn’t want to spend a exorbitant amount of money so I went with this one, which ran me about $40 at the time.

I was so excited to find what I thought was a decent quality “library stroller.” And then I opened the box to put it together.

The wheels are plastic with some sort of raised pattern, but not any kind of treads. And when I pushed the stroller, with or without the baby in it, most of the time, at least one of the wheels didn’t move and just glided along the surface instead. **Edited to say that the wheels are not plastic but some sort of hard, rubbery foam.**

It was also really difficult to open up from the folded up closed position. I needed both hands and usually at least one foot to get it unfolded and secure so Judah could sit in it.

Not exactly what I had hoped for. But since it worked ok, and I didn’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a better stroller, we just dealt with it.

And then right before Christmas, one of the clips attaching the strap to the buckle broke. UGH.

Eric used zip ties to reattach it so we could still use it until I got around to contacting the company. And it worked well enough to deal with it so we weren’t small stroller-less and didn’t have to use our much loved (and much used) jogging stroller, which is heavy and bulky. But it works great on long walks!

Amazing Customer Service!

Anyway, I finally got around to contacting Summer Infant’s customer service a few weeks ago. I sent an email through their contact form on the website. Within a couple of hours, I received an email from Jim, who explained the limited one year warranty program and told me what I needed to provide them with to see if my stroller qualified for a part replacement or a full stroller replacement.

It took me a couple weeks to get back to Jim, but once I did, he responded almost immediately and said that the stroller’s damage wasn’t fixable by replacing the broken part so Summer Infant would be sending me a new stroller as a replacement.

I was so excited! And so thankful. Even if I didn’t care for the particular style, at least we’d have a travel stroller to use that’s whole and undamaged.

New Stroller

Our replacement arrived yesterday. I opened it and put it together this morning. Even though it’s the same model, it’s like a completely different stroller! The wheels all move, even on various types of flooring, regardless of whether the baby is in the stroller or not. It’s easy to open and close, and it’s lightweight.

So much better than before! The first one we got must have been a defective dud all around.

I love that the canopy extends a bit lower than most to help block more sun out of Judah’s face. And it has parent cup holders built in to the zipper pouch that holds things like keys, wallets, and cell phones. And if you need a bit of extra storage, there’s a fabric storage basket underneath the stroller seat that can hold a few things. Plus, I love the color! That aqua accent was just what I was looking for, and is really sharp against the black stroller fabric.

Overall, I would definitely purchase products from Summer Infant again. Their customer service is stellar, and they have a great warranty program. And now that I have a non-defective stroller, I actually appreciate it and find the 3Dmini Convenience Stroller a nice middle of the road item for the price. I’m so glad that my Summer Infant review had a happy ending.

Thanks, Jim! And thank you, Summer Infant for your awesome warranty program and customer service!