Chicco Cortina Travel System

The Chicco Cortina Travel System outclasses other bundled stroller/car seat combos in reviews: It's lighter in weight than most other travel systems, with a better-quality stroller and a better-rated infant car seat. Compared with the popular Graco SnugRide infant car seat, Chicco's KeyFit infant seat gets better marks for safety and usability in expert tests. The Cortina stroller also gets high marks for safety and usability, as good as the Graco MetroLite (*Est. $250), which is the runner-up travel system. The Cortina stroller has a full complement of important features -- a fully reclining seat, five-point harness, all-wheel suspension, lockable swivel wheels, peek-a-boo canopy, adjustable leg rest, removable/washable seat pad, removable child tray with cupholders, parent cupholder, bottom storage basket, adjustable-height handle and one-handed, self-standing fold -- and it weighs just 22-pounds.

You can buy the Cortina travel system with either the KeyFit 22 (for babies up to 30 inches or 22 pounds) or the slightly more expensive Chicco Cortina KeyFit 30 Travel System (*Est. $305), with a higher-capacity car seat (for babies up to 30 inches or 30 pounds), and you can use the stroller itself until your child weighs 50 pounds. However, if you would prefer a different stroller to use when your baby is older, you could skip the travel system and just buy a stroller frame (no seats) that works with infant car seats, such as the Baby Trend Snap-N-Go (*Est. $60) -- which works with the KeyFit -- or the Graco SnugRider (*Est. $65), which is designed for Graco infant car seats.

ConsumerReports.org and the book "Baby Bargains" both test the Chicco Cortina stroller and its matching KeyFit car seat. We found large numbers of parent reviews at Buzzillions.com, Viewpoints.com and LilaGuide.com.