Evenflo has stepped up their game with their new Pivot Xplore All-Terrain Stroller Wagon and the new Evenflo Gold line. The All-Terrain stroller wagon is a popular new category in kids’ gear and Evenflo joined the fray with an affordable wagon with some great features. Plus, the new Evenflo Gold car seats have an elevated design aesthetic and are feature-filled.
At $349.99, the Evenflo Pivot Xplore All-Terrain Stroller Wagon represents a great value in the stroller wagon market. It’s well built and impressively adjustable. There are two removable, adjustable, and reversible canopies that feature UPF 50+ fabric to ensure your precious cargo is protected from the sun.
You can alternate from one color to another when you reverse each canopy. The Pivot Xplore also includes a removable snack tray that we found really convenient when it’s snack time but you really gotta be on the move.
Very easy to assemble
The Pivot Xplore wagon features four rugged tires that are great on the streets and trails, though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them for the beach. If the beach sand is soft, you’ll want wider wheels, especially if you’re carrying a heavy load of either two kids or beach gear.
To top off the adjustability of this wagon, you can swap the direction of the handle, allowing you to push or pull to your heart’s content while you can raise and lower the handle between the three adjustable positions.
There are a ton of convenient features built into the Pivot Xplore stroller wagon as well, including storage pockets on the inside and outside as well as a storage pouch that can be flipped to the outside if you’ve got two kids in the wagon or onto the inside if you’re only lugging one kid.
The Xplore is compatible with toddler car seats, which is great if you have younger kids, though you’ll have to purchase adapters separately. Additionally, the Pivot Xplore can easily fold so it’s easy to fit in the trunk of your car, though it doesn’t fold as small as our City Mini GT double stroller.
Evenflo was kind enough to also send along the Evenflo Gold EveryStage Convertible Car Seat that can go from an infant car seat to a seat for a 10-year-old, meaning this car seat will last you up to 10 years from 4 lbs to 120 lbs.
The EveryStage car seat also features EasyClick Installation, which helps you simply install the car seat tightly within minutes instead of hours. Also included are two built-in, removable, easy-to-clean cup holders.
My favorite feature is the smart safety feature known as SensorSafe. This technology helps keep track of your kids while they’re in their car seat by ensuring the chest clip stays fastened and also reminding you to take your kids out of the car after parking.
Using a wireless transmitter that’s connected to your car’s OBD port, the car seat can communicate with your car as well as with your smartphone.
SensorSafe technology can ensure you never leave your child in the car, that your child doesn’t get too hot, or doesn’t go too long without movement. It’s something that should be built into every car seat these days.
The Evenflo Gold EveryStage was a really nice surprise. It’s built really well, includes some really nice features, and has a truly elevated aesthetic as compared to other Evenflo car seats. The EveryStage can be easily adjusted as your child grows up without having to remove the straps and re-thread them, which is a huge advantage.
After testing both of Evenflo’s new products for a few weeks, including a family beach vacation, I can honestly say that I’m really impressed with Evenflo’s direction. The Pivot Xplore Stroller Wagon was perfect for our family vacation and allowed us to walk around the small beach town with ease, even while our kids wanted to eat ice cream on the go.
The sun canopies kept the kids out of the sun but folded away when it was cloudy, and the pouch was great for holding my wife’s purse. The Pivot Xplore was easy to fold away, though as I mentioned, it’s not super small.
The most important thing, however, was that my kids had a blast riding in it. They kept asking to go for walks in the wagon, so it gets four thumbs up from the kiddos.
The EveryStage is a really nice-looking car seat with some super important safety features. It installs fairly easily, as long as you’re using the EasyClick latch system. Since our daughter is too old/heavy to use a latch system, we had to install it using the seatbelt, which is difficult to tighten unless you have someone helping.
We also found that the crotch strap is too short and it led to some unfortunate skin pinches when we were clipping the belt. Aside from these two gripes, we love the design, safety features, two removable cup holders, shoulder straps, and adjustability of the EveryStage Convertible car seat.
You can purchase the new Pivot Xplore Stroller Wagon and Evenflo Gold EveryStage Convertible car seat directly from Evenflo.com.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review samples
What I Like: Kids love them; Easy to install with latch system; Easy to fold; Great design aesthetic; Lots of customization between both products; Well made; Great safety features
What Needs Improvement: The EveryStage could use a longer crotch strap to avoid pinching
