Cybex Aton with Cybex Onyx travel system

As my husband and I researched car seats, we just became overwhelmed with all the options on the market.

We had only a few requirements: safe, sturdy, super lightweight. The Cybex Aton was the perfect fit for us! It is the lightest car seat we could find (it’s under 9 pounds) and meets all the safety standards. The fabric is nice and cool, not heavy and hot like some of the other car seats we looked at. My husband had it in his car on a 95 degree day and he reached back to check the fabric and it was still cool to the touch. The base was easy to install in my husband’s SUV and secures to the seat extremely well.
The canopy is a lightweight fabric and when pushed back, it collapses on itself so you don’t have to wrestle the canopy over the actual seat. It locks into place when put up, which is a nice bonus so it doesn’t slide down when you want it up. The only downside is it doesn’t come down very far.
As far as looks go, we love the look of it. We got the Eclipse (grey) color and it looks quite nice with the little bit of red piping along the side.
There are only a few cons to this car seat. One, the canopy is fairly short, and two, it is difficult for me to get off the base in my husband’s SUV. My arms are not long enough to press the two release buttons at the same time. I have to crawl into the car to get the seat out. It’s easier in a car.
We got the seat in the Eclipse (grey) color so we went with the Cactus color for the Onyx stroller to complete our travel system. It is just awesome! My husband and I had looked at several travel systems and strollers and just were not finding anything we really liked. Then we found the Onyx. It is so lightweight—only 17 pounds! It’s much narrower than the big strollers you find in stores and super easy to open and fold up.
Set up was really easy. The frame is aluminum, which makes it quite sturdy. It took my husband and I about 20 minutes to put the entire stroller together. The hardest part was clipping the canopy on the base. The clips are plastic so we were afraid we’d break them if we pushed too hard.
It’s easy to set up (with one hand) and break down (with one foot). That was a huge selling point for us. I am pretty short and having to struggle with a big stroller was not appealing to me. Honestly, all of the other “fold up with one hand” strollers were not that easy for me to handle. The Onyx was the perfect fit for us.
It’s a little bit larger than a typical umbrella stroller and so easy to handle and maneuver. It has two separate handles as opposed to the one bar which I think makes it easier to handle. The front wheels can lock in place or swivel which makes moving around stores a breeze. It also has a parking break.
When folded up it fits nicely in the trunk of my Honda Accord and even has a carry strap. It has a latch that catches when you fold it up, and it just takes one hand to undo the latch and pull open the stroller. Folded up and using the strap, it’s like carrying a camping chair.
It has a HUGE canopy that offers 50+ UV protection. When completely unfolded it covers almost the entire stroller. This is great for us since my husband coaches baseball and we go to a lot of games. The back reclines to four different positions so it works well if your child falls asleep while you’re out.
We got the car seat adapters and they were a bit cumbersome to attach. They are plastic, so again, you feel like you’re going to break them if you try too hard to get them on the base. The stroller still folds up compactly with the adapter on it. Also, since I’m short, I found the car seat hard to get off the stroller. I could not comfortably reach around both sides of the stroller to press the 2 release buttons. I have to release one side at a time to remove the car seat.
The Aton car seat fits quite nicely on the stroller and with the large stroller canopy, it can be completely covered. All these great plusses, plus optional features like a cup holder and rain cover (available for purchase separately) make the Cybex travel system a top-notch choice for any mom.
Onyx
Price: $230
To buy: babiesrus.com
Aton
Price: $200
To buy: babiesrus.com