Noodad Product Test Drive: Warm As A Lamb Stroller Coat
Posted on 03 21, 2009 under Doodads by reviewdad | Comments
WIN a Warm As A Lamb Stroller Coat for yourself! See details after the jump.
If your kid looks like the Michelin Man whenever you leave the house, you must live north of the 38th parallel. Actually, this winter, you could live in Texas. Thanks to El Niño (or is it La Niña?), it doesn’t seem to matter. Baby, it’s friggin’ cold outside!
For most of us, winter is cold. For some of us, it’s the kind of winter that saps your soul and drags on forever…but we expect that. The real rub is that we can’t spend four months on the couch playing PlayStation all toasty warm…especially when you’re a dad. Eventually, you need to leave your house. So you cowboy up and deal with it because despite mankind’s thousands of years of invention in the effort to combat the cold, no matter how much Polar Fleece, down, GoreTex or Thinsulate you wrap your ass in, when you’re outside, you’re still OUTSIDE!
But that’s not the case for everyone – the Pope (were he to visit the US in winter would ride in climate-controlled style in his Pope-mobile) and HazMat workers (in head to toe protection) can be inside while outside…and now your kid can be too. The Warm as a LambTM Winter Stroller CoatTM is an insulated, plush-lined, multi-zippered testament to necessity as the mother of invention.
Designed to fit over a stroller’s superstructure, the Warm as a Lamb provides a fully-enclosed environment for your little one (or ones – they also make double stroller versions in side-by-side and tandem configurations) to ride around in. It’s essentially Bio-Dome on wheels BUHDEE!
The maker of Warm as a Lamb claims that with a child inside, an outfitted stroller will maintain an interior temperature that’s 20 degrees warmer than the outside air. That’s compelling even before you factor in the protection it provides from the winter wind which, when you’re talking wind-chill, probably means it feels an additional 10-15 degrees warmer still.
Field testing by Noodad.com’s crack team at Noodad Test Labs confirmed via digital measure (yes, we take our job that seriously!), that the manufacturer’s claim holds water (or air as it is). On a cloudy 30 degree day with winds of 5-10 mph, the temperature inside the test stroller was between 51 and 52 degrees. Not a sauna but definitely nap-inducingly warm which was one of the key objectives for the venture outside (the other being ANY type of physical activity!).
This temperature difference supported the maker’s assertion that using this thing, you can dress your kid “up one level” in terms of insulation which means your kid can look less like an animated pile of tires and more like a Teletubby. That’s a good thing…right?
Beyond addressing the cold kid issue, the other problem that Warm as a Lamb solves for is overheating when indoors. You know the drill – after your hat, scarf and gloves come off, you have to then engage in the process of “venting” the baby lest he/she end up sweating like Shaq two minutes into play. This usually involves removing a blanket or stroller boot (or “bundleme”), hat, mittens and unzipping the snowsuit if not removing it all together. Not easy.
What sucks more than this process though is the process of doing it all in reverse (usually with the added difficulty of a screaming child) when you’re ready to head outside again.
With Warm as a Lamb, and because you can dress your kid in less, when indoors, you simply unzip the cover to increase air flow. This is probably more of a selling point for urban parents who tend to make multiple stops while out with the stroller but even if you have to go through this process once, it’s one time too many.
Access to your progeny is provided via the stroller equivalent of a moon-roof – a clear zippered panel that covers the front and most of the top of the cover. This generous opening provides for good sunlight and unobstructed access to baby and the stroller’s interior. It also allows you to use your stroller’s sunshade which you’ll probably want to do with all that reflective plastic overhead.
Warm as a Lamb is designed to fit most stroller variants – standard, lightweight and three-wheelers/joggers. A multitude of cinch-straps and Velcro tabs are provided for finer adjustments but once you get the cover on (which takes some finagling), it’s on there and is intended to stay on. The maker claims that most strollers can be folded up with the cover on and testing on test strollers (a Zooper Waltz (shown) and a Mountain Buggy Urban Single) suggest that this is likely to be true.
The Warm as a Lamb Stroller Coat is a compelling product which delivers on its primary mission of keeping your offspring…well, warm as a lamb (assuming that lambs really are warm standing in a field in February, but I digress) and does so with style but it’s not without a few flaws.
Criticisms are three:
First and most problematic is that the maker has placed a plastic compartment inside a vertical zipper at the back of the cover (see image). It’s intended to provide added and weatherproof storage but it blocks access to seat back adjustment controls on most strollers. Adjusting the incline with the cover on devolves into a contortionist’s act as you attempt to reach under the cover which extends down to the wheels. This is not fun when it’s 8 degrees and you’re afraid to let your legs touch the inside of your jeans! On some strollers, it may be possible to reach the seat back adjustment controls from inside the cover but attempting to do so outdoors defeats the purpose of the cover and compromises that closed environment. Once you unzip the cover, all that toasty air inside escapes and Old Man Winter floods in.
Second, in attempting to be all things to all strollers, on some models, the appearance of the fit can leave something to be desired. You could make adjustments using the straps and Velcro tabs endlessly in pursuit of an optimal fit. This may be more important to some parents than others but it’s notable none-the-less. Some people get obsessive about their stroller-image (you Bugaboo owners know who you are!). Just be aware that you’re unlikely to get the truly tailored appearance you see on the manufacturer’s web site and packaging.
Lastly, Warm as a Lamb’s over the handle-bar design and snug fit mean that this is not something you want to put on and take off regularly. The manufacturer says that it’s the kind of thing you put on at the start of the season and take off at the end. Living in New England means that one day it’s 10 degrees and snowing while the next, it’s 50 degrees and sunny and that’s where the combination of a snowsuit, a boot or bundleme and your stroller’s (or an aftermarket) rain cover has it’s advantages. You could “pop the top” on the Warm as a Lamb by unzipping the cover completely (on three sides) but you’d need to fold the cover up into the stroller itself or it’ll drag on the ground in front.
Conclusion:
The Warm as a Lamb Stroller Coat is an ingenious invention that fulfills a real need for some people in some places. If you’re an intrepid soul who tells Old Man Winter to “kiss my arse” as you take daily strolls between November and April or who flips Mother Nature the finger by jogging in sub-freezing temps AND feels the need to bring baby along, this is the product for you. The weight to warmth ratio won’t hold you back and you’ll appreciate that it’s water-resistant and has reflective striping. Fit and finish seem to be good and the quality of the stitching leads us to believe that this product has longevity.
We think it’s best suited for urbanites who use their stroller daily and aren’t likely to find themselves mall-cruising where Warm as a Lamb would definitely be overkill. At $49.99 for the single and $79.99 for the double, Warm as a Lamb represents an investment. But if you see yourself in one of the people I’ve described above, it’s likely to be a worthwhile one.
Noodad Rating: Four Noos (out of a possible Five)
Now for a giveaway. Think the weather where you live is bad? Do you feel that your poor kid is a popsicle every time you leave the house? Tell us your sob story and you can win your very own Warm as a LambTM Winter Stroller CoatTM courtesy of Warm As A Lamb and Noodad.com. Just leave your tear jerker in the comments section. Good luck.
Some legal BS
-Only one entry per person (but you can comment as many times as you want)
-One (1) winning entries will be chosen at random
-Contest ends on Friday, March 30th at 11:59 PM EST
-Although registration is not required to leave a comment, only
registered members of Noodad.com are eligible to win in this contest.
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