Why You Need The Baby Trend Double Expedition Jogger, Elixer: A Review.

If you’re raising two young children close in age, or twins, a double jogging stroller can genuinely change how much you get out of the house. We’ve used the Baby Trend Expedition Double Jogger (Elixer colourway) for close to a year with our two boys, who are about five months apart in age, and it’s held up to daily walks, grocery runs, running, and everything in between. This is a real, lived-in review rather than a quick unboxing, so I’ll go through what works, what doesn’t, and what I’d want to know before buying if I were you.

Quick note before we get into it: this stroller is best suited to babies who can sit up unassisted and hold their heads steady on their own, generally from around 6 months onwards, though this varies by child. Baby Trend, like most stroller brands, doesn’t recommend using the seat for very young infants without an approved infant car seat attachment. If you want to use it from birth, check with Baby Trend directly about compatible infant car seats, and always check your own baby’s readiness with your health visitor or paediatrician before jogging with them, since neck and head control matters a lot when you’re moving at speed over uneven ground.

The Key Features

• Locking front swivel wheel (locks straight for jogging, swivels for tight turns while walking)
• Pneumatic (air-filled) bicycle-style tires on all three wheels
• Ratcheting, adjustable shade canopy over each seat
• Parent tray with two cup holders and a covered storage compartment
• MP3 speaker input in the parent tray, compatible with most phones and MP3 players
• Large under-seat storage baskets plus rear pockets
• 5-point safety harness on each seat
• Multi-position seat recline, so one child can nap while the other sits up
• Compact fold for storage in a car boot or hallway
• JPMA certified, meaning it’s been independently tested against US juvenile product safety standards

What We Actually Love About It

The side-by-side seating is, hands down, my favourite thing about this stroller. A lot of double strollers put one child in front of the other, which is fine for storage width but means the kids barely interact. With side-by-side seating, our boys can hold hands, pass snacks back and forth, and just be near each other. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve glanced down mid-walk to see them holding hands without either of us doing anything to prompt it.

The pneumatic bicycle tires come a close second. This stroller is wide, wide enough that on a narrow pavement you either take up the whole path or you don’t fit at all. Having proper air-filled tires means I can drop one side down onto grass, gravel or a verge without jarring the kids or struggling to push, so oncoming pedestrians don’t have to step into the road. We’ve taken it over gravel paths, muddy fields and uneven ground with no real trouble. The trade-off, which I’ll get to below, is that air-filled tires need occasional maintenance.

Storage is genuinely excellent. There are two decent-sized baskets underneath the seats and pockets on the back. I regularly walk to our local shop and end up buying more than I planned, and I’ve never had to carry bags home in my arms because of it. As a photographer, I’ve even used the stroller to haul lighting gear and props to shoots. It works almost like an oversized nappy bag on wheels when you need it to.

The parent tray is a small feature that makes a bigger difference than you’d expect. Wallet, keys, phone, snacks, all fit in the covered compartment, and the two cup holders mean I can bring a coffee and give the boys a sippy cup each without balancing anything on my lap.

Folding it down is far easier than it looks. Fully open, this thing looks like it would be a two-person job to collapse, but it isn’t. I’m just over five feet tall and I can fold it and get it into the boot of our SUV in well under a minute, on my own, with both kids waiting.

The canopy is more useful than I expected too. It shades from sun, gives some cover from light rain, and has a strap I use to clip on toys for the boys to look at. When the baskets are full, I’ve even draped a jacket over the top rail.

What We Didn’t Love

The front swivel wheel was wobbly to the point that my husband started calling it “the wobble wheel of death.” Unlocked, at any real walking pace, the whole front end would shudder. Locked straight, it was fine, but that defeats the point of a swivel wheel for everyday walking and manoeuvring.

My husband eventually took the wheel apart and found the wobble was coming from a metal washer roughly the size of a coin. He replaced it with a rubber washer from a hardware shop, which cost less than a pound, and it fixed the problem almost completely. He re-tightens it every couple of months as part of general upkeep. A word of caution here: taking apart and modifying a stroller yourself can affect the manufacturer’s warranty and, in theory, its safety certification, so if your stroller does this, it’s worth ringing Baby Trend’s customer service first to ask about a replacement part or a known fix before you reach for a screwdriver yourself.

The built-in speakers are a nice idea that doesn’t really deliver. They’re not loud enough to compete with traffic or wind noise. In practice, just propping your phone in the cup holder gives you louder, clearer sound than the speakers ever managed.

Because it’s a genuinely wide, side-by-side double, it won’t fit through a standard door. For us that’s a fair trade for the seating layout, and most shops, cafes and restaurants have doors wide enough to manage. The only real snag was visiting a friend’s house and having to leave the stroller on the porch instead of bringing it inside. Worth knowing if you’re planning to take it indoors regularly rather than just around town.

A Few Practical Things To Check Before You Buy

• Weight limits: like most double joggers in this range, it’s built for two children up to roughly 50 lbs each, but always check the current manufacturer specs for your exact model year, since these things do get updated.
• Trunk space: it folds down reasonably flat, but it’s still a large, heavy item. If you drive a small hatchback, it’s worth measuring your boot space against the folded dimensions listed on Baby Trend’s website before you order.
• Tyre maintenance: pneumatic tyres need occasional pumping up and can be punctured, unlike solid plastic wheels. If you’d rather never think about tyre pressure, that’s worth weighing up.
• Jogging safely: most jogging stroller guidance suggests keeping to a walk (not a run) until you’re confident with how the stroller handles, always using the wrist strap, and locking the front wheel whenever you actually run. If you’re not sure your child is ready for jogging speeds, ask your health visitor or GP.

Do I Recommend It?

Yes, without much hesitation. The niggles we’ve found (the wheel wobble, the underwhelming speakers, and the door width) are either easily fixed, genuinely minor, or a fair trade-off for what you get in return. We regularly get comments from strangers about how good it looks and how sturdy it seems, and a year of daily use across pavement, gravel, and grass has done nothing to change my mind.

If you’ve got two children close in age, or twins, and you want one stroller that can handle a proper walk, a grocery run, and the odd jog, the Baby Trend Expedition Double Jogger is well worth putting on your shortlist. As with any big-ticket baby gear purchase, it’s still worth reading the current product listing carefully for up-to-date weight limits and safety guidance before you buy, since specs can change between model years.