If you’re a city-dwelling family that likes to get out and about on public transport or in your car, you’ll need a lightweight stroller that’s compact and easy to carry when folded. There are lots of umbrella style strollers on the market, but in this article, we focus on two super-light strollers that can fit into overhead lockers on an airplane. Now that’s compact and then some!
Why Trust Us?
Because my full-time job is being mom to 2 precious daughters, and I know a thing or two about strollers. Besides personal experience, I get feedback from other moms who use these strollers every day and put all that research into our unbiased stroller buying guides
- Kyli
The Baby Jogger City Tour and the GB Pockit are both compact enough to be taken onto most airline’s planes as hand luggage. However, there are quite a few notable differences between these two lightweights that you need to know about before you part with your cash.
So, let’s check out these two popular brands and their revolutionary, ultra-compact strollers.
Table of Contents
Baby Jogger: Crowd-pleasing design, convenience, and style
Baby Jogger is a popular, award-winning manufacturer that first launched in the 1980s. The brand was one of the first to make a three-wheeled jogging stroller and has since expanded across several stroller styles, including travel systems and lightweight, city models.
The brand’s characteristically innovative creativity and crowd-pleasing stroller designs’ convenience features have made it a firm favorite with families across the world.
GB: Innovative, chic, modern
GB is the brainchild of CYBEX founder, Martin Pos and his friend and mentor, Zhenghuan Song of children’s gear giant, Goodbaby.
The dynamic duo’s creative efforts are focused on using modern industrial design techniques to produce innovative, on-trend strollers that are the perfect fit for the modern urban family.
Baby Jogger City Tour vs GB Pockit Overview
Baby Jogger City Tour
- Easy and compact portable stroller features a one hand quick fold; auto lock locks the fold for transportation or storage
- Multi position near flat recline; the canopy stroller includes a UV 50 plus sun canopy with canopy extension and peek a boo window; stroller seat features 5 point harness
- Folding stroller fits neatly into the backpack style carry bag, included with stroller; convenient under seat storage basket provides space for baby's extras
The City Tour is a relatively new addition to Baby Jogger’s range of high-end strollers, and it comes in at a much lower price point than many of its stablemates.
The City Tour is super-lightweight and compact enough to fit into a backpack (supplied with the stroller) and airplane overhead lockers. It was created to compete with other manufacturer’s ultra-compact strollers that have become so popular with on-the-go families.
You can see a video of the Baby Jogger City Tour here:
Things we like:
- Very compact and lightweight
- Sturdy and durable
- Easy-to-steer
- Travel-friendly
Things we don’t like:
- Not suitable for newborn babies
- No flat seat recline feature
- Not compatible with any car seat
- Very shallow seat and fiddly harness
GB Pockit
- WORLD’S SMALLEST FOLDING STROLLER - With its innovative two-step folding design, the Pockit is the 2014 Guiness World Records most compact stroller folding down to 11.8” x 7” x 13.8”...
- SMALL BUT STRONG - Built using high quality, durable materials, the Pockit can hold a child from 6 months up to 55 pounds as well as 11 pounds of gear in its convenient storage basket
- PERFECT FOR DAY TRIPS OR EXTENDED TRAVEL - For families with a passion for local or overseas travel and exploring, Pockit is the quintessential choice as it stows away easily in any plane or...
The GB Pockit holds the Guinness World Record for the smallest folding stroller ever made!
So, the Pockit is the ultimate stroller for those who need to travel light. It’s the first umbrella stroller that will fit into the overhead luggage lockers on most airplanes, saving you that annoying wait at the baggage carousel when you arrive at your destination.
As you would expect from such a compact stroller, it’s a little short on features compared with other strollers. However, if you want a stroller for your child to hop on and off as you travel by public transport and by air, the Pockit is probably perfect for you.
You can see a manufacturer’s promo video of the GB Pockit below:
Things we like:
- Super-compact fold, ideal for families on-the-go
- Very lightweight
- Easy to store
- Maneuverable and steerable with one hand
- Easy-access storage basket
Things we don’t like:
- Not suitable for newborn babies
- Two-handed fold
- No rain cover so unsuitable for use in wet weather
- Handles are not adjustable
- Small sun canopy with no SPF protection
- No suspension, so the ride can be uncomfortabl
Baby Jogger City Tour vs. GB Pockit: Features that matter
Now, let’s take a look at the City Tour and the Pockit in more detail in a head-to-head comparison.
Lightweight
The City Tour is lightweight at just 14 pounds, so it’s straightforward to carry around in or out of its rucksack, folded or unfolded. Even when you’re negotiating steps with a baby on board, the City Tour is a breeze, since it is so light.
The featherweight Pockit is a breeze to carry around town, including up and down steps with a passenger strapped into the stroller.
Carrying capability
Neither the City Tour nor the Pockit is suitable for use with newborns, as they don’t have a seat that reclines to a flat position.
The City Tour is aimed at children aged from six months to around three years and has a weight capacity of 33 pounds. That makes the stroller unsuitable for very large toddlers. In comparison, the Pockit can carry a child up to 55 pounds in weight. The Pockit seat has an extended backrest too, at 24 inches. The backrest is also adjustable to accommodate long torso length, making the Pockit suitable for tall children.
Car seat compatibility
Both the Pockit and the City Tour are designed for easy travel on public transport and will fit very comfortably into any car trunk. However, neither is compatible with a car seat and therefore cannot double as a travel system.
Ride quality and the push
The City Tour has four five-inch wheels and feels rather light and flimsy. That said, the stroller is well-made and stable and is a pleasure to push. You can steer the stroller one-handed over a variety of terrain, including uneven pavements, wet grass, and gravel. Also, you can lock the wheels to give a smoother ride and better steering on uneven surfaces, and the front wheel suspension system helps to smooth out any bumps.
The Pockit’s stripped-back design does not include a suspension system. Consequently, the ride can be slightly bumpy and a little rough. And because the stroller is so narrow, cornering can be tricky, as there is a danger of the stroller toppling over. That said, the Pockit’s four-and-a-half-inch wheels do make this stroller extremely easy to steer and maneuver.
The brakes
The City Tour’s brake is located on the right-hand back wheel and is intuitive and straightforward to use.
The Pockit has a one-step brake located on the right rear wheel, which locks both of the rear wheels in place. Unfortunately, the brake is not flip-flop-friendly. A nice touch is that all of the brakes are white so that they stand out.
Compactness
The City Tour’s main marketing point is its compact fold. When folded, the stroller measures a tiny 22 x 9.8 x 17.7 inches, which corresponds with most airlines’ hand luggage allowance. However, the GB Pockit undercuts the City Tour significantly, measuring just 13.7 x 7.08 x 11.8 inches!
Even unfolded, the City Tour can fit neatly into a tiny space in your home for storage. And the stroller comes with a rucksack for easy storage once folded. When you’re traveling in your car, the collapsed City Tour takes up very little space in your trunk and will even fit into the passenger’s footwell if necessary.
The fold
The City Tour can be folded with one hand via a simple, smooth mechanism, although unfolding it requires two hands.
You can fold the Pockit in two ways. Sadly, both methods involve using two hands, which could be an issue if you’re trying to control a fidgeting toddler while folding the stroller on a busy train station platform.
Canopy
The City Tour has a surprisingly generous extendable SPF 50+ hood with an added sun visor. Unfortunately, the rain cover that comes as an optional extra with the City Tour is slightly fiddly to open and close because the material is so thick. That also makes it difficult to fold up small.
The canopy has a mesh peek-a-boo window so that you can keep an eye on your child.
The canopy on the Pockit is very small. In fact, it’s more of a flat hood over the passenger’s head that gives no protection from the sun, and that could be a big problem for you if you live in a region where summers are hot and sunny.
The Pockit doesn’t have a rain cover. And GB state that a rain cover should not be used with this stroller. You could solve that issue by kitting out your child in a rain poncho, but that would leave him sitting in a wet seat if you were caught in a real downpour.
The seat
The City Tour’s seat is disappointingly shallow and small. That means that an infant’s legs will dangle rather uncomfortably until they are long enough to reach the foot and lower leg rest. The seat has a multi-recline function, although the upright position does still have a significant recline that’s great for napping but which could be a problem if you have a child who likes to sit up straight and enjoy the view.
The Pockit has a hammock-style seat with no seat recline feature and minimal padding. The seat back is quite thin, making the stroller only suitable for an infant aged over six months or who can hold their head up independently. Also, there’s no seat recline capability, calf or footrest. Unfortunately, the Pockit’s frame is quite narrow, making the seat a tight squeeze for a large child.
The City Tour has a five-point safety harness that’s adjusted by sliding the two shoulder straps off the central fastener via the two waist straps. The Pockit also has a five-point seat harness with a central, toddler-proof clasp and extra-padded shoulder straps. Of the two, the Pockit’s harness is the less fiddly to adjust.
Durability
Like all Baby Jogger strollers, the City Tour is very solid and well-made, despite its light weight. Also, you get a lifetime warranty on the stroller’s chassis.
The GB Pockit is also pretty rugged and robust for such a minimalist design and should last you for many years.
Handlebar
The City Tour’s handlebar is comfy and easy to grip, although it isn’t adjustable, which could be a problem for taller parents.
The Pockit has two handles that allow for a one-handed push. The stroller is very easy to steer and turn, but you can’t adjust the handles’ height. That makes pushing comfortably a tough ask for parents who are over six feet tall.
Storage
By their very nature, compact strollers tend not to have much storage. The City Tour has a small storage basket and a zipped pocket that can be used to store the rucksack carrier or for essentials such as your keys, phone, etc. There’s also a mesh seatback pocket that you can use for wipes, water bottles, your wallet and the like.
The Pockit has a modest-sized storage basket that will take a few essentials. But like the City Tour, you can’t expect to bring home your week’s groceries with this stroller. There’s also a shortage of pockets, which could be a pain if you find yourself juggling your keys and phone while pushing the stroller.
Accessories
There are a few optional extras that you can buy to go with the City Tour, including a rain cover, cup holder, and a bumper bar.
Colors
The City Tour is available in a range of stylish colors, including Juniper, Violet, Garnet, and Cobalt.
The Pockit also comes in a range of pretty colors, including black, blue, silver, cherry red, and sapphire blue.
Wrapping it up
Both the Baby Jogger City Tour and the GB Pockit are brilliant strollers for families who like to travel around a lot, especially on public transport and by air.
The Pockit is a stripped-back, ultra-compact stroller that comes with few of the bells and whistles that you’ll find on other, larger umbrella strollers. Consequently, the lack of suspension and tiny wheels can give a rather bumpy ride for your passenger. Also, there’s an extremely skimpy canopy and no rain cover, making the Pockit less-than-practical on hot or rainy days.
Although the Pockit is well-made and sturdy and will carry a child that weighs up to 55 pounds, the seat is narrow and lacks padding, so large children might find the ride a tad jarring over rough terrain, curbs, and uneven surfaces.
The Baby Jogger City Tour has a comfier seat than the Pockit. It also offers more storage, an impressively large canopy, and a rain cover. There’s also a suspension system, ensuring a smooth ride for your child, even over uneven sidewalks, curbs, and gravel.
If you want a go-anywhere, ultra-light, travel-friendly stroller that you can use between nipping into stores and hopping on and off public transport, the Pockit could be a good choice for you. However, if you’re looking for a slightly more substantial stroller that gives your child a great ride and is still lightweight enough to allow hassle-free travel, choose the City Tour.
