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For years the Doona car seat and stroller has been the only car seat stroller all-in-one product on the market. It has gained extreme popularity with parents both young and old. You could hardly go anywhere there were babies without seeing one. That has all officially changed because there is finally a new kid on the block. The Evenflo Shyft DualRide!
The Evenflo Shyft DualRide has recently been released and just might give the Doona a run for its money. It shares a similar concept and many of the Doona’s features with some improvements. We will go into a deep dive and compare the two products to find out which is the best choice for parents.
The Doona car seat and stroller is priced at $550. This $550 price tag applies to all 7 colors available. It does not include the blacked-out Midnight Edition or Gold Edition Doona models.
The Evenflo Shyft DualRide stroller is now priced starting at $499.99 for the base model. That price undercuts the Doona by $50.01. This makes it the least expensive of the two stroller car seats.
The $499.99 base model comes with its own set of three color choices and with no additional accessories.
The next Evenflow Shyft DualRide setup is $549.99 and comes with Carryall storage in addition to the car seat/stroller. It also comes in its own set of unique 3 color options.
Finally, the highest level Evenflo Shyft DualRide package is $599.99 and comes with the Carryall storage as well as the Extended Canopy. Following Evenflo tradition, this high trim level comes in its own trio of prestigious colors.
WINNER: The new Evenflo Shyft DualRide.
It is less expensive than the Doona by a fair margin. This price difference can be enough to sway many people to pick the Shyft.
The regular Doona currently comes in 7 colors. The colors in the order displayed in the above image are Racing Green, Nitro Black, Blush Pink, Grey Hound, Desert Green, Royal Blue, and Flame Red. The wide color selection of the standard Doona Stroller/car seat ranges from bright to sophisticated. It is nice because anyone can find a color that suits their taste and expresses a little bit of their personal style.
As far as color options go the new Evenflo Shyft DualRide is definitely lacking when compared to the available colors on the Doona. The DualRide was initially introduced in only one color called Boone Grey. Evenflo recently added two more colors to the base lineup, Durham Green and Sylva Pink. Now there are 9 total color options that vary depending on trim level.
The less expensive base model comes in either Bryson, Beaufort, or Ayer.
Then comes the midrange model in Boone Grey, Durham Green, or Sylva Pink.
Finally we have the highest trim level available in Opal, Monstone, or Onyx.
The interesting thing about the color options on the standard Evenflo is that they only mostly apply to sections of the interior cushions of the Shyft while the exterior remains a color similar to their popular Ayrshire Black. This means that any new color they come out with in the future would most likely be in the same layout. New color on the interior materials and black exterior fabric.
The Evenflo Shyft Dual Ride Gold line is available in Opal, Moonstone and Onyx color options. The difference between the standard Evenflo line and the prestigious Evenflo Gold line colors is the Gold line colors cover more of the cloth seating surface area. The Gold line is also evidenced by light-colored exterior plastic on the body of the seat itself.
WINNER: Doona car seat stroller.
The Doona has always been seen as a cool fashionable choice when considering a car seat or stroller. This is evidenced by the variety of colors and limited editions to chosen from. This allows the owner to add a bit of their own personal taste to the look of the Doona. Hopefully, Evenflo will introduce some new more fashionable colors that extend to more surfaces in the future to the Shyft DualRide.
Doona stroller/car seat comes with:
Doona™ Infant Car Seat & Stroller
Doona™ LATCH Base
Doona™ Infant Insert
Doona™ Head Support
Doona™ Vehicle Seat Protector
Any extra items can be purchased from the website separately. Optional extras include items like a travel bag, sunshade extension, and 360 degree protection net.
The base Evenflo Shyft DualRide stroller/car seat comes with:
The midrange Evenflo Shyft DualRide comes with:
The prestigious high-end version of the Shyft DualRide comes with:
What the DualRide initially comes with depends on the initial package purchased. Now you can purchase additional accessories separately. The Carryall storage bag is available for $79.99.
WINNER: Evenflo Shyft DualRide
There are now optional extras available for the Evenflo Shyft DualRide. You can purchase
Both of these stroller/car seat combo products are really designed for urban use as a stroller. They both really perform their best on smoother surfaces like parking lots and walking around the mall. Unlike many full-size strollers, neither have suspension and their wheels are on the smaller side.
The wheels of the Evenflo Shyft DualRide are visibly smaller in diameter than the wheels of the Doona. You can see an approximate comparison in the image above with the Doona wheel on the left and the Evenflo Shyft DualRide on the right. The image is from a great video comparison review of the two stroller/car seats by Safe in the Seat. Her video review adds a great visual angle to a lot of the comparisons made in this article.
WINNER: Doona
The Doona wheel size will ultimately provide a bit of a smoother ride over surfaces and aid in traversing obstacles. We are also fans of the Wheels design of the Doona over the more standard 5-spoke design of the Evenflo Shyft DualRide wheels.
When it comes to overall usability, both stroller are designed to be both safe, convenient and easy to use. Both the Doona and the Shyft DualRide fundamentally operate in the same way. They are both designed to transform from car seat to stroller and back again as effortlessly as possible with a child securely fastened. They both seem to be tied when it comes to that transformation itself. They are both easy to use and handle aside from the fact that they are both a bit heavy at around 17-19 lbs.
WINNER: TIED
We think both the Doona and the Evenflo Shyft DualRide offer approximately the same ease of use when it comes to the basic function of taking them in and out of a car and from stroller to car seat mode.
As we mentioned above, the Doona has larger wheels than the Shyft DualRide which is a positive in stroller form. The Evenflo DualRide seems to win out over the Doona in a few other aspects when configured as a stroller.
The push bar height of the Evenflo Shyft DualRide is slightly taller than the Doona when fully extended. Every inch in height can matter to taller users when pushing a stroller around. It is great that the Evenflo engineers were able to squeeze just a little bit more height out of the push bar. The image above (again from the Safe in the Seat Youtube video) demonstrates that slight difference in height. The exact difference in height is 39″ for the Doona and 41.5″ tall for the Evenflo Shyft DualRide.
When it comes to dimensions, the Shyft Dual Ride is 18″ wide in stroller and car seat configuration while the Doona is slightly slimmer at 17.4″. This little bit of difference in width is insignificant in stroller configuration. Pushing them around a store you would never notice any difference in usability or maneuverability due to width.
Even though the Evenflo Shyft DualRide offers more standard accessories right out of the box, the Doona offers more optional accessories overall. The range of accessories Doona offers like rain covers and foot muffs make it more usable in various weather conditions as a stroller. Evenflo does not yet offer a wide range of optional equipment for the Dual Ride.
WINNER: Doona
The Doona is a more usable stroller because of its all-weather capability thanks to extra items like a rain shield and foot muffs. Larger wheels than the Evenflo Shyft DualRide also helps out in stroller configuration.
Of the several differences between the Doona and the Evenflo Dual Ride when not in stroller configuration, the most intriguing is the DualRide’s ability to detach from the wheels. If you do not intend to use the Evenflo as a stroller when you arrive at your destination, you can leave the heavy wheels attached to the base in the car. This allows you to carry around the Shyft Dual Ride like a normal car seat.
The minimum weight of child for use in the car seat is lower by 1 pound for the Evenflo. The Evenflo Shyft DualRide can accommodate a child as little as 3 pounds vs the 4 pounds of the Doona. The maximum weight limit remains the same for both at 35lbs.
The Evenflo Shyft Dual Ride has an additional feature over the Doona that can be critically important when using it as a car seat. It comes standard with a SensorSafe chest clip. This smart chest clip connects to an adult’s phone via Bluetooth and can alert the adult in the car if there is unexpected chest clip unbuckling, the temperature is too hot or too cold in the car, the child is unattended in the car, and the child is seated too long. An Innovation like this can help keep the child comfortable or even save a life!
A small feature that the Evenflo Shyft DualRide has that probably won’t make or break your decision to purchase is a no-rethread harness. The Doona harness requires you to rethread the harness through the back of the car seat as your child grows. This can be a pain for parents and having a no rethread harness that just slides into a new position makes life just a little bit easier.
Doona does include the very thoughtful car seat feature of a vehicle seat protector mat that helps prevent the Doona’s base from making imprints or permanently damaging your vehicle seats as well as dirt and debris from making contact. Evenflo does not have this included with the purchase of the Shyft Dual Ride. The DualRide does have its own thoughtful feature to help protect your vehicle.
The Shyft Dual Ride has a shield of sorts that prevents wet dirt and debris from the wheels of the stroller from making its way onto your beautiful car’s interior. We like this idea from the dirt standpoint because the shields are removable and washable so you don’t have to remove the base from the seat to properly clean dirt and debris from the mat like with the Doona. We do wish the Evenflo came with a mat in addition to the shield though.
WINNER: Evenflo Shyft DualRide
It is a close call but the Shyft DualRide has a couple of important features like the SensorSafe Technology and the ability to detach the wheels that give it a slight advantage as a car seat.
It is very difficult to really say which is the overall better product. The Doona and the Evenflo Shyft Dual Ride are very similar products. We think that it depends on what specs or features are important to you as the end user. If style is your number one priority then the Doona is your winner. If you like the technology of the SensorSafe buckle or carrying it around without wheels attached then the Evenflo is the one for you.
The Evenflo Shyft DualRide seems to have taken many of the ideas that Doona created and added their own twist to them. Some features or design details might be considered improvements and others not so much depending on how you will use the product.
Because Evenflo benchmarked the Doona when creating the Dual Ride, they were able to innovate in some areas and make small objective improvements like push bar height. In this case, the Evenflo is the newest designed and engineered iteration of the stroller/car seat combo.
We don’t think you can go wrong with either product and most people would not and do not regret their purchase. We are fans of some of the new features of the DualRide and we do like how if you do not need any additional accessories, the Evenflo Shyft Dual Ride gets you more for your money right out of the box.
