Hellobee Boards

Totally not worth it. We never used it once! We got the vista before LO2 was born and he had mild/silent reflux (apparently 75% of babies have some form of reflux FYI) so we could never lay him flat. We just reclined the regular seat all the way back so he was still on a bit of an incline to ease his reflux. He slept in a rock n play at night as a newborn for the same reason

We are loving the bassinet for our summer baby. He gets so sweaty in the carseat!

I was adamant that we have the bassinet for our vista for the reason you mentioned. My baby hated it so much. Eventually I gave in and got the car seat adapter and she was so much happier.

So if that's that only thing pulling you towards the vista I would go with the Cruz. I chose vista because I wanted the bigger wheels (we live in the city with bumpy streets and hard winters) and so I could make it a double down the line. The Cruz is that much more compact which is really nice.

We used the bassinet for night sleep for 4 months for both girls. So I saved $$ by not having to buy a separate bassinet or co sleeper, so in that way it was nice.

I also preferred to walk her in the bassinet as an infant. If we were out and about doing errands in and out of the car, we used the car seat but otherwise she looked a lot more comfortable for our long walks in the bassinet.

I don't think it's 100% couldn't live without it necessary, but it was really nice to have.

We never used the bassinet with the stroller but my older son slept in it for 4 months. We upgraded to the 2015 Vista when I had a second but since we also got a Bassinest, the bassinet is still in the box.

@Goldengirl: our neighborhood has really uneven sidewalks (brick/some cobblestone, a bunch of super old tree roots in various spots) so I was worried that he would be jostled too much and used the car seat adaptor instead. I don't think this is an actual problem, just crazy FTM!

We used the bassinet for the first 4-5 months for both kids. I really don't like leaving babies in the carseat for long periods of time, not to mention that both my kids hated their infant carseats. We loved the bassinet--and I agree with the comment that it's very easy to keep baby warm in there in cold weather--I had two October babies and we went on walks almost daily through the winter, and they were always toasty warm and cozy in their bassinets.

We have the car seat adapters for the infant seat and the bassinet, we used both. Worth it depends on the $$ difference and how much that means to you. I like having the options and will have it for subsequent children.

@Goldengirl: From my understanding, the airway concern has to do with the carseat not being at an angle when it's not placed in a base. A baby can be in the carseat for any length of time with no concerns for airway. However, people then take the carseat out of the base with a sleeping baby, and set the carseat down, allowing the baby to continuing sleeping. But then, it is no longer at the proper angle.
My understanding is that most of the carseat adaptors on strollers would enforce the same correct angle as required on the carseat base, no?
You can test it out. Most carseats have the little ball indicator that it's in proper alignment. Mine did, and there was one or two times it was off and we had to use a towel/pool noodle to get the angle correct.

October baby- it was fairly mild and I used it all the time and took a walk each day. In Jan/Feb we got a ton of snow- so much that I ended up using a Solly wrap or the Ergo when we walked. We are in the suburbs though.