Car Seats

Hi,
I'm visiting from the first year forum, to get some advice on the next size carseat. My grandparents want to buy
our girls their next size carseat (from the infant carriers), for Christmas. Which one do you use and what do you like about it?


Thank you!
Carly

 

How old will your babies be? Will they be forward facing or still rear facing when you do the switch?

For rear facing, I strongly recommend Evenflo Triumph ADvanced. EXCELLENT and it goes up to 55 lbs.

For forward facing I love Graco's Nautilus.

 

I'd get a convertible seat that goes to 65lb. This way you can keep it for a long time. I'd also keep them rear-facing as long as possible, as it's much safer (some seats rear-face to 40lbs now).

Otherwise, it really depends on their budget. We bought Britax Marathons at first, then one broke and we got the '65 ride' from Graco. You can see the price difference in the quality of the materials and ease of installation etc, the Graco ones seems much more 'flimsy' than the other one and the strap is more of a pain to adjust, but they both do the job.

 

We have the Evenflo Symphony car seats and I would definitely recommend them. I believe they go from 5-100 lbs and are easy to install. Right now we have our two rear facing and will probably turn them when they turn 2.
DD's car seat

My parents have the Graco Nautilus in their car, forward facing, and those seats are really good too.
Good luck on your decision!

 

I have the Britax Marathons and the Evenflo Triumph Advance. Both great seats! :good:

 

Another vote for Britax Marathans. They are super easy to install and very comfy for the kids. Plus they go up to 65 pounds!

 

LOVE the Evenflo Triumphs!

 

If they will be forward facing I vote for the Graco Nautilus. They are super easy to install and adjust and have a 5 point harness to 65 pounds. I like that they have a cup holder since our boys always have their cups in the car. I also like that they convert from the 5 point harness to the high back booster to the backless booster. Hopefully this means we won't have to buy another seat for them. They also clean up very well. The padding is removable and cleans up very easily. We had a horrible blow out diaper in the first week we had the seats and it was easy to take apart to clean up. The straps adjust much easier that the Graco infant carriers and seem more intuitive than some of the other seats we looked at. I like that the seats recline and that the head rest can be moved with the height of the child. I also like that they are easy to move from car to car. Instead of getting my parents their own car seats, we always just switch our seats to their van. It takes me less than 10 minutes to switch both seats now that I have had some practice at it. FWIW this is also the seat our pedi uses for her kids (2 and 4) and she highly recommended them when she knew we were looking for their next seats.
We got them from Wal Mart because of the price and honestly I liked the color a lot better than the ones at BRU. We didn't have it in our budget to get the Britax seats and these do the job just as well IMO. So far we have no complaints.

I also want to share that we did face our boys forward at one year so we started using these seats with them when they were 20 and 21 pounds and we haven't had any issues.

Here's some pics of them in their seats

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/Rach1137/101_0074.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/Rach1137/100_1344.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a125/Rach1137/100_1343.jpg

edited to add pics

 

We have Evenflo Triumph Advance LX Car Seat and Britax and some Britax ones that we bought used when we determined we needed a set in each car. The Evenflo ones are good, but we often have issues with the straps getting twisted and the release lever - can be very irritating when babies are screaming. But they are comfy and safe - which is most important. I really like the Britax ones and if we could have afforded it that would have been my preference for all of them.

 

We have the First Years True Fit car seats and we love them. They are easy to use and the kids love them. They have excellent safety ratings as well. We bought these ones because they were the best mix of convenient, safety, and value. They often come on sale in our area for $150. Our children are 24 pounds each, one very tall, and we plan on keeping them rear facing until they are two and we know that will not be an issue with these seats. Once they go forward facing, these seats are good until 65 pounds. They also have easily removable material for washing. Happy shopping.

 

if yours still fit in the carriers and you like them... there's no need to rush to get a convertible carseat... our carriers still fit ours at 18 months... their heads are still well under the height restriction and they are under the 30 pound weight. we will keep our children rear facing closer to 2 yrs old since that's what I've read is safer...

good luck finding what fits for your family... I got overwhelmed! and just decided to wait since ours are still working... I figured whenever I make the change there will always be something newer and better...

 

We have Britax Boulevards. If you are going to be rear facing for awhile still, I'd recommend the Marathons over the Boulevards. The Boulevards have a lot of side protection, which makes it difficult to get them in and out rear facing and impossible to see them or hand them a lost paci or something rear facing. But forward facing, the Boulevards are great!

 

Keep in mind also that they are supposed to be rear-facing until 1 AND 20 lbs. That's the barely minimum to put them forward-facing. After that, it's up to you (although as I mentioned earlier it's recommended to have them rear-facing until 2).

Some kids are not 20lbs at 12 months, and others reach 20lbs at 8 months, so either way you might have to use a convertible seat (most infant seats go to 22lbs I think?). My kids could have stayed in infant seats until 16 months probably, we just switched them at 8 months because we hated carrying those seats around and I think they were much happier afterwards.

 

We have 2 boulevards and like them-my LO's will be rear facing for as long as possible..we have 2 of those mirrors so that I can see them and it works well. We plan on getting 2 graco my ride 65's for dh's car in a few months

 

Thank you for the tips and pictures!

Our girls are 6 1/2 months old and weigh about 17 pounds now. We intend to keep them rear-facing for as long as possible and in their infant carriers until they hit the max weight 22 pounds. But as you can see that is quickly approaching.

 

Mine are 14 months and still in their infant seats, but we are planning on getting the Graco MyRide 65s, as they have the longest rear facing limits both height and weight wise. With how small mine are, even the forward facing weight limit will probably last us quite a while. I've heard great things about the seats, and are appropriately priced, as far as carseats go.

 

I absolutely do NOT recommend this seat. The straps are flimsy and half the time when I strap them in and pull the strap to tighten them, it's still very loose on one of the shoulders, and it can take 5 minutes of trying to even the straps to make it tight enough.

 

Do you have the problem of uneven straps on both seats?? I ask, because on our Graco infant seats, I have that problem with just one of them, and I have no clue why. But I contacted Graco about it, and they are completely refunding me for the seat, if I send it in to them. It's going to pay for one of our next up seats.