Car Seat Tips

UPDATE! 9/9/07 I installed this seat in the Passat center with seatbelt. See review body.

UPDATE! 3/24/07 I installed this seat in the Xterra center with lapbelt. See review body.

First off, let me say that I love this car seat. While pregnant I spent about a month researching different car seats for their safety features, convenience, style and budget.

My car is old enough that it isn’t LATCH equipped, however this car seat is very easy to use either with the base the seat comes with or just with a seat belt.

The sun-shade it comes with is also nice to have since it blocks the sun and the wind rather well, but because it’s made to be able to come off, sometimes it comes off when you don’t want it to.

This car seat was recommended to me because of it’s stellar safety ratings and I was SOLD on it when I read that Britax follows the safety standard of Europe and not the US because the US standards are far lower.

In looking at the store and comparing all of the seats (even trying them out in their demo car so that we could see the fit and ease of use. We found a feature of the Britax that we couldn’t live without. It uses the LATCH for rear facing positions as well as forward. WOW! This means that when you attach the seat, using the rear LATCH and the anchor (or seat belt) that the car seat, no matter how hard you try, isn’t going anywhere!

My husband and I decided to purchase this car seat in lieu of the infant carrier car seats because we figured that our boys (7 month old twins) wouldn’t grow out of them as quickly. It made perfect sense to us - a car seat that they would use until they no longer need one. Upon purchasing the carseat, we were very satisfied with the overall construction. It seemed sturdy and it was easy to remove and wash the cover. We quickly began noticing minor gliches in the design. First of all, it is more than difficult to buckle the car seat in if you don’t have a LATCH capable vehicle. The opening where you slide the belt through is so tiny that my hand could barely maneuver and my husband didn’t stand a chance! Secondly, even though the car seat says that you can put a 6lb. baby in it, I wouldn’t recommend it. My boys chins went straight to their chests the first time we put them in - weighing in at a little over 6 lbs. The child really needs to have better control over their neck before moving to this seat. In the end, we took these car seats back and traded them for the (less expensive) carriers that mount into the double stroller. I guess you win some, you lose some.

The Combi Select Connection 8040 series car seat is an infant carrier/base carseat system. It is rated rear-facing with a 5-point harness for children 22 pounds or less.

Introduction

The Combi Connection is an innovative infant carrier system. The unique, narrow base has a serpentine seatbelt routing method that results in very good installations in many vehicles. The carrier is very light relative to some other models and has layers of energy-absorbing foam to protect the infant.

Features and Advantages:

This seat is really big! That’s good for older kids that use it. My daughter is just 17 months old and weighs in at almost 35 lbs! I bought this for her because she was outgrowing her Britax Roundabout by her height.

This seat almost swallows her up its so big! There needs to be some type of removable cushion that you can place on the side of their head. When she falls asleep her head kinks to the side.

This seat however is not approved for use on an airplane. its to wide for the seats. Personally its to large and heavy to carry around through an airport anyway.

I want to say almost 2 years ago we purchased our Cosco Summit Booster Car Seat at Babies R’Us. Talia was growing and was now barely fitting in her Evenflo Triumph and it was now time to spend another $100.00 bucks or so on a bigger seat.

As safety freaks, my husband and I did a TON of research on car seats before finally choosing the Chicco KeyFit. We even asked other new and experienced parents we know for their opinions. When we tested the car seats at a local store, the KeyFit really stood out for several reasons. The major selling point was how simple it is to click the car seat into the base or into the matching stroller–you can even do this with just one hand! The mechanisms literally do all the work for you! The only time you need two hands is when you are lifting the car seat out of the stroller or base. It also features built in “bubble levels” to help you make sure that the car seat is properly in place and allows for seat belt or latch methods of securing the seat or base (seat can be secured in cars without the base).

We had originally planned on a bigger baby, but since our son arrived six weeks early…we got a 4 pounder instead! The NICU nurses were very happy to find out that we already had the car seat they were going to recommend for our itty bitty baby. To be released from the NICU, our son had to sit in his car seat for 90 straight minutes without having any medical issues. That is a long time for a baby to sit in a car seat, but he didn’t mind because he was SO comfortable.

The harness is 5 point (very safe!) and has neck cushions over the straps to keep them from cutting into or making your baby uncomfortable.

We love that the adjustable carrying handle can also be used to help keep the car seat from rocking when maneuvered into the down position. The sun/light shade is a great help as well. My only complaint is that it would be nicer if the sun/light shade came down or out one more notch for a little more protection.

Our four pounder has now grown to a 3 month 11 pounder…and his car seat has adjusted wonderfully with his growth.

Let me start by saying we had an extremely fussy 4-month old. She absolutely hated being in the car - she screamed from the minute she goes in her infant seat until you take her out. You would think she would fall asleep during a 40 minute drive - nope, not a wink.

I got this car seat to use in my car for my nephew when he was about 1 1/2 years old. I have a pretty small car and a small backseat, but it fit pretty well. I have had 4 adults plus the car seat in the car at once without it being to horribly cramped. The buckles were nice to have somewhat complicated, because he has a habit of bucking things to understand how to unbuckle them, and this was no exception. But he never got the puzzle lock to work quite right. They were not so complicated that I could get him in before he let out the first scream at the injustice of being placed in a seat (every car seat, highchair, etc. is torture in his mind.

My main problem with this seat is that very soon after we installed it, the buckle became much harder to undo. I would almost bruise my thumb pushing the button. Finally, it got to the point that one day, the buckle would NOT unbuckle at all. I got him out after struggling with the straps enough to pull him out past the buckle. He found it very fun and tried to buckle the top back togther the entire time. Like I said, almost great.