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.

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.

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.

Product Technical Details
Technical Details:8631DFT

Key Features
Car Seat Type:Convertible
Seating Direction:Rear / Forward Facing
Stay-in Car Base:No Detachable Base
Restraint System:5-Point Safety Harness
Adjustable Harness Height:Adjustable Harness Height
Adjustable Recline Positions:Adjustable Recline Positions

Other Features
Weight Limit:5 - 40 lbs.
Height Limit:Up to 40 In.
Carry handle:No Carry Handle
Head Protection:With Headrest
Additional Features:Central Harness Length Adjustment

Miscellaneous
:43910655

Details

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.

The Century SE 5-Point (SmartMoves) car seat is way up there, tops in my opinion in the category of rear and forward-facing seats.

Our daughter had to get out of her infant seat at 6 months because she was entirely too long for it, and we chose the Century seat because it had a lot of space, a five-point harness system, excellent padding and was on sale at Toys R Us. Also, it didn’t have the overhead restraint system that makes me fear for pinched fingers, skin and a feeling of claustrophobia with that bulky thing around a child.

The Touriva that I have is not the same as pictured but looked at the carseat to be sure and it is definitely a Cosco Touriva. My Touriva has the pull over bar. I really dislike this carseat for many reasons. I only picked this one because of my frugal nature and hate that I did so. My children live’s are far more important than saving a dollar!

After our son got too big for the carrying car seat, it was time for us to begin the hunt for the next stage in seats. But where do we begin… there are so many types at a wide range of prices. After checking out seats at 5 different stores, we came across the “Alpha Omega Elite Car Seat with LATCH: Hammer Print.”

The first thing that caught our eye was the fact that this was one of the few car seats that would grow WITH our child. Below are some of the key elements that went into our decision to purchase this seat.