Car Seat Tips

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.

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

My husband and I picked this seat because of the good safety ratings and excellent value. Safety was our number one concern when buying a car seat. Looks, comfort, cost, and ease of use were all second.

In our 9 months of use so far, the Graco Snugride has been an easy adjustment. My husband and I were both unfamiliar with infant seats and the Snugride proved to have an easy learning curve during car installation as well as when securing an infant in the carrier. We both mastered the skill within a few tries. Car installation is easy with the LATCH system and even easier when utilizing the seat belt traps when the LATCH system is not available. It was not a huge headache as everyone used to make car seat installation to be.

This car seat is very basic with no frills. The only “extra” is the canopy which is necessary to avoid direct sunlight on sensitive eyes.

We have not been in any car accident so I am not able to give first experience regard this aspect. But as I stated above, Graco Snugride had some excellent safety reviews on various sites across the internet.

There are only a few drawbacks. One, the fabric seat was soiled with poop and needed to be washed so I threw it in the washing machine on cold and tumble dry low. It held up but the padding on the back of the fabric was noticeable deteriorating. I would not feel comfortable washing it a second time in the washer. Granted, I didn’t read the cleaning instructions, but I would assume it would read spot clean only.

My second issue is the awkwardness of using the carrying handle with baby inside. It puts your arm in an uncomfortable position. Not recommended to carry long distances.

However, these issues are only minor and would not deter me from buying this product again or recommending it to a friend.

Our original reason for purchasing the SafeSeat infant carseat was because with our last baby we had an Evenflo carseat that only went up to 22 lbs and 26 inches. While my daughter was tiny and would still fit in it now, at 2 years old, according to the weight limit, she neared the 26 inch height limit around 8 months so we had to buy a convertible carseat for her.

Over the past three years I have purchased a grand total of five car seats. FIVE! I almost can’t believe it, myself. But with two working parents and two crazy kids, we really needed to have two car seats in each car. I’ve bought one on the super expensive side (The Evenflo Medallion V XL), one on the super inexpensive side(the Century 1500 STE Convertible), and all the rest fall someplace in between.

Product Technical Details
Technical Details:8B01STL

Key Features
Car Seat Type:Youth
Seating Direction: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:20 - 40 lbs.
Height Limit:Up to 43 In.
Head Protection:With Headrest
Additional Features:Latch System • Central Harness Length Adjustment

Miscellaneous
:29779712

Details

Shortly after our oldest turned one it was time to purchase her a convertible car seat. I did some research and headed down to our local baby store where I was a given a song and dance about the $200 Britax car seat. The sales woman looked shocked as I corrected the errors in her sales pitch and proceeded to buy the exact seat that I wanted, an Evenflo Triumph.

We borrowed this from a friend and Loved it! I wish we would have started with this one. It had a greater height limit than our Graco and so it fit our tall baby quite nicely. I was eager to try it out because the safety reviews I had read for this seat were so favorable.

After three years of hassling with “accurate” installation of various makes and models of car seats for a growing baby/toddler, it was a relief to finally hit booster seats at 40 pounds. Of course, there are still way too many choices with these also — backs, no backs, accessories such as cup holders, etc. We decided to go compact for ease in moving into and out of the car. That way when we want to go somewhere “sans kid”, it’s easy to leave behind (or in the trunk if you have a car). It’s also easy to move between cars if you only want to buy one seat but have two vehicles.

After nearly eleven months use of the Graco Infant Car Seat I am glad to be saying good-bye. The Graco SnugRide carseat comes in many different sets (stroller and seat) and colors. We had purchased the seat over the internet, months before our son was born.