Convertible Car Seat - Chandler, AZ

I just went through a wonderful training course on Child Passenger Safety, and I feel that I really learned a lot about how to choose the correct car seat for my children and my car. The Britax carseats aren't really any better than the ones from Wal-Mart, they're just more expenseive and the company pays for more advertising to make them seem better. Every car seat must meet the same safety standards. The ASCC course is 2 hours long, but it was time well spent because at the end of the class, they will give you a FREE, BRAND NEW carseat. It doesn't matter what your income is or anything like that. If you go through the training, you get a car seat. And the training is free too. Just call Sarah Ocampo-Schlessinger at ###-###-#### ext 233 or e-mail her at ____@____.com to find out when the next class is being held. It is totally worth it to get the best information possible. I mean, this is your child's safety we're talking about here, and Sarah is a trained professional on car seat safety.

I've had the Cosco Alpha Omega ever since my first child grew out of her infant carrier at 5 months old! Now that she is 5 and in a booster, my 2 younger kids are also in the Alpha Omega. No complaints about it... the seat has kept my kids strapped in and safe!

K., we had the same dilema when the twins hit 20lbs around 6 months old! I did a lot of research and comaprison shopping and we bought the Britax car seats ($289). I know it sound like a lot but it goes up to 100 lbs.

The Down Side For Us..
They are a bit bulky, so it was a squeeze(for me)for a little while in our sedan, so I had to move my seat up so the seats would fit. They are also a bit wider than other car seats so my 9 year old son (who sits between them) isn't as compfortable as he was use to with the infant car seats.

The Up Side...
If we had less kids, we would not have had the challanges mentioned above. The twins LOVE their seats, because it allows them ot look out the window, they are rear and forward facing up to 100 lbs (so we don't have to buy more car seats for a long time!) They feel safe and they have room togrom, they are also very easy to adjust as they grow.

Good Luck on your hunt!

We love our Britax Marathon and are glad we got it. It is huge, but I feel she is safer in it. It grows nicely with her.

I just bought the $50.00 one at walmart! It seems to work just fine. I was looking at the other car seats and they didn't seem to be much different, other than mabey a little more padding... (which really isn't nessasary)... as far as saftey goes... I would think that they would all have the same requirements... so save the money where you can! :) The only thing that I found with my first son's car seat, that I didn't think of looking for... it to make sure that the cover is removable so that you can wash it! Even if your child is not allowed to have anything but water in the car...things happen... (my son threw up in his seat twice!) Something else that I am going to invest in is the seat belt covers! So that when they fall asleep in the seat the seat belt doesn't dig into there neck! So that's it, and good luck! :)

Hi- we have a 2 britax car seat in each car (mine and husband's) and LOVE THEM. They are a little larger and bulkier than others so depending on what you drive they might not fit where you want them. For example- I drive a VW Passat and when the Roundabout was rear facing in the center backseat we had to have a towel rolled up under the rear (recommended in the installation directions) because our center seat was so narrow compared to the seat. But now that she is forward facing there are no problems.

The other thing I LOVE about the britax is how washable the covers are. My daughter *unfortunately* has a bad history of car sickness so I have washed the covers at least a dozen times. The first two times it is tricky to get off, but after that they are easy to get off and on and wash and dry nice nicely. WE have even hosed off the actual carseat portion straps and all sans the covers due to illness...

The latch system is really easy and strong, and if you use only the shoulder/lap buckle there are extra pieces to help make that installation stronger as well.

Sorry for the long post, but I can't say enough GOOD about these car seats!!!

K.

We have the Britax Marathon and love it. We actually have two, one for my car and one for his. We decided to use our tax refund to buy a second one since the number one reason for car seat failure is improper installation. You can go to USA baby and try the different car seats in your car to make sure they fit. Also, we bought both of our online at http://www.albeebaby.com/ where they have on in brown on sale for $209 which is a really good price.

Hi,

I have a 10 month old daughter and we just purchased an Evenflo Triumph Advance Premier Convertible Car Seat (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3028987). Babies R Us just dropped the in-store price to $169.99. We love it. She has so much more room, its has great crash ratings (side crash tested too) and the straps are easy to adjust for in and out. It even has memory foam in it. And if you use the LATCH system to install it, its very, very secure. And its not $250+ like the Britax ones.

That's my suggestion. :)

Hi K.,
When my son hit around 20 lbs or so we went out and bit the bullet and got the Britax Marathon car seat. It's a bit pricey (I think it was around like $220-$250) but it's one of the highest rated for safety and it was really comfortable for my son. He was all but too long for infant carrier, so we had to get something that was rear and front facing and I think the Marathon was rated up to some crazy weight like 80 lbs front facing! We figured it would get us through until he was big enough for a booster seat and we were right. He will be 5 next week and we probably made it to 4 1/2 or so. Britax has a whole new line that are just as good and safe, but we REALLY liked the marathon a lot. The only downside to it (and maybe all car seats are like this, but the Marathon was the only one we owned)it's a tad bulky and awkward if you're taking it on a trip and need to lug it through an airport. We used it on the plane once and checked it the other times. But overall on a 1-10 scale, we'd still give it a 9.9! It's also got the great LATCH connectors that just plug into the car. http://www.britaxusa.com/products/product_detail.aspx?ID=5
I think everyone in my husband's family had their kids in the Marathon or the Roundabout, but now they've got so many others to choose from too. Worth every penny as far as we were concerned.

I have three girls (11 yr, 7 yr and 9 mo.). We recently bought an Alpha Omega Elite for our daughter and I absolutely love the carseat. It goes up to 100 lbs and will never need re-threading of the shoulder straps as your child grows since it adjusts up front. My daighter loves the carseat and hates to be in her old carrier now... we will be buying another Alpga Omega Elite soon for our second car.