Convertible Car Seat Recommendation Please

C. -

I don't have a lot of finger strength myself, and I found the Evenflo Triumph advance to be so much easier than any other car seat in terms of adjusing belts, changing sizes, and getting my son in and out on a daily basis. In fact, I can't wait until my daughter outgrows her infant seat so I can get her in it! It does not have the high weight range of some of the convertible car seats (only up to 50 lbs.) but it will still fit most kids up to 5 years old and I considered the ease of use well worth it.

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I know you don't want to spend the money on a Britax, but I've had 2 Britax Roundabouts (the little bit less expensive one) that I've used for my 3 boys. I LOVE them. We just stopped using one of them a few months ago-I'd had it for 7 years and it was still good and solid, my youngest was finally ready for a booster seat. For 2 years, I had 2 of them in my Honda Civic and they fit fine. What's great, is that it's easy to put in and out of different cars, easy to turn around (I used my extra one last year for a baby I was babysitting for and it was easy to pop in and out of the van). Easy to push a button and pull or loosen the straps-depending on how many layers of clothes your kids are wearing.

We have a adjustable Highback booster its by Eddie Bauer from target I am thinking it was like 80bucks or so. We just switched over to it from the carrier seat...its sooo much easier and better. And he loved it!!

C., I can't tell where you are located but if you're in/near St. Louis. Children's Hospital Safety Stop will sell you a Cosco convertible car seat for $25 and install it for free.

We have that seat in my husband's car which we only use for morning drop off, and I have a Britax Marathon. The Cosco seat is much smaller so it fits in his 2-door Pontiac Sunfire, it's much less cushy, but seems solid and pretty easy to use. I figured, no way would Children's sell anything that wasn't safe. This is a really wonderful program they have that many people are not aware of.

I love my Evenflo Triumph. We have the base model... It is forward or rear facing. It is a five point harness and instead of the hard to pull strap between the legs, it has a knob that you turn and a release button on the knob. The straps are easy to adjust WITHOUT taking it out of the car each time your child has a growth spurt and best of all, here in MO, with our needing a coat one day and not the next, during season changes, it is EASY to adjust around the coat. If you go to Babies R Us, they have a real car seat in their carseat area and you can test how all of the car seats they carry work for you.

Lastly, keep in mind the size of your vehicle and the size of the carseat. We went through three different ones before we found one that would fit my husband's truck the correct way.

We love our Evenflo Triumph Advance. It does have the buckle system you mention, but I've not had trouble with it being tough to open. I'm not sure there are any carseats (with high safety ratings) that don't have that type of system, though.

It fits in our little Nissan Sentra. It has a very high weight range (even rear-facing, which is safer!). My favorite part (and I thought of your arthritis) is the harness adjustment. You just slide the harness up and down to adjust the height, and turn a nob to tighten. It loosens with a push tab on the knob. I love this! We have a traditional harness system in my husband's car, and it is such a pain to adjust.

The Evenflo got higher safety ratings than Britax and is a lot more affordable. I can't say enough good things about it!

Don't forget that he needs to stay in the rear facing seat until he is 20 lbs and at least 1 year. :)

I purchased this Eddie Bauer seat from Target, that converts to a backless booster. It has received great safety ratings, but for some is hard to install. I myself had no problems installing it in my 92 Dodge mini van. It's a good seat, and my son loves it. It's also cheap, and there is another pattern to choose from as well! Here is a link.
http://www.target.com/Eddie-Bauer-Adjustable-High-Booster...

I know you didn't want to hear it, but I love my Britax marathon. It's easy to put in and out of the car as well as put kids in and out of. I plan on keeping my daughter in it a while longer (she's 4.5 and 32 pounds, big enough for a booster, but might as well keep her safer longer). $250 for 5 or so years isn't bad in my opinion. I've only tried a few others (when helping with other people's kids, etc.), but I haven't liked any nearly as well, and the kids think they're comfy too. We have two of them in a Tarus, but no one else can sit in the back (though they can in my parents trail blazer and mazda 6).

K.

We love our Alpha Omega Elites (by Cosco I think) and have been very happy with them. It fits nicely in my car which is a four-door Saturn, so it's not a huge back seat. THey are rated just as the Britax are in safety but are significantly cheaper. They are also easy to use. The only problem we had was rear-installation was a hassle, but I highly recommend having a professional do it...my motto is a car seat is no reason to ruin a marriage!

As A carseat instructor, you will want to find the seat that fits your child best and your car and one that you will use right everytime! You can push all the buttons but, it is standard that all of the red buttons take 15 pounds of pressure to push, so that our little angels cannot get out of them themselves. So yes they are right, take your child with you when you pick out the seat. Also, look at some of the different weights and heights on them to make sure he will not outgrow it to fast, do you want one to last him until he is 8 or 9 or can you buy a different one later. Just some things to think about. Have fun, and remember to have a car seat tech help you install it when you get it, goto safekids.org and find the nearest one to you. Thanks!

Evenflo Triumph 5 is one of Consumer Reports best picks, but I think you will still have some time before you need it. Your convertible seat goes to 22 lbs and a few models go to 30 lbs. It's okay if his legs are too long; it's where his head sits that matters. Weight definitely isn't a factor yet. Most convertibles will go to 35 lbs rear facing and that may take you to his second birthday before he needs to go forward facing. Please consider keeping him rear facing as long as possible.

P.S. I think as far as arthitis goes, convertible seats are just as much of a pain getting them in and out of as infant seats are.

I've had a smattering of about every kind so when we added an additional car to our family I opted to get another set of car seats as opposed to the constant moving (I too have arthritis and degerative discs). I did a lot of comparison and was about to settle on a Britax when one feedback I read at Target made a lot of sense to me...make your kid SIT in the car seat to determine if it is comfortable for THEM! Her kid happened to think the Britax felt horrible but loved the Compass. So off I went to Target and did the same thing with my kids...both my kids loved the Compass car seat (which I thought was cool b/c it will adjust in multiple ways as they grow) and it will fold in half if you travel by air. I believe the car seats come with their own travel bag as well. Compass scored fairly well on saftey and came in around the $70 mark for us. We tested them on a 14 hour car trip and they worked out well for us.

Prior to that we owned a Cosco, Graco, and Evenflo...for me, I weighed the cost with how long (height AND weight) they could stay in one car seat...and if that seat could adjust to make them comfortable, then it was all the better. Make sure you can operate the latch system...some of them are EXTREMELY difficult to snap in...I inherited one from my sister-in-law that was an evenflo that was darn near impossible to latch and unlatch. I would also make sure that at WHATEVER store you buy it from they will take a return if it doesn't work out...the display models get a lot of use and the latches can become easier to use...it may not be the same way when you get it new...therefore if you can't get baby in and out easy, it's not worth it NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU PAID FOR IT!!!

I can not say enough how much we LOVE our Evenflo Triumph. There are several different Triumph models, and they are about half the cost of a Britax (around $100-$120) and look about the same side-by-side. (Not that I was trying to find something that looked like a Britax for aesthetic purposes, but everyone raves about their comfort so that's why I mentioned it.) I would recommend trying a floor sample in your car before you buy it to be sure it will fit both rear- and forward-facing. Also, ours goes up to 65 pounds so we can use it for a LONG time. Good luck!