Recommendations for Car Seats

Hi! I understand needing new seats on a budget. However what you will want to look for in a carseat is a higher harness height and weight. Some seats look great, like the 3-in-1 (eddie Bauer, Alpha Omega) but they are not great seats. Jack of all trades, master of none. THey have short top harness slots (the very top slot can only be used in booster mode) and they make bad boosters, holding the belt too far away from teh childs body. And they only harness to 40lbs, and most children outgrow them in height around age 3, meaning you have to either purchase antoehr seat or unsafely put them in booster seats.

MY advice would be to look into the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe at www.albeebaby.com. Its $130, freeshipping, and its the same shell as the Britax Marathon. It was made BY Britax FOR Fisher Price. ITs a GREAt seat that will rear face to 33lbs (you want to keep your children rear facing to the rear facing weight limits of the seat, 33/35lbs) and will forward face to 55lbs. The seat WILL last your child the full 6yrs, meaning you will be able to use them until they expire, then safely move your children to high back boosters at age 6 when the seats expire.

If you don't want to order online, look for the Evenflo Triumph ADVANCE. It will rear face to 30lbs, and forwad to 50lbs. It says it will fit most 5yr olds, though its shorter than the Fisher price, Britax ,etc. Its still a GREAT higher weight seat for $130.

A few others are Sunshine Kids Radian65, Britax Marathon, Boulevard, Decathlon, Recaro Como/Signo (Recaro recently had another recall).

I know it seems daunting to spend more than $100 or $200 on a carseat, but when you think about how much you use it, and how important a carseat is, really youcan't put a price tag on it. And if you purchase a higher harness weight/height seat like a Britax or similar, your children will easily be able to use them until the yare 6+yrs old, or until they expire in 6yrs. You WILL get your moneys worth out of them, considering you will use them every day, multiple times a day, for 6yrs....

My almost 6yr old (45lbs, 49'' tall) still fits in our Marathon. He rides in the Britax Regent, and my 2 1/2yr old just went forward facing in the Marathon.

Hi R.
Unfortunately, when it comes to car seats, you get what you pay for. My son has had a Britax Marathon since he was 6 months old and outgrew his infant seat. It is incredibly comfortable (he never complains and we travel alot!) and it is one of the safest out there. The really nice thing about the Marathon is that it is good up to 65 lbs so you won't have to pay more money to transition to a booster like you would if you bought a seat that only went to 40 lbs. If you look online you can often find really good sales on the Britax. Good luck!
B.

R.-I also have twins (10 1/2mos). We needed to get a new carseat, because one of the infant seats we were using was M. sister's & she just had another baby. So after doing some safety searches, we bought the Graco Comfort Sport carseat ($70 at wal-mart,$80 at target). We only bought one & traded off using it with each of the girls to be sure that they were comfortable in it & that it was easy to use. It definitely is GREAT & have now ordered another one! When I did M. searches on-line, they ranked one of the Britax models(I'm not sure which one, because it was definitely out of our price range-having to also buy two), along with the Evenflo Triumph & the Graco Comfort Sport as the three safest models. We decided to go with the Graco model, because of the size of the Evenflo. If we wanted to move the front seats of our Jeep (grand cherokee) back far enough for M. husband to drive comfortably, we needed a seat that was a little more compact. Also I like to ride in the back between the seats on longer trips, and these definitely allow for that. Good luck! Hope this helps some.

I am a mom of three kids, 10 yrs, 8 yrs and 3 1/2 yrs old. I have used many many car seats in my days. I am also a daycare provider. I found that I like the

Evenflo Triumph Advance LX Convertible Car Seat - Hansen. You go to Babies R Us They are about $130.00 to $160.00 depending on the model you buy. I wish my daughter still fit into it. It is rear facing intel they are a year old. They child can still lay down some what even when it is faced forward.

I have two of them cause we have two cars that we drive. One for my husbands car and one for my truck.

Good Luck.

Different people prefer different seats, but what you want to look for is how much weight the seats hold. You'll probably want to find seats that can be rear facing and then forward facing. Some 'convertible' seats can be rear facing for over 20 pounds and then forward for up to 40 pounds. You can get 'extra's like padding, cup holders, etc ... but the weight limit is one big thing to look for. You'll also want to check how many holes there are for the shoulder straps. The more there are the longer the seat will last. When the kids are rear facing, keep the shoulder straps at or below their shoulders. When they are forward facing, keep them at or above their shoulders. You should be able to find seats for close to $100 if not less - all depends on how extravagent you want. Evenflo is a good brand - that's the brand I ended up with for most of my daughter's seats.

I know you don't want to spend much, but you need to think of this as an investment. It is the only thing keeping them safe on the road and if you purchase wisely, the seats will be used for YEARS!

Both of my children have the Britax Marathon. I purchased them because they are the best car seats available...the safest and also the seat that can be used for the longest period of time given it's height and weight limits. And another Britax perk is that the straps NEVER twist!!!

They're an investment, but an important one to make!

Hi R.,
I had the same problem when I had to go find a car seat for my daughter when she turned one, which one do you get? All I can say is if I had to do it over I would find one that grows with them. I know $500 is a lot of money, but if you find one that grows with them then they should stay in it for 4-5 years. So when you break it down you aren't spending much. They do make car seats that have the 5 point harness for when they are still little and then when they get to the booster stage you can remove the harness and just use a regular sit belt to go over them. Also I would find one that reclines. my daughter has a very hard time sleeping in her car seat that she has now, she is to upright.I hope this helps.

I would deffinately go with the Safety 1st Intera. If you have a smaller vehicle you ca take the bottom booster off and they fit just fine. I have 2 of these one for my daughter and one for the baby coming in July. My son has a bottom booster and they all 3 fit in the backseat of our saturn just fine. This seat grows with your child from 5 pounds to 100 pounds. It will be the last seat you need to buy. Very nice and comfy and they have cup holders. Like that really makes a difference. I did see them on Amazon for around $90. Double check. I got mine used. 2 for $80 on craigslist. Hope this helps. laterz

Hello R.,
I also have 13 month old twins. I just recently bought their new toddler seats and we choose to go with Alpha Omega. Great seats, lots of padding, easy adjustable straps and easy adjustable height. I also wanted to recommend that you go to Babys R Us or find another place that gives multipule discounts. Our seats cost $160 each and with the discount and tax we only paid $308. They knocked off about $32.00. It really helps when you have to buy two. These carseats also go up to 100lbs. Something else to keep in mind!! Good Luck as there are alot out there to decide on.

Twins! Bless your heart! We went to our County car seat clinic(Sherburne). They do everything from teach you how to put them in properly, to selling them to you for $20 a piece! Free, if it's an issue! It's great because they'll give you the little clips or whatever if your seatbelts aren't right and everything. They just want to make sure your kids are safe! Then you'll know you're doing it right! I found out I wasn't! I was glad to learn the right way! Because my daughter and I were rear ended and totaled my car, so that was handy knowledge! They should have ads in your local papers or just call the county you live in. It's for safe kids not just a handout or anything! I'm glad I took advantage of it!

Hi R.-
I am a 32 year old mother of 3 month old twin boys. I am so appreciative that you started this thread. I'm copying the responses and saving them for when we go shopping later this year for their other car seats. Thanks so much for doing the work for me and God Bless you and your family.

Britax Marathon all the way! 5-65lbs harnessed carseat the only carseat you'll ever have to buy and you won't have to put your kids in a booster when they grow out of traditional carseats at 40lbs. Its one of the safest, easiest to use and most comfortable. YES exspensive but worth every penny. I'm a financially challenged single mom and I my daughter has owned the Britax Marathon and now the Britax Regent I won't put my daughter in a booster. Tax return time is a great time to make purhases like this or ask for family to pitch in and get your children this for their first birthdays it's not like they really need hundreds of toys at holidays.

Hello R.. i have a Evenflow and EddieBAuer carseat for my son. i would so not recomend the Evenflow. my son is not confrtable in it. we have taken some long trips and he seamed very, very unconfrtable. now i got him EddieBauer car seat and he stopped being so fusy when siting in a car. i love it and it cost me about $80 but it was money well spent. we take 5 hr trips one way every other weekend and i am so happy that i did it. here is a link so you can check it out. its from 5lb to 80lb. one of those convertible seats. hope this helps...

http://www.babyage.com/products/22-741ati_eddie_bauer_edd...

I bought the Evenflo Titan Elite. It is great. He seems to be very comfortable in it. It got just as good of ratings at the Britex and is far less expensive. I don't think you need to spend a ton of money to get a good product. I did a lot of research for about 2 months before I bought our car seats. The Evenflo Titan Elite goes up to 50lbs so it will last a long time. I ordered it online at walmart.com it is only about 100$ per seat and we had to by 2 also. TIP: if you order site to store you don't have to pay shipping you can just pick them up at the store.
www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7767642

I also have a 10 month old, he has been out of his infant seat for two months now. I have the Evenflo Triumph Advanced LX Convertible car seat. I love it.
It comes with a lot of different removable pillows, so they stay confortable as they grow. It is easy to adjust the straps with the change of seasons, without taking it out of the car. I know 3 other moms that have this seat and they still love thiers too. It comes with a very high consumer report score and was around the $150 range. Good Luck, K.

You can look on the Consumer Reports website. They have rated seats for safety and ease of use. One of the Evenflo convertible seats (I think it was the Evenflo Titan) rated just as high as the Britax ones, and is less than half the cost. We bought the Evenflo seat and have been very happy with the way it works/comfort for our son.

We have two small kids and 4 car seats - 2 EvenFlo and 2 Safety 1st. We definitely prefer the EvenFlo. The straps are much easier to tighten with the knob on the side, as opposed to the strap that you pull on. When the boys are in heavy winter coats, the tightening strap all but disappears into the seat when we put the straps around their arms. We have to use a pair of pliars to grasp the strap and pull it down to tighten it. The Evenflo is much easier to tighten.

We bought the Alpha Omega Elite when our 4 1/2 yo switched from the infant seat. He still uses it and loves it. We now have 4 of them total. One in each vehicle for each child. They are a very comfortable seat for the kids and grow with the child. We are still using the 5 point harness for our oldest because he is a lightweight and besides he likes it that way.

I just bought a new seat for my 7 month old son, the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe. I couldn't be happier with it. It was more than we wanted to spend on a car seat as well but safety is so important and if something is to happen I feel that he is safe and secure. Good luck!!

R.,
I'm writing not with any advice and I apologize but I too am curious as to the advice you get. I too have twins and although my twins won't be graduating to a larger car seat for a while I still want to do my homework.
On another note are your twins, or did they ever, share a crib? My twins are 4 months old and I think they may be starting to bother each others sleep.

We just purchased the Alpha Elite Echelon a month ago for our soon to be 1yr old. It converts all the way up to a booster and reclines in three positions. We paid around $170. We are just using it still as rear facing but like it so far. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I went with the cheaper Cosco Scenera from Wal-Mart (in the $40 range), and it works fine (not very padded, though). I had seen that it had a 5 star rating at www.walmart.com with over 100 people rating and leaving reviews, so I felt comfortable going with it (unfortunately, the particular style I got isn't available online anymore, or I'd give the link). We don't go out a lot, but my son was fine on the one 5 hour trip we took since we've had it. I guess my main problem with it is that it seemed a little tilted when it was in rear facing position, since I don't have the latch system and had to use a lap belt with shoulder strap to hook it in.

Either way, I'd suggest going to a website like www.walmart.com, www.target.com, or www.babycenter.com that shows user ratings and reviews, and look at car seats that have 4 or more stars. People are usually pretty good about letting you know what was good and/or bad about the product.

Rachel: The Center for Healthy Living through Sacred Heart Hosptial in Eau Claire has a car seat check event on Thursday, March 27 from 5 - 8 pm at Markquart Motors in Hallie, WI. Bring the girls and their seats and the techs can help you decide if you need a new seat. If you do, they would have seats there you could purchase. The seat inspection is free and they have a wealth of knowledge! If you prefer, call ahead to talk to a technician at ###-###-####.

cosco scenera's are cheap AND safe. i highly recommend registering for the baby bargains forum (you know the book, baby bargains?) and checking out this forum for recommendations:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=f...

I have found Evenflo Triumph car seats to be the easiest to use. They are easy to move from one car to another and they are easy to adjust the straps depending on how thick the clothing your kids are wearing. They also seem to be the most padded and comfortable. My husband and I were just saying the other night they look so comfy we wish they made adult chairs like that.

I have never used the Britax carseats, but heard they are great.

I would also highly recommend the Radian65 or Radian80 by Sunshine Kids. They have a 5 point harnessed weight of 65 and 80 lbs.

It is recommended to keep your child in a 5pt harness for as long as possible as it is the SAFEST option for you child.

I know you don't want to pay alot, but it IS worth it to keep you child safe.

Please check out this website and it is a real eye opener!!!

http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/pages/home/index.htm