Car Seat Reccomendation

We bought an Alpha Omega by Cosco Juvenile @ Target that does both back and front, starting at 5 lbs. We bought one for each car and have been using them since that first year. My daught is 7 and we just converted it to a booster this fall.

Stephanie

Take a look at Consumer Reports magazine, or their website. They always have lots of info about children's products, particularly baby car seats, and they are independent--- they don't accept any advertising, so they are the most objective source of information about consumer products.

we have the graco nautilus, don't know if it will fit in bucket seats. good car seat, will transform into the booster seat later.

I agree with putting it in your car first. We went to Babies R Us (in San Jose) and were ready to get the Britax Marathon. They let us take the display model out to our car and we realized that it was too big to fit rear-facing safely and comfortably. We ended up getting the Britax Roundabout (which we also tried out in our car first).

Wherever you get your car seats (we bought ours from an online site), go to one of the baby specialty stores and look at them and try them in your car first!

try http://www.carseatdata.org . they have a searchable database where you can enter your car's year, make, and model and which type of seat you're looking for (e.g. rear-facing convertible) and it will show you the info that other users with the same year/make/model have entered - make/model of car seat installed, where it was installed (e.g. second row passenger side, etc.), how easy it was to install and how well it fit.

I also recommend posting your question on the forums at http://www.car-seat.org/ . Many of the regulars there are certified child-passenger safety techs and all the regulars are very helpful and well-informed and can help you find a seat that fits your car, child, and budget.

Britax roundabout. We have the marathon, but if we had a smaller car we would go with the roundabout. If you live in the sac area, Goore's will let you try it in your car. Britax has one of the hightest ratings on carseats. Good luck.

i first bought a convertible recaro for my subaru outback, and it wouldn't fit. exchanged it for the maxi cosi priori and we love it.

We bought the Alpha Omega 3 in 1 for our son a few years ago. He is 3.5 now and it still fits him great. It converts all the way up to 80-100 lbs. We love it so much that we bought another one for our daughter who is now 8 wks old. She is still in the infant seat, but will be in the big seat before we know it. It is a great size and has a removable cup holder and arm rests that you can push up when not wanted. The Britax carseats are just TOO big in my opinion, not to mention overpriced.

Go to a nabyies r us and ask them to try the floor models in your car so you can confirm it will fit.

You need to physically put seats in your car before buying. Go to Goore's (or maybe Babies R Us) so you can talk with a car seat technician and see what fits best in your car. Good luck!

I definitely recommend the Britax Roundabout. It's fairly small and light. I also have the Evenflo Triumph Advance which Consumer Reports rated highly and was much cheaper but it's not as good and much bigger and heavier.

I love the Roundabout. It's super easy to install and to use.

HI,

I bought a Graco car seat a while back for my daughter who is now 5 and now my one year old has used it since birth. They are bucket seat and of course have the safty straps in bakc to anchor down. Both my kids used them for years and it is rear and front facing. After 5 years it looks brand new. There are so many good ones now with what you are looking for with bucket seats. Hope this helps.