Carseat for One Year Old

Hello, We have a recaro convertible seat that we love. It is expensive, but worth the price and comfort. We have had 2 for 1.5 years, and they look almost brand new. Wonderful quality. The child can be rear facing until 30 lbs. Good luck!

Here's another vote for the Britax Marathon. It's expensive, but safety equipment is well worth spending the money on. Also, it is very comfortable, which is nice for long car trips.

national highway saftey ratings: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/template.MAXIM...

Hi. We have the Evenflo Symphony and I HATE it!!!! We've only had it a year and the fabric on the seat is already breaking down. Also, the adjustable shoulder straps fall too low on a daily basis so I am constantly adjusting them. Finally, this seat sits high and the shape of the sides makes it impossible for my toddler to get in the seat herself. As my daughter grows, lifting her in the seat is becoming more of an issue since I have a two door vehicle.

I second the suggestion of a True Fit. it Rear faces until 35 forward faces until 65# It's got a nice tall shell, which the Graco My ride does not. So if your little one is on the tall side the Graco could be outgrown longer. the install was SUPER easy. They also have a 7 year expiration from date of manufacture where most other seats are only good for 6 years. I've seen them on Amazon for between 150 and 199 which includes their free super saver shipping.

Good Luck!

For a one year old, Britax and Graco are your best bets. Both are rated high for Safety. Britax is costly but well worth it. If you cannot afford that, go with Graco. Go by safety ratings first, and buy from there.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Current safety data recommends that you keep kids rear facing until at least age 2 (crash survival is 5x higher when rear facing, even if they are over 23 lbs). So I'd go for a carseat that is good quality convertible, that you can keep your child rear facing for a nice long time. I just got my 19 month old daughter a True Fit. We quite like it - very comfortable and padded, pretty easy to install and adjust, and it will fit her for a long long time. We found ours for $160 online (free shipping), which was a pretty good price.

I love my Graco My Ride 65. We looked at Britax, but the safety ratings were the same for a My Ride 65, and the Graco is a lot cheaper. The My Ride can keep your child rear-facing up to 40 pounds (the highest rear-facing poundage rate on the market). It holds up to 65 pounds forward-facing, but it is not convertible into a booster, so you will probably have to pay the $25 for a booster seat in a couple of years.

You can find the My Ride 65 at BRU, Target, Walmart, etc. (they have different colors at each store, for some reason). I like Graco - our pumpkin seat was a Graco, too. However, I would not spend the money on a Graco Comfortsport. We bought that one for my husband's car because he didn't want to spend the money for two My Rides. It's a lot cheaper than the My Ride 65, and there was nothing really wrong with it, but it felt much flimsier and seemed to jam up more easily, so the money we saved didn't (in my mind) make up for the difference in quality. We ended up returning it for another My Ride.

My 16 month old is rear facing in a Britax Roundabout, and my 4..5 yr. old son is in the Britax Marathon. Once my daughter has outgrown the Roundabout, she too will go into a Marathon. I highly recommend the Marathon- great investment! My 6 year old daughter can still fit into the Marathon, as well!

We have a Britax Bouelevard for our daughter. She has been in it since birth and has a ton of room, even now, at 28 months. This seat will rearface to 30/35 lbs (depending on which version you get) and forward face to 65 lbs with a height limit of 49 inches.

What has become my favorite feature of this seat is the no rethread strap adjustment. I love that I always have the perfect strap fit for my daughter by turning a knob - no guessing which slot is a better fit.

We plan to keep Dd in a 5 pt harness as long as possible. I don't foresee her outgrowing this seat any time soon. When she does outgrow it, we will probably end up with the Britax Frontier.

Good Luck with your decision.

S.

if you want to save yourself money in the long run... get a Britax! Those are the safest, and my daughter kept outgrowing the lower priced seats, before I was ready to use a regular seatbelt for her. So I ended up spending more in the long run! Not only are the higher weight limits important, but the harness strap height too! Those aren't as easy to find out... but for example, I had a Graco Comfortsport that had a harness height of about 14 or 15 inches... which my daughter outgrew by age 2! A Britax has harness heights closer to 18 or 19 inches.... that will give you another 2 years or so with the seat. I hope this helps!!!!!!

I have the britax marathon. its pricey imo, but well worth it, esp since they will be in it for a LONG time. I did a ton of research, and the one down side I read was that for boys, its a little tight around some boys peepee... but I have a girl. :P

http://www.overstock.com/Baby/Britax-Marathon-Convertible...

this is the one that I got, in that print too. Overstock actually has a really good price on it right now. :D In fact, I think I got mine from them too.

My daughter loves it, she is comfortable, and I like tat it fits in my jetta WAY better than her baby car seat did. Also, this one can fit rear facing if your car is big enough, its also approved for planes, which is great!!

Sunshine Kids Radian 65 is comparable to the Britax for high end seats but a little less $. It's more narrow so fits well in a sedan & actually folds if you ever will need it to fly. For mid-priced, I'd suggest the Evenflo Triumph.

It really depends on your child and your car. You want to make sure that you can get a good install in your car.--That's the most important thing.

Some things that you should look for when picking one out though, is how much it will hold rear-facing (RF). Ideally, it's at least 35 lbs. Then you want to look & see how much it will harness forward facing (FF). This should be AT LEAST 50 lbs.

Some really good brands/models are:
Graco MyRide 65
Sunshine Kids Radian 65 or 80
Britax Marathon (the Roundabout is far too short, in my opinion)
Recaro seats

You really want to beware of the "all in one" seats that claim to turn into booster seats. Most of them make HORRIBLE and very unsafe boosters. The exception to this is the Britax Frontier and the Graco Nautilus. However, neither of these rear face & you should really keep your child RF'ing for as long as you possibly can. I'd say, for an absolute minimum of 2 years (ideally). But the longer, the better!

I just ordered a new seat a couple of weeks ago from www.HipMonkey.com . They're having a great sale right now & carry only high-quality seats. Plus, all of their proceeds go to the Kyle David Miller Foundation, which is a fantastic organization. (There's info and a must-see video on their site).

Hope that helps some! Good luck!
A.

Britax!!! We have two seats - one for each of our cars, and our graco is a pain. The straps twist, and padding around the crotch area & shoulders is not sufficient. The Britax is WELL worth the money! We have a marathon & our duaghter is 3 going on 4. She's been in it since she was a little or 1 & it's still in great condition and is comfortable for her. We can use it until she's 65 lbs!

HI I really like Britax Marathon.... It is a lot of money but I feel totally worth it...I now need one for my soon to be 4 year old... I am thinking Graco again... Only because that is what we started out in... I have been pleased with their products... Ease of use, safety, etc... Hope this helps...
L. SAHM of two girls

We have the Britax Marathon. I think any Britax is a good one. They are more expensive, but have great reviews. I would recommend one. Good luck with your search!

My daughter has the britax marathon. It is a great seat and seems to be very comfortable. She has ridden for hours and hours in it.