Convertible Car Seat Opinions

I don't have an opinion about which one...we have the britax and its a bit bulky but as we are entering into convertible carseat with # 2 I can strongly suggest not having to take a carseat in and out if at all possible. Its pricey but well worth it. Getting them in correctly and out all the time can be a serious strain if done daily. From one crunchy granola mom to another let this one be easy and go with 2

personally I think that you need to get 2 car seats, you might be able to get away with one for a while, but it is going to be a little bit much taking that big huge thing in and out every day twice a day it's not the same as the kind with the base, it is hard to get the straps through the back of the car seat (in my experience) and I have pretty small hands. My husband cannot even get his hand through there, and it is very difficult for him to get the strap through. Hope that my two cents helps! LOL - good luck!

A friend of mine, whose hubby is a CHP officer, got me an Evenflo Triumph for my first and when my second came along, I asked if that was still his choice for car seats and he said yes! So we've had two of them as well because my daughter wasn't out of hers when my son came along. They're great, easy to adjust and have fit in all the cars we've had them in. My kids were always comfy and the padding has improved and is way better than my daughter's was. They are easily adjustable for times like now, when it goes from hot to cold outside... we love them!
Good luck!

Hi C.,
I don't know much about the car seats, but I can tell you one thing. Although you may not be able to buy 2 bases with a car seat in the store, you can always go online and buy another one, whether at that company's site or Amazon or other places to find a little better deal than the company site. Also, you can look at places like craigslist.com and ebay to see if anyone has another car seat or base for sale. Good luck!

I have always been a fan of Graco car seats. Our first infant one was a Graco, then we have since upgraded to something similar to the Graco Nautilus. I find them the easiest to "clip" your child into and adjust the straps. I do want to add that my husband and I also split the time we spend in the car with our son and I am so thankful we have 2 seats. Installing a car seat properly in a timely fashion is not as easy as most think and something like 85% of car seats are installed incorrectly. I would opt for 2 seats. Maybe a bit expensive up front, but well worth the cost. Good luck

I cant tell you about the car seats because I don't have any of the brands you mentioned but personally I think taking the car seat in and out is not going to work. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to get it in secure. If I were you I would get two.

We just went through this with our 9 month old daughter. This is what we did --we purchased the Recaro Como Convertible seat holds them up to 70lbs. I googled the seat until I found it online for about $189.00, no shipping, no tax, I think it retails at $249.00. That is for one of the cars. For the other car we looked on Berkeley Parents Network marketplace and Craig's list for the second seat. Gently used we found a Britax Marathon for $50, we went to the Britax website and purchased replacement foam, harnesses and belt clips for $35. Total cost for seat and new parts $85.00. That helps with cost. Based on my research Recaro is the top of the line --but its not cheap. This approach allowed me to get it.

As for moving seats back and forth NO WAY! They are too clunky and hard to put in the car. You are not going to want to move it around. My advice get 2 seats.

Hope this helps.

Hi C.,

I am in the same position you are. After doing a ton of research (and consulting my "Baby Bargains" book), I ended up buying a gently used Britax Marathon carseat off of Craigslist that was a two years old for one car. For my second car, I am getting a Sunshine Kids Radian 65 from Bed Bath and Beyond. If you place an order in the store for an item online you can use one the 20% off coupons that come regularly in the mail. This made that car seat about $170. As others have mentioned, this is a narrower car seat and it folds to 6.5" flat, which makes it more easily transportable in the event you need to fly somewhere.

I had also looked at Cosco Scenera. They were rated well but a friend told me that her daughter wasn't that comfortable in it for long rides as there is very little padding. But if it were in a second car and not used for long rides, it could be a great deal (between $50 and $65 depending on the seat cover, it seems).

Out of the seats you listed, the Evenflo Triumph had gotten the best ratings, based on what I had read.

(Good job on the cloth diapering, making your own baby food and breastfeeding! I'm doing all of that as well! Nice to see like-minded parents out there!)

echoing what others have said, i'd definitely get two car seats. it's a pain to be regularly installing them properly, and eventually someone will take a short cut with it, which isn't good. also, the recaro signo/como is very large - so big that it wouldn't fit in my wagon, really requires an suv.

We purchased The First Years convertible car seat. It goes up to 60 lbs. I've heard some people say that it's too big for their cars. It fits great in ours (we have a Murano). We purchased it for the main car and then DH found an Evenflo on craigslist. I like it a lot. It doesn't look as comfy as The First Years, though. I would say you definitely need two. I hate to move the car seats around.

We have the Evenflow Triumph. It is actually very easy to install, and install correctly. For now, we just use it in the one vehicle. It's the "baby wagon." We switch off cars depending on who has our son. I picked the Evenflow triumph because it has the same safety ratings as Britax, but half the price! Maybe you guys could buy a second-hand car seat for the vehicle you don't take as often. Just a thought. Good luck and happy shopping!

I have a Brittax that I started using for my daughter (also long) at 10 mos, so I can't give you a brand recommendation. However, I wanted to let you know the bigger seats are much easier to switch from one car to another, particularly once you reach the forward-facing stage. Mine rotates through three vehicles each week. Two have the latch system, which is very easy. One doesn't have latch, so I use the shoulder/lap seat belt, which is surprisingly easy as well--much easier than moving the bases for infant seats around. I would suggest starting out with one, and if you can't handle the work of switching it each time you use a different vehicle, then re-evaluate whether you want to spring for another.

J.

I wouldn't recommend having only one seat. I totally understand the cost consideration as I am not rich myself, however the convertible seats are a major hassle to take in and out of the car all the time, making sure they are in tight enough for the next ride. We have the Alpha Omega Elite and love it. I was in an accident recently and purchased the same seat again because I love it so much.

We have the Graco Nautilus and love it, but if your dauter is only 9 months old, she's too young for it. It is "convertable" but not rear facing-forward facing. It's conversion is from a forward facing harnessed seat (to 65 lbs) to a belt positioning high back booster to a backless booster seat.

Sorry. It's a great seat, but if you're daughter is actually too big for the infant seat, you'll need a seat that can be rear facing.

Another suggestion is the Cosco Scenera (i think that's the name). It's really inexpensive ($40-50 depending on where you get it) and highly rated for safety. It only harnesses to 40lbs, but between now and then you'd have the option of some of the forward facing only seats with higher weight limits. You could afford to get two seats and install one in each car.

My solution to the problem was to find my daughter a gently-used Britax seat with several years before it expires--which knocked the cost down by half. For my son, he was using a Britax seat (bought used before my daughter was born) that had expired about the same time he was born (I wasn't too worried, as this seat was in storage for a couple of years, at my house, but I figured on replacing it as soon as we could afford to), and I lucked into a colossal deal at the San Jose Capitol Flea Market a couple of weeks ago--a brand new, in the box, Britax Diplomat for $80!!!

The Britax seats are easy enough to take out, but I still think it would be a pain to do it every day. But I stay at home, and our second vehicle is a pick-up with no back seat, so I only have to take 'em out to wash the seat covers once in a while. The big car seats don't have bases--it's all one piece. On the other hand, what nobody seems to talk much about is that the little infant car seats are much less safe than the big "convertible" car seats--which is why my 6-month old is in a big car seat, rear-facing. I had one of those infant seats, installed it in my car when I was 35 weeks pregnant with my (2 year-old) daughter. And got into a major car wreck the next day, at highway speed. That infant seat came off of its base & went flying around the car!!!
Britax makes sure their seats pass the safety tests at highway speeds. The other manufacturers don't even come close to that.

It is my opinion that you should get at least one briatx, this is you child's safety and I know it is expensive, but it will last for the rest of the time your child will be in a carseat. There are some things that should not be an issue of money when it comes to children and carseats is one of them. Think about the drivers you see on the road everyday.

I had a cheaper carseat and once I put the britax in, I felt like a horrible mother. It was by far so superior and did not budge. My car moved when I tried to move it. It is also very easy to take out and put in... Not that you would want to do that daily, but for grandma or an emergency pick up

I understand your dilema, I just wanted to put my two cents in.

K.

the convertible car seat is going to last years so I would get 2 - 1 for each car.

Please note that the Nautilus is a *forward facing only* seat and thus would not be appropriate for a 9 MO. Of the Evenflo Triumph and Titan, the Triumph (be sure it's the Triumph *ADVANCE* with the 50 lb. weight limit) would last longer because it has a taller shell and taller top harness slots compared to the Titan.
Getting one seat for each car will *definitely* be worthwhile if you use both cars all the time, it takes time and effort to install a seat correctly and it's not something you want to be doing once or more per day! And when you figure that the convertible seat could last you 5 to 6 years, the amount of time you'd save definitely more than makes up for the expense of buying two seats.
And if you don't mind a 'girly' print, the "Ashley Floral" pattern Britax Marathon is $179 at http://www.albeebaby.com/britax-marathon-convertible-car-... .
PS: Here's a helpful link in determining when your child's rear-facing seat is outgrown by height - height limits listed on the seats are more of an approximation than an absolute limit like the weight limits, b/c some children have more height in the torso and others have more height in the legs http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=30201

I went through the same process when my son was ready for a real car seat. I went through a couple of options including Britax marathon. The Britax are really easy to install, but I am pretty careful about installation and I do think that it is easy to not fully install a car seat if you are doing it everyday as part of your normal routine. Also my husband isn't as careful about the installation as I would like. (I am a bit of a fanatic.)

My best solution at this point is the Sunshine Kids Radian, they have one that goes up to 80 lbs in a harness and one that goes up to 65. I have two of the 80 as my boys are pretty big. I think that with the multitude of ones i have tried this is the best long-term solution. Also, they are really narrow, so I can fit two in my back seat and still have a real sized adult sit in the seat. They are the only seats I have ever been able to do this with even the bases are too wide. If you live in the area, email me back and I am happy to show you all the options we have currently.

It might be difficult to just use the one. I do car seat installations and it can be hard to get a good fit every time you change cars and some of the seats have difficult belt paths and then if you throw in leather seats or other obsticals it can take even longer. I would have a problem planning an extra 20 minutes into every trip in order to install the car seat. Many couples elect to switch cars in order to avoid moving the seat.

We installed the Alpha Omega by Cosco Juvenile in EACH car to make it easier and less time consuming. Car seats have to be securely attached and changing cars was a pain.

What was nice about the AO was it came with the latch system (clips into the seats with clips) and a strap that hooked into the back dash or 3rd row in our Land Cruiser. The seat is so well installed, I never want to talk it out.

It has an adjustable back with wings (AKA head rests) that moves as the child grows. Then it converts to a booster without the 5 point harness.

My daughter is nearly 8 and still sits in the car seat we bought when we converted from the baby carrier. She's 54 inches tall and fits well in the car seat.

Stephanie

We have the Graco Nautilus (2 of them, actually), and love it. By the way, if you're going to buy 2 of the same big-ticket items, Babies R' Us will give you a "twin discount" (no, you don't have to have twins to get it)...we did that, and used another coupon we had as well, and ended up saving $90!!!

we have twins and it is ReaLLY easy to remove and install the Britax Boulevard card seats. It literally takes 2 minutes tops. Luckily for us, there were $$$ gifts from a family member bc normally we are all about hand me downs, but maybe hmd aren't an option for your car seats?

Definitely unrealistic- that is just too stressful, and you probably won't put the car seat in right (ie. with anchors and as tight as it should go) if you have to keep taking it out & putting it back. We have 2 britax Boulevards that we love, one in my husbands car and one in mine. We do't even share picking her up from daycare (I always do it)- but I could never imagine having to take an extra 3-5 minutes to change carseats on the weekends depeneding on which car we want to take her in!