Convertible Car Seats - Durham,NC

I have the Evenflo Snugride and am happy with it. It is a really big car seat. It's rear facing up to 35 lbs and I think it goes up to 50 lbs so it can be used for a long time.

I would highly recommend any of the Britax car seats. They are a little pricey, but well worth the money and safety that you get out of them. We were in a horrible car accident when my daughter was 10 weeks old. She was still able to and could have been in her infant car seat/travel system. But since we were traveling to and from the beach, we opted for the bigger car seat. Long story short, the seat saved her life. We are very grateful for that and have recommended the big car seats to everyone we know. Check out www.britax.com for information about all their car seats. You can sometimes find them on sale in various stores around town or online.

I recommend paying $5.95 for a month subscription to consumerreports.org and checking out their safety and ease of use ratings. I am a big fan of the Britax car seats. They get great safety ratings in the US and in Europe (where their standards are higher than ours). They are big and bulky, and they are expensive, but they are the safest. And considering we will use them for about 4 years, the cost ends up being pretty minimal. I bought a Britax Marathon for my daughter when she moved out of her infant seat at 9 months. She's now 4 1/2 and still using the Britax. She can be in it until she's 65 pounds or 48 inches. She'll reach the height limit first, but at 4 1/2 she still has about 6 inches left. When my other daughter needed a convertible car seat, we also got her a Britax. She's now 2 1/2 and I expect she'll be in it until she's at least 5 also. I did buy a Graco convertible seat for the rare instance when I needed a carseat in my husband's car. By the time my kids were about 1 1/2 they had outgrown it. They were smaller than the height and weight limits for the car seat, but they just didn't look safe in it, especially after having them in the Britax. And in the Britax the child can stay rear-facing until 35 pounds, and rear facing is the best way for them to stay. I will admit that the Britax when it's rear facing is not easy to install (so moving it from car to car is not the most pleasant experience). But it's better to install them and have them checked out by an expert and then keep them in place than to keep moving them back and forth anyway. When the Britax is forward facing it's not difficult to move. If I were buying a new convertible car seat right now, I would get the Britax that has wings on the headrest (I think it's the decathalon). The wings provide better support in case of an accident. The Radian carseat also gets really good reviews and is smaller than the Britax, but it's hard to find in stores to check it out.

I have two boys, 4 years and 6 months. We loved the Graco infant seat as well so like you, we opted to buy another Graco seat. We however didn't choose a convertible seat. We used the infant seat until the 4 year old was ten months old. (He was a big baby.) I was taking my son to daycare and my husband picked him as well so we needed two seats and wanted the same kind. We just had a base in each vehicle for the infant seat. We chose the Graco Platinum Cargo Booster seat because we don't have to buy another seat. It is for 20-100 pounds and 27-43 inches tall and, about a month ago, when he got big enough for a "booster seat" (40lbs. & 40in) all you have to do is take the straps out of the car seat and use the seat belt in the car. Convertible car seats only go to 40 pounds. Then you still have to buy a booster seat on top of the $70-$100 you paid for the convertible car seat.

The only two drawbacks to using the Graco cargo booster seat is when the baby still falls asleep alot in the car is if your seats don't have much of an angle to them, the child seems to tilt to the side but we remedied that by keeping a pillow or blanket in the car to fold up and stick beside his head. And it is only forward facing.

I hope this helps!!

I also have a Graco baby seat but when it came to upgrading because my son is getting bigger Graco didnt fare well in the higher speed crash tests. Britax did the best over all, little more money than others but the safety is worth it. My son loves it. He is just crazy about facing forward, we have the Britax Decathalon.

My son is 9 months old. We use the Triumph Advance Deluxe Convertible car seat and I love it. It is user friendly, supports his head well when he sleeps in the car, and is very soft. It was about $140.00 at Babies R Us. My husband has an Eddie Bauer one in his car...we don't use it much. My son doesn't seem to like that one. It is quite hard and he doesn't sleep well in it at all.

Our little guy turned one a few weeks ago so was ready to be facing forward. . .but we bought a convertible seat anyway. I would 100% recommend the Evenflo Triumph. They sell for $130 at Babies R Us and $140 at Target. My son totally loves it. You can adjust the harness without removing the seat from the car which is great! It is comfortable and most importantly very safe! We like it so much that my parents bought one for their car too!

We have a convertible car seat for our 3 1/2 year old. We bought it when he was about 9 months old and he has been in it since. We are actually going to buy a new booster seat when he turns 4 because the convertible seat if REALLY dirty and worn. It was a good idea at the time but after 2 years of toddler use it is not going to make it much farther.

I would also recommend going to Babies R' Us or a similiar place that will let you try the car seat in your vehicle to make sure it will fit in the seat properly.

Whatever brand you get, make sure you test it out first- how hard/easy is it to buckle/unbuckle; how hard/easy is it to adjust, etc. I once bought an inexpensive one which was a BEAR to buckle, AND the kids could get out of it! My husband, being less frugal, tried them out at the store until he found one that was easy to use and safe. I learned my lesson.

I got the Eddie Bauer convertable car seat with my first child after using the Garaco carrier car seat until she was just about a year old. (she is now 7 1/2). The seat will go rear facing to 30 pounds unlike many that only go to 20. it then faes forward with the 5 point harness to 40 pound and becomes a booster to 80 pounds. It has now gone through 2 children and is still as good as new (if you don't count the dirt on the fabric.) the only draw back was that taking it apart to clean the first time was difficult, but we have become experts since then. I highly recommend this seat. Good luck

We LOVE our Britax convertible carseat. We have the Roundabout and we are on our 3rd child in it (also a 9 month baby girl!) It has held up amazingly well & we have people ask if it is new. It is still very sturdy & solid. When installed properly, if you try to shake it, the whole car moves (i.e. the carseat doesn't wiggle.) A great brand of carseat, well worth the money. Hope that helps.

I also had a Graco infant carrier, but after some research, decided on an Evenflo Triumph convertable seat. It's really easy to use, adjust and move into other cars. It's on it's second child now and has held up very well. I would definatly recommend one!