Looking for Reliable Car Seat for 8 Month Old

Britax is the brand that was rated safest by consumer reports. I did my research last month when we were switching my daughter over, but they are expensive, but well worth it. She loves it and it was easy to install. Hope this helps.

I love the Cosco Omega Elite so much that I bought three of them. (One for my car & each of the Grandmothers.)

Love Love Love my Britax Decathlon. It is very Similar to the Britax Marathon (same shell/size&weight limits), but it has a push button instead of a lever to loosen the straps so the kiddos will never be able to let themselves out. My daughter seems very comfortable.

We also use the Cosco Omega Elite -- it goes from birth (5 pounds) to 80 pounds and converts to a booster seat so it's the "only" seat you'll ever need. It was about $130 at Babies R Us, but was also rated very well on Consumer Reports -- only a point or two below the Brittax for less money. (I think it was last year I checked when we registered.)

I have the cosco alpha omega elite...recommended by my friend's husband who is a fire fighter and took classes on the car seats. They also use the same seat. We love it!

We got the Combi Avantar. It was highly recommended in the Baby Bargains book as comparable to the Britax but slightly cheaper. It has the tethers for both front and rear facing. We actually got ours at Once Upon a Child on Harlem (it was new, not used) for even less than the list price. It was a great deal and my 10 month old daughter really likes the seat. It is rear facing now and we will keep it that way for as long as possible. It is pretty big though, like the Britax, so may not work if you have a really small car. We have a Pontiac Vibe and it fits, barely. We have had it for a month and are really happy with it.

D.

I really like our Graco comfortsport I think it is. FYI - big clearance on car seats at Target now (among other things on clearance there). It was 30% off a LOT of them. Companies must be changing the fabrics or something.

Hi C.-

A few months back I bought a second car seat for my husband's car and got the Evenflo Triumph Convertible car seat (after tons of research). I love it! I highly recommend it due to it's comfort for my daughter (who's 15 mos now), price ($129), and safety (it's 1 of the 3 Consumer Reports picked for top car seat of the year for safety). If you read customer reviews on sites like Amazon, you'll find a couple of customers who said it made it through a bad car accident with their child and one wrote paramedics said it most likely saved their child's life and hadn't seen a car seat come through an accident like that. I was sold after I read reviews like that. I found it priced the same at Target and Amazon and ended up purchasing through Amazon as it had free shipping and was delivered in 2 days.

Good luck!
D.

I have 2 Britax Decathalons (I have a son & daughter) and love them. I would highly recommend these to anyone. They are pricey but totally worth it. Good luck.

A.

I love my Britax marathon. It's comfy and very easy to install and to take in and out of cars.

I also have the Evenflo Triumph Convertible car seat like Dina. It is in the top 3 on Consumer Reports but at a fraction of the cost of the Britax car seats.

C.-

I bought the Britax Regent from www.tinyride.com It's up there in price but in my opinion way worth the money- Tinyride also has free shipping (good thing because this seat is very HEAVY!)Look on their site. They have all the information needed to know.

Hope this helps!
Jackie

We love the Britax Marathon. It goes up to 65 lbs, but that may be all that you need. My daughter likes it and it is easy to take in and out of the car since the latch system is set up like car seatbelt latches. We've been in ours for almost 4 months since my daughter turned 6 months.

The women at Babies 'r Us said that they also recommend the Graco Comfort Sport, but it only goes up to 40-45 lbs. Big price difference and you may find that you will want to be changing car seats at that time to a booster anyways.

I have two Britax which are highly rated for safety and easy to use. (I little pricy, though) I Love my Britax Marathon and would highly recommend it. I don't love my Britax Boulevard. It is one of the newer ones with the side impact wings and it is very difficult to get your child in and out of. Loved the thought of extra safety so that is why we got it, but very awkward, especially if you have an SUV.

A word of advice, I was excited to buy a car seat that would accomodate my child up to 80lbs, in reality even if he doesn't weigh 80lbs he will be out of that car seat and into a booster probably by the time he is 3- 3 1/2 years old. They grow so quickly that the car seats become a little tight. He is now 2 and 35lbs, but because he is tall he is almost too big for the seat. Good Luck.

We love our Cosco Omega Elite. The strap are a little stiff at first and was very uncomfortable putting him in it but as soon as they loosen up, it is great. Very easy to adjust the height and length of straps.