convertible carseats?

[surfergirl602]

WOW. There sure are many varieties of carseats out there!! Our youngest is in a bookster, so its been a while since I've bought a carseat.

I was working on our baby registry and started looking at carseats. Once the baby is out of the carrier, I don't have a place to put him.

There are so many brands and choices out there! I want something with comfort, reasonably priced (I don't mind spending a couple hundred on a good product) and something that has a high safety rating.

Where or where can I find this information and sort through all of these seats? I've always heard that britax is a good brand, but some others have to be good too, right?

What do you have, and what research lead you to purchasing that product? You can never be too safe these days, and the way people drive around here, we need all the protection we can get!

 

[JEWLSVERN]

I would check out car-seat.org. There are a lot of car seat techs there who can help you specifically.

Personally I would wait until after your baby has outgrown the infant seat (if you plan to use one) before you get a convertible. Otherwise you may lose months of time on the seat as they have exp dates.


The tru fit, Radian, and Marathon are just examples of highly rated convertible car seats.

 

[Maize&Blue]

I would check out car-seat.org. There are a lot of car seat techs there who can help you specifically.

Personally I would wait until after your baby has outgrown the infant seat (if you plan to use one) before you get a convertible. Otherwise you may lose months of time on the seat as they have exp dates.


The tru fit, Radian, and Marathon are just examples of highly rated convertible car seats.

my thoughts exactly. another good option for a convertible is the evenflo truimph advance. When looking, look for a higher rear facing weight limit. The longer you keep your child rear facing the better. it is now recommended to rear face to atleast age 2 and 30 lbs if not longer. then also a higher front facing weight limit so you can keep them harnessed as long as possible. i also would wait until the baby is outgrowing the infant seat. check out car-seat.org

 

[amylynne01]

There's also the MyRide 65 which will RF to 40lbs! Definitely check out car-seat.org for info - I have learned so much from them!

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

'Baby Bargains' book (excellent book- not just about bargains but getting best quality for your money) has a message board. There are a lot of car seat techs on that board and it is a pretty friendly message board.

 

[monkey30]

I personally skipped that convertable one after our first son, it was akward to use and we likes the high back boosters better then those, and the base is huge!

Go with what your child would be most comfy in, and is safest, I have bought expensive ones and less expensive and in the end liked the inexpesive one better! DS who is 4 still uses it!
Good Luck!

 

[kohlby]

We love our Sunshine Kids Radian 65. We had a Britax Marathon before this. I actually like the Radian better - and it's cheaper, though not a cheap seat. It's rear facing to 40lbs now! The Marathon is only rf to 33 lbs - I had to move my first child ff at a mere 16 months since he hit 33lbs then. The top harness height is slightly higher than the Marathon. This makes a difference since my tall torso'ed first child was too tall at 3 for the Marathon. His torso would have outgrown tradition up to 40lb seats before 18 months! The Radian has a narrower base and can fit 3 across. We'll be driving down to disney with a spot for me next to baby in our van. The only way we could work out the seats to do this was three across- a booster, the Radian, and me. Three Radians can fit across a regular car's back seat. (So if we flew and rented a car, we need that option so we wouldn't have to rent a van).

I had a HUGE problem with Britax customer service for our Regent. It was awful and took 6 phone calls and 4-5 months to get the problem resolved. Though Britax seats are good and there wasn't a seat other than the Regent that met our needs, I vowed to try to seek out a seat as good as Britax so I wouldn't have to deal with customer service again! (The Regent is forward facing only so not an option for you. We needed it for that first child with a huge torso to keep him in a 5-pt harness longer).

*Don't worry about 65 lb limits vs 80 lb limits. Unless you have a very overweight child, you're not going to come close to that 80. The Regent seats have the exact same top harness height in all their seats. My first outgrew his Marathon with the 65lb limit at only 40lbs. Though this isn't the norm, not making it to 65lbs is the norm.

 

[Ericandjenng]

Because all kids are built differently, we found our "2nd" carseat for our son by going into the stores and actually pulling the displays off the shelf and sitting him in them to see which one he fit best. Sorry but I don't remember which one it was, he's been in a booster for several years now.

I do remember verifying that it was rated for airlines also. This has to be on the safety labels on the seat itself or the airline will not let you use it. Although most airlines do not require it, it does give your child a sense of comfort to be in his "own" seat while on the plane.

Good luck hunting! Jenn

 

[amylynne01]

I personally skipped that convertable one after our first son, it was akward to use and we likes the high back boosters better then those, and the base is huge!

There were a couple of seats mentioned - which one did you skip?

 

[AKADrea]

There were a couple of seats mentioned - which one did you skip?

I wouldn't skip a convertible - the AAP now recommends keeping a child rearfacing as long as the weight limit allows on the seat - this can be up to 40 lbs on some carseats (sunshine radian). It really is the safest route And THEN you can turn them around and still get good use out of the seat - much more bang for you buck, IMO!

 

[msmama]

I agree with the poster that said wait until baby is born and then take them with you to try out the convertible seats. My DS HATED the baby bucket and we moved him into the convertible seat by 5 months old.

I also found the Baby Bargains Book and website good sources of info.

That said, DS seems to like his Britax Marathon and we still have him rear facing at 21 mos and 30 lbs.

 

[bumbershoot]

I agree with the poster that said wait until baby is born and then take them with you to try out the convertible seats. My DS HATED the baby bucket and we moved him into the convertible seat by 5 months old.

DS outgrew the Graco whateveritwas before he was 4 months old. By height. I did NOT expect to have to buy another seat so soon! After all, I'm only 5'3" and hubby towers over his family at 5'10".

Future baby? I'm *starting* with the convertible. Hubby and I took the bucket out of the car (with DS in it) ONCE each. Disturbingly heavy and awkward, and we didn't relish extra chiropractic visits to undo the unergonomic damage. So we just left the seat in the car the rest of the time and carried/wore DS to and from the car. Bucket was useless for us.

Now, of course, if your baby is too tiny for the lowest strap, or under the 5 pounds, I believe it is, for a Roundabout or Marathon, then a bucket is needed...but you won't really know if baby will be that tiny until you meet baby. And generally there's time for someone to run out to the store before you need that seat anyway...born at home, no need to leave for a good while...born at the hospital they generally won't let you leave for at least a FEW hours.

 

[kohlby]

Now, of course, if your baby is too tiny for the lowest strap, or under the 5 pounds, I believe it is, for a Roundabout or Marathon, then a bucket is needed...but you won't really know if baby will be that tiny until you meet baby

The Marathon has a minimum of 5 lbs - BUT there's no way any 10 lb baby would even be long enough for the lowest straps. My first two kids moved into the marathon at 3 months when they outgrew the infant seat. They were born at 23" and 23.5" (And 10lb 8oz and 11lb 4oz). So choose a seat with a very low setting if doing this. The Marathon won't work for skipping an infant seat.

 

[ashleyasiegel]

I have the Graco My Ride 65 for my 19 month old daughter. She is still rear -facing as it is the safest and this seat goes up to 40 lbs rear facing and 65 forward facing. I have had no trouble with this seat and my daughter loves it. Plus it didn't break the bank as it around $150 which is at least half the cost of a britax seat. I know that britax are nice seats but when you have to buy 2 it adds up quickly and I love that Graco came out with an afforable extended rearfacing car seat.

Hope that helps you!

Ashley

 

[amylynne01]

I wouldn't skip a convertible - the AAP now recommends keeping a child rearfacing as long as the weight limit allows on the seat - this can be up to 40 lbs on some carseats (sunshine radian). It really is the safest route And THEN you can turn them around and still get good use out of the seat - much more bang for you buck, IMO!

I'm totally with you on that! My 2 year is still RFing in Safety First Complete Air. I thought that the poster was skipping a certain convertible, and I was curious why.

 

[monkey30]

I wouldn't skip a convertible - the AAP now recommends keeping a child rearfacing as long as the weight limit allows on the seat - this can be up to 40 lbs on some carseats (sunshine radian). It really is the safest route And THEN you can turn them around and still get good use out of the seat - much more bang for you buck, IMO!

Well we had the alpha omega and really the booster seat part was no good, the seat belts did not fit them properly (had 2 of them), so we stuck to a basic car seat that was good forward and rear facing, and then moved up to a booster, which they picked as they are old enough to.

We have one now that my 4.5yr old uses, as he is not 40lbs yet and a lot of the convertable carseats he is to tall for as well. (underweight for his age and height!) but again all kids are built different and u will want to do whats best for u.

 

[blessedby3]

I moved our dd from her bucket seat to the Britax Marathon when she was about 7 months old. I love the Marathon
You dont want to buy the convertible seat until you need it as they have expiration dates now and new ones come out all the time.
www.albeebaby has lots of great deals on closeout seats when the fabric changes.

 

[Bren's Mom]

A CPST here...

I agree, don't register for a convertible now. There are a few reasons for this. One is that car seats expire, generally 6 years from date of manufacture. So a seat that someone gets you for a shower has its 'meter running'. A good, higher weight convertible seat that is purchased too early will expire before you've gotten all of the use out of it that you should be able to.

Another reason is that all babies are different. A short, chubby kiddo will fit differently in his/her convertible seat than a long, skinny baby. If you end up with one of those kids that is 30lbs by age 1, it's alot more important to find a seat with a 40 or 45 lb REAR facing weight limit than someone with a 20lb 1 year old for whom a seat with a 35lb rear facing limit would be fine.

I also encourage you to spend some time at car-seat.org. There you'll find a wealth of accurate child passenger safety information. People mean well, but HERE are Dis experts...not car seat ones. There's some misinformation in this thread.

And I also encourage you to find a CPST local to you (car-seat.org has a list of techs that participate there and their locales...or you can check Safekids.org to find a tech). Be sure to have your infant carrier seat checked WELL before baby arrives!

 

[puffkin]

My son outgrew his infant seat at 5 months. We went straight to a Britax Marathon. He was in that until shortly after his 3rd birthday and now is in a high back booster. My son is really, really tall (43") and weighs about 50 pounds, he will be 4 in March. My DH drives a Corolla so we do have some space issues.

In my car he has been in a Britax Regent since 18 mos. I drive an SUV so space isn't as much of an issue. That seat is HUGE. He will have several more years in it too, even though he is a big kid.

We loved the Marathon and I like the Regent alot. I would buy another Britax again in a heartbeat.

 

[disneydreamerbelle]

I love love love the Britax Boulevard worth every penny and more. We were in a 45MPH head on collision (not my fault) and DS came out without a bruise on him. I love this seat so much that I didn't even put my next baby in a carrier seat he went straight to the Boulevard (I felt that he was much safer in this). They also have the new Advocate which I haven't used, but my next child will be in that. I also love that they fit the child from infant to 49" 65lbs. so they stay in a five point harness much longer which is a good thing IMO.