Need car seat recommendations

[sunlover13]

Recommend a convertible car seat please. My DS is 10 months old and getting too heavy for the infant carrier.

I went out and bought 3 of these car seats:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4389467

They were on sale for $99 and then I had a 20% off coupon so I ended up paying $87 each for 3 of them.

I was until this weekend when we had 1 of them installed. We had it installed by a car seat tech at our police dept. They were having free installations.......

It is IMPOSSIBLE to tighten the straps. UGH! I'm so disappointed b/c I thought I got a great seat for a great price. This seat was actually recommended by someone here on the DIS that was a car seat tech.

I just can't live with struggling with those straps. I was pulling on it with all my might and couldn't get it to budge at all.

So, all 3 car seats are going back to the store.

I have to buy 3, one for my car, one for DH's car, and one for my DSIL who watches DS.

So, I'm not going to buy a Britax and spend close to $1,000 on car seats.

I'd like to stay around $100 or less per seat if possible.

Any recommendations?

 

[linnell]

Evenflo Triumph http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4133855

Two years ago when I was shopping it was rated safest behind the Britax. I bought it for my youngest and have been quite happy with it.

 

[sherry7]

Just wondering....

Did you adjust the shoulder or crotch straps to a higher or lower position? If so, you might have accidentally twisted a strap - possibly behind the cover where you can't see it. That would make if very difficult or impossible to tighten the strap properly.

DH had to adjust my car seat (Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL) a couple of weeks ago, and this was exactly what happened.

You bought 3 highly rated car seats for a steal of a price. Before taking them back, I would investigate a little further and see if you possibly have a twisted strap. Good luck.

 

[sunlover13]

Evenflo Triumph http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4133855

Two years ago when I was shopping it was rated safest behind the Britax. I bought it for my youngest and have been quite happy with it.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check this one out. It's a little more than I'd like to spend since I have to buy 3 of them, but maybe I can find it cheaper somewhere.

Just wondering....

Did you adjust the shoulder or crotch straps to a higher or lower position? If so, you might have accidentally twisted a strap - possibly behind the cover where you can't see it. That would make if very difficult or impossible to tighten the strap properly.

DH had to adjust my car seat (Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL) a couple of weeks ago, and this was exactly what happened.

You bought 3 highly rated car seats for a steal of a price. Before taking them back, I would investigate a little further and see if you possibly have a twisted strap. Good luck.

I know! It kills me to have to return them. I'll check, but I don't think so. I've been reading reviews and it sounds like a lot of people complain about this issue when it is rear-facing. Sounds like it is easy to tighten forward facing, but not rear-facing. I'm going to play with it a little more tonight and hopefully figure it out. I really want to keep these seats, but can't keep them if I can't tighten the straps.

 

[amylynne01]

What you mentioned is one of the downsides of that seat. The harness adjuster gets buried in the back seat when you use it RFing. One solution is to not adjust the harness every time you use it like you would a infant seat. My girls' harnesses stay at the same tightness all the time, and I never use the harness adjuster unless they grow.

The seat you bought really is a great seat, and you got a great price on it! I would not return it if you can deal with not tightening/loosening the harness every time you use it. Many RFing seats have the same issue with the harness adjuster smooshed into the back seat. I have 3 different convertibles, and they all do it. Just something we have to deal with.

ETA: I am not a car seat tech, but car seat safety is something I am very passionate about.

ETA2: I own the Evenflo Triumph, and I think the harness adjuster on that is worse than the MyRide! It's on the side of the seat, and with the way the back seat of my Edge is contoured, I cannot turn the knob at all when the seat is RFing. I literally have to put all my weight on this little knob to get it loose. It's a huge pain, which is why I never play with the harness.

 

[christygobar]

I recently had an issue tightening the straps of my IL's car for my Safety 1st Complete Air 65 in rear-facing. Because their car is older, the seatbelts don't "lock" well when tightened. I was getting really concerned about DD's safety in their car.

I did some research and it involved me purchasing a Graco locking clip like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-4045-Se...s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1314640051&sr=1-1

Honestly, I had NO clue how this thing was supposed to magically tighten my carseat. But it did do the trick. Turns out it keeps the lap strap from moving in an accident. It's like a $3-4 fix, and I'm glad I researched it. Doesn't seem like something people talk about frequently.

Maybe it could help you!

 

[dhardawa]

Definitely look through the seat and make sure the straps aren't twisted or otherwise messed up. Also, when you go to tighten a rear facing seat, I always recommend grabbing the harness at the back of the seat and pulling the slack out, then pull the strap in front. Sometimes, I find it also helps to add another step to grab the harness around the child's chest and pull the slack out of the hip area first. The angle and size of convertible seats sometimes makes it impossible to just pull the strap and have the harness tighten fully.

 

[sunlover13]

Thanks everyone.

I'll play with it tonight and see if I can get it to tighten by pulling on the straps in the back while pulling on the strap in front.

I guess I was spoiled with his infant carseat. It was so easy to loosen and tighten b/c the lever and strap was reachable and not buried into the seat like this one.

I am going to have to loosen and tighten b/c of wearing coats, not wearing coats, etc..... So, not loosening / tightening is not an option.

Wish me luck!

 

[justbishop]

Thanks everyone.

I'll play with it tonight and see if I can get it to tighten by pulling on the straps in the back while pulling on the strap in front.

I guess I was spoiled with his infant carseat. It was so easy to loosen and tighten b/c the lever and strap was reachable and not buried into the seat like this one.

I am going to have to loosen and tighten b/c of wearing coats, not wearing coats, etc..... So, not loosening / tightening is not an option.

Wish me luck!

Just an FYI, coats and carseats aren't generally a good combo. It's usually recommended that you take the coat off to strap the kid in, then replace the coat backward for the ride, or just use blankets over top of the strapped in child

 

[WDWorBUST]

I have that seat and hated it for the same reason - however I just bought a second one this past weekend - just wish I would have gotten that good of a price on it. What I have found is if you grab the insert and tug on it upwards then tighten it works just fine. I think the insert slides down and causes it to be REALLY difficult to adjust. Or depending on baby's size you could take the insert out. Like you I was ready to pitch it at first for that same reason.

 

[amylynne01]

Thanks everyone.

I'll play with it tonight and see if I can get it to tighten by pulling on the straps in the back while pulling on the strap in front.

I guess I was spoiled with his infant carseat. It was so easy to loosen and tighten b/c the lever and strap was reachable and not buried into the seat like this one.

I am going to have to loosen and tighten b/c of wearing coats, not wearing coats, etc..... So, not loosening / tightening is not an option.

Wish me luck!

Infant seats in general are much smoother than any convertible. A lot of people on another board I frequent complain about the harness when going from infant seats to convertibles. It's just a change.

You should not be tightening the harness because of a coat or no coat. If you have to loosen a harness because of the coat, the coat is too thick. If you live in a cold climate, use fleece instead of a puffy coat in the car. Fleece is thin, but it's very warm. I have my girls wear fleece in the car, and if we're going to be outside, put them in heavier coats. Being a little chilled walking from the car to a store or to a house is okay. Just move quickly, and make sure your kiddo is wearing a hat and gloves. Obviously if you're playing outside, fleece only is not acceptable.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I hated rear facing convertible seats. They drove me bonkers. I couldn't get any to fit right (and we tried like 5). We have two of those seats and both kids forward face now and they are great for that. So I'd still save one of them.

 

[CarrieR]

I'm a car seat tech and I think the MyRide is my favorite seat for rearfacing... I love it, whereas I just tolerate my Radian as a necessity, lol. The cupholders (snacks, toys, whatever!) are a huge gift to me! LOL!!!

One thing you might consider trying is reclining the MyRide a bit -- if you have it as upright as it can go, it will bury the adjuster more. If you install it a bit more reclined, it might work better. I do usually just adjust it once, and then buckle the kiddos in and out without adjusting it.

The Evenflo Triumph 65 linked above is probably the closest in price to the MyRide. You could also consider getting a slightly more expensive seat for the primary vehicle, and then less expensive seats (even something like the Cosco Scenera 40RF, around $50) for the other vehicles, if he doesn't ride in them often. Remember that all seats pass the same testing, and no seat is rated as safer than any other.

Hope that helps!

BTW, the reason the previous posters have said no coats is that they can compress in a crash. A harness that seems tight around the coat will be dangerously loose when the air is forced from the coat in a crash (think about how a space bag sucks the air out of a previously fluffy blanket.) My kids wear fleece jackets and we keep lots of blankets available for them to snuggle under.

BubMonkey, are you familiar with the current recommendations to rearface until at least two years of age, preferably to the upper limits of the seat? It's a huge difference in safety (makes a 5x difference in injury prevention.) If you're already familiar and have made the parental decision to forward-face anyways I won't push on it, but I just wanted to make sure you knew of the recommendation and why it's there.

 

[sunlover13]

Thanks everyone for the responses.

I didn't get a chance to play with it yet, but I will probably keep it just based on it sounds like I'll have the same issues rear-facing with whatever seat I buy.

I know! I can't believe I got that great of a price either. I was trying to round up 3 20% off coupons and got lucky where they let me buy all 3 with the 1 coupon. I have no idea why they were on sale for $99 at the time b/c they are back up to $165 now.

I'll keep that in mind about the puffy coats.

We tighten those straps up so I can't imagine getting him out without loosening the straps up, but we'll see what we can do.

Thanks again!

 

[carseatmommy]

I'm another tech chiming in. We have a MyRide too. It's the seat our son uses on a daily basis to and from day care(where I work too!). He's 2 yrs 8 months and still RF. I don't loosen/tighten the straps much. When I do, I make sure I pull straight UP...not pulling towards myself on the side.


We live in MD and I have him trained not to wear a coat in the car. He takes it off when we get in the car and we put it back on when we arrive at our destination. We keep blankets in the car to cover up with until the car warms up.

Susan

 

[monkey30]

Well I have to agree with the others its a pain to tighten but I LOVE that seat!

We had DS rear facing till 20mths, and only turned him because he kept throwing up while driving on longer trips (and being in a rural area was all the time!) looks like he just couldnt handle going backwards anymore... weird.

Anyways back on topic it is a dream forward facing, and unlike other seats we tried it actually was great rear facing, my son is larger then average (33lbs and 34inch at 18 mths) and still had room. Good Luck