OT carseat?

[HolliePoppins]

Has anyone seen any good sales on carseats lately? I need a convertible carseat for my daughter who is about to outgrow her infant seat. I would like to get one with a very good safety rating.

I would prefer one with a high lb. limit and that will convert to a booster seat. I also need one on the smaller side. I have a ford taurus and need to fit two teens in the backseat with her. I can only afford to spend about $150. It also has to be able to be used as a rear facing seat since she is only six months old.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ryanshana]

I know it is a little bit above your price at 179.99 but I love my Graco Nautilus and if you could get a coupon for babies r us/TRU you could probably get it down to your price.

I believe it is a top rated car seat. And when you think about it this carseat is a 3-1 and will grow w/ your child till he/she is 10 yo. So for that I think it's a great value. IMO

 

[HolliePoppins]

I know it is a little bit above your price at 179.99 but I love my Graco Nautilus and if you could get a coupon for babies r us/TRU you could probably get it down to your price.

I believe it is a top rated car seat. And when you think about it this carseat is a 3-1 and will grow w/ your child till he/she is 10 yo. So for that I think it's a great value. IMO

That does look like a good seat. The problem is she is still only six months old and I want to keep her rear facing as long as I can.

 

[ryanshana]

That does look like a good seat. The problem is she is still only six months old and I want to keep her rear facing as long as I can.

Oh didn't know that. My other DS has a Evenflo Triumph Another great car seat has a long rear-facing capabilities Ranges from $130-179

http://www.toysrus.com/search/index...=evenflo triumph&f=Taxonomy/TRUS/2255957&sr=1

and here is where it is shown top rated.

number 6

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/tp/topconvcarseats.htm

HTH

 

[HolliePoppins]

Oh didn't know that. My other DS has a Evenflo Triumph Another great car seat has a long rear-facing capabilities Ranges from $130-179

http://www.toysrus.com/search/index...=evenflo triumph&f=Taxonomy/TRUS/2255957&sr=1

and here is where it is shown top rated.

number 6

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/tp/topconvcarseats.htm

HTH

Sorry about that. I should have included that info to begin with. I did change my original op and added it.

Thank you for the great suggestions.

 

[momof4kid]

I just bought a carseat from Allbaby.com. It was half price, no tax, and no shipping!!

 

[ryanshana]

I just bought a carseat from Allbaby.com. It was half price, no tax, and no shipping!!

I don't see any car seats on there. Can you give me a link I'd love a half off car seat for a friend of mine.

 

[Tara619]

We have 2 Graco Nautilus' and love them. We got them at Walmart when they first came out last year. I think they were $150 ea.

http://www.walmart.com/Graco-Nautilus-Car-Seat/ip/8112222

 

[natnelliesmom]

Keep in mind that if you buy a cheaper car seat now, thinking to save money- you'll more than likely end up buyer a booster when she outgrows the seat. Some better seats actually have higher weight limits, keeping your child in a 5-point harness longer. No need to buy a booster in many cases.
I can not say enough about the Britax seats. You can't get a safer seat.
Give your local car seat installation experts a call and run your question by them.
Your child's safety is more important than cost.

 

[EmilyJ]

It has been recommended, and now the AAP stands by it to keep your kids Rear Facing til at least 2. They are MUCH safer. DD was almost 3 when we turned her forward facing. You can veiw crash tests on YouTUBe to see teh differences and how it effects the head/spine.

With that in mind, it is a bit more money, but I would save up and get a Britax Marathon. It Rear Faces to 33 pounds and Forward to 65 pounds. DD is 5 and still has SO much room to grow in it. Its great, especially if your child has a long torso.

The Evenflo Triumph and Triumph advance are great seats. I love the ease of adjusting the straps. However, for longer torso children, this may not be the best seat. My DD outgrew our Triumph by height long ago, but still has 2 slots abover her in the Marathon we can use.

We did have a Graco Nautalis. We got it the week they came out. But, within a month the harness wouldnt stay tight and then frayed. NO ONE else I know has had this experiance with it, so our seat was probably a fluke thing.

 

[mom2aredhead]

My 5.5 year old is still in the Britax Wizard we bought him when he outgrew the "bucket" seat at about 5 mths old. They don't make that specific model anymore, but a lot of their seats have high limits. (Mine goes up to 48" and 65 lbs). I truly didn't want to spend the $$ for it at the time, but 5 years later I have to say it was worth every cent.

 

[hiddenj]

For narrowness, you would want a Radian, but both the Radian65 and 80 are much more than $150. It is the narrowest seat available. You can't do much better than the First Years Trufit. Many people seem to like it better than the Marathon. One of my favorite features was that you could remove the fabric to wash without unthreading the harness. You should be able to find it for about $170, which I know is a bit more than you want to spend. Both rear-face to 35lbs and forward face to at least 65 lbs. We are looking at which seat to buy when we get a foster-care placement and my top choice is the Trufit, partially because I can remove the top portion of the seat until the child is 22lbs.

Some other good deals are:
http://www.albeebaby.com/recaro-como-convertible-car-seat-midnight-desert.html
http://www.albeebaby.com/fiprsavodeco1.html (these were made by Britax and is a Marathon with fewer features...just realize this will probably expire sooner because they haven't been manufactured for a while, but you can't beat the price)

 

[tanyaandallie]

Has anyone seen any good sales on carseats lately? I need a convertible carseat for my daughter who is about to outgrow her infant seat. I would like to get one with a very good safety rating.

I would prefer one with a high lb. limit and that will convert to a booster seat. I also need one on the smaller side. I have a ford taurus and need to fit two teens in the backseat with her. I can only afford to spend about $150. It also has to be able to be used as a rear facing seat since she is only six months old.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

If you need to fit 2 teens in the back, you do need a narrow seat. You may need to take a trip to BRU with the 2 teens and see what seats work best. In your price range (and with a higher weight limit) you will find the Evenflo Triumph Advance. It's a convertible carseat with a 35 lb rf weight limit and a 50 lb ff weight limit. It will last your little one a very long time. Problem is, it's pretty wide. Since the older kids are not in boosters/carseats, you may be ok. But, I would check first.

Another option would be to get something like the Safety 1st Avenue. It is not a high weight harness. Only a 40 lb ff weight limit, 35 lbs rf. But, it's much more narrow. It has nice tall top harness slots so would last your little on a good long while. It's only $60 to $70. Your little one would likely outgrow this seat around age 3ish so you would have to purchase a new ff only seat at that time.

If you can afford a Sunshine Kids Radian, it is by far the most narrow high weight harness on the market. It's VERY thin. 35 lb rf, 65 lbs ff (or 80 lb if you get the R80). It would keep your little one harnessed until age 6+. MOre expensive now but lasts a really long time. You would need to follow up with a booster.

You can find a good list of convertible seats here -

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a991035/faq_and_car_safety_tips_bb_links

One thing to remember is that ALL seats pass the same safety standards. Crash test data on car seats is not required to be released. All we know for sure is that the seats on the market pass the standards set forth by NHTSA. Any ratings out there are not done by NHTSA. Most (like the ones previously posted) are just opinions of one person or another.


ETA - The True-Fit, the Recaro convertibles and the Britax convertibles are all great seats but none are very narrow and none are in your price range. if you are spring for a seat outside your price range, I'd go for the Radian since it is super narrow.

 

[allie1078]

I would recommend the Evenflo Triumph Advance. also check out car-seat.org. the ladies over there have lots of great info and recommendations on seats on the forum boards. other seats to check out are the Britax marathon, trufit(not sure of manufacturer), and the radians.

 

[Colinsmom]

For a really tight budget, I'd go with the Cosco Scenera. It runs about $50. RF to 35lbs and FF to 40lbs. At that point, you would have to buy a new seat, but you have time to save for it. And you may have a different car and/or different assortment of passengers by then. If she's average height and weight, I'd guess that this would fit her until around 4yo.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Don't forget to check the harness slots to see how TALL a child can be before the seat is outgrown - some seats have some very low slots. Just because it says that it holds a child to 48" or 60 lbs, etc., that is not necessarily so. Once your childs shoulders are above the top harness slot, the seat is outgrown - even if they still have several pounds to go before hitting the max.

 

[snoopy5386]

either the true fit or the evenflo triumph advance. The truefit does not convert to a booster but it will last you until you need a booster at 5-7 years old. There is no seat on the market that will truly last any child from rearfacing to forward facing to booster. Not to mention most seats expire after 5-7 years (depends on the seat). The scenera is a great budget seat that will get you to about 3 years old and give you time to save up for something like a nautilus or a britax frontier.

 

[Leajess99]

It has been recommended, and now the AAP stands by it to keep your kids Rear Facing til at least 2. They are MUCH safer. DD was almost 3 when we turned her forward facing. You can veiw crash tests on YouTUBe to see teh differences and how it effects the head/spine.

I just had to say that it blows me away to see how some parents are quick to turn their kids forward facing. My ex's latest girlfriend with "their" baby has the child turned forward facing at 11 months old (not sure how long ago she turned him forward facing as they live in another state and we were all in the same state Friday) so he can watch the DVD player and she can shove a bottle in his mouth. My girls had to go for visitation and my oldest dd was so upset because they never even looked back at the child as he was choking on his formula. She'll probably have him out of the car seat by 2 at this rate. My youngest already knows she will be in her booster until she is 8 and possibly longer if she is not tall enough. She was in her 5 point harness seat until she maxed out the weight. Had I known when we bought her last car seat about the ones with the 65 pound 5 pt harnesses i so would have gotten one of those.

 

[momof4kid]

Hi, sorry it's actually Albeebaby.com

 

[all4fun]

Ditto TanyaandAllie post #13 I couldn't have said it better myself.

I wouldn't recommend any of the convertible 3-in-1 seats (Dorel:Cosco/Eddie Bauer/Safety 1st, or Evenflo has one now too, but it only harnesses to 40#...) The Dorel seats that go to 50lbs now are decent as 5pt seats however make terrible boosters later on. You're really better off buying what you need now and getting a good dedicated booster 4-5yrs (preferably around the time your dc is 6yrs old if you can keep them harnessed that long). The Radian is the narrowest seat out there so if you can swing it, that is the one I'd go with. Otherwise, get the Avenue or Scenera 5pt now, and then something like a Graco Nautilus (f/fing only) later, when your dc is too big for rear facing (after 35#).