Can anyone suggest a good carseat?
I'm looking for an infant car seat and don't know where to start!!! This is one thing I don't want to go cheap on but I also don't want to spend unecessairly if possible.
Is it worth it to get the car seats that come with the stroller (the travel systems)? And what about the convertible car seats?
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First – DO NOT go to consumer reports. Go to them for your car, or your dishwasher, or a bike… but not a carseat. They have the WORST way of rating carseats.
Second – don’t worry about a convertible carseat. You will not be using it until at least 9 months after the baby is born, and carseats actually expire, so if you get one at your shower, you will waste at least 1 year of the life of the seat sitting in a closet.
Plus – the manufacturers are really ramping up right now – there have been a ton of new models coming out and I’m sure even more will come out this year – you never know what will be available in a year.
As for an infant seat – I would suggest staying away from Evenflo. They make a great convertible seat, but their infant bucket has had way too many recalls for my comfort in the past 10 years.
You can go with a matched "travel system" but I always encourage new parents to expand their search – look for a stroller that you’ll actually want to use for the next 4+ years… you’re going to use your stroller way longer then your infant seat. Most full size and medium size strollers come with carseat adpaters or you can purchase an adapter. After you find the stroller you love, find a carseat that will work with it. Almost all strollers work with Graco Snugrides. If you go with a graco snugride, the biggest thing is to get one that adjusts in the front… and not the back. The back adjusting infant seats are a pain. You’ll see a strap to loosen and tighten the harness on the front adjuster seats.
Feel free to surf around http://www.car-seat.org – tons of people have photos of babies in the seats, or just information about them.
You should also try the seat in your car before you buy it (babies r us does let you do this) and also book an appointment with a certified carseat technician – http://www.seatcheck.org
I would go to ConsumerReports.com. They actually tell you the rating the car seat got in a crash test. I got a baby trend (which was very highly rated) and they make a stroller frame that is just wheels and a little fabric basket and the seat just snaps into it. It’s super light (except when my son is in it) the stroller part is easy to handle, and folds up and is not huge and bulky. I really like it! Unfortunately my son has almost outgrown it already, we thought it would last till 9 or 10 months and he’s only 5. But don’t worry my baby is just a giant!
Oh by the way I think my seat was about 150 dollars, the stroller was like another 25 and an extra base for a second car was like 25, so it wasn’t totally horrible.
I like my graco snugride 32, it can also be bought as part of a travel system, i think mine was the graco quattro tour deluxe.
the travel systems are good to have but babies do outgrow the infant seat fast..
graco brand has tons of good loking and very safe travel systems for a good price. you can get a convertible seat later when the baby needs one.
Okay, here is a little story that may help you.
For my baby shower gift registry, I asked for a very safe/fancy/expensive car seat and somebody got it for us. When my baby finally arrived, I only used it 2 or 3 times because it was so heavy and bulky. We ended up buying a new, more reasonably priced seat by Graco because the nice one was so inconvenient. It worked great for us!
Good luck!
I would recommend the following items:
1) Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat, Matrix
http://astore.amazon.com/best.price.graco.nautilus.convertible.car.seats-20/detail/B0011URFRE
2) Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System in Townsend
http://astore.amazon.com/best.price.graco.nautilus.convertible.car.seats-20/detail/B001GQ2PN2
3) Graco Stylus Travel System, Moracco
http://astore.amazon.com/best.price.graco.nautilus.convertible.car.seats-20/detail/B001PUESO8
4) Graco Passage Travel System, Abbington
http://astore.amazon.com/best.price.graco.nautilus.convertible.car.seats-20/detail/B001PUEVGS
5) Graco Quattro Tour Sport Travel System in Boone
http://astore.amazon.com/best.price.graco.nautilus.convertible.car.seats-20/detail/B001GQ2PNC
6) Graco Travel System – Melbourne
http://astore.amazon.com/best.price.graco.nautilus.convertible.car.seats-20/detail/B0015VW4HA
Hope you find these interesting. Good luck.