Moderately Priced Car Seat

Try Dealtime.com . In the search part, enter infant car seats. Then you can sort by price, brand, etc. It also has links to each of the sites, coupons, and other goodies.

If you contact the texas transportation institute they will give you a breakdown of the safest seats along with the proper way to install them. Over 60% of seats are incorrectly installed. We have a big boy (he'll be over 6ft) and we spent the money and bought a britax. They are the best and safest design out there (my opinion). Going to TTI for assistance was the best thing we did.

http://store.babycenter.com/home.do

Baby Center Store is having a closeout on their Enspira seats
We bought 2 of them for the price of just one regular priced one.

They also rank high on the government list.
http://www.consumersunion.org/products/carseat603.htm

Enspira Convertible Car Seat - Closeout
by Safety 1st
5 pounds and up to 80 pounds

$65.99

Free Shipping!

* 2006 model
* Converts from rear-facing (5 to 35 lbs.) to front-facing (22 to 40 lbs.)
* Five-point padded harness; easy front harness adjustment; crotch strap
* Harness can be used until your child weighs 40 lbs.; can switch to seatbelt once your child reaches 40 lbs.
* One-position seat recline
* Four-position height-adjustable headrest
* Adjustable body pad for extra support
* Two-position built-in belt positioner guides for easy seatbelt threading
* Removable cupholder; two mesh storage pockets
* Removable, washable seat fabric
* Dimensions:20"W x 21"D x 23 1/2"H (headrest adjusts to 52"H)
* Weighs 18 lbs.

This comfortable convertible seat adjusts for babies from birth all the way up to 80 lbs. giving you the only car seat you\'ll ever need for your child. The height-adjustable headrest grows with your baby and the seat design is roomy for a growing child.

* Delivery surcharge will apply
* Can\'t be shipped to a PO box or to HI, AK, PR, APO/FPO, territories
* Usually ships in 1-2 days
* Shipping weight: 14.0 lbs.
* Express shipping is not available
* Gift wrap not available

* 2006 model
* Converts from rear-facing (5 to 35 lbs.) to front-facing (22 to 40 lbs.)
* Five-point padded harness; easy front harness adjustment; crotch strap
* Harness can be used until your child weighs 40 lbs.; can switch to seatbelt once your child reaches 40 lbs.
* One-position seat recline
* Four-position height-adjustable headrest
* Adjustable body pad for extra support
* Two-position built-in belt positioner guides for easy seatbelt threading
* Removable cupholder; two mesh storage pockets
* Removable, washable seat fabric
* Dimensions:20"W x 21"D x 23 1/2"H (headrest adjusts to 52"H)
* Weighs 18 lbs.

Babies R Us website will compare other car seats for you and also give you different reviews from buyers of that product. Good Luck.

Try ebay or garage sales or re-sale shops ! I found some real nice one's at garage sales ! Less then $ 20.00 & clean too ! They grow so fast, you really don't want to spend alot of money on them. Have a good day !

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY A CARSEAT ON CRAIGSLIST OR FROM A CONSIGNMENT SALE OR CONSIGNMENT SHOP.

Why? - Because there is know way to guarantee the history of the seat. You would be much better off buying a brand new seat for the baby so that you know it has never been in a wreck. Plus, you could potentially be buying a carseat that is expired as well.

What kind of budget do ya'll have for a car seat for the new baby? Is this baby already born? If so, how old is the baby and how much does he/she weigh?

I wouldn't trust the reviews on the target, walmart, or babies r us websites, 9 out of 10 people on there are stupid and have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to car seats. (9 out of 10 car seats are installed and used incorrectly as well.)

I can help guide you to a couple of car seats that might work well for you and your family, or you can go to the forums on www.car-seat.org, register and post on there and ask them for help as well. The forums on there have some GREAT reviews and are a great source of information from actual certified car seat technicians.
Also, when it comes time to install your car seat, I highly recommend going to a local car seat technician and having them show you how to install your car seat. It is valuable information - I cannot tell you how many incorrectly installed car seats I've seen.

***Edited to add:
Also - consumer reports should NOT be trusted when it comes to selecting car seats, they don't know what they are talking about and don't have car seat technicians on staff to help them make these reports. They had a big issue a year or two ago about all these baby seats that supposedly failed their crash tests and in the end they had to revoke their findings because of how they preformed their tests.

Don't buy a used car seat unless you absolutely can't afford to buy a new one. As other posters mentioned, once a car seat has been in an accident, it must be replaced (like bike helmets and other safety equipment, car seats are built to withstand a crash; but you have no way of knowing if the integrity of the safety features are intact once it has actually sustained a crash). Consumer Reports recommends the BabyTrend Flex Loc and the Graco Snug Ride as "best buys," and they are both listed at $90. The Chicco Key Fit was the top-rated one (the best buys CR identifies are supposed to balance quality with value) for $160.

I don't know what your measure of "moderately priced" is; but you might check out local non-profits in your area that target children's health and welfare. Very often those types of groups have the inside track on getting discounted car seats.

By the way, for what it's worth, I would recommend Consumer Reports for product comparison info; but you have to pay an annual membership fee to view their reports online; and a lot of the baby stuff requires an additional fee (though the car seat ratings are included in the basic membership). You can usually look at the hard copies of the magazines at the public library, which might require more digging to find exactly what info you are looking for; but the librarian could probably help with that. We've found it useful for a whole range of products--both child-related and not; and they do provide some decent buying guides even for unrated products that give you a sense of what features you might want to consider. I don't work for them. I've just had good luck with their recommendations.

Best of luck and congratulations!

Hi I., my name is L. 52 and 1st time gramma baby Colt is 3 months old. There are several sites out there that are easy too use, I suggest www.pricerunner.com
Here are a few more. www.smarter.com,www.shopzilla.com
Hope this helps also you will find lots of baby freebies by apply to www.freelancebyu.com. Angie suggest that when you send off for these freebies to use a different email address so you don't get spam in your regular one.

Congrats on your first grandbaby!
We are comig up on consignment sale season.Yea! These are a great place to find used car seats in excellent condition. The sales won't take them if they aren't. It is against the law to resell a carseat that is over 5 years old. I think that this law was put in to effect to make sure that we keep up with technology. If you are in the DFW area just email me and I will be happy to supply you with a list of the up coming sales.
I really like eBay for buying carseats. I have gotten GREAT deals!
I don't know a site for comparisons but Target and Babies R'Us usually have great reviews on the different seats.
Happy shopping!
Hugs,
C.

Check out http://www.nhtsa.gov/CPS/CSSRating/Index.cfm. It has a pretty straightforward chart.

The Cosco Scerena (spelling?) is about $50 at Wal Mart. It is a decent seat and rear faces until the baby is 33 or 35lbs. I can't remember exactly, but it is on the box and in the manual. I do remember it has a higher rear facing weight.

Check into cook children's medical center services. They have car seat check specialists at different sites during the week. They can be helpful on getting a start in the right direction. I visited the the location off Precinct Line. Also Consumer Reports can give you some good ideas of safety and price on some brands. Check recall lists as well because sometimes they get recalled. I believe Brighton just had one recalled but double check that please.

I am going to have to greatly disagree with the poster who stated you don't want to spend too much money on them! We are talking about the seat that keeps your little one safe...I cant imagine sklimping on that and then greatly regretting it one day!

Many have offered great suggestions on how to find a good seat. I talked with a few certified car seat technicians and asked them what THEIR kids were in....thats the seat we went with. It was not cheap--but it will last up to 65lbs and is rear facing up to 33lbs which is rated best. (britax marathon!)

My thought is dont skimp on this!!

Hi, We use consumerreports.com for all of our baby reviews. It is a subscription, but we feel it's the best unbiased information out there. epinions.com is also popular, but when you read some review sights, you don't get objective opinions. You get reviews by people that either loved or hated something so take it with a grain of salt. Hope that helps.

I like epinions.com for great comparisons and people's reviews on just about everything. Make sure that you look for the weight minimums and maximums for each seat.

I don't know about a website, but I love my son's Fisher Price Safe Voyage seat. It was $129 at albeebaby.com with free s/h a few months ago.

I agree with the previous post about finding deals at garage sales and thrift stores, but you have to be super, super careful with that. Once a seat has been in a wreck it should be thrown out (no matter how much it hurts the wallet!). If you know and trust the seller, that's one thing, but buying a used seat from someone you don't know is quite a different story. Most resale shops don't even buy carseats anymore for this reason.

I don't know about any websites. You should check in your town to see if they have any programs that give away carseats. I am not sure what they would be called but they are some kind of vehicle safety programs. They give brand new quality carseats to parents and caregivers. They also teach you how to properly install the carseat, which probably 90% of people need to know how! Check it out!

It's a great time of the year, because many manufactures will be discontinuing some car seats for new models... nothing wrong with them just they're coming out with new designs. check out biglots they have sales. Also, cheakout babycheapskate.blogspot.com she keeps you up to date on sales. Its a wonderful site. Also, there is a website I think car-seat.org that does comparisons. Please be careful you really s/n by a used car seat unless you know the person. You never know if it has been in a wreck. Good Luck

Walmart or target. The best "moderate" car seat is the one we love, Graco Comfort Sport. It comes in a variety of colors. We have a few. Great car seat. Some of the other "cheaper" ones are REALLY uncomfortable to use and ride in.
Congrats, grandma. you will love your new status.
A Mom of 2, keep another, travel extensively, love to get out there and do stuff.

Hi there I.,

I didn't read all the other responses so I hope I am not just duplicating someone else's response, but here's the consumer reports website, either just click on it from this message or copy and past it in your internet explorer web address.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/baby-toddl...

I had to respond because I think it's beautiful that you are researching a car seat for your grandchild. What a model grandparent- we wish we had grandparents like you!!!

Take care,

S.

Big Lots. I was looking at their circular ealier this week and they have a sit down seat for $30 thats great considering they can cost up to $100 and more!

You should check out Amazon.com. They not only have comparisons but you can also sometimes affect your overall price by choosing to order from certain vendors.