Seeking Advice on Convertible Car Seat

I did a lot of research on this. Britax has the highest ratings. They are safer in a 5 point harness & it's safest to keep them in a 5 point harness as long as possible - Britax has one that goes up t 80 lbs.

We had an Eddie Bauer model--I can't remember the name--that went from a 5 point harness carseat to a booster. That saved us a lot of money having to buy more seats later. It lasted thru both my daughters and is still in good shape.

Hi Kara...I am a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician Instructor, and have been for 1o years....a car seat expert, if you will. For your situation, the Evenflo Titan 5 is a great convertible that is narrow for those tight spots. I do recommend that you have it professionally installed. Also, there has been alot of date recently to suggest that leaving the child rear-facing longer (past 1 year, and 20 lbs) gives them a better chance of survival in a crash. This particular seat goes rear-facing until 35 lbs. Leave your child rear-facing as long as possible. Hope this helps. ~M.

Kara,

I think you mean convertible seat since she is only turning 1. To get the responses you desire, I'd update your subject line to say that and update your text, otherwise you'll have a lot of screaming Momma's asking why you are putting a 1 yo in a booster seat. LOL!! Of course, we are pretty smart here at Mamasource, so I'm pretty sure most would catch the error (-:

We have in our home, all Britax brands - Marathon, Roundabout and two Regents. It's recommended to leave your little one rear facing as long as possible, so you'd be wise to get a seat that can sit rear facing and then turn it around when she is 2 or so. The longer the better. I can't complain about any of the seats we own. I love Britax. Keep in mind though, the best car seat is the one installed correctly. I believe "they" say something like 97% of the carseats out there are not installed right! OK, so now I'm soundy a bit like a commercial.

We are happy with our Britax seats. I found my Regents at Amazon for 179.00. I don't think that is their current price but it's a great price. Otherwise, I think we spent around 279.00 or so on the others. We have a van so size wasn't an issue.

Best wishes,
M.

I thought I would use the same car seat from the time my kids outgrew the infant carrier until they were done using car seats. BOY WAS I WRONG!!! As soon as that child is eligible for a booster, you will toss that big honking car seat out the window!! Check your state laws - most boosters will suffice for kids 40 pounds. I found one that works for 35 pounds (I have tall, skinny kids). My kids were 3 when we switched. Boosters are about $15.

Some things to think about:
- Can your child buckle it herself (not unbuckle, mind you) but they really dig that independence thing when they are a bit older
- Can you remove/replace the cover easily for those potty training accidents
- Are the straps sturdy - Cosco Alpha Omega from a few years ago has really skinny straps that twist very easily and will not stay flat

Happy shopping!

My only suggestion is to get a 5-point harness that goes over 40 pounds. My daughter is super tall- at age 3 was 36 inches and 35 pounds. She hit 40 pounds before her 4th b-day, so we had to get a car seat that went over 40 pounds. She will be 4 in 3 months, but I do not plan on taking her out of the 5-point harness. She is much safer that way. She is our oldest so she has no idea about what comes next- booster seat.
We ended up the Britax Marathon, but it is large, not sure on how it will fit in your car.

Hey! Well I have a saturn 4 door car and we got an Evenflo titan at $99 at target. It is really nice, and easy to install. It is comfortable enough that My daughter can be in in for 2-3 hours with minimum fussing. It was really big rear facing, but workable. and it is perfect front facing.
we got a cosco convertable for my husbands truck, about $40 ro $50, and it is nice, but not as padded.
I wanted to keep my daughter rear facing for longer, but it was like 200 degrees in the car in the summer, and we ended up turning her about 13 months, cause she was getting no air...
Good luck!
R.

I have a Britax in a Kia Rio. It sits very upright when facing forward so it is not a problem. It just didn't fit in our Mustang very well. Otherwise, I have put it in an Armada, F150, and the Kia Rio. I love it and hold a lot of confidence in it. As well, it holds her in much better when she falls asleep during a car ride. We did pay just under $300 for it, 3.5 years ago.

I highly recommend the Britax carseats. We have the Boulevard - which is the biggest one with the little side flap protection around the head. My daughter is 2 and is very comfy in it - even on long road trips. The only issue is that it is very big so it's difficult to fit in a smaller car or travel with on the plane. However the smaller Roundabout or Marathon are also great. All of my mommy friends raved about the Britax line and they have great reviews.
One of the other posts recommended Eddie Bauer, however my best friend bought one a few years ago (not sure which model) but she was constantly frustrated by the straps and now only buys Britax (she has 3 kids).

Hi,
I have always loved my Britax Roundabout and it fit in my 4 door great. The only downside is if your child is on the bigger side she might grow out of it quicker than the other Britax models. I have an Evenflo Triumph for my older chid and it's OK, I still like the Britax better. They are pricer but well worth it.

Good Luck.

I have the Britax Marathon for my 30 month old son, and love it. I drive a VW Jetta, so it's small on backseat room too...but, I still fit four people in my car just fine with it in the middle.

I don't have a small car but have tried 4 different models of convertible seats. I'd keep her RFing as long as possible for safety, but once she is big/strong enough you can turn it FFing and the fit won't be as much of an issue.

*Alpha Omega Elite $169 -- not bulky, some side-impact protection. Money saving b/c this will become a booster when she outgrows the 5 pt harness. I had a tough time installing this one with the seat belt RFing.

*The First Years True Fit $189 -- this is the one that has a detachable top for little babies rear-facing. I didn't get mine until baby outgrew the infant carrier, so I never had it detached. It looks like a huge seat, but it's not, comparing dimensions of various models. I like the cushy padding and thick foam for safety. The 5pt harness is rated up to 65lbs, so it can be used for a long time! The seat belt lock-offs are SO EASY to use for installation (since latch will only work FFing). The belt tightening strap is low, so more difficult to use in RFing.

*Recaro Como ($??)--Very safe, but this was a large seat, awkward to use, and doesn't fit in my car very well. I don't recommend.

*Britax Boulevard ($100 grandma purchased used from a trusted neighbor so we know it was never in an accident) -- This is an awesome seat but I couldn't bear to pay full price for one!

Once you've narrowed down your choices, you can look for deals online from various vendors or ebay, or find a coupon--babies r us often has ones for 15% off.

Our 16/17 month old is weighing 21 lbs and we are going to move her to a forward facing seat.

We opted for the Sunshine Kids Radian 80.(The number is the weight limit for your child.) Also availbale: SKR 65 and the SKR LX (also 80 lbs weight limit). These seats have high safety marks, are foldable for travel (available carry straps/bags), only weigh 8lbs, are allowed for use on airplanes, are only 17" wide so 3 will fit across any car's back seat, can be rear facing (up to 35? lbs) or front facing, and our child will fit in it until she no longer needs a booster of any sort. (Our 12 and 14 year olds are currently weighing 85 to 95 lbs.)

We like the idea of her being in a 5 point harness the whole time so she will not need to have the seatbealt on her neck etc.

The SKR 65 and the SKR 80 can range in price from about $180-$250. The Radian XL has some additional safety features, is brand new with a price tag of $280 and very little chance of finding it on sale. I did a google search for "Sunshine Radian 80 prices" and got lots of hits on different places. Just look for sites that will ship free. NextTag and sites like that will have a whole list of vendors and their prices. The Best price I had found on the Radian 80 was $219 on Amazon and later on HipMonkey.com. (This site donates money from your purchases to a program which provides car seats to families that can't afford them.)
Hope this helps. BTW the SUNHINE KIDS site will have demos of the car seats themselves. Good luck to you navigating through all the info.
PS.
The Kyle David Miller story is the reason we opted for the SKR 80. Another mama sent you the link to you tube. Click on the right of the screen under the Mom/David pic where it says "more info" and it will break it all down for you.

This story ispired me to go and get a Britax Boulevard for my little guy (11 months) and a Britax Regent for my three year old daughter. I do have a Ford Escape so there was room for both in the back. I think that any of the Britax seats should fit in your Civic, but check out these sites, they might help with your decision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/

Hi Kara! I did a lot of research about this recently. Here is what I found...

Get a 5 point harness and keep them in 5 points for as long as you can

Britax has the best ratings but is super expensive.

Graco Nautilus is what we bought because they had great ratings and had a reasonable price. We bought ours from Amazon and saved about $30.

Good luck!

I just bought a Maxi-Cosi Priori for our 14 month old. From my research it seems to be the smallest convertible on the market. It's a European company and is considered to be very safe and well-known over there. We have a Ford Focus and knew that none of the Britax seats would fit. We even went to the Right Start in Pasadena and they let us try the Priori in the car. It's a tight fit, but it works. I just bought it online at Target...it was on sale for $179, but is usually $199 on most sites. And many sites have free shipping...just do a search! We haven't actually installed it yet, because he's still small enough for the infant seat. One of the best features is that it has a recline feature in the forward facing position. The only downside is that it only goes up to 40 pounds, so you'll need to buy a booster down the road. I'm not worried about that right now because my little guy is so small! Good luck!