Toddler Car Seat - Houston,TX

We have an Evenflo Triumph in my minivan that was highly rated. It is very comfortable and has served us well. However, it only goes up to 40 lbs, so we will have to replace it fairly soon.

In my husband's car, we just recently bought an Eddie Bauer seat that has the 5 point harness (which we need now still), but will convert to a "booster" for use with the vehicle safety belts. It was relatively inexpensive and is working well so far. Also, this seat goes up to either 80 or 100 lbs (can't remember which right now), so it will be useful much longer than the Evenflo.

Visit www.hipmonkey.com. This is a non-profit organization that sells car seats and donates the proceeds to a Foundation that donates seats to children that don't or could not afford a good seat. The owner of Hip Monkey has done a lot of research on car seat safety and provides various options.

I have my son, who is 7, still in a 5-point booster that I found out about through the Hip Monkey owner. Good luck in your search!!

We have an Evenflo triumph advance. You can keep baby rear facing until 35 lbs, and forward facing until 55 lbs. It is $120-$140. We like it a lot, and are glad we will be able to keep our child rear facing for such a long time.

I drive a Explorer and my husband drives a Silverado.

I have the Britax Boulevard and my husband has an Evenflo Advance Triumph LX.

My husband takes and picks up my daughter from daycare every day. We go in my car for all family outings and trips.

I did lots of research on the car seats. I was torn between these two. They both had excellent ratings and reviews. We went ahead and got the evenflo for my husband and my parents car, $139.99.

I decided to ask around and see what everyone had as their primary car seat. Everyone I talked to had a Britax in their car so I decided to go with the Britax Boulevard for our traveling car, $307.

The BRITAX, it's the best. My daughter likes it too, comfortable & safe

We bought a Britax car seat. They got the best saftey rating. If you go to Babies R Us, I think they will let you take the seat to your car and try it out. Good luck.

Hi K.! I too had an Evenflo infant seat. We just recently bought 2 convertible car seats for my son as my husband and I do the same thing with picking him up and dropping him off. I researched and asked lots of people and we ended up getting an Evenflo Triumph Advance LX seat for his car and the Evenflo Triumph Advance Deluxe for mine. I would have gotten the same one as my husband, but I like the pattern on the Deluxe better. We both really like these seats as well as our 11 month old son. We drive a Ford Taurus and Toyota Corolla (an older model that is very small) and they fit in both and the seats in both cars are able to go all the way back.

We like them because they have endless levels of shoulder strap heights and the tightening mechanism is great for when it is rear facing. There are knobs on the side and you just turn those to tighten the belts. When you tighten it it clicks in and it won't allow you to over tighten too. We have had these seats since early February and I haven't found anything I don't like. My son is always happy when he is in them and falls asleep easily, which he didn't with the infant carrier after he got to long for it. If you would like to know anything else about the seats let me know. Oh, and an added bonus that we didn't know when we bought them is that they are #2 by Consumer Reports, following only one of the Britax models. Hope this helps!

God Bless!
S.

we got the Graco Sport Seat at Target. We also had to buy 2 seats for both cars. This Graco seat was around $70-$80.

We chose this Graco becasuse it was resonible, since we were buying 2. It came with a sippy cup holder too, that we liked.

Car seats standards are set by the goverment. I did feel a twing of guilt not buying the $200-$400 seats, but at the end they all function the same.

I am a mother of three year old twins and these are my recommendations based on my experiences. The Kyle David Miller story was what had a huge impact on the reason I purchased my car seats. I would definately look it up on youtube. I did tons of research. I looked at consumer reports, read numerous reviews, asked every person i knew and at the end decided on two Britax car seats. Two years later i needed two more car seats for my mother in laws car, but couldn't afford two more Britax so went back to researching. I found the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat. I love it! It allows for your child to stay in a 5 point harness until 65 pounds and then converts to a booster chair until 100 pounds. It's less expensive yet i didn't feel i was compromising the safety of my children by not buying a Britax. The britax does have better straps but the graco is less bulky and has extras like a cup holder. The Britax car seats are in my honda odyssey and the graco car seats are in a toyota camry. If the graco had been available when my children were first born I would have saved a lot of money. Good luck!

We had an Evenflo Triumph. When we got it, almost 4 years ago, Consumer Reports rated it the same as Britax for safety. It's mammoth, though. You'd have to make sure it fits in your cars! At the time they didn't even recommend any Britax seats because they said you could get just as safe a seat for less money, but lately I have seen them recommend Britax seats.

If you want to go straight to a 5-point-harness seat that converts into a booster, we got an Evenflo Chase and it has done well. Both Evenflo seats have "nontraditional" ways to adjust them, but once you get used to it, it is easy. We bought ours when my daughter was 3 1/2, but we had a Graco convertible booster in my husband's car since she was 1. She still uses it (at 4) with the 5-point harness.

I haven't decided if I will take the straps off her Evenflo Chase when she reaches 40 pounds, or buy a new seat that can harness longer (like the Britax Regent). So, keep that in mind if you end up going straight to a convertible booster--how long do you want it to last?

Children should remain rear facing for as long as possible. I purchased the Recaro because my son could stay rear-facing until 30 pounds and remain in a five point harness until he weighs 80 pounds. Check out this website for more info:
http://www.kyledavidmiller.org/

I really like our Recaro because I feel like my son has superior side impact protection with this model and he is very comfortable. Also, after installed, it does not move at all! I liked my EvenFlo too, but it always seemed to need more tightening.

Enjoy that baby boy and good luck with your shopping!

You picked a good month to ask this question. There are several places here in Central Texas that you can go this month to have your carseat inspected to ensure it is adequate for your little one. All these places are for the March 2009 Child Safety Seat Inspections and are 'by appointment only' so you need to call whichever location is closest to you first.

3/13 - Round Rock Fire Department from 1pm-4pm ###-###-####.

3/19 - Lockhart EMS from 2:30pm-5:30pm ###-###-####.

3/24 - USA Baby, Austin from 10am - 1pm ###-###-####.

Texans in Motion is the organization that sponsors these events. Their # is ###-###-####.

Hope this helps,
Jen

Hey K.,
I bought the Britax super compfy looking, plush car seat because I just thought my son would love it! He was ok with it, but we couldn't get it situated right with it rear facing. Someone told me to put a water noodle underneath it to make it lay back. I decided I wasn't going to rig something I paid almost $200 for.

We went to Walmart and bought the Cosco seat, the one they have in the plastic cover, for $45 and have been super pleased with them. I will never by another one! We got 2 of them and my mom also bought one for her car. We bought it when he was 8 or 9 months old because he was tall. We also faced it forward from day one because he was getting to where he wanted to see EVERYTHING and would cry if he was rear facing. He's 15 months now and the carseats are good as new.

They carry them at Target also.
Hope this helps!

we have an evenflo car seat for our daughter that is 2 we put her in it right before she turned 1 and the nice thing is that its rear or forward facing depending on the age and size of the baby and its a 5 point harness and will hold them until they are 4 to 6 years old..i bought ours at target and its green..i think we paid like 100.00 for it..

good luck
M.

I love my Britax carseat that we bought for my daughter at Target, but it was pricey. It is super comfy and has a high safety rating. It can also stay rear-facing for a long time.