Best Car Seat Review

If you want the safest carseat, look into a Britax Marathon. It will last you until your son can ride in a booster seat–up to 65 pounds.

I have the evenflo triumph advance DLX, I have this model

Its great, but there are some drawbacks. The red plastic on the shoulder harness rubs my sons neck so we had to put strap covers over them. The harness adjustment can take a little getting used to, I have to lean the seat back to reach them in my car. Its also bigger than average, so if you have a smaller car it won’t fit well.

I also have this costco seat

I actually like it better than the more expensive evenflo seat. It fits our small car much better, and the baby seems very comfty it it.

Ditto what the tech above said – the Nautilus is forward facing only – so scratch it off the list. Also – he should stay rear facing AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! Turning kids forward at 20lbs/1year is an outdated practice that could cost you your child’s life! American Academy of Pediatrics says to keep kids rear facing to the limit of their convertible car seat. All current models go to at least 30lbs, many higher.

A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 5 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age. A child’s vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone.

In the age of the internet its amazing so much misinformation exists! Please please do not listen to people telling you to turn your child forward facing ‘at your judgement’ or when her legs touch the seat. In truth, most children LIKE resting their feet on the back of the seat in front of them. Check out this photo album exclusively of rear facing kids, many of them much older than 12 months: It is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (see sources) that ALL babies stay rear facing as long as possible, up to the weight/height limits of their seat. Most seats go to 30lbs rear facing, some go higher, check your manual. They are too tall for an infant carrier when the head is within an inch of the top of the shell. Too tall for most convertible seats when their ears reach the top of the seat. Has nothing to do with how long their legs are! There isn’t a single documented case of a child breaking their legs b/c they were rear facing in an accident. There are, however, lots of cases where children have been killed and seriously injured where a rear facing seat would have protected them better. They are safest rear facing b/c their bones have not yet completed the ossification process that bonds/hardens them like adults. They need the bracing support that a rear facing seat offers to withstand a crash. 20lbs AND 1 year is the bare minimum as far as the law is concerned, but the law is the bare minimum of safety, and who wants to do the bare minimum for their child?

So you definitely need a convertible car seat. That said, you do want to pay careful attention to get one with tall top slots and high weight limits, so it will last him a long time (longer than just the next year or two!)

Remember these rules:
1)the BEST seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, and will be used correctly 100% of the time. (This is why convenience features DO make a difference and ARE worth the money! If its easy to use, you’re more likely to use it correctly.
2)Children should stay rear facing AS LNOG AS POSSIBLE!!!! The 20lbs/1 year rule is outdated and provides a bare minimum for turning kids forward facing. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration both recommend keeping kids rear facing as long as possible, up to the limits of their seat, preferably until at least 2 years of age. For good reason: A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 4 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age. A child’s vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone. In other countries, rear facing 2 – 3 – 4 year olds is standard, they understand that its safer. Here, we turn them as soon as we get to, seeing it as a right of passage thing or something. Ridiculous. Most convertible seats have a 30lbs rear facing limit, Cosco/Dorel/Safety1st/Eddie Bauer seats rear face to 35lbs, Britax rear faces to 33lbs.
3)Once you do turn them forward facing, they need to stay in a 5 point harness as long as possible. 4 years/40lbs is the minimum for riding in a booster, and most 4 year olds have no business using one yet. If they can’t sit upright for an entire trip, they need the harness of a car seat still. And, even if they do sit properly, a 5 point harness is safer, so you want to keep them in one as long as possible. This is important to consider b/c most car seats only forward face to 40lbs. My son just turned 3, and is in the 95th% for height and weight – 40″ tall and weighs 41lbs. He outgrew the 40lbs seats shortly after his 2nd birthday. It was a total waste of money. He now has a Britax Marathon, which goes to 65lbs, and will be able to fit it for some time yet. If I’d have bought it when he was born, I could have had one car seat this whole time instead of the 3 I wasted money on. They are more expensive for many reasons, this is one.

So…knowing all that, here’s some about specific seats. Please don’t get a Graco Comfort Sport. Car seat techs call it the ‘crappysport’. LOL Its a crappy seat that won’t last your child very long b/c it has a really short shell. The straps twist all the time, and if they’re twisted they won’t support your child in a wreck properly. They’re hard to install. There’s nothing good about these seats except perhaps they’re cheap sometimes. Ditto the Safety1st 3-in-1/Cosco Alpha Omega/Eddie Bauer 3-in1 seats. These are all the same company – same seat, just different covers. They stink. Hard to install, b/c of narrow belt paths. Ever tried to wash a skinny cup by hand? Now imagine that skinny cup with pointy edges. That’s what putting your hand through these to install them is like. AND they have too short a shell to really go to 40lbs. And that’s another misleading thing the box says – 5-100lbs. What the box fails to mention (you don’t find out until reading the manual!) is that the harness only goes to 40lbs, NOT 100lbs! After 40lbs it must be used as a booster.And they do not make good boosters. Also, most kids have to use boosters until they’re at least 8 years old. Car seats expire 6 years after the date of manufacture, so no matter what they say it is NOT the last seat you’ll ever need to buy.

The Britax Marathon/Boulevard/Decathalon (These 3 are the same seat, just different variances of luxury additions, with the Marathon being the cheapest base model) can be found for regular price of $269, and on sale at Albee Baby online for $209-$219. The Marathon a wide open easy to route belt path, which makes using it correctly a lot easier, as do the built in lockoffs, which mean you never again have to use a locking clip. I can get it into 4 different vehicles in under 2 minutes. Because of the way the base is made, it fits in most cars. And, it is worth the money, b/c it lasts usually twice as long as most other car seats (all car seats expire 6 years after the date of manufacture) lasting a baby till they are 5-6 years old, where most at Walmart will only last till 2-4 years old. Rear faces to 33lbs, then forward to 65lbs. and top slots 17inches tall, lasts most kids to ages 5-6 years old.

The Evenflo Triumph Advance (not the original Triumph, make sure it says Advance) is a great seat. $150 version at Babies R Us has padding similar to Britax seats, top slots of 17″, harnesses to 35lbs rear facing, and 50lbs forward facing. $120 Walmart version just has little less plush padding. Wide open belt path, easy to install, though it doesn’t have built in lockoffs. The harness adjusts at the front of the car seat, you don’t have to take the car seat out of the car just to raise/lower the straps. It’s one of only 2 seats that does this (The Britax Boulevard is the other, I believE), and it has infinite harness adjustment so the harness always fits perfectly until its outgrown. No more tugging straps to tighten them either. You tighten and loosen the harness using knobs on the side of the seat. As a major bonus, it can be used in a recline position even in forward facing mode. Awesome for kids who still sleep in the car. I LOVE THIS SEAT! LOL My son, who is too big for every other car seat at Walmart has the same amount of room in this as the Britax Marathon.

By the way – to respond to the whole ‘evenflo triumph got just as good ratings as the Britax why pay twice as much?’. Crash ratings are NOT Released to the public, unfortunately, so there’s no fact behind that comment. What she’s like referring to is either consumer reports ratings or the NHTSA’s annual ease of use ratings. Both of which are suspect and can quite frequently not ring true. Only that All seats made in the USA have to pass the same federal regulations, so in theory they are all safe. The differing point, however, is that some seats just barely pass and others exceed the standards.

Also, its worth noting that Consumer Reports is NOT who you want to listen to regarding car seats.
The experts’ opinions on Consumer Reports for car seats:

All seats in the US must meet the same safety criteria to sell, so technically they all are safe, however, if its hard to install, then it won’t be used correctly and that makes it unsafe. Also, they only must meet the guidelines, some seats barely pass, some exceed them. So how easy it is to use really does make a difference – and there’s why Britax Marathon really is worth the money in a lot of situations.