carseats

[Anonymous]

Does it really matter which carseat I choose? I mean come on, 300$ for a car seat?!?! I feel like that is taking advantage of a parents natural desire to keep their kid safe. Are the cheaper ones really all that worse?? Excuse my ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it really matter which carseat I choose? I mean come on, 300$ for a car seat?!?! I feel like that is taking advantage of a parents natural desire to keep their kid safe. Are the cheaper ones really all that worse?? Excuse my ignorance.

p

Go to the library and look up safety ratings. Look up Consumer Reports online. Go to Buy, Buy Baby and speak to the carseat specialist. Educate yourself and then make an educated decision for yourself.

The "cheaper" carseats are for sale so people must be buying them. The cheaper carseats must be safe otherwise they could not be sold.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP, check consumer reports, etc for a carseat and base your purcahse off of advice vesus simply buying because everyone else has a $300 carseat. If you're a DC resident, they have a carseat purcahse program that isn't income based and you can get a new carseat for $20-$40.

[Anonymous]

I assume the OP is looking at carseats and not booster seats, but I though that I would still share this article about Booster Seats: Poor ratings cited for 13 booster seats

http://ap.google.com:80/article/ALeqM5hW3m2E0HugC1rtfiJMuvxDYBxBLwD93HG9FG0

This was based upon research done by the Insurance Institue for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan.

"The Institute, which conducts crash tests of new vehicles, did not recommend: Compass B505, Compass B510, Cosco/Dorel Traveler, Evenflo Big Kid Confidence, Safety Angel Ride Ryte, Cosco/Dorel Alpha Omega, Cosco/Dorel (Eddie Bauer) Summit, Cosco Highback Booster, Dorel/Safety 1st (Eddie Bauer) Prospect, Evenflo Chase Comfort Touch, Evenflo Generations, Graco CarGo Zephyr, and Safety 1st/Dorel Intera."

"The IIHS called 10 seats "best bets," meaning they were most likely to correctly position seat belts. They include: Combi Kobuk, Fisher-Price Safe Voyage (with plastic clip), Graco TurboBooster, Britax Monarch, Britax Parkway, Fisher-Price Safe Voyage (highback), LaRoche Bros. Teddy Bear, Recaro Young Style, Volvo booster cushion and Safeguard Go when it's used as a backless booster."

"Five seats were named "good bets" to provide acceptable belt fit. They include: highbacks Combi Kobuk, Graco TurboBooster and Safety Angel Ride Ryte, and combinations Recaro Young Sport and Safety 1st/Dorel Apex 65, when used as highbacks."

[Anonymous]

I have an Evenflo and a Britax. I bought the Evenflo because Consumer Reports gave it good ratings, and it was much less expensive than the Britax, and I would say that the more expensive Britax is worth it. No one in our household wants to use the Evenflo because the straps don't loosen and tighten easily and they twist easily. For something that you kid is in and out of many times a day, it is worth the extra money for one that is easy to use.

[Anonymous]

I personally think the Britax is worth it. I bought a Graco ComfortSport as well as an Evenflo Triumph between my kids - all those seats were outgrown before they were ready to switch into boosters and I ended up replacing them with Britax seats anyways. Would have been cheaper in the long run to buy a seat that would last, so definitely keep the height/weight limit in mind when purchasing. The height of the harness straps is most important in my opinion because most children outgrow seats by height before weight. If you buy a Britax Marathon or Regent, you will get more use out of it and have an all-around nicer seat to deal with.

[Anonymous]

We just bought the Marathon on sale for $229. Our dd spent 7 months in the Graco Infant Seat we paid $90 for, and she'll likely spend 2.5-3 years in the Marathon. On a monthly basis the Marathon is cheaper...

[Anonymous]

from what i understand, they all meet certain safety standards, but some are just much easier to use than others. some of the cheap ones have more complicated harnessing systems. some of them also just don't look/feel as nice - they don't have as much padding. i looked at some cheaper ones, but Baby Bargains recommended the Sunshine Kids Radian 65/80 and the Britax Marathon as good values. Tried to order the Radian 65 from Target, but they never had it in stock, so we found the marathon on sale for $230 with free shipping. IMO, $230 isn't too bad for something that will supposedly hold her till 65 pounds!

we also borrowed a Graco SnugRide infant seat from a friend; they are great because the seat is detachable from the base (and snaps into the stroller) so we'll use that until she's too heavy to carry around in the seat and then we'll switch to the Marathon. we have a base for the Graco for each car, so we don't have to uninstall and re-install them repeatedly.