Would Love Your Thoughts - CAR SEATS!

[humpsNbump - Resident Mom]

Hey everyone. I would your thoughts / reviews on car seats.

I currently have a Maxi Cosi infant car seat for my five month old baby girl which I love. (It looks like the picture that I have included below.) I know that I will eventually need to buy a front facing car seat. Does anyone have any advice based on what they have tried? All stories welcome - the good and the bad.

[Michelle]

I currently have a 20 month old and a 5 month old. We have a graco Snugride carseaat for the 5 month old and when my 20 month old hit 6 months and sat up great, we invested in the Safety First Alpha Omega Convertible Carseat... we love it!! He wont sit in any other carseat, so this must be extremely comfortable! It has nice material which wipes away messes easy and has a pillow for added comfort. I trust and believe in this carseat, as my son seems to as well! : ) We will def. be buying another soon !!

[humpsNbump - Resident Mom]

This advice is great. Thank so much. I will heard some other good things about the Safety 1st Alpha Omega. And the Graco brand is definitely good.

Does anyone have experience with Britax? I heard that Safety 1st just launched Air Protect. Any thoughts?

[Trinity Bauer]

did you like the car seat in the picture?? I'm expecting and need to find a good one.

[humpsNbump - Resident Mom]

Hey Trinity - Congratulations on your new baby!

About the car seat. I love the Maxi Cosi infant seat that I mentioned in this post. I choose this one for a few reasons - safety ratings of course, it is lightweight and easy to move in and out of the car (one of the lightest on the market I believe), and it fits into my Quinny car seat as a travel system. The only issue that I had was that it took up a lot of space in my Mazda 3, but I found that to be similar for all of the infant seats. Ultimately, it wasn't much of a problem. Here's a picture of the Maxi Cosi on the Quinny base. This combination was a lifesaver!

But this past weekend, I bought a new car seat. I knew that I would need something else once my daughter grew out of her infant seat. At 9 months, she's almost there. For a while I was looking at different brands, reading reviews and safety ratings, getting recommendations. Based on what I heard, I was prepared to buy either the Britax Marathon, Britax Boulevard or the new Safety 1st Complete Air. The Britax has amazing safety ratings, and I have heard nothing but good things from other parents. The Safety 1st Complete Air has new technology designed to protect children from side impact crashes. They have an amazing video on their website that explains it - http://airprotect.safety1st.com. I ended up getting the Safety 1st Complete Air. So far, I'm very happy with it.

If you're only planning on getting one seat for rear and front facing, I would suggest a Britax or Safety 1st Air Protect. They are expensive but it will be one of most important items that you will buy for your baby. And your child will be using it for years. You could probably skip the infant seat and go straight to a convertible to save money. But that's completely up to you.

Hope that helps!
Jenine

[Trinity Bauer]

Hey Jenine, the advice was great. Thank you! I have one qt for you though. Does that car seat ONLY work with the quinney stroller. I know there was another listed in its advertisement on Maxi Cosi's page but both strollers were a more than a bit over my budget in cost.
Thanks again!

[humpsNbump - Resident Mom]

Great question! I know that the car seat is compatible with all of the Quinny and Maxi-Cosi Strollers. I have listed them below and included prices from Babies R Us.

Quinny Buzz: $399.98
Quinny Zapp: $230.99
Maxi-Cosi Loola: (not at BrU but I think it's more expensive than the Foray)
Maxi-Cosi Foray: $349.99
Maxi-Cosi Perle: $179.99

They are also compatible with other brands. My friend has a Maxi-Cosi infant seat with her Bugaboo Frog. So I did a quick online search. EliteCarSeats.com has a great function that allows you to search for strollers compatible with various car seats. They have 10 other strollers for the Maxi-Cosi Mico here.

Word of advice though, you will probably have your stroller for a lot longer than your infant seat. The infant seat will only last you to the first year, or 25lbs (depending on the brand). I started by first choosing the stroller and then looking at comparable seats. It might help you to approach it that way too. That will definitely help you narrow things down.

Good luck!
Jenine

[Trinity Bauer]

Thanks! You're a Great Help! I really appreciate it.

[La Tosha Headley- Resident Mom]

I too have been looking for an upgrade out the infant seat. I said absolutely this week I will get one for my son. I also saw the Recaro but not really too familiar with that one so Thank you for the advice I am going to check out the recommended carseats and get one this weekend...:)

[humpsNbump - Resident Mom]

I've been using the Safety 1st Air Protect for a few months and still like it. My daughter is almost 13 months and we still use it rear facing. The rear facing limit for that seat is 40 lbs so I'm gonna try to keep her that way for as long as I can. Studies show that rear facing is safest.

Also received some information that for older children that are rear facing you don't quite need to incline the seat as much as younger infants. That will save some space in your car and your kid will be more comfortable.

Good luck!

[Amber Gould]

We love our Recaro car seat. They make racing seats and after my husband did his research he decided we must get one. We love it and so does my son. He's been using it since he was a little over 1 and is now 3. Definitely check them out:)

[Tina Tsao]

We were choosing between Britax and Recaro, and my colleague recommended me Recaro. We felt that with similar features, Britax, maybe because it's more well-known than Recaro, is a bit overpriced. We were not disappointed at all. We love the seat!!