I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I did very little research before buying his infant seat. As a first time mom I had no idea what features I needed, or where to find safety standards. I remember looking at customer reviews on pages like Amazon, but infant car seats all seemed relatively the same to me. His car seat and stroller were the first 'baby' things my husband and I bought simply because they were on sale when purchased together. We ended up with the Baby Trend Expedition ELX Travel System.
(Only ours is green, not purple)
It was a killer deal, served it's purpose and thankfully we never had to test the durability of the car seat in any accidents of any kind. I decided I wanted to make sure our next car seat was the right one for my son as he will be using it for the next couple years.
My search for the perfect car seat commenced. My criteria for a good car seat were that it had to be usable ideally from birth to 100-110 lbs, high safety ratings, good customer reviews, relatively inexpensive and preferably easily installed.
Nathan and I travel to see my mother out of state often, so she decided to buy a convertible car seat for when we visit. She and I are very like minded- at least as far as the need to research important purchases like this. My mom purchased the Britax Advocate 70-G3.
The safety specs on the seat are amazing, that's for sure. My son loves that car seat, as do I, but there were a few things that took it off my list for a car seat to purchase for daily use at home. The installation factor was a dislike for me- it's just not as fast and as easy as I wanted in a car seat that we would be using daily. My second reason this seat was not for us is that it only holds up to 70 lbs. I really wanted to avoid purchasing a 'booster' seat, as it's just more money down the road. Lastly, this seat is expensive. Comparatively speaking it's about $50 more than the seat I eventually purchased, and if it only lasts up to 70 lbs, the cost of having to buy a booster seat was a turn off for me.
My final decision was the Evenflo Symphony 65 DLX (also refereed to as the e3) in 'Brady' (tan).
My search for the perfect car seat commenced. My criteria for a good car seat were that it had to be usable ideally from birth to 100-110 lbs, high safety ratings, good customer reviews, relatively inexpensive and preferably easily installed.
Nathan and I travel to see my mother out of state often, so she decided to buy a convertible car seat for when we visit. She and I are very like minded- at least as far as the need to research important purchases like this. My mom purchased the Britax Advocate 70-G3.
The safety specs on the seat are amazing, that's for sure. My son loves that car seat, as do I, but there were a few things that took it off my list for a car seat to purchase for daily use at home. The installation factor was a dislike for me- it's just not as fast and as easy as I wanted in a car seat that we would be using daily. My second reason this seat was not for us is that it only holds up to 70 lbs. I really wanted to avoid purchasing a 'booster' seat, as it's just more money down the road. Lastly, this seat is expensive. Comparatively speaking it's about $50 more than the seat I eventually purchased, and if it only lasts up to 70 lbs, the cost of having to buy a booster seat was a turn off for me.
My final decision was the Evenflo Symphony 65 DLX (also refereed to as the e3) in 'Brady' (tan).
I am in love with this car seat- as is my son. As you can see by the stamp in the picture it is the number 1 rated car seat by Consumer Magazine. The reviews on it were outstanding. The cost was very do-able with our budget, especially considering we will not have to buy a booster seat unless we decide at a later date that we need one as the seat grows with the child and holds up to 110 lbs! It installs in less than 60 seconds, and I can trust that it is secure. And of course, the most important factor in buying a car seat, the safety specs were outstanding. This seat securely holds my sons head in place, which is great for us as we are a family of off road racers, so we wanted a seat that my husband and I felt was secure enough to take my son on trails with in on the weekends.
The hard question for yesterdays shopping expedition was simply- do I get it in tan to match the interior of my Tahoe, or do I get it in grey?
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