Stage 2 Car Seats: Info, Options, Overload!

I mentioned in my last two posts that we are looking for a Stage 2 car seat, and in my last post I also mentioned that I've been doing a bunch of research. The information is beginning to get muddled in my brain; some of it seems contradictory. So I am going to put it all down right here with the hope that it will help me sort it out. For those of you who are or are soon to be in similar circumstances, perhaps it will provide you with some useful info, or maybe you can add to it with your research. For others, well... this post might not be especially interesting. Sorry.

My first step in looking at Stage 2 car seats was to try and get a sense of the big picture because car seat standards and recommendations have changed a lot in the last few years, to the point where it seems like kids as old as 10 are still in some kind of car-seat-related thing. I thought it would be helpful to first understand what comes after a stage 2 car seat -- another car seat ? A booster? And when do these changes occur? More immediately, what about rear- vs. forward-facing car seats?

Turns out that things are not crystal clear. For instance, I have heard that kids should be rear-facing until they are at least 2 years old. I've also heard that they should be RF "as long as possible". So what's the true recommendation? From what I can tell, the second recommendation is accurate -- kids should be rear facing as long as possible. But then everything I read said, "Use the car seat manufacturer's recommendations to determine when to switch from RF to FF."

Uhm, really? Has anyone ever compared car seats to see what the manufacturers say? Because some of them are rear facing based on height, others by weight, others by whichever comes first of height or weight. AND the various height and weights differ -- I've seen height limits of 24 inches for some seats, 28, 29, or 30 for others; weights ranging from 30 to 40 pounds, possibly with more variants. So what is really the safest thing? If I have a tall, fat baby, is she safe to be forward facing sooner? Does her bulk, like, protect her?

Blarg. Really confusing.

The booster seat issue seems a little bit simpler. Kids need to be at least four years old and at least 40 pounds before they move into a booster. If a child is still within the height and weight limits of the car seat, it's safest to keep her in the car seat until she outgrows the limits. If you need to move her up to a booster, there are boosters with back and/or side padding that are safer than just the plain seat, but the extra padding is not required.

All of that is important to know because there are a lot of combination seats on the market, i.e. car seats that go from infant to toddler to booster (these are 3-in-1 seats; options include the Alpha Omega), or that work for RF and FF during stage 2 (called convertible car seats). There might even be more options and more names, I don't know. It sounds like there are about four stages of car seats. It gets muddled and confusing very quickly.

To help myself narrow it down, I also tried to look up a list of the "best" car seats, but I found several different types of lists, none of which were identical, none of which were totally clear or entirely up to date. These "best" lists only added to the confusion.

You know what else is confusing? Reading customer reviews of products. For car seat Q, some people say it fits easily into their small car, others say it is huge and doesn't fit well; some say it's easy to adjust and others say it's clunky. Ohmygosh, how do you decide these things without having to go and man-handle every make and model on the market? (Worse yet, what if I like one and can only order it online -- how do I know the customer reviews are any good if they are all across the board?!)

So I'm trying to make it simpler on myself and just consider two things: What matters most to me, and what I know (or think I know).

What's important? I want my kid to be safe. I want her to be as safe as possible. I am willing to put down a decent chunk of change in order to ensure her safety; I know I am willing to spend X amount of money on a seat. Thus I am generally looking at the upper-end versions of car seats that the various brands produce. Darling's car seat should ideally be highly functional -- I want to be able to easily adjust it as she grows, and to clean it if she gets food on it or gets car sick. I am willing to trade down a bit in functionality if it means she is safer, but the cleaning thing is moderately important to me.

I know that she should be rear-facing as long as possible, so I want to get something that she can continue to grow in and remain RF (i.e. I am not going to get something where she has maxed out or is close to maxing out the RF limits). It seems to me that a seat which is designed for a specific purpose is safer and better designed for its single purpose; the multi-use car seats (like a 3-in-1) won't provide quite as much protection as something with a dedicated purpose. At least, that's my perception.

Thus I am leaning toward a high-end combination seat that will allow Baby Girl to remain rear-facing for awhile (i.e. she is not too close to maxing out the RF limits).

Whew. Took awhile to get to that point. Now let's review the car seats I've considered...

PEG PEREGO

Our current (infant) car seat is a Peg Perego and it's awesome. It has the highest safety rating in its class, it's well made, and it has been good to us. It's not perfect but I couldn't have done better had I gone out and picked one myself. (It was a gift.)

PP makes a convertible car seat, which is a brand new product this year. Because we love the current car seat, because we know and trust the brand, and because it's surely one of the safest (probably THE safest) car seat available, it is at the top of my list.

Unfortunately I am facing two drawbacks: The closest store that (maybe) carries the product is an hour away, so that makes it hard to go and play with the seat to test its functionality. It's also quite a bit outside our price range. I really like the black "licorice" color and style, but it's way up there; the moderately less expensive, plain black one is still above my price point. So I guess I'm hoping the car seat fairy drops one on our doorstep and that it has high functionality.

Ha, ha. Sigh.

(I have considered ordering it on Amazon so I can test it. It can be returned for free anytime in the first year -- wow! LOVE AMAZON! -- but I'm still balking at the cost.)

Update (June 2012): We got a chance to test one of these out. In the end I still went with a Britax, but you can find my comments about the PP Convertible in my follow-up post!


BRITAX: Roundabout, Marathon, or Boulevard

I've been told that the Britax brand has some of the highest safety ratings on the market. We checked this one out at a store two weeks ago and it is definitely sturdy and seems to have good, heavy padding. The shoulder and head adjuster is easy to use, and the recline is easy to use. The cover was easy to slide off for cleaning. It has LOTS of positive reviews and very, very few negative reviews. People who I know, with opinions I respect, have opted for this car seat.

In our "testing" last week we found it to be just a little bit clunky. It comes with rubber liners on the chest harness that prevent the straps from twisting (very effectively), but they also kinda get in the way. The crotch buckle doesn't have a long tether so you have to reach down quite a bit to buckle it in (I didn't mind this but it bugged Nate). Like most car seats (maybe all?) there is a strap that comes out the front of the seat which pulls the shoulders tight. The release mechanism to loosen this strap is a bit hard to access. It also seems a bit large... but then again, most of the convertibles seemed pretty big.

If I go with their lower-end "Roundabout" model, the weight capacity maxes out at 55lbs. At first I wasn't sure if this was enough, but then I was thinking about future kids. If/when we have another child, s/he will use the Peg infant car seat at first, but what about when s/he needs to move to the next stage? If I get the Roundabout, Baby Girl might max out of it at about the time Baby 2 moves into it. Maybe.

The next two models (Marathon and Boulevard) both go up to 70lbs. The difference between them is that the Boulevard has additional side-impact protection. That's why it's one of the safest car seats on the market, and why it appeals to me. It pushes the budget a bit, but I think that safety rating makes it worthwhile.

One of my co-workers got a Boulevard for his daughter, loves it, and just ordered a second one for their second car. He said that when the new one arrives, we can come over and put it in our car so we can check out the size, fit, functionality, and so forth in a realistic setting. (Playing with one in the store just gives you an idea -- it's not definitive!) Clearly he and his wife like it enough to buy two, and I respect their opinions. So we'll see how it goes.

Update (June 2012): We decided to buy a Britax Boulevard. You can read about it in my follow-up post!


EVENFLO: Symphony

The Symphyony by Evenflo wasn't originally on my radar, but we saw it at the store when we were checking out the Britax models and were surprised to find that we like it. It is very easy to adjust -- the head support and shoulder straps move easily, and the tilt is smooth. The cover wasn't too hard to remove. The LATCH system is a bit different from other ones, but looks easy to install, and hopefully it will be easy to tighten the car seat into place.

I am concerned that the shoulder straps might be too easy to adjust. It you need to make them taller or shorter, you just have to pull them up or down. You see the problem? I read on some of the customer reviews that it's not too hard for a toddler to pull the straps up and make them looser. If my kid feels about being in the car the same way I felt about being in the car as a child, she will do everything in her power to free herself from the car seat... or at least to make herself "more comfortable" (in other words, she'll yank those shoulder straps higher so they aren't "restricting" her). Also, the chest buckle felt cheap and flimsy.

I think this one was Nate's preferred car seat, but I'm hesitant. I think it's safety ratings that have me stuck -- again, I want something highly rated and I'm willing to trade down in functionality, but Nate's main concern is functionality. Understandably.


Safety First: ALPHA OMEGA

Funny story with this car seat. They have it on sale at Costco right now. Nate and I saw it in the store a couple of weeks ago, about the time we first realized we needed to look for a new car seat. We hadn't done any research or shopping or comparisons, so we literally just looked at it (didn't touch it) and then moved on. The next week (one week ago) my mom was babysitting and took Darling to Costco. I asked her to check out the seat while she was there -- try adjusting it, see if it moves easily; does it feel durable? Etc. So after hunting all around the store, she finally found one. The last one. The display model. She tried it, thought it seemed like a good seat, and purchased it. She brought it home and said, "If it doesn't work for you, it can go in my car."

Whoa. Surprise! Super generous! But what if it stinks? It's rude to look a gift horse in the mouth (btw, I don't understand that expression, and it means that I just called my awesome mother a horse; sorry, mom). And we do need a seat.

We tried it out. Tested the straps and latches. Tried putting it in the car.

During my research I had read a lot of reviews, saw a lot of negative comments. People said it was loose and hard to adjust. Unfortunately, they weren't altogether wrong. I think the shoulders are easy to adjust and the headrest isn't too hard to move up and down. As a forward-facing car seat, I think it would be great. It goes up to 100lbs so it would last for awhile. But that's where my praise ends...

The recliner is very choppy and difficult to use. When we put the seat in our car, in the rear-facing position, we couldn't get the LATCH to tighten down all the way. Nor could we get it to recline to the level recommended by the manufacturer. Do you know how you're "supposed" to fix the insufficient recline? Stick a rolled-up towel under the car seat. No joke. Also, in the reclined position, the passenger seat has to move uncomfortably far forward. Even then, it's a bit hard to squeeze the baby around the door frame and car seat to get her in the car.

When my mom came to babysit this week, we decided to try it in her vehicle. It had the same issues of being loose and not able to recline correctly. So we did the towel thing and were surprised to discover that it made  all the difference -- the LATCH felt more secure, and the seat was at the right angle of recline. Mom's car is an SUV, so there was also enough room for it to recline without interfering with the front seats, and we could get Darling through the door and around the seat without trouble (because there was sufficient room).

My mom had the brilliant idea of using the LATCH from the spare base to our PP infant seat on the AO. We didn't get a chance to try it this week, so we'll do that next week. (The PP latch is excellent. Superb. Hopefully it will function as expertly on the AO.)

Overall, it looks like the AO is going to be grandma's car seat. It works better in her car than in our car. I think we could have made it work, now that we figured out some of the problems, but still, the seat is less-than-ideal for our car.


RECARO ProRIDE


Let me just say up front that we can't get this car seat. It would be a strong contender, if my kid was a good fit. But it's too small (aka Darling is too big) to still be in the rear-facing position, so it's not in the running. Nevertheless, I did a bunch of research before I learned that tidbit and so I wanted to make a few notes about this seat.

The RECARO brand was originally a racing car seat manufacturer, so when it comes to safety, the kid car seats are top notch. They know what they are doing. The brand was on my radar because it was at the top of one of the various "best car seat" lists I looked at (although I can't now remember which list or why). They also have a pleasant variety of colors, including a purple that makes me smile every time I see it. (What is it about purple lately?!)

To be rear facing in the car seat, the baby has to be less than 23 inches. Is it just me, or does that seem short? My kid is nearly 30 inches, so she would have to be forward-facing in this car seat. I just don't feel comfortable having her face forward yet, for all the reasons detailed earlier in this post.

Sad face. It's so pretty. And safe.

But... moving on....


OTHER BRANDS

(Finally, holy goodness, this post is almost done.)

Should I consider other brands? There are more options on the market. Other popular names include Graco and Chicco. Someone last week mentioned The First Years. Should I do research on these models, too?

If anyone is still reading... do you have a convertible, all-in-one, stage 2, etc. car seat? What brand? Do you like it? Why? What don't you like about it?

Recommendations?!