Many certified child passenger safety technicians have had it ingrained upon them that they are supposed to act completely neutral toward child restraints. All child seats pass the same tests, they are all safe, blah, blah, blah. In their class to become certified, most techs were told never to tell a parent that one child seat or brand is better than any other. Instead, technicians are instructed to tell parents only that the best one is the one that fits their child, their vehicle and is easiest for them to use correctly. Nothing wrong with that.
Problem is, once you’ve installed even a dozen different seats, you quickly learn that there are real differences. Some child restraints do tend to fit better in general, while some are really easier to use in general. Even so, back in the CPS dark ages, rogue technicians who discussed the reality of different child seats were routinely burned at the stake! This very topic about the best or safest car seats even gave Marvin a career as a blogger!
Thankfully, those days of CPS witch hunts are long gone. The “no recommendations” concept came to an end a few years back when the mighty NHTSA started recommending seats themselves. They didn’t make these recommendations based upon crash testing. No, they were made upon a subjective determination of factors relating to ease-of-use. Ironically, these factors were no more likely to apply to someone’s own child and vehicle than the recommendation of an experienced technician! Enter another respected institution, the IIHS. They recently rated boosters based on fit to a standard dummy in a handful of vehicles. Again, no crash testing whatsoever. Again, no guarantee that the results apply to any particular child in a specific vehicle.
So, who is CarseatBlog to go recommending specific child seats? Sure, Heather and Kecia are very experienced certified technician instructors. Sure, I have been a certified technician for almost the entire decade and have like a zillion websites on the topic. Sure, we’ve all been involved with local Safe Kids organizations, SafetyBeltSafe USA and other groups. Sure, we’ve all developed a great reputation* in the professional CPS community. Most importantly, though, we’re just parents who have used a lot of different car seats. Like many products we use daily, we know which ones we tend to like in general, which ones we’d use without reservation for our own kids and which ones we are comfortable recommending to CarseatBlog readers and visitors.
Take our car seat recommendations with a grain of salt. They are opinions, after all. There’s no objective list of weighted criteria that we used. There’s no crash testing. There’s no exhaustive comparison of features or value. It’s just a list and it isn’t even all-inclusive. Some seats were left out because of space considerations. Others were omitted because we opted to include a similar model from the same manufacturer. In our Amazon.Com lists, some weren’t included because we couldn’t find them for sale there. There are a number of great options we don’t mention, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth your consideration. Similarly, some we do list may just not work well for you, your child or your vehicle. We’re not saying these are the best or safest choices in child car seats, we’re just saying they’re models we think you should consider. If nothing else, it’s a good place to start when you are shopping!
Starting this week, we will be updating our Amazon.Com lists on the right sidebar of our homepage at www.carseatblog.com. These will be changed from time to time and will rotate different products we think are worth a look if you’re shopping for a new child restraint. In addition, Heather has created a list of recommended car seats that has some additional information to help you decide among them. Best of all, you can leave a comment if you think one of our recommendations is rubbish or if know a model you feel deserves a mention! Unlike some other organizations that think their word is the final one, we know our readers have recommendations just as valid as our own!
As I said, these lists are just a good starting point. There are some other proven ways to pick a good child seat. Ultimately, the only way to be sure it works well is to use it in your car with your kid. If possible, ask to borrow a floor sample and try it in the parking lot before going to the register. Stores that help you with this are doing a lot to earn your money, so please support them with your business! In any case, you might not realize until later something isn’t quite right. Be sure you get a good return policy whether you buy it locally or online. If you still are having a concern, be sure to visit a certified technician for a consultation before you return it. They might have some good tips or tricks to show you and can help teach you how to get a good installation every trip!
* Even if it is the kind of reputation you get by spending all your advertising profits schmoozing experts and manufacturer’s representatives at conferences and trade shows.
The Radian is my favorite that wasn’t included, FTR. I love my Radians (I have four– for 3 kids.)
Good suggestions, Kat. I personally haven’t had a lot of experience with them. I’m also hesitant to recommend a brand new infant seat that hasn’t been used much on the boards and that I have only seen at a conference. Since this list is our group of seats that we, um, favor, it’s important to us that we be able to absolutely say we’ve had our hands on these seats or we use these seats for our own kids, unlike the other list I keep.
why weren’t the boulevard, evenflo triumph advance, and the scenera listed in the convertibles section??
The new safety 1st infant seat that starts at 4lbs should also be listed as a more affordable option that fits small babies well.
Perhaps we will replace the Decathlon with the Advocate when it is released!
The DC was my pick, although to be honest I hadn’t really considered the rear-facing weight limit differences. Thanks for pointing that out.
I chose the DC because of the extra crotch strap positions and the button harness adjuster. It always annoys me that the RA has more room in the crotch than the MA and the Blvd. This may be less of an issue for girls as they get older but I’m really not sure. I do know that it can be an issue for bigger/older boys. The difference between the single crotch strap position on the MA/Blvd and the 3rd, outermost position on the DC may not seem like much but it does make a difference.
As for adjusters – I prefer the button adjuster on the RA (who doesn’t?) to the button adjuster on the DC but I like the DC adjuster just fine. It’s easier to access than the adjusters on the MA and BLVD because they don’t have to hide it from prying little fingers. And you never have to worry that your child will be able to figure it out and loosen their own harness while the car is moving.
I’ve heard complaints about DC harness adjusters that were hard to tighten/loosen but I’ve never had any problems with them (rf or ff). I always help the adjuster a bit (even with the MA and Blvd) by pushing up on the chest clip and HUGS while pulling on the adjuster strap. It’s a very simple technique and it helps me to get the straps very snug, quickly and easily.
Michelle, like Darren, I haven’t had any experience with the Radian other than my frustrating attempts at installing it in my van. The vast majority of seats I see at checkup events in my area are Britax seats or Alpha Omega Elites. I’ve probably only seen 3 or so ETs/ETAs at events.
BookMama, what “head flop” issue are you talking about? LOL, I haven’t paid much attention to Nautilus threads.
Thanks for catching that typo on the Decathlon, Mel.
The Decathlon still only has a 33lbs rear facing weight limit. It’s listed there as 35lbs on the recommended list. Honestly I’d personally skip the Decathlon for that reason alone, I can’t ever see really recommending it with a 33lbs rear facing weight limit when both the MA and the BLVD have 35lbs limits.
I’d love to see the EFTA while I hate the adjuster knobs so many people love the seat.
I would add two drawbacks – the Nautilus “head flop” issue and the Decathlon adjustor issue. I’ve had both of these issues but otherwise LOVE both seats.
Anne-
You should mention your favorite and why! It may well be the best option for someone else, too!
Michelle-
I don’t have a lot of experience with the Radian, as I have with many other models. I didn’t request it be added to our list for that reason alone. I can’t speak for Heather or Kecia, of course;-) I should defnitely inquire about a Radian 80 or XT for longer term evaluation. Ditto on the EFTA. Obviously, I love the Boulevard (if you can’t tell from my review). We opted to include the Decathlon and Marathon instead. The Roundabout does have the advantage of being small, fitting well in many vehicles and having an excellent push-button harness system.
We didn’t want to include every seat, so we did have to make some compromises. If it isn’t in our list, it doesn’t mean we don’t like that model!
You’re missing a lot of good convertible seats – I would lose the Roundabout recommendation. My DD outgrew it RFing by height at 19 months. Include the Boulevard and the Evenflo Triumph Advance. I’m especially curious as to why you didn’t include the EFTA…
And what about the Radian? Is it not included because it has so many installation issues?
Thanks for all the good work! 🙂
(Well, that and that MY favorite is not on the list. But since individual tastes vary so much I really won’t complain about that. 🙂 )
Nice! That footnote just made my day. 😀
My one quibble with that list, is that none of the convertibles have comments on how well they will fit a newborn. That’s an important consideration for moms like me who do crazy things like bring their newborn home in a convertible. 😉