New from Baby Trend – Connected Gear App & Ally 35 Infant Carseat

News and Updates from the 2018 JPMA Baby Show

Overall the trend in carseats for 2018-2019 is ease-of-use and technology. We saw that in abundance at the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) baby show this year. From mobile apps that tell you if your child has unbuckled their chest clip to QR codes that help you register your carseat and get installation help, to new seats with anti-rebound features, there were plenty of new and exciting products on the show floor this year.

Baby Trend Mobile App with Connected Gear™ Launches at JPMA Baby Show

JPMA found that less than 5% of caregivers with recalled products had their baby gear fixed. We knew the problem was bad but having less than 5% of recalls addressed and remedied is downright scary. Part of the problem is that parents and caregivers don’t register their baby products with the manufacturers. Remember those postcards with the fill-in-the-blank boxes that came with your carseat or stroller that you forgot to mail back because they got buried on the kitchen counter and eventually thrown out? Yeah, you’re not alone in having that experience.

As a countermeasure, Baby Trend is introducing a new Bluetooth app, called Connected Gear, that will help you register your BT product by scanning a QR code on the carseat which will be available on all BT products manufactured after June 2018. Parents will be able to easily register their products, get installation help, and receive safety notifications if necessary.

The app also works with a special Baby Trend chest clip that will launch soon on the Secure Snap Fit® 35 Infant Car Seat. This chest clip monitors the child in the seat, detects that the harness is properly secured and alarms parents or caregivers if the child is left unattended in the seat. The app can detect and monitor various car seats at one time so it can handle multiples. Since it’s connected to Bluetooth, there’s nothing that you have to plug into your vehicles OBD port, unlike other similar technology. If the chest clip is still connected and you walk out of Bluetooth range it triggers an alert on your phone. You have a few minutes to acknowledge the alert since you probably just ran from the driveway back into the house to grab something you left behind. However, there’s a GPS component to Connected Gear, so if you don’t acknowledge the alarm on your phone in a timely manner (generally 3-4 minutes), the next-in-line contact will be alerted and will know where the carseat and child is located. They can then notify authorities of the child’s location if they aren’t able to get in touch with you either.

  

The chest clip battery will last 18 months and can be easily replaced with fresh batteries when needed.

New Baby Trend Ally 35 Infant Carseat

Ally 35 is currently available for pre-order and will be shipping soon.  MSRP is just $89.99, which is an amazing price for a seat with so many features!

This new 4-35 lbs. rear-facing only infant seat has dual recline angle indicators; a bubble indicator for 4-22 lbs. and a line indicator for 22-35 lbs. The handle can be positioned forward to provide rebound management and it offers European shoulder belt routing when installed without the base. There are 4 harness height positions and 3 crotch strap positions. The bottom harness slot is very low so this seat should provide a good fit for preemies. On the flip side, Ally has a tall shell so it should easily accommodate older, taller babies. The base features 4 recline positions so you should be able to achieve a proper recline angle in most vehicles.

   

Baby Trend is working on getting the Ally to Canada right now so fingers crossed that it will be available there soon as well. Stay tuned for more updates!