droolicious : 7 days of car seats

7 Days of Car Seats: Graco Nautilus 3-in-1

Chris Ford — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:06:00 GMT

When I'm thinking about what makes the perfect car seat, I'm thinking about three things. How safe is it? How many years will I be able to use it (reasonably)? And does the color match my car? Since Erin already took my favorite Britax car seat for toddlers, I'll tell you about my other favorite - the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat.

So for the first criterion, I'm convinced it's very safe. The five point harness works up to 65 pounds, it's steel reinforced. and has a high back. It also lets the child sit more upright than a lot of toddler-only car seats out there which I like too.

As for how long it will last, the cool thing about this seat is that it's a convertible seat. It converts from a toddler seat (with the 5 point harness) to a high-back booster to a backless booster. You'll be getting use out of this one until your kid is old enough to sit up front, which is pretty cool.

And the colors are happily neutral. In my world, kid-stuff like car seats shouldn't match the kid, they should match the car. So if you're looking for ducks and bunnies this might not be for you, but for my car it's perfect.

Check out the Nautilus 3-in-1 Car Seat (it retails for around $150) at GracoBaby.com

7 Days of Car Seats: Créatis.Fix by Bébé Confort

Aaron Burgess — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:03:00 GMT

If you're determined to find a car seat that's designed to pass the most rigorous safety standards, you might want to look to Japan or Europe, both of which are more hardcore about car-seat safety than the U.S. And if you're looking for a safe, cozy seat that can pass tough EU standards without breaking your diminished American bank account, the Créatis.Fix from French company Bébé Confort (which landed four stars in European safety testing last year) makes a great starting point.

Suitable for birth to 12 months (0-13 kg, if you're weighing your kid on the metric system), the Créatis.Fix keeps baby cocooned and nestled in its soft padded interior, while a cushioned headrest offers head support and a removable booster-seat cushion allows you to situate smaller babies in a more ergonomic position. The seat's design and 3D mesh back also provide continuous air circulation to help keep baby dry, and when the interior and hood get too funky, you can remove both for machine-washing.

As for the seat's safety, its egg-like shell and dual plastic/polystyrene frame are designed to absorb significant impact, and it also packs additional reinforcement via supports on either side at head level. The seat also doubles as a carrier -- the unique handle even allows two people to carry it, if you and yours are so inclined -- and with the permanently installed Créatis.Base, snapping the seat in and out of your car can be done in a few quick moves.

Priced at £99.99 (a hair under $196 U.S.), Créatis.Fix is available for worldwide delivery from Babyworld.

7 Days of Car Seats: All Hail Clek’s Olli Booster Seat

Heather Kuldell — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Travels systems and car seats, no matter how well designed or streamlined, still take up major real estate in the car. When your kid gets big enough, get a backless booster seat like clek’s olli booster seat.

After a couple years of fumbling with 5-point harnesses and struggling to make sure baby car seats were secure, I was ready for the relative ease of the booster. They’re small enough for an adult to comfortably sit next to and you can quickly switch it from car to car.

Droolicious has written about the olli before, but I gotta rave again. At $89, you can find cheaper boosters, but the olli’s LATCH compatibility makes it worth the extra dough. It basically plugs into your car and can be released by pulling a loop on the front. It keeps both the seat and your kid snuggly in place. (Read: extra safe.) If your car doesn’t have LATCH, the olli can be buckled in like any other booster: seat belt goes over kid, under the booster’s arms, and click.

Ready to leave the big ol’ car seat behind? It varies according to state law, but most consider kids who are 4 years old, weigh 40 pounds and stand at least 40 inches tall are ready for backless boosters. Oh, and by the way, kids have to ride in boosters till they’re 8, so the cushy, washable, replaceable seat pads will come in handy. In case camo isn’t your thing, you can purchase various colors and patterns of clekjackets for $29.

7 Days of Car Seats: The Maxi-Cosi Mico Gives Us a Splash of Color

SunnyChanel — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:47:00 GMT

I love color. So it’s really nice to see car seats hitting the market that are not the usual safe colors like gray, black, and beige. The Maxi-Cosi Mico Infant Car Seat not only makes a nice splash of stylish color in a dull hued baby gear world but it has all the safety features you want to cradle your loved ones like impact absorbing EPP foam lining, deep side wings, padded, adjustable 5 point harness, a rotating canopy for sun protection and for you, a ergonomic handle for comfty carrying.

The one pictured above is in a color palette called “Juice”. But if black is still the new black in your book, then you can get it “Penguin”. The Maxi Cosi Mico, or what I’ll just call MCM is compatible with the European Quinny strollers (check out April’s post about them here). It’s designed for babies from 5 to 22 pounds and clocks in at $170 (but the stroller will set you back $550…you’ve been warned).

7 Days of Car Seats: First Ever Toddler Travel System

Lisa Mulcahy — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:28:00 GMT

It’s not until your infant outgrows a "snap and go" type travel system that you realize how easy you had it. I milked it for as long as I could with my son, now that he’s 20 months old, boy do I miss those days of popping out the car seat and snapping it into the stroller. But don’t mourn the loss yet, there’s a new toddler travel system in town.

Orbit Baby’s Toddler Car Seat is the latest evolution of the infant travel system you saw here on Droolicious. Like all of Orbit’s seats, the Toddler Car Seat docks onto the SmartHub Base in your car, on the Orbit Stroller, or on the Orbit Rocker. It can be used both rear facing for children 15-35 lbs. or forward-facing for toddlers from 20-50 lbs. The concept is even more brilliant for toddlers, because unlike the infant versions of themselves, they tend to put up more of a fight during the transfer from car seat to stroller.

At Stroller Depot they’re offering free shipping for the $300 Orbit Baby Toddler Car Seat.

7 Days of Car Seats: Britax Marathon

Erin Behan — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:22:00 GMT

Life does start to seem like a never-ending marathon with kids (and I just have one, a newbie who sleeps a lot!), so this high-end car seat is well-named. A workhorse, the Britax Marathon ($214.43 on Amazon) fits children five- to 35-pounds rear-facing and 1-year-old and up from 20 to 65 pounds forward-facing. Most parents I know get this for their older toddler and love the comfort it gives larger children. And if you like your car seat with a splash of pattern, you can get it in cowmooflage.