Poll: seat sightings

[smurf]

I'm wondering if the Dorel seats are as popular elsewhere as they are here... I swear almost every seat I see installed in a car (I admit I'm a gawker) is the Alpha Omega. Just about everyone I know owns one in some form or other (Elite, Eddie Bauer, etc).

Britax sightings are very rare here. Once in a blue moon. And I've never seen a Radian.

So I'm wondering which car seats do you see most often installed in cars. Techs will have lots of sightings I'm sure.

[Jewels]

The AO/AOE is by far the most popular for a convertable. For infant seats it is pretty equal between the Graco, Evenflo and Cosco . . . you know the ones you can by at the CDN Walmarts and Superstores!

I have only ever seen the Radian installed in my friends vehicles and they only have them because I told them to get them :rolleyes: The only time I have ever seen a Britax (other then my own) is when we were in Minneapolis. There I saw a couple of roundabouts, it was exciting :thumbsup:

At the last seat check I did, one vehicle that was pulled over (it was a mandetory seat check with the RCMP) were on their way to the US to by a Regent! I really had wished that they would have already had it so I could have played . . .:whistle:

[keri1292]

I chose Graco, but I think that I just notice the handle up on the Snugride more than the AO. I've seen one Britax seat in 6 years of owning one myself. It was orange. I was excited. My dh thought I was a freak. :o

[seatchecker]

It's a toss up between Graco and Cosco - Graco for infant seats, and then Cosco for convertibles, combos and boosters.

[Tara]

I see all of the above, often. Have yet to see a Radian though.
But I do see several Britax seats around here. *Most* of which appear to be used to the best they can (ok that sounded really sloppy, but anywho..). I've seen a couple RF when the child was over 1 yr. Maybe not by a whole lot, but a smidge. Not yet to the 33# RF limit of the MA.
I think I've only seen one Britax in use FF when the child really should have still been RF..yes, over a year, between 18mo and 2 yr I'd say...but a dinky little thing. Looked well within the RF weight limits.

I see a lot of AO in every stage of use.
Wait..not so much RF, don't know that I've seen many, if any at all, in RF mode. But FF for all ages..smaller RF size kids in there FF.

I've seen my fair share of Sceneras..a lot of which have been RF with 'bigger' babies. And at least as many in FF position.

I see a lot of SnugRides. Most of which have the handles up or in that in between unacceptable position. And probably half of those also have the toys hanging from the handle.

I haven't voted as I couldn't decide what I saw the most of LOL

[smurf]

It's a multiple-choice poll, BTW

[Melizerd]

I've only seen 2 Britax seats. One was the Companion and one was a Marathon. Otherwise I see the AO/AOE a LOT.

[bbartlettnfld]

At home in St. John's its the 3-in-1's followed closely by the Graco Snugride & Designer 22.
BethAnn

[An Aurora]

I see loads of OHS Evenflo seats here, but I voted Dorel because AO/AOE wins hands down. Most of the people in our playgroup has them. I also see tons of CarGos.

I have seen lots of Britax seats, though. I even saw a RF toddler once, and I know 2 people who have their toddlers RF (although one doesn't count since she's only 19 pounds at 17 months). Oh and I saw TWO Regents a couple days ago! Within minutes of each other. Oh, and once I was getting on a ferry and saw a woman rubbernecking my RF toddler, and she gave me a thumbs-up which I was assuming was about ERF. She had a son who was definitely too tall & heavy to RF, and he was FF in the cinnabar Marathon (gorgeous btw!).

[cmm7]

I see mostly Graco for boosters and infant seats and Cosco for convertibles. I voted for both of those.

[Patriot201]

I see a lot of AOEs and its clones. I also, however, see A TON of Britax seats.

Just yesterday, I was able to point out a Cowmooflage Marathon, a Granite Marathon, a Houndstooth Marathon, an Ashley Floral Marathon, a Arcadia Grass Marathon, a Gray Roundabout, a Tan Microdot Roundabout, a Shannon Boulevard, a Marina Husky or Regent, an Onyx Regent, and a Wicket Husky. :D ALL those seats were seen in a 2 block walk and the short walk to the car at the train station. Granted, several of them were in the same vehicles, but it was still impressive! :D

[beebear23]

I see mostly Cosco seats around here.. People are in love w/the AO, which of course, is almost never used properly.

for infant seats it's usually Evenflo or Graco though.

[mimieliza]

Mostly Cosco (the AOE is popular, along with the - ugh - OHS Scenara). Lots of Graco infant seats and I see some ComfortSports, too.

Oh, and the Snugride handle can be in the all-the-way up position on most Snugrides. So that doesn't bother me when I see it.

[tarynsmum]

Graco hands down for infant seats (although I am starting to see more Keyfits). For convertibles, I find it's a toss up between a OHS Scenera (never seen one RFing though) and an AOE. According to my local BRU supervisor, they can't keep the AOEs stocked :thumbsdown: I also very rarely see AOEs RFing. Most parents around here get an infant seat, and once the kid grows out of it weight wise (I see tons of kids too tall for the infant seats) they go FFing in one of the above mentioned :mad:

[super_grape]

here, it's dorel HANDS DOWN:rolleyes:!

in fact, in the parking lot at ikea on saturday, i counted 6
alpha whatevers just walking from the car to the door!

the crst instructor i had reccomends those things to parents
at seat checks and the like...she HATES britax.
everytime i'm at the big baby store in town and they're trying to sell
someone a seat i hear "the head of carseats at transport canada
buys these seats for her tests and she says they're the best and they do everything but throw them off the roof...blah, blah, blah"
it drives me insane! i know there's nothing unsafe about the seat
if used properly but too many people use them improperly because it's so easy to do so and they don't fit non-peanuts for near as long
which means they go into booster mode too early.
ok, i'll confess...i hate the things, but they could be better if stupid dorel designed them for bigger kids and made them less easy to misuse. ok, rant over:o...

[broken4u05]

i see a lot of britax here because people just like to be the richest things for there kids. Most of the time they are not in the seats right or something but it is a great seat right? It will save there lives even without buckling them in. right? LOL JK.

[chaoticoctopus]

I definitely see the Dorel/Cosco/EB Alpha Omega models the most around here. I'm still trying to get rid of the one I bought for Dd last year before I found this site, in fact! But Dh has a co-worker with a new baby, possibly in financial need, so I'll probably just give it to them (with LOTS of info on how to use it properly)...

Thus contributing to the AO-most-popular-carseat-EVER image... :rolleyes:

[Jordynsmama]

Idk-it is probably a tie between graco and evenflo...but I do see a lot of Britax's-usually MA's.

[Mama2J]

I chose Dorel and Evenflo. They are the cheapest and the also the ones I looked at when I needed seats. I'd never seen a Britax seat in use other than my own, until last week! I went to book Justin's birthday party and when I came out I noticed there were three cars in the parking lot with what looked like Marathons! I couldn't believe it, I didn't think they actually existed around here except on the Target shelf.

[momme2_3]

I am outside of Pittsburgh PA and around here there are mostly Gracos for the infants seats and the Graco Comfortsports for the FF and the cosco (ok anything cheap at walmart!). We had 2 marathons, roundabout, and a new addition Boulevard, soon to be here tomorrow:)
I get pretty excited when I see another Britax ( i just secretly smile inside, dh would think I am crazy)

[elle7715]

You mean when I actually see seats being used? :rolleyes:
Mostly Graco Snugrides, then some Dorel seats. I've never seen a Britax in use here (other than mine).

I have seen lots of Britax seats, though. I even saw a RF toddler once, and I know 2 people who have their toddlers RF (although one doesn't count since she's only 19 pounds at 17 months). Oh and I saw TWO Regents a couple days ago! Within minutes of each other. Oh, and once I was getting on a ferry and saw a woman rubbernecking my RF toddler, and she gave me a thumbs-up which I was assuming was about ERF. She had a son who was definitely too tall & heavy to RF, and he was FF in the cinnabar Marathon (gorgeous btw!).

That's so cool! I think I'd drive off the road if I saw a RF toddler around here. When I was at school yesterday I got *really* excited because I saw an Airbooster in a minivan. It had an infant seat in the other captains chair. My heart dropped when I saw a 2-3 yo climb in that side but come to think of it, I think the booster was buckled in. So maybe she was crawling to her seat in the 2nd row. I have hope LOL. :p

[LeeLi]

Dorels are definitely the most common around her, and I see lots of AOEs in particular.
I also see a number of Triumphs, Comfortsports, TBs, Snugrides, and Cargos(and their clones).

I do see a fair number of MAs though, probably 5-10% of cars I look into.

I also see many old crappy OHS. Yesterday I was in a quite nice part of Portland and saw several clearly expired Century seats in expensive cars. I just don't understand why people will pay for a luxury SUV and then buy a car seat at a yard sale...

The only RFing toddlers I know are ones I convinced their parents to leave RFing.
And then there's a family I babysit for who has a 18mo who bought an MA because it "matched the new car" lol. Well at least they have MAs even if they're not RFing or tethered...

[Namegirl]

Graco for infant seats and Cosco (particularly Eddie Bauer) for convertibles.

[natysr]

For infant seats I see mostly graco.

For all other seats I would say that the majority of what I see is an equal # of Britax (95% of which I see are forwardfacing), AOE, and OHS seats.

[snowbird25ca]

3-in-1 seats win hands down for convertibles - heck, wal-mart has 2 different versions on it's shelf alone. :rolleyes:

Infant seats I've seen mostly Graco, 2nd most common is probably designer 22 - another cosco seat - because you can get cheap travel systems with it.

I have seen other seats too, but not as commonly.

here, it's dorel HANDS DOWN:rolleyes:!

in fact, in the parking lot at ikea on saturday, i counted 6
alpha whatevers just walking from the car to the door!

the crst instructor i had reccomends those things to parents
at seat checks and the like...she HATES britax.
everytime i'm at the big baby store in town and they're trying to sell
someone a seat i hear "the head of carseats at transport canada
buys these seats for her tests and she says they're the best and they do everything but throw them off the roof...blah, blah, blah"
it drives me insane! i know there's nothing unsafe about the seat
if used properly but too many people use them improperly because it's so easy to do so and they don't fit non-peanuts for near as long
which means they go into booster mode too early.
ok, i'll confess...i hate the things, but they could be better if stupid dorel designed them for bigger kids and made them less easy to misuse. ok, rant over:o...

Ok, I have to ask where 'bouts in Canada you are. I didn't realize your were another canuck..lol.

And what a load of hooey about the head of transport canada blah blah blah. All the seats are tested the same way. And technically it's not Transport Canada itself that does the compliance testing, but another related department. :rolleyes:

I hate the darn things too, but I think it's because of parents being so convinced that the seat will take their kid to 80lbs and how po'ed they sometimes get when I have to tell them their child is too tall for the harness and they have to go buy another seat. :rolleyes:

[cdncasper]

I mostly see AO/AOEs for FF children and Snugrides for RF children. I haven't seen many boosters yet but the majority of those I have seen are Fisher Price.
I have seen only 2 Britax (Marathons FF for 3 yr old twins) that were not my friends and I have never seen a Radian though.

[mominabigtruck]

If we're talking convertibles its cosco all the way. It drives me crazy too because I have to do inspections at the bmv all the time and I see these $40k + cars coming in with these cheap tourivas and aoes and combo boosters. This is a very ritzy area and I have yet to see a britax ever. I do see quite a few peg perego infant seats and I've seen a couple of romers since we have quite the foreign national population.

[smurf]

Actually here in Canada the AO is about $200 depending on how many bells and whistles it has, so it's not a cheap seat but people fall for the "it's the only car seat you'll ever need" line (I know, I fell for it, twice!). For a Britax you have to fork out another $100.

But I agree with your point mominabigtruck, I regularly see expensive cars with 10+ year old seats. Makes me cringe...

[ChristyJoelnSosi]

Around here I see mainly Graco for infant seat. Cosco for the AO and actually a TON of people have Britax here, not many in the area I live in but total what I see when I go places that is a huge market too.

[jaded]

I also see many old crappy OHS. Yesterday I was in a quite nice part of Portland and saw several clearly expired Century seats in expensive cars. I just don't understand why people will pay for a luxury SUV and then buy a car seat at a yard sale...



Not necessarily garage sales, but hand me downs from relatives or older children. Some people just don't care to spend more money when they think they have a perfectly good carseat to use.

Around here, a lot of Graco boosters, and Cosco seats. Have seen a few Britax(besides my own) But again, many AO's.

[flipper68]

So I'm wondering which car seats do you see most often installed in cars. Techs will have lots of sightings I'm sure.

Mostly Graco IO's, although there were 2 Keyfits at the last checkup and 1 the previous month - we do tons of expectant parents.

Britax is making strides and I'm seeing more and more come through events.

Cosco/Dorel is HUGE when I walk through the parking lots, though.

[BudgieStew]

Every car I glance in has the A/O and its clones.
I have never seen another Britax installed and only meet one person IRL that went out and bought one shortly after I met her(not because of me).
I met a lady the other day that just bought a Radian. Neither of these people live in the same province I do though.

In our group of friend's, most that I know are well off enough to afford new seats if even the more pricey ones buy used and often expired hand me downs.


The thing that makes me roll my eyes is friend's that don't think twice about spending 100,00 on a 3 year old childs outfit or 1000,00 for a hand made amoire for a nursery but cringe after asking how much our Marathon cost. DH has to hold me back after I see some of their seats.

[jen_nah]

Really it's a toss up here. If it is a infant seat it's going to be most likely a Graco here. If it is going to be convertible it most likely will be a Britax.

We see a LOT of Snugrides and a LOT of the Britax convertibles.

[StarrNanny]

In my neighborhood I see alot of Britax seats, I don't think I have ever seen a Radian. I see a fair few Keyfits , but mostly for infant seats it's Graco and Peg Perego. But overall I think I see mostly Graco and Cosco seats around here.

[Shaunam]

I'm in Ohio and I see lots and lots of cosco seats. Mostly sceneras and aoe's. And lots of cosco harnessed boosters. If I occasionally see a booster, it's always a turbobooster. And infant seats are always snugrides or evenflos. I've seen one safeseat 1. Lots of my friends have britax seats, but I've only ever seen two britaxes besides my friends.

But to be quite honest, MOST of the seats I see are old, expired, century OHS. TONS of them. And the health dept here gives out free NEW seats so I don't understand this. :confused:

[MagnificentMama]

I'm in IL and when i'm up working in L&D the 3 point Evenflo's win HANDS DOWN. They're what the health department gives away and that's all that the parents use. I see the actual seat and the base too :o Parents don't even attempt to install them prior to coming to the hospital

Covertables would have to be along the lines of any type of Alpha Crapmega. Crapmega Elite, Crapmega pleather, Crapmega 40 armrests and 30 cupholders edition, Crapmega with the straps so twisty you wonder if the kiddo was ever properly harnessed in the first place, etc.

I saw another mom with a Regent at Target a few nights ago and I wanted to give her a big high 5 but I had DD's Turbobooster b/c i was playing musical cars so I thought i'd be silly if I went up to her telling her that I have a Regent too but DD isn't in it right now. That's honestly one of the few Britaxes i've ever seen in my town.

[Jordynsmama]

You know I actually have seen so many Britaxes-yesterday just driving and going to the store i saw about 5 MA's or RA's....so I think Britax for convertible seats only- might be tied with Graco's....
ETA this is in La Costa area of SD

[stayinhomewithmy4]

For infant seats, I see just as many Evenflos as Gracos. For convertibles, I see lots of ComfortSports and lots of Dorel 3 in 1's. And I rarely see boosters, but when I do, it's almost always backless boosters or the Chase or CarGo. The other day I saw grandparents with 2 girls in HB Cosco Protek boosters and I was actually impressed by that because I see so few booster seats being used around here. :(