Need Carseat advice please

[hunnymamaof5]

Hello! I just signed up, so not sure if my username is going to show - hunnymamaof5 - but I need some carseat advice.

We are shopping for car seats too right now. We have no more bigger seats left once 6mo DD outgrows her infant seat - so we need one for her. Then I have been researching as the seats that our other two (DD4yo & DS 2.5yo) ride in are both 8 years old and need to be replaced. ( I wasn't convinced of this before but now I am! Both seats are 5pt harness though) So we are looking to buy 3 new carseats in the next few months. My head is swimming with choices. We are trying to find the best safety seat for what we can afford to spend. In a perfect world I would love to go out and buy three brand spankin' new Britax seats but we just don't have that kind of money.

I would love to know which seats are the best safety for what I have to spend ($100-ish per seat)

Car: Dodge Grand Caravan '96
DD4yo: approx. 35 lbs
DS2.5 yo: approx 30-32 lbs
DD6mo: 18lbs, 28 inches

FYI, we are in Canada

Thanks!

[unityco]

Hmm, less than $100 might be difficult. I know I've seen some of the Evenflo combo seats (for your older two) at Wal-Mart for around $90, but for anything that's going to last your youngest, I think you'll be pressed in that budget. I think the Evenflo Triumph Advance would be a good choice for her.

This is a list member Jewels created of the higher weight seats in Canada. Choosing from this list will really get you the most bang for your buck. They will last your children a long time:

For booster combo seats in Canada that harness past 40lbs are:
*Graco Cargo with upfront adjust(48lbs) makes a ok booster (17" THS)
*Evenflo Chase(16.8" THS)/Vision/Tradition (16" THS) (47lb limit) makes a ok booster
*Evenflo Bolero/Generations (47lb) makes a decent booster (Bolero is $120 at Walmart) (16.5" THS)
*Cosco Apex (65lb) makes a decent booster ~ (17" THS)

For Higher Weight seats:
*Britax Marathon (65lbs) (17" THS)
*Sunshine Kids Radian (65lbs) (18" THS)
*Evenflo EFTA (47lbs) (17" THS)

THS=Top Harness Slots


HTH!

[cdncasper]

The Evenflo Chase is on sale at TRU right now for under $100--this seat would work for your older 2 probably. Than again the Apex is also on sale there for $149.99 and is a better seat but needs headrests.

[hunnymamaof5]

Thank you - DH and I decided to just get seats for the older two right now, as 6mo is still in her infant seat. I went to TRU and got two Apex seats. I have a couple questions about that seat...

I read in the manual that it must have a headrest behind it - my Caravan has headrests behind all the seats that I have tethers on, do I have to raise the headrest or just leave it in it's lowest position?

I am a little worried about it being too wide in our backseat though I measured it and it's only 1 inch wider in the seat than our old seat. I will find out tommorrow when I put them in.

[snowbird25ca]

I read in the manual that it must have a headrest behind it - my Caravan has headrests behind all the seats that I have tethers on, do I have to raise the headrest or just leave it in it's lowest position?


The rule with the apex is that there must always be support of either the vehicle seatback or the headrest at least as high as the midpoint of the child's ears.

So depending on how your children fit the seats, you may or may not have to raise the headrest. You'll need to install the seat, then buckle your kids in & then make sure that the vehicle headrest is at the right height. :)