Graco comfort sport or Evenflo Triumph?

My daughter is 6 months old and weighs 18.5lbs so it's time to buy a new seat. We were originally going to buy the Marathon but thought we might as well go with something cheaper because it won't last that long anyway. We were also thinking of a convertible 3 in1 that we can use for a long time but all i found was the Eddie Bauer and ive read lot's of bad reviews. Now i'm thinking of buying the comfort sport or evenflo triumph but don't know which would be better. I'm looking for something safe but also comfortable. She will be going in an SUV probably on the drivers side if possible. Also she is a short baby.. only 25 3/4". Thanks if you can help.

Unregistered said:

My daughter is 6 months old and weighs 18.5lbs so it's time to buy a new seat. We were originally going to buy the Marathon but thought we might as well go with something cheaper because it won't last that long anyway. We were also thinking of a convertible 3 in1 that we can use for a long time but all i found was the Eddie Bauer and ive read lot's of bad reviews. Now i'm thinking of buying the comfort sport or evenflo triumph but don't know which would be better. I'm looking for something safe but also comfortable. She will be going in an SUV probably on the drivers side if possible. Also she is a short baby.. only 25 3/4". Thanks if you can help.

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A marathon will fit her till she's six or so, is that not long enough? The comfortsport maybe till age 3, the triumph is too short to be safe rearfacing for a long time, so it's not the best choice, either.

I had the comfortsport and my DS outgrew it by the time he was 2 and I ended up getting a Marathon (MA) at two because it had the highest harness slots that I could find in Canada. I wish I would have just bought the MA to begin with, it would have saved me money in the long run and I figure that if I only use it for 3-4 years it was still worth every penny I paid for the seat

I would still vote for a MA because it should last you a long time. One thing to remember is that carseats expire after 6 yrs so if you use your MA for 5-6 years you are getting your money's worth out of the seat. I think someone figured it out do be something like $0.14 a day for six years. I think you will get the longest use out of this seat.

If you go with the comfortsport, triumph or 3 in one they have lower top harness slots (some with shorter shells so are outgrown rearfacing faster (RF)) and can be outgrown very early and then you have to buy another seat.

With the 3in1 I would think it will be pretty much expired by the time your child is ready to use it as a booster.

Yes, I would avoid the Comfortsport. My daughter (very small) also outgrew it at a very young age, and we ended up having to buy ANOTHER seat. We spent more money in the end instead of just buying a Britax Marathon. Also, the Graco Comfortsport only rear-faces to 30lbs, which is a very low weight. The Britax Marathon goes to 33lbs, and some go to 35lbs.

If you can't afford the Marathon $209-$229, then maybe try the Fisher Price Safe Voyage. It is made by Britax, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles. It runs about $139+.

We have both a Triumph and a Marathon. If she's on the short side, then I'd definitely go with the Marathon. She'll be able to get alot more use out of it than the Triumph... Also, I prefer dealing with the Marathon much more than the Triumph - easy to install, straps aren't as twisty, etc.

I am looking at Britax since it has lots of reviews and mostly good, but wondering what the bad reviews were about on the 3 in 1 EBauer seat. My girlfriend bought it and said it was highly recommended. I couldn't find much about it either way.

First thing you want to look for in a seat is a tall seat shell and preferably a high rear-facing weight limit so baby can rear-face as long as possible (safest to rear-face until at least age 2).

The Triumph and ComfortSport are both bad choices for extended rear-facing. Both only have 30 pound RF weight limits, the Triumph has such a short seat shell that often babies get too tall to rear-face between 12-18 months.

Second thing to look for is high top harness slots. Forward-facing, when a child's shoulders go over the top slots the seat is outgrown by height, regardless of overall height or weight. The ComfortSport has the lowest top slots on the market, therefore it will be outgrown the soonest by height. My daughter was too tall for a ComfortSport by her 2nd birthday. It's not a good value seat at all for how short of a time it can be used.

The 3-in-1 seats are also not a good value for the time you can use it. They are advertised as the only seat you will need, but it is not true for the vast majority of kids. It has an awesome 35 pound RF weight limit and tall enough seat shell to get kids to at least 30 pounds RF, generally to the full 35 pounds RF. But forward-facing it falls short. The harness height is adjusted by raising or lowering the headrest, but the highest headrest setting is only to raise the seat higher in booster mode, not to be used with the harness. The second-to-top headrest setting is therefore the highest harness setting, and it's very short. My dd was too tall for all the 3-in-1 seats using the harness before she turned 3. Booster mode, besides the fact that kids should never move to a booster before at least age 4, and 40 pounds, is not wonderful. It also does not adjust high enough in booster mode to be the last booster a child will need.

Third thing to look for is a seat that is easy to use properly every time and esay to install. That generally comes down to personal preference and what vehicle you drive.

So basically, if you are looking for a seat that will last the longest, Britax Marathon/Boulevard and the Sunshine Kids Radian are the best choices. They rear-face to 33 pounds with tall seat shells, have 17-18 inch top slots and 65 pound harnessed weight limits. Kids will not get too tall for these seats until age 4-7. Kids are almost always mature enough for a booster seat at this point.

Most other convertible seats will require the purchase of another harnessed seat with taller top slots and possibly a higher weight limit later, to ensure kids are both big enough and mature enough before moving to a booster.

Stick with the Britax Marathon or Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe.

I've used and measured all those seats you mentioned. B/t all the carseats everyone in my family uses for the 3 grandkids, we collectively own a Triumph, Comfort Sport, Cosco Alpha Omega Elite, Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe, Britax Decathlon, and an Evenflo Tribute.

Skip the Triumph, Comfort Sport, and Cosco/Eddie Bauer 3 in 1 for all the reasons given by other posters. In addition, the Eddie Bauer/Cosco Alpha Omega (3 in 1) is the *same height* as the Britax/Fisher Price...but they have top harness slots over 1.5" inch higher than the Eddie Bauer and harness to 65/55 lbs., instead of only 40. Since most kids outgrow seats by height before weight, they will last the same amount of time as the Eddie Bauer, but your child will be much more safe, b/c she will still be in the harness! For the same price or only $30-50 more, you'll get longer harnessing and ease of use out of the Britax/Fisher Price.

You definitely want to skip seats that only rearface to 30 lbs--your baby already weighs almost 19 lbs....and it is recommended that infants and toddlers rearface to at least 18-24 mos. and over 30 lbs....they are 4 times more likely to break their neck in an accident if they are forward facing sooner than this.

If you really don't have the $$ right now or prefer to choose one of these seats later for whatever reason, I'd suggest looking at the Safety First Uptown for $80-100.
You can order it online and some Wal Marts have it in stock. It is plush, has EPS foam, rearfaces to 35 lbs., and forward faces to 40 lbs. It also has nice, tall harness slots.

hths

henrietta

I agree with what everyone posted about the CS but just wanted to add that is is sooo hard to reach the harness adjuster when RF it may have only been my seat backs but I am sure others have posted about it before. When I bought it I didn't know anything about extended RF and just knew that Graco made good seats I thought all convertible were the same ant that the Britaxes were just over priced because they were designer. I wish I had bought one to begin with I have never had my seat installed to solid before it is so much more convinent too. My daughter won't outgrow it for years and she just outgrew the CS. If you have the money It is well worth spending.

joycemom said:

I agree with what everyone posted about the CS but just wanted to add that is is sooo hard to reach the harness adjuster when RF it may have only been my seat backs but I am sure others have posted about it before. When I bought it I didn't know anything about extended RF and just knew that Graco made good seats I thought all convertible were the same ant that the Britaxes were just over priced because they were designer. I wish I had bought one to begin with I have never had my seat installed to solid before it is so much more convinent too. My daughter won't outgrow it for years and she just outgrew the CS. If you have the money It is well worth spending.

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Yes I had this problem too. I hated trying to tighten the straps on my CS when it was RF, they were terrible! I turned DS at 1yr for
1. I didn't know better and
2. I hated trying to tighten the straps
I say the adjuster on the CS is poorly designed for RF use and there are seats that are much easier to use.

Jewels said:

I had the comfortsport and my DS outgrew it by the time he was 2 and I ended up getting a Marathon (MA) at two because it had the highest harness slots that I could find in Canada. I wish I would have just bought the MA to begin with, it would have saved me money in the long run and I figure that if I only use it for 3-4 years it was still worth every penny I paid for the seat

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Same here, but I'm in the US. I bought a Triumph when my dd turned 6 months and we ended up buying a Marathon when she was 2 because she was outgrowing the Triumph by height. I wish I'd saved the money and bought the MA to begin with. We did had a second dd to hand the Triumph down to, but I didn't want to turn her FF so soon, so dd#2 really didn't get that much use out of it either. I gave it away a few months ago.