Why is this thing hated so much?

MorgieBear'sMama

New member
Evenflo infant seat

I saw one of these in K-mart this morning and was impressed. How low are the bottom slots? They didn't look to be any higher than 4 inches. Does anyone else have bottom harness slots that low?

EPS foam

The only draw back I saw was it didn't adjust in the front.

I had one of the lovely 3pt ones when dd was a little baby and this seems far more advanced.:thumbsup:
 
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serabi

New member
Evenflo's website won't load for me (grr) but I'm guessing you're looking at an Evenflo Embrace. I can't find any that have EPS foam - just ComfortTouch foam. Did they just release them with EPS foam?

DD was a 24 weeker and that was the car seat a lot of the NICU nurses liked because of the low slots. DH and I looked at it (we already had a Britax Companion but there was some question as to whether she was going to be tall enough for the slots) and we were very unimpressed - it was completely unpadded. We ended up just using our Companion, lol.
 

Starlight

Senior Community Member
The Compass infant seat has the lowest slots. Hands down. LOL

I think Evenflo has made a lot of changes to their seats this year. The Discovery has only recently started getting EPS foam, a 2 piece chest clip, the 5 point harness... but it still doesn't have a front harness adjustor.

Additionally, the handle has to be down, and has to have 1.5 inches of clearance, IIRC. Seriously, show me a backseat that can handle that. Also, it can't be near any airbag? Side included? I can't recall. I remember some threads talking about it, but don't have time to go search for them.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I think they can be used next to side (curtain) airbags now.

I have strong feelings about rear adjusters and handles that must be put down, so much so I don't recommend those seats (and don't think it's fair to market that stuff to discount store shoppers...).

The Embrace is a LOT better than their other seats to install, at least :D
 

mimieliza

New member
I have strong feelings about rear adjusters and handles that must be put down, so much so I don't recommend those seats (and don't think it's fair to market that stuff to discount store shoppers...).

I feel the same way. There are so many cars that just can't accommodate an infant seat with the handle down.
 

MomToEliEm

Moderator
I personally don't like how evenflo had dealt with infant seat recalls in the past. They don't seem to want to recall seats until they are forced to. There are too many safety issues with their infant seats in the past, and I don't know if I trust the company enough to put my children in their infant seats.

Here is a link to an article in the Chicogo Tribune talking about carseat manufactures and the carseats they know are defective yet they still sell them. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ial,1,3472639.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=1)
 

chelle80

New member
The reasons I hated the discovery infant seat...

1) handle has to be down and it has to have 1.5" clearence, which even in my impala that was a problem.

2) The lip on the base, you have to "tuck" the seat into it before you can snap it into the base. Then you have to lift it really upright to "untuck" it.

3) The "snap" you hear when you snap in onto the base is loud! Some may like it because you know it is snaped on, but to me its to loud. It wakes my friend's baby up everytime.
 

azgirl71

CPST Instructor
I do not like that they have to have 1.5 inches of clearance. It is too hard for people with compact cars to get a desent install.
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
I don't mind the seat at all. I had an On My Way Position Right V for Aiden and really liked it. I much prefer the Evenflo's rear adjust over the Graco's rear adjust... but the front adjust trumps both of those. ;)

I also probably never minded the Evenflo since I never knew about the 1.5" rule. I refuse to recommend the seat now because of the 1.5" rule... it makes it hard to use in vehicles. You can lower the handle down all the way and then put it in the vehicle... this gives you a little extra room for front seat passengers but it requires more work/effort and can lead to misuse.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
...and another thing.. or two...
They keep designing seats with handles that randomly release while you are carrying the seat (they didn't learn from this problem 10 years ago? lame!), and I know Consumer Reports isn't the be-all, end-all, but once they've shown more than one Evenflo seat fly off the base, I really can't feel the love for Evenflo infant seats in general...
 

Kalinky

Senior Community Member
We had the Embrace for DD. Here is a pic of her in it when we brought her home from the hospital. We had no clue what we were doing, so please forgive the neck clip LOL. I can say that it wasn't a *horrible* seat, but I can also say that I have already sold it! Front adjust was nice, 2 piece chest clip was nice. Installation of the base was fine, but the foot that extends to help recline the seat was really cheapo and difficult to use and broke on one of ours. It didn't have foam.

I absolutely hated that as a front passenger, I had to hug the dash board ('05 xterra). Next infant seat will be one that allows the handle to be in the upright position in the car.

One of the other things that I found to be so ridiculous was that you cannot install it (or any of the Evenflo infant seats) without the base.

View attachment 988
 
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cpsaddict

New member
I think the Discovery can be used without the base, at least the old ones could. The not using it without the base thing just came about with the Embrace. The Cozy Carry and the Portabout could be used without and the belt path was on the bottom of the seat. Evenflo infant seats just generally have weird problems. The Cozy Carry and the Portabout stuck to the base all the time. The handle had this weird push down and lower thing that rarely worked. The Embrace was better, with the front adjust, but then it was recalled for the handle.
The Discovery is not bad, it's lightweight and I much prefer the rear adjusters on it to any other. The dumb lip on the base makes removing next to impossible without almost dumping the kid out.
It's like Evenflo has all the pieces to make a good infant seat, but they just can't pull it off. :confused:
 
That seat never felt secure in my car, it had excess side movement and that handle didn't fit down at all.
It was worse fit with the base.

I stick to the UK infant seats for now as they can be used handle up or forward as a stabilising bar.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
FWIW, I had a dad actually BREAK his Evenflo base when reinstalling it after me in a check last year. I was NOT impressed with Evenflo - he wasn't that big of a guy.
 

azgirl71

CPST Instructor
FWIW, I had a dad actually BREAK his Evenflo base when reinstalling it after me in a check last year. I was NOT impressed with Evenflo - he wasn't that big of a guy.

Wow! I have never seen anyone break a base installing it. Not even a big guy.

The embrace is the one that muct be used with the base. The Discovery does not require it to be used.
 

Kalinky

Senior Community Member
oops - why was I thinking it was all of them that had to be installed with the base? I stand corrected :D . But I still don't like any of them :p .
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
he managed to snap one of the plastic recline adjustment tabs off while kneeling in the seat to install it. :whistle:
 

jen_nah

CPST Instructor
My biggest complaint is the lip on the base. If you get a vehicle with squishy seats it can make it almost impossible to snap it in.
 

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